TREATMENT OF INDIGESTION WITH ILLUSTRATE CASES



5. Tea.

CASE VII.-TEA DYSPEPSIA, CURED

By Mercurius sol. Actaea racemosa, ETC.

Emma E., 39, dressmaker, consulted me at the London Homoeopathic Hospital on June 21, 1883, complaining of the following symptoms: Great nervousness; pain in the left side when she ate; sensation as if there was a weight on the shoulders and back, especially when tired; aching in the nape of the neck all day; offensive breath, bleeding gums, bad taste in the month, white tongue; restless sleep. The bowels were regular and the appetite good. She took her meals at regular times, and drank nine cups of tea in a day.

I told her she must give up her tea, and gave her Mercurius sol. 6, in drop doses four times a day.

She returned in a fortnight, and reported that she had reduced her allowance to six cups daily.

The sharp pains she complained of were better than they had been for years, and she slept better; the breath was still offensive. Repeat medicine.

She was not able to attend for a few weeks, and having been cut of medicine, was not so well. She was so very nervous. By this time she had got down to four cups a day. Repeat medicine.

On August 11th she received Actea rac. for headache, and did not return till Oct. 6th, when she reported that the medicine had done her head good, but now she had soreness of the chest, and much flatulence. Carbo. veg. 6, one drop four times a day.

November 3rd.-Has kept well till to-day. Now has palpitation; headache at the back of the head; sore feeling within the head; giddiness; flatulence. Gelsemium 1, one drop four times a day.

On November 17th, a fortnight after, she reported that she had not been so well for years. The head was very much better, and she had hardly any of the palpitation. She had now brought herself to two cups of tea a day. She received more of the medicine, and soon after ceased to attend.

In each instance the medicine given responded admirably to its indications, but I question if she would have received much benefit if she had not, besides, cut down her allowance of tea. It is possible to antidote a poison when the poison is being taken, but it is easier to antidote its effects when it is no longer present. Sometimes the effects of a poison, if not antidoted, will last for years after the last dose has been taken.

CASE VIII.-TEA DYSPEPSIA.

The next case I give not as an example of treatment, but as typical case of the disease. The patient, for some reason or other, did not persevere with the treatment, but she had left me her history, and here I give it :–

M.G., 42, housewife, presented herself at the Homoeopathic Hospital on September 8, 1883.

She complained of pain in the chest, which she had for weeks; bad sleep; pressure on the chest on falling asleep; white tongue; poor appetite; headache across the forehead; she drank much tea, taking it three or four times a day. She felt very ill after it, especially if she took it hot.

Bryonia made no improvement in her case; she had much sickness and retching, and the head was very sore. She did not report herself after the second visit.

Tea produces two sets of symptoms–nervous and dyspeptic, and sometimes both combined. In some it produces fits of low spirits, and no other disorder. When taken to great excess, it causes paralysis. Besides the medicines given in the above reported cases, China, Ferrum, Thuja, and Arsenic are good antidotes to tea poisoning.

6. Arsenic.

CASE IX.-ARSENIC DYSPEPSIA,

CURED BY Bryonia.

Speaking of Arsenic reminds me of a frequent cause of dyspepsia, which I have not particularly specified in the preceding chapter, but which I will illustrate here.

A young married woman came to me some time ago, complaining of symptoms of dyspepsia, chiefly weight at the stomach and pains through from the pit of the stomach to the back between the shoulders after everything she ate. She was pale and her lips were somewhat pallid. The tongue was red, with a white, silvery coating; the bowels were confined. She was temperate in all her habits.

I suspected Arsenic at once. She said that her husband suffered from similar symptoms, and I told her to bring me some of her wall-paper, giving her Bryonia to take until she came next. When she returned she reported very great improvement in the symptoms. This might have made me doubt my first diagnosis, did I now know that it is possible to cure an effect sometimes even whilst the cause remains. I examined the paper, and then found Arsenic in great quantity. When the paper was taken away, both she and her husband became perfectly well.

7. Cold

CASE X.—DYSPEPSIA FROM COLD, CURED BY Carbo veg.

Exposure to cold has the effect of stopping digestion, the result of which is, in a general way, to produce a great quantity of gas in the stomach and intestines.

A professional man, riding home on the top of an omnibus, facing a cold wind, felt pains in his chest and body of a sharp, cutting kind. He had experienced the same thing on previous occasions, and had at times suffered off and on for days from weak digestion, the symptoms returning after every meal. On this particular occasion, a few drops of Carbo veg. 6 relieved him at once of all his trouble.

CASE XI.-DYSPEPSIA FROM COLD-Plumbum.

A young lady, after leaving off a flannel skirt, for some obscure reason, in cold weather, was seized with violent pains in her body, aggravated after everything she ate, no matter what. The pains kept her awake at night, and she had cramp in her calves and constipation. After some remedies had been given without benefit, Plumbum 6 cured her on this occasion, and also subsequently when a similar imprudence brought on a renewal of the attack.

8. Bad Air.

CASE XII.–DYSPEPSIA FROM BAD AIR.

Wm. D., 33, lithographer, consulted me at the Homoeopathic Hospital for indigestion, flatulence, inability to sleep, loss of memory, and constipation. He was temperate and did not smoke. He worked much over gas, and to this I attribute the greater part of the symptoms. Nux vomica made a great alteration for the better in all his symptoms, and he did not return till two months later. Then he had a return of the old symptoms with piles, and again Nux vomica, with a dose of Sulphur at bedtime, put him right.

9. Vinegar Dyspepsia.

When acidity and flatulence are the leading symptoms of this form of dyspepsia, Carbo veg. is the best remedy. When the wasting is extreme, Iodine must be given.

10. Tight-lacing Dyspepsia.

The symptoms of this kind of dyspepsia are very varied, and will call for a great variety of remedies. Of course, the chief remedy is to discard stays and let the ribs have their natural motion, and the abdominal organs room to act properly. Nux vomica, Carbo veg., Bryonia, Ignatia, and Sulphur must be consulted.

II. Dyspepsia from Nervous Debility.

CASE XIII.-DYSPEