Digestive Diseases



6th. General Habits. – Mental or bodily occupations should not be resumed immediately after a full meal nor should food be taken without a few minutes’ pause after exhaustive fatigue. Violent muscular exertions arrest digestion by engaging the nervous energies in other direction. The weary man, whether weary from the sweat of the brow or the sweat of the brain, should rest before he eats; and f the cause of fatigue has been in operation till the time of rest approaches, solid food might then be productive of the most serious results. Under such circumstances, if nourishment be deemed necessary, it should be limited in quantity, and of the lightest kind, as a cup of beef tea, coca, or chocolate, or the yolk of an egg well beaten with milk. We particularly recommend the General Plan of Dietary sketched in the introductory chapter for general adoption. Regularity in the habits of life, such as in taking food, sleep, exercise, etc., is an important condition in the prevention of Dyspepsia. Feather beds, and too much sleep, should be avoided; the patient should retire and rise early, bathe or sponge the body every morning with cold water, and take moderate open-air exercise daily. An occasional change of air and scenery exercises a wonderful influence in removing or preventing an attack of Indigestion, divesting the mind of its ordinary train of thought, business and family anxieties, or gloomy pondering over personal ailments. See also Chronic Intestinal Toxaemia.

151. – Gastrodynia (Gastrodynia) – Pain or Spasms in the Stomach

Pain in the stomach may be spasmodic or neuralgic. The latter has already been treated of in Section on Neuralgia.

SYMPTOMS. – Severe pinching; gnawing, or contractive pains in the stomach, generally occurring after taking food.

CAUSES. – Highly-seasoned or indigestible food; stimulants, coffee and tobacco; long fasting, exposure to cold or damp, etc. Gastrodynia is usually but a symptom of Indigestion.

TREATMENT. – Nux V. (severe spasm); Bryonia (in rheumatic patients); Arnica (Soreness); Bism. (dull, pressing pain, with frontal headache); Ferrum (anaemia or Chlorosis); Arsenicum (pain and vomiting of food; periodic).

ACCESSORY TREATMENT. – In severe cases two or three folds of flannel, wrung out of hot water, and applied as hot as can be borne; in mild cases, warmed dry flannels. Attention to the Accessory Measures suggested in the previous Section is often alone sufficient to cure Gastrodynia. There is a form of pain in the stomach associated with excess of secretion of Hydrochloric acid (Hyperchlorhydria), which is often relieved by taking food. This condition indicates usually either Chelidonium or Anacardium or Nux Vomica and Robinia are often useful. But pain relieved by eating is also a symptom of Duodenal Ulcer (ulceration of the first part of the Intestine), and if the symptom persists, expert advice should be sought as Duodenal ulcer is a serious condition, and one not always easy to diagnose. When it is present remedies like Arsen., ArgentumNit. and Uran.-Nit. are often successful in causing it to heal, but the aid of surgery has sometimes to be invoked.

152. – Vertigo (Giddiness).

In a mild form, Giddiness is generally the result of Dyspepsia or nervous exhaustion. When Vertigo is severe and recurs, it often points to disease of the brain, heart, or kidneys. Vertigo generally exists in structural changes of the brain.

EPITOME OF TREATMENT. –

Nux V., Pulsatilla, Bryonia (from indigestion). See Secale 147.

Belladonna, Gelsemium Gloninum, Cocc. (from congestion), See Secale 91.

Phosphorus, Ac.-Phosphorus, China, Zincum met. (from brain-fag).

153. – Bilious Headache.

The Headache of Indigestion is commonly termed bilious. It arises in connection with the stomach derangement or some excess, and is generally accompanied by foul tongue and breath, pain in the stomach, nausea, deranged bowels, etc. It is necessary to discriminate between this and Headache of a different nature, and arising from other causes, as nervous Headache, from exhaustion consequent on Haemorrhage, prolonged lactation, Hysteria, etc.; or toxaemic, as in Enteric fever, Scarlet fever, etc.; or organic, from cerebral disease.

EPITOME OF TREATMENT. –

Iris (copious bilious vomiting); Chamomilla (in females, from cold or worry); Nux V. (with constipation); Bryonia (vomiting of bitter fluids); Aconite (from Catarrh); Nux Mosch. (Constant, with salty taste); Ipecac., Pulsatilla, Ant.-C., Mercurius, Sepia, Sanguin.

154. – Pyrosis (Pyrosis) – Water-brash.

SYMPTOMS. – Eructations of an acid or tasteless watery fluid, sometimes in considerable quantities. It seems to arise from closure of the oesophagus by muscular Spasm, so that the trickling saliva is prevented form passing into the stomach, and ascends into the mouth without any effort. It is often accompanied with pain, and is sometimes a symptom of organic disease of the stomach or liver, but is commonly due to chronic Gastric Catarrh.

When arising from Indigestion it is sometimes due to the too exclusive use of a vegetable diet, or to other indigestible food; it is of common occurrence amongst the poorly-fed.

TREATMENT. – Carbo V. – Acid or acrid eructations with flatulence, and, usually, Constipation, sometimes Diarrhoea. Lycopodium, in chronic cases; Nux V., Ac.-Sulph., Bryonia, Pulsatilla, Ac.- Acet. are also recommended.

In obstinate cases of this disease the most brilliant results often follow Krukenberg’s prescription – when the patient is hungry, let him eat buttermilk, and when he is thirsty, let him drink buttermilk. Fresh milk is not so well borne, as it curdles in the stomach.

155. – Vomiting – Sickness.

CAUSES. – Improper food or too large a quantity; a disordered condition of the digestive functions; pregnancy; (For the treatment of Morning Sickness in pregnancy, see the Lady’s Homoeopathic Manual.) disease or irritation in other organs, as the brain, kidney, uterus, etc.; cancer or ulcer of the stomach; mechanical obstruction of any part of the intestinal canal; morbid states of the blood; it also occurs in most of the eruptive fevers.

PROGNOSIS. – Nausea and vomiting occurring in diseases of the brain, as in Epilepsy, are unfavourable indications; on the contrary, in pregnancy or Hysteria, no alarm need be felt, as they are merely symptomatic of irritation conveyed by the nervous system of the stomach. We may learn much by observing the time of the occurrence of vomiting, the nature of the matters ejected, and the extent and urgency of the symptoms. If vomiting afford relief, and the nausea, oppression of the chest and stomach, and Headache cease, the case may be considered favourable; if, on the other hand the symptoms preceding vomiting are not relieved by it, but increase, the disease must be regarded as having taken an alarming form.

TREATMENT. – Should vomiting arise from over-repletion, or form indigestible food, it may be regarded as a conservative effort, and short be encouraged, within proper limits, by drinking warm water, or tickling the throat with a feather until the offending material is expelled. If sympathetic of organic disease, the treatment should be directed to the primary cause, while temporary relief from the vomiting may be obtained by the use of one of the following remedies. Under other circumstances, a remedy may be selected according to the causes of the vomiting, and the symptoms which exist.

Ipecacuanha. – Simple copious vomiting, with persistent nausea; greenish or blackish and mucous vomit; Diarrhoea.

Kreosotum. Chronic persistent vomiting. When the affection does not depend on simple Indigestion, Kreas. is the best remedy; also for persistent retching, without vomiting.

Secale. – Chronic vomiting or sour mucus, with offensive eructations.

Phosphorus. – Food retained cold, but vomited as soon as it becomes warm.

Arsenicum. – Vomiting, purging, great prostration, with a burning sensation in the stomach and throat and cold hands and feet. When causes by cancer or other malignant disease of the stomach, this remedy often relieves.

Zincum. – The food is suddenly ejected, without retching; and the patient becomes emaciated.

Ant.-Crud. – Nausea, heaviness of the stomach, foul white tongue, and dislike to food, which continue unabated after free vomiting.

Iris. – Bilious attack. Often an effectual remedy.

ACCESSORY MEANS. – Small pieces of ice placed on the tongue are very grateful, and tend to allay the sickness. The diet should be simple, nourishing, and non-irritating. Beef-tea is, probably, most suitable, and may be given every one to three hours, in small quantities, till other food can be borne. In many cases soda-water and milk, in equal proportions, given in small quantities, freshly mixed, can be retained and digested. The stomach will often retain bland liquid diet when it would reject any other.

156. – Dilatation of the Stomach.

In some cases of chronic gastritis and dyspepsia the capacity of the stomach becomes permanently increased. The muscular tone is lost and a condition of more or less permanent discomfort sets in. The prime cause of it is generally some obstruction at the pyloric opening, which prevents the food passing into the intestine as it should. The obstruction may be due to cancerous growth or to spasm, or to contraction of a scar after the healing of an ulcer. The symptoms come on gradually; there is, as a rule, a good deal of vomiting of a sour fluid, and constipation is generally marked. When the abdomen is manipulated splashing may be heard.

Edward Harris Ruddock
Ruddock, E. H. (Edward Harris), 1822-1875. M.D.
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."