In order to determine the choice in each individual case of pyrosis, heartburn, or acidity, study the following remedies, and compare them with those already more fully stated under gastric derangements.
I. Agaricus, Anti. c., Arnica, Arsen., Chamomilla, China. II. Alumina, Ambr., Argent., Baryta, Belladonna, Borax, Cantharis, Causticum, Graphites, Helleb., Hepar, Ignat., Nux moschata, Petroleum, Phosphorus acid, Sabad., Silicea, Sulphur, Sulphur acid., Zincum met. III. Ammo.c., Capsic., Carbo animalis, Carbo vegetabilis, China, Dulcamara, Jodi., Lycop., Mercurius, Natrum mur., Nitric acid, Phosphorus, Pulsatilla, Sepia., Valerian, Veratrum, IV. Calcarea c., Conium, Crocus, Nux v.
III. INTESTINAL AFFECTIONS.
Constipation- This is so frequent an attendant of pregnancy that by some it has been deemed almost its natural consequence. But this affection is much more apt to occur, and is at the same time much more troublesome and inveterate in pregnant females who from habits of life and constitutional peculiarities are predisposed or subject to it in their ordinary condition.
The mechanical pressure exerted upon the rectum, by which its calibre is diminished and its action paralyzed, and the habits of inactivity in which many pregnant females indulge, especially in cities, combine to produce costiveness. And as a final result of the constipation, hemorrhoids, either blind or bleeding, appear in many cases. And the very great amount of vital force consumed in the womb, may also tend to draw away from the intestinal canal some of the energy that might have sustained its regular and daily evacuations.
The indications for hygienic treatment will be suggested by the more apparent causes of the difficulty. Not only will the constipation itself be avoided in many cases by suitable and active exercise in the open air, but many of the attendant complications and consequences, such as headache and rush of blood to the head, may in the same way be escaped. The remedies will be indicated by the nature of the discharges and by the accompanying symptoms and totality of the patient’s condition. The constipation being but one of the forms of development of the constitutional psora, in many instances, whether the most prominent symptom or not, requires a careful, radical treatment, by which not only will the present difficulty be relieved, but the general health improved, so that this trouble will not appear in succeeding pregnancies. The following remedies, as well as those detailed under gastric disturbances, should be carefully studied and compared with the totality of the patient’s symptoms.
Aconite Where there is much thirst; a general dryness of the skin; a constant restlessness; and where the same fears appear that are mentioned in this remedy under other gastric disorders.
Alumina Much effort must be employed for the expulsion even of a soft stool; so great is the apparent inaction of the rectum.
Agaricus m. The stool is very hard and knotty at first, then it becomes soft, and finally diarrhoeic, especially if there are red, itching and burning, frost-bite looking places on the feet, hands or face.
Ammo. m.
Stools large, hard, crumbling as they pass the verge of the anus.
Anacardium Frequent and ineffectual urging, the rectum feeling as if stopped up with a plug; if the stool does not pass soon, she feels colicky pains in the abdomen.
Anti. c. Sensation as if a copious stool were going to pass, when only flatus comes forth, but finally a very hard stool is evacuated.
Apis.
Stools seldom and very difficult, with stinging pains and sensation in the abdomen as if of something tight which would break if too much effort were used.
Arnica In cases where an obstinate constipation has remained ever since some severe concussion.
Belladonna Much tendency of blood to the head; flushed face; red eyes; throbbing of the carotids; heat in the head; intolerance of noise and of light. With Belladonna high, I have succeeded in cases like this, when the most violent doses of the Allopathic school had utterly failed.
Bryonia The stool is mostly dark, dry and hard as if burned; and is evacuated with much difficulty. The lips are parched and cracked; and there is much thirst.
Calc c. Indicated in leucophlegmatic temperaments. Stools very large hard; sometimes in part undigested. She does not sleep after three A.M.
Carbo vegetabilis Tough, scanty, not properly cohering stool; it seems to break off, and in consequence to become interrupted, and rendered more difficult of expulsion.
