Opium- Irregular breathing, constipation, stupor also when a remedy, well indicated, does not produce the desired results. In the latter case, a few doses will suffice.
Phosphorus- Whooping-cough, complicated with diseases of the Chest, fever, pain, etc.
Cina- Whooping-cough with worm symptoms paleness, picking of the nose, itching of the anus, irregular appetite, etc.
Sulphur- Whooping-cough on the decline this may be recognized by the phlegm losing its tenacious character and becoming opaque. (See also Pulsatilla and Carbo-V.).
DIET- Light, digestible, nutritious food in moderate quantities; stimulants should be avoided. Indigestible, or too large a quantity of food, is almost certain to excite a paroxysm. Toast- and-water, barley-water, or linseed-tea, varied to meet the patient’s taste, are grateful and soothing. (See Secale24).
ACCESSORY TREATMENT- It is necessary to treat children with great consideration, and to overlook many of their derelictions; as violent emotions, or fits of anger, add to the severity and frequency of the paroxysms. Infants must be constantly watched, taken up as soon as a fit comes on, and placed in a favourable posture. Frictions with olive oil, or simple liniment, over the chest and along the spine, for ten or fifteen minutes, morning and night, in a comfortably warm room, without currents of air, are often of great efficacy. During fine, warm weather, the patient should be much in the open air, but damp, cold, and exposure to draughts should be strictly avoided. In obstinate cases, and in convalescence, change of air, if only for a short distance, proves very beneficial. If possible, mountain or sea- air, or pure country air, should be chosen, as it acts favourably by removing irritation of the nervous system, and completing restoration.
47. Tetanus-Lockjaw.
DEFINITION- A disease characterized by contraction of voluntary muscles, general or partial, alternating with relaxation more or less complete, arising from the poisoning of the motor centres of the spinal cord by a bacterial toxin.
CAUSE- Tetanus is due to the invasion of the body by a bacillus, which can flourish in earth and gains entry into the body through a wound. Even a scratch may be sufficient. It grows in the body and the toxin which results from its growth poisons the spinal motor centres and cause the disease symptoms.
SYMPTOMS- There may be premonitory indications of an attack, such as fear, or sense of impending danger, or a disturbed state of the digestive organs. But the unmistakable symptoms soon appear, namely, inability to open the mouth fully (Lockjaw); painful expression of the countenance, convulsed or fixed features, the corners of the mouth being drawn up (risus sardonicus). When fairly set in, the Spasms of the voluntary muscles are of the most violent character, with much pain, and partial remissions. The pain is of that kind which attends ordinary Cramp in the muscles, as of the legs, and is usually very severe. The breathing becomes loud and sobbing; if the muscles of the trunk are affected the body is jerked forwards (emprosthotonus), or backwards (opisthotonus), or is perfectly rigid (tonic Spasm), like a piece of wood. The mind continues clear; and when death ensues, it is from exhaustion consequent on the frequency of the tetanic Spasms or more frequently from Spasm of the respiratory muscles and asphyxia.
EPITOME OF TREATMENT-
Nux V. (or Strychnia), Aconite, Belladonna, Ac-Hydrocy., Arnica
The remedy should be given in a low dilution, and administered every few minutes as soon as the first indications are noticed. The toxin of tetanus excites the body to manufactures an antidote, the tetanus antitoxin. This substance can be artificially produced in horses, and the blood serum containing it can be injected into sufferers from the disease in a way similar to that adopted for Diphtheria antitoxin. This should be done in addition to other treatment, and proved very successful during the Great War, if given early as a prophylactic.
48. Hydrophobia-Rabies ( See Homoeopathic World, vol. xxiv. pp.350, 437).
DEFINITION- A disease resulting from the bite of a rabid animal, or from its licking an abraded portion of the skin, the chief characteristics of which are, severe constriction about the throat; spasmodic action of the diaphragm; a peculiar difficulty of swallowing, and consequent dread of fluids; anxiety and restlessness followed by exhaustion, delirium and death.
SYMPTOMS OF RABIES IN THE DOG- According to Youatt, the earliest are-sullenness, and frequent shifting of posture; loss of appetite; lapping his own urine disposition to lick cold surfaces, to eat straws, excrementious matter, and other rubbish, and fighting with its paws at the corners of his mouth. A very early and constant symptom is change of voice, every sound uttered being more or less changed.
The amount of ferocity varies some show extreme fondness while others bark and rush to the end of their chain to meet an imaginary foe or, if loose, rush out, biting every one they meet. There is no dread of water, as in human beings, but, on the contrary, great thirst and the saliva becomes viscid, and adheres to the mouth. In the last stages of the disease the eyes become dull; the hind legs, and afterwards the muscles of the jaw, are paralyzed; and the animal dies exhausted in from four to six days. Next to the dog probably the wolf, the fox, the jackal, and the cat, are most liable to Hydrophobia. Common errors are that no dog is mad which will lap water, that the animals only go mad in the dog days, and that the female dog is not liable to the disease. Muzzling is of little use. Homeless cures are most dangerous, and should be killed off, and the value of muzzling orders lies in the elimination of the ownerless animals.
SYMPTOMS IN MAN- These are not manifested till a period after receiving the infection, varying from a few weeks to much longer periods; the wound having probably healed, and the scar presenting no remarkable appearance. Twitching and itching sensations are sometimes felt in the vicinity of the wound prior to an attack. Sometimes there is stiffness, or numbness, or partial Palsy or the wound may be red and swollen; there is an indistinct feeling of uneasiness and anxiety with giddiness, chills, heats, and a general feeling of being unwell. The special symptoms are arranged by Mr. Erichsen under three heads; consisting (1) of a spasmodic affection of the muscles of the throat and chest; the act of swallowing commonly exciting convulsions, makes the patient afraid to repeat the attempt hence the horror of all liquids which is so remarkable a feature of the disease; (2) an extreme degree of sensibility of the surface of the body; (3) mental agitation, and terror, which frequently mark the disease throughout. To these symptoms we may add extreme thirst; the secretion of a remarkably viscid saliva, the effort to swallow which brings on the convulsive fits; Convulsions increasing in frequency and violence lips and cheeks becoming livid, and perpetually quivering; till, at length, one fits lasts long enough to exhaust the remaining strength.
CAUSE- A bite from an animal already affected with Rabies. It is asserted and generally believed in India, that Rabies never originated in dogs, but can always be traced to a mad jackal or wolf entering a village or town, and biting the dogs. Close confinement, want of fresh water, unwholesome food, etc., may have some influence in developing the malady. There is little doubt that the prime cause is some organism, which is transferred from the rabid animal in the saliva, but no bacterium or other agent has been identified with certainty. It is on the medulla oblongata that the poison mainly acts, and death is due to failure of the nerve centres in the medulla.
TREATMENT- Immediately after a person has been bitten by a suspected animal, the wound should be sucked with all the force the patient can command, so as to encourage bleeding and the removal of saliva from the bitten part; and if he is too much alarmed or otherwise unable to do it himself, a friend should do it for him. ( No danger attaches to the person thus sucking the wound so long as the poison does not come in contact with any abraded or otherwise imperfect surface of the mouth or other part of the body). A ligature between the wound and the heart would also prevent the absorption of poison into the system. When this has been done let the wound be treated as directed for snake- bites. Turkish and Russian baths seem to have some value.
The Pasteur treatment of Hydrophobia takes advantages of the long incubation period of Rabies to endeavour to strengthen the organism against the slowly developing poison by giving injections (first very weak, and gradually more intense) of material containing the fully developed toxin. Great results are claimed for the treatment, and it is used on the Continent and in India extensively. It is very difficult to estimate the results, because it is seldom, if ever, possible to be certain that a person bitten would have developed the disease if untreated. If treatment is deferred till unmistakable symptoms appear, it is too late. If the organism of Rabies could be discovered there would be a method of knowing, in the absence of symptoms, if the patient were infected. It is interesting to recall that Hering, years ago, recommended a remedy made from the saliva of a rabid dog, a kind of vaccine therefore.
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."