Hepar Sulphuris. – Chronic Indigestion; nearly all kinds of food disagree; craving for stimulants; also if Mercury has been too freely prescribed.
Sulphur.- Cases of long standing, when only partial relief has followed the use of other remedies; and as an intercurrent remedy. it is particularly required in tubercular constitutions, and for indigestion associated with or following acute or chronic eruptions, Piles, Constipation, irritability, glandular swellings, affection of the eyes, or other tubercular disorders.
Carbo Veg. – Chronic indigestion, with flatulence, heartburn, headache, debility, etc. Very useful in the aged.
Calcarea Carb. – Defective digestion and assimilation, with obstinate acrid eructations, relaxed bowels; sensitiveness to cold and damp; fatigue after slight exertion; Cough; gradual emaciation; and, in females, too frequent and profuse menstruation. Follow Pulsatilla well in chronic cases.
Thuja for excessive tea drinkers, and Kali-Bich. for beer drinkers should be remembered.
ACCESSORY MEASURES. – The following points in the treatment and prevention of indigestion should, as far as possible be adopted.
1st Mastication. – The reduction of food to a state of minute division in the mouth is most essential step towards easy and perfect digestion. Digestion really means solution; and as solid substances, intended by the chemists for solution, are first reduced in the laboratory by the pestle and mortar, so must the teeth perform a precisely similar process with the food. Not a particle capable of being further reduced by the teeth should be admitted into the stomach, as the work of the former can never be fully performed by the latter. A stomach, especially a weak stomach acts tardily and imperfectly upon food introduced in an incomplete state of comminution. Further, food requires to be well masticated, that it may be duly mixed with saliva. In front of the ear we have the parotid gland; beneath the jaw, at the sides, the sub-maxillary; and under the chin, the sublingual; all these secrete saliva, which pours into the mouth through minute openings during mastication. This salivary secretion is not only intended to moisten and lubricate the food, but is a most essential chemical aid in digestion such as no other liquid can supply. The action of the saliva is especially necessary for the digestion of vegetable food; for it is only by means of this fluid that such articles of diet as potatoes, bread, rice, etc., are rendered at all capable of absorption. We therefore warn the busy, the studious, the solitary, or, on the other hand, those persons who talk too much during meal-time, of the danger of neglecting the perfect mastication of their food. The loss of teeth is a frequent cause of Indigestion, but now, happily, generally remediable; for when the natural teeth are lost, the skill of dentist supplies us with useful substitutes. The condition of the teeth is also of great importance. The septic state of gums, which is known as pyorrhoea alveolaris, is very common, and means the absorption of poisonous substance which may give rise not only to dyspepsia, but also sometimes, to arthritis, and other affections. Therefore, scrupulous cleanliness of the mouth and teeth is essential to health.
2nd. Overloading the stomach. – Too large a quantity of food interferes with digestion in two ways. (1) By so distending the stomach as to interfere with those movements which it undergoes during the process, and impairing its subsequent necessary contraction. (2) The secretion of gastric fluid is probably of a uniform quantity; therefore an inordinate amount of food would fail to be duly saturated with this indispensable fluid. The normal limits of the stomach are always exceeded when food has been taken in such a quantity as to produce an uneasy sense of distension. After a long abstinence from food, as in the case of persons who dine late and take too little lunch, there is great danger of eating too much, unless the meal be taken slowly, or finished before the sensation of hunger are completely appeased. The same danger is like to arise form too many dishes, or too stimulating articles of food; a morbid craving is thus excited long after the natural appetite would have been satisfied.
