The nausea may occur at an early period in the morning, with unvarying regularity; or in the evening; or at any period of the day or even of the night. For each individual it maintains also its uniformity as to the date of its first appearance; in some it begins very soon after conception; in others; in others it appears towards the third or fourth mouth; and in other again it comes on only towards the close of gestation, in these latter cases it may have appeared also for a short time soon after conception. In the duration of this affection there is also the same general variety and individual uniformity. Thus in some females it lasts but a few weeks, from six to eight at most; in others it continues for four or five months; while in some few most distressingly severe cases this difficulty assumes the form of a formidable disease and persists through the entire period of utero-gestation, unless relieved by art. An this unfortunate condition has sometimes been still more fully developed and aggravated by sea-sickness, so that even life itself has been lost, where the voyage was tedious.
The nausea and vomiting of pregnancy, as already stated, are most apt to occur on first rising in the morning; sometimes these symptoms disappear in a few minutes, sometimes they last through the greater portion of the day. In some the vomiting is very easy; in others it is attended with very severe retching and even with other painful symptoms. Those who vomit upon waking or rising in the morning, usually throw up some viscid, glairy matters which are generally colored with a little bile, especially if the retching had been very severe. Others vomit only after eating; occasionally after only one of the daily meals, but sometimes after all of them. Again, in some unfortunate cases the vomitings continue even in the intervals of the repasts; every thing taken into the stomach, whether liquid or solid, being immediately rejected. There are cases, finally, in which the mere thought of flood, or the sight or the smell of it, is sufficient to induce the vomiting. Cazeaux.
In some cases nearly all the food ingested seems to have been thrown up even for months in succession; and yet a good delivery succeeds at full term; the repeated and severe vomitings seeming to exert comparatively little influence upon the general health. In like manner pregnant women may rise from the breakfast table, vomit, and return to their food as if nothing had happened. Such characteristics, so different from vomiting arising from any other causes, very conclusively indicate the presence of pregnancy. Important complication however arise in the greater number of more severe cases; and the health of both mother and child is often greatly injured through the marasmus and cachectic conditions which ensue. Among the most serious of the symptoms of which appear in connection with severe emesis is to be attended by considerable pain which is increased by pressure. This epigastric soreness and tenderness, whether observed in the earlier or in the later stage of pregnancy, is due to the profound irritation of the ganglia or plexuses of the Sympathetic Nervous System, which are located in this vicinity. And in this centre of organic life, in the very constitution itself, are planted the psoric elements whose active development in pregnancy occasions these sufferings and innumerable others, whose duration and severity but too well indicate the gravity of the miasms from which they are derived. The stomach itself is in no such direst sympathetic relation with the uterus; but the latter organ is in profound sympathy with the organic nervous system which is centered near the stomach and which entirely controls the compound functions of digestion and nutrition. Hence the marasmus and cachexia which succeed severe cases of morning sickens in the old practice; hence too the brilliant successes which in the new school follow the exhibition of Arsenicum, and other powerful and particularly indicated antipsorics. Hence too while under the Allopathic regime these cases became worse and worse with each succeeding pregnancy, under Homoeopathic treatment they become better and better, until the female finds she can pass through the formerly so much dreaded periods of gestation with little or no suffering and terminate her labors in a delivery as pleasant and easy as it formerly was difficult and painful.
Some of the remoter consequences of the nausea and vomiting, or rather of that morbid, condition of the constitution itself which produces these symptoms, such as chlorosis, anaemia and albuminuria, will be more fully described in a subsequent section. In the same connection it will be shown how the disturbance of the digestion, nutrition and assimilation, is followed by important changes in the constitution and character of the blood and of some of the most important secretions; and how dropsies and other forms of structural disease necessarily supervene.
The diet and regimen of the pregnant female should be carefully attended to; such articles as best agree, should be advised in each individual case; and equal care taken to avoid every unwholesome or irritating influence. It has sometimes been found that the excessive irritability of the stomach in pregnancy is due to the presence of fumes from some neighboring manufactory, which, although insufficient to induce any unpleasant symptoms in the ordinary condition of the female, very powerfully affect her when enceinte. Homoeopathic remedies may antidote these noxious vapors, if they are not too powerful; but in the greater number of such cases a temporary removal from the neighborhood may be necessary.
On eminent Allopathic author, after having advised Opium, Calomel, Magnesia, Soda, Rhubarb, “Stomachic Bitter” combined with carbonic acid gas, and even Ipecac., or some other “mild emetic, in morning sickness, very naively remarks, “Abstinence from the use of medicines may occasionally be had recourse to with much advantage. But then, as if conscience stricken for having made such an admission, and fearing lest he be deemed heterodox, he concludes with the following remark, which at once exhibits the Allopathic orthodoxy and illustrates its wonderful wisdom: “A moderate general bleeding is seldom to be rejected (in the Sickness and Vomiting of Pregnancy) as being either injurious or worthless! Davis.
The following remedies will be found to cover the principal forms of gastric derangement in pregnancy; and the indications given should be confirmed by finding, in the Materia Medica, a full correspondence with the totality of the symptoms and accompanying conditions.
Aconite. Nausea and perhaps vomiting, with thirst and fear of being in crowds, or being in busy places; fear of death. Every thing tastes bitter, except water. Burning sensation, extending from the stomach all the way to the mouth, and long the dorsum of the tongue.
Agaricus. Gastric derangements with itching, burning, and redness of various of the body as if frost-bitten, of the ears, nose, cheeks, fingers, or toes. Much hunger but no appetite. Constipation; the first part of the stool is very hard, the latter part liquid.
Alumina In gastric derangements with inactive states of the rectum, so that even a soft stool has to be urged with much force to cause it to pass off; at the same time, a similar condition often prevails in the oesophagus, somewhere in its course, it may be in the chest, it seems constricted; even small portions of food are swallowed with difficulty. She has to strain at stool in order to urinate. Tingling-itching on the tongue; she must scratch it. Potatoes particularly disagree with her. Loss of taste, heartburn. The peculiar Alumina constipation.
Angustura. Nausea when walking, as if she would faint; she has to sit down. Stitches in the tip of the tongue, painfully aggravated on moving it.
Angustura. Nausea when walking, as if she would faint; she has to sit down. Stitches in the tip of the tongue, painfully aggravated on moving it.
Antimonium c. Nausea and vomiting, or only nausea, with white tongue, watery evacuations with occasional hard lumps. Nausea with vertigo. Frightful vomiting with convulsions. Very persistent vomiting which nothing stops.
Argentum r. The head sympathizes very much; pain, vertigo, &c. The time seems to pass very slowly. The stomach seems as if it would burst with wind, accompanied with great desire to belch, which is accomplished with difficulty, when the air rushes out with great violence.
Arnica. The derangement has been developed by means of a concussion. Sensation of soreness in the stomach, and belchings tasting of rotten eggs.
Arsenicum. Very great debility and exhaustion. Very pale, white look. Bitterness in the mouth, particularly after eating or drinking; sensation as of a stone in the stomach. Cold water seems to lie in the stomach as if it did not assimilate, therefore she cannot drink it, although she desired it. Nightly vomiting. Vomiting of fluids as soon as she takes them. Lienteria; exhausting diarrhoea.