Causticum Constipation, in which the effort to effect a passage causes heat, redness and perspiration on the face.
Chelidonium In cases accompanied by pain under the inner and lower angle of the right shoulder-blade; stools like sheep’s dung.
China Hard, intermitting stool, with sensation of tightness and fulness in the abdomen; also with burning and heat in the head.
Cocculus Hard stool every other day, expelled with great difficulty. The lower extremities are nearly paralyzed.
Conium Frequent and ineffectual urging; or a small quantity is evacuated each time; much vertigo, particularly on turning in bed. The urine intermits in its flow, at each emission.
Graphites Large, hard, knotty stool, the knots being united by mucous threads, and much mucus after the stool. Itching blotches about the body, which emit a glutinous fluid. Sometimes the stools are only the size of lumbricoides.
Hepar Constipation resembling that of Alumina; Hepar may be given in preference where the skin symptoms or others, seem to indicate it more particularly, for instance, if eruptions appear on the bend of the elbow and on the popliteal space.
Ignatia Difficult stool, causing prolapse of the rectum. Empty feeling at the pit of the stomach; sighing and full of grief.
Jodium Constipation with ineffectual urging; but the stool passes with great facility soon after drinking some cold milk.
Kali carb.
Unsuccessful desire for stool, with a sensation as if the rectum were too weak to expel it. She feels very strangely and badly an hour before stool. Many itching pains in and about the anus and rectum during and after stool.
Laurocerasus Frequent attacks of suffocation about the heart, so that she must gasp for breath.
Ledum Great want of vital heat; she can hardly keep warm even with much wrapping; in constipation, where this state of the system prevails, this remedy will be found useful.
Lycopodium She says her abdomen is like a yeast-pot, so great a fermentation goes on there. Borborygmus and gurgling, especially in the left hypochondrium. Much red sand in the urine. Distressing pain in the back before urinating.
Magnes. mur.
Large, difficult stools, crumbling as they pass the verge of the anus.
Mercurius Constant and ineffectual desire for stool. Scorbutic condition of the gums. Salivation; sore throat; soreness of the gums and other mercurial symptoms.
Natrum mur.
Hard, difficult stool; and inactivity of the rectum. Bad headaches, always on waking in the morning. Craves salt. Aversion to bread. Very vivid and fearful dreams. Sore places in the mouth, which are very painful, sensitive even to liquids.
Nitric acid Hard, difficult, scanty stool. Urine exceedingly offensive, like horses’ urine. She sleeps badly in the latter part of the night.
Nux mosch Great dryness in the mouth and tongue, which sticks to the palate; and slow and difficult stools.
Nux vomica
In females of sedentary habits; accustomed to the use of much coffee, wine and rich and high-seasoned food generally. Stools large and difficult, or small, frequent and painful.
Oleander First diarrhoea, then hard, difficult stool.
Opium Stools always in round, black, hard balls, in such cases Opium in the higher preparations never fails.
Phosph.
Stools narrow, dry, long and difficult to expel, more like a dog’s stool.
Phosph. acid.
She is obliged to rise frequently at night to pass off large quantities of colorless urine. The stools are hard and in pieces.
Platina The stools adhere to the parts like soft clay, and pass off with difficulty on that account.
Plumbum Constipation, with violent colic. The stools are usually composed of little balls, compacted together like sheep’s dung. Sensation as if of a string drawing the abdomen in towards the back.
Pulsatilla Obstinate constipation in mild, gentle, tearful females, with very nauseous, bad taste in the mouth in the morning; so very bad that she must wash her mouth immediately on waking.
Ratanhia Most obstinate and long-continued constipation, with urging feelings in the small of the back, as if a stool would come down.
Rhododendron She is too rheumatic, and all her pains reappear at the approach of and during the continuance of rough, stormy and windy weather. The stool is not so hard, but it is very tardy, requiring a good deal of urging.
Rhus She is rheumatic; has restless nights, on account of not being able to lie long in any position, although she feels so very comfortable for a short time after every change. She has almost constant tenesmus with nausea and tearing in the intestines.
