Ruta Difficult expulsion of stool, with a large protrusion of the rectum; in fact the rectum is very liable to protrude before the stool immediately on attempting to go to stool.
Sabadilla Very difficult stools, with much burning in the abdomen, and a sensation as of something alive in the abdomen. Colic, with violent urging to stool and borborygmus.
Sabina Hard, difficult, painful stools, with pain extending from the back directly to the pubis.
Sarsaparilla Obstinate constipation with violent urging to urinate. Great desire, with contraction of the intestines and excessive pressure from above downwards, as if the bowels would be pressed out, when a small stool is passed; and then the same phenomena recur again.
Sepia Sensation of a weight or of a heavy lump in the anus; this is a very characteristics indication. The stool is very difficult, covered with mucus, and sometimes impossible to pass even with terrible, involuntary strainings. Sepia 200 was stated many years ago to be specific in the constipation of pregnant women.
Silicea Very much urging, the stool often receding after having been partially expelled. The stool is composed of hard lumps.
Stannum It exhausts her to talk much, or to read aloud. It is more difficult and tiresome for her to descend than to ascend, to sit down than to rise up. Although the stool has been fully accomplished, she does not feel relieved.
Staphysagria The more trouble she has with her gums and teeth, the more constipated she becomes.
Sulphur The first effort to stool is often very painful, compelling her to desist. Flushes of heat; heat on the top of the head, coldness of the feet, faintness from eleven to twelve at noon, she can scarcely wait for her dinner.
Sulph. acid. Hard stool, consisting of small black lumps mixed with blood, accompanied by such violent prickings in the anus, that she has to rise up on account of the pain. Sensation of tremor all over the body without trembling.
Thuya Very violent pain in the rectum during stool, so violent that she could hardly pass the stool, with sensation as if she could hardly exist any longer.
Veratrum Costiveness, owing to the hardness and size of the feces, as well as to the inactivity of the rectum. Cold sweat stands on the forehead during the movement of the bowels, and there are much exhaustion and faintness afterwards.
Verbascum Scanty stool, like sheep’s dung, nearly as hard as rocks; expelled with much effort.
Zinc This remedy is particularly indicated where there is remarkable dryness of the stools, which are insufficient and difficult of expulsion.
Diarrhoea may be developed in pregnancy, like constipation or haemorrhoids, from some constitutional dyscrasia, which is called into action by the profoundly vital function of gestation. How much better then to cure this abnormal condition in a radical manner and thus materially improve the health of the mother and the prospects of the child, than to attempt to suppress these discharges by astringents.
The condition of the bowels in which diarrhoea makes its appearance is more like actual disease, than where constipation is present. The diarrhoea may alternate with constipation; and this is quite a common complication. Or it may be of that character which naturally accompanies acidity of the stomach, and great weakness of the digestion. Sometimes it assumes the form of lienteria or discharge of undigested food. In other cases the liver seems involved, and the stools have a bilious appearance; such attacks of diarrhoea may occur in consequence of violent emotions of the mind to which pregnant women are peculiarly liable. The discharges may be easy and painless; or accompanied by severe suffering, soreness, cutting pains and even tenesmus, as if of actual dysentery. This latter form, approaching inflammation of the bowels, is apt to come on after exposure to the night air, especially if not clad with sufficient warmth.
It is not necessary to detail all the symptoms of the various forms of diarrhoea which may appear in pregnant women; the most important of them may be found among the indications and characteristics of the various medicines.
There are three directions which should be insisted upon in prescribing for cases of diarrhoea in pregnancy. First; the patient should carefully abstain from every unsuitable article of food; those which are found by experience to be indigestible or to occasion distress whether immediately followed by aggravation of the diarrhoea or not, should be particularly interdicted. Second; the patient should take care that her whole body is amply protected from the cold and damp, but especially her feet and abdomen. The former should be warm and dry as a matter of course; the latter will often, from becoming so prominent, require extra covering, as of flannel. Third; perfect quiet is absolutely essential in cases of diarrhoea in pregnancy. This condition should indeed be always enjoined in the treatment of diarrhoea, whether it extend to dysentery or inflammation of the bowels or not. But in the case of pregnant women it is if possible still more indispensable. Rest, repose, especially in a horizontal position, will enable the patient to recover her health and strength under the influence of the Homoeopathic remedy, in a very short time; when if she continued moving about, those cases of diarrhoea which at first were mild and painless would become inveterate and greatly aggravated in character.