3rd. Suitable Food. – As a rule, animal food is easier of digestion than vegetable, and it is well known that a weak stomach is much more liable to flatulence, and other symptoms of indigestion, after vegetable food than after animal. Indeed, the teeth of man partake of an intermediate character, as he is no doubt intended to subsist both on animal and vegetable food; so that a due admixture of of both is probably more easily digested than a more or less exclusive use of either. It is important to remember that starch is not a nitrogenous or flesh-forming substance. Food, there, fore the chief constituent of which is starch, as potatoes, rice, sago, etc., should be eaten only as additions to food containing a large amount of nitrogenous materials. As Dr. Chambers tersely remarks, to make a person omnivorous you must first make him carnivorous. Further, it is especially necessary that the dyspeptic should erect tender and perfectly fresh animal food, and have it cooked so as to retain all its natural juices. Hard, dried, cured meats – ham, tongue, sausages, and the like – are especially to be avoided. In the same category we may place, veal, pork, twice-cooked meats, salmon, lobsters, crabs, cheese, new-baked bread, coffee, and all other substances known to disagree with the patient. The last remark is important; for if pain or discomfort follow any kind of food or drink, it should be regarded as a warning to avoid it afterwards.
4th Beverages. – As a general rule, patients who suffer from indigestion are better without malt liquors, wines, or spirits; a high standard of health being often best maintained altogether apart from the use of alcohol. Perhaps certain patients suffering from acute Indigestion, or others in whom the powers of life are much enfeebled, may be benefited by a moderate and temporary use of stimulants. But if the use of these liquors be followed by excitement, flushing of the face, or any other inconvenience, they should at once be given up. Even when their use is at first attended by apparent benefit, they should be discontinued when the circumstances which required them no longer exist; for in our practice we have found that the most severe and obstinate forms of Indigestion occur as the result of the excessive use of alcoholic beverages. In addition to coca (from the nibs or shells) (To produce from coca-nibs one of the most wholesome and nutritious of beverages, the following method is recommended- For two persons take a small teacup full of the best nibs, and soak in one quart of water over night; next morning, boil briskly for two hours, then strain off, and use directly with boiling milk. I strongly recommended it not to be re-warmed, as it loses its flavour, just as tea does when warmed up again. The writer has used the coca-nibs for upwards of fifteen years, and she finds the best way of boiling is in a block-tin three-pint wine muller, over a small gas stove; or, better still, the new French milk saucepan, which consists of white ware fitted into an outside tin casing. The coca-nibs already soaked, as previously directed, should be put with a proper quantity of water into the white ware, the outside vessel being also filled with water, and boiled for two hours. The stewing process so generally adopted imparts to the beverage a flat, disagreeable, and woody paste. – Homoeopathic World.
(I have found many persons who are unable to take nib-coca, and are yet able to take coca made from the shells. The shells are the husks which contain the nibs, and are free from coca-butter. The directions for making are as follows- Take six tablespoonfuls of the shells and put in a quart of boiling water. Boil gentry for six hours. Add water from time to time to keep the quantity to a quart. The coca may be made hot any time, and may be taken with hot milk like coffee, or with cold milk like tea. Cream may also be added. – ED.) or, tea, for the morning and evening meals the moderate use of pure water is almost the only fluid required. This liquid, so often despised, and even regarded by many as prejudicial, is one of the most potent means for preventing or curing Dyspepsia. Water, however, should only be taken in moderation. Two or thee glasses a day is enough for most persons. It is best to avoid drinking cold water at meals, except very sparingly; not, as is generally supposed, because it dilutes the salivary or the gastric secretion, but because it reduces the temperature of the stomach and checks its action. A glass of hot water an hour before meals is often valuable. No fluid should be taken with the food subsequently.
5th. Disposition in which to eat. – A cheerful and tranquil frame of mind, especially during meals, is a most essential point in the treatment and cure of Indigestion. Cheerful conversation and ease of mind favour digestion by increasing the secretion of gastric juice. The ailment received under pleasurable circumstances may be expected to furnish in abundance and in the highest state of perfection, the secretions necessary for good digestion.
LICENTIATE OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS; MEMBER OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS; LICENTIATE IN MIDWIFERY, LONDON AND EDINBURGH, ETC. PHYSICIAN TO THE READING AND BERKSHIRE HOMOEOPATHIC DISPENSARY.
Author of "The Stepping Stone to Homeopathy and Health,"
"Manual of Homoeopathic Treatment". Editor of "The Homoeopathic World."