Sometimes the diarrhoea, not very severe and apparently of no great consequence, which makes its appearance in pregnancy, is but the insidious forerunner of phthisis pulmonalis, otherwise held in abeyance by the influence which the state of pregnancy exerts upon the entire economy of the female system.
We give the chief indications for the remedies which are oftenest called for in the diarrhoea of pregnancy; the remedy should always be made to correspond to the totality of the symptoms; and if the simile is not found in one of those, a more extended search must be instituted in the Materia Medica.
Agaricus m.
The diarrhoeic stools are accompanied with abundance of flatulency, with painful drawing in of the abdomen. The itching, burning and red places upon the skin fade away as the diarrhoea improves.
Alumina Diarrhoea with tenesmus; she has to strain at stool in order to pass water; she cannot pass her urine without straining at stool.
Ammo. mur.
Diarrhoea with soreness of the anus, several pustules are discovered near it.
Angustura Diarrhoea with shivering over the face and goose-flesh.
Anti. c.
Diarrhoea at night and early in the morning, with white tongue. Watery diarrhoea containing hard lumps.
Arnica Involuntary stools with sore and bruised feeling all through her.
Arsenicum Exhausting diarrhoea containing undigested food. She is very weak, the least motion fatigues her very much. The diarrhoea is renewed after eating or drinking. Very offensive diarrhoea.
Asafoetida Watery, liquid stools of the most disgusting smell imaginable; also the same in infants and children.
Aurum Nightly diarrhoea, with much burning in the rectum.
Belladonna Involuntary diarrhoea. The diarrhoeic stool is followed by frequent urging, no more stool being passed. Flushed face; red eyes; throbbing carotids, &c.
Borax v.
Frequent soft, light yellow, slimy stools, with faintness and weakness.
Bryonia Burning diarrhoea. The diarrhoea is worse or aggravated by warm weather. Lips dry and parched; thirst; nausea after eating; nausea on sitting up in bed.
Calcarea c. Much crawling and itching, like ascarides, in the anus. Leucophlegmatic temperament. Does not sleep after three A.M.
Cantharis A constant desire to urinate, with cutting burning pain. Dysenteric diarrhoea.
Capsicum Much burning and smarting in the anus, as it of Cayenne pepper.
Carbo vegetabilis
Much flatulency, with belching which affords only temporary relief.
Causticum Hemorrhoids or fissures, rendering walking almost intolerable.
Cham Hot diarrhoeic stool, smelling like rotten eggs. Painless, green, watery diarrhoea, a mixture of feces and mucus. Nightly diarrhoea with colic, causing her to bend double. In all Chamomilla cases the mental symptoms are about the same, quarrelsome, obstreperous.
Chelidonium Diarrhoea with pain under the inner and lower angle of the right shoulder-blade.
China Diarrhoea of yellow, watery stools, undigested, and with much flatulence. Sensation of distention in the abdomen, which is not relieved by eructations or dejections.
Cocculus Diarrhoea with a sensation in the abdomen as of sharp stones rubbing together.
Colocynth Diarrhoea with colic drawing one double. The abdomen and thighs must often be approximated as much as possible during the stool. Aggravation after eating or drinking.
Conium Heat and burning in the rectum during the stool, and tremulous weakness afterwards. Frequent stitches in the anus between the stools. The urine intermits during its flow; and there is much vertigo, particularly on turning in bed.
Crocus Long, dull stitches near the anus, from time to time, continuous, and painfully affecting the whole nervous system.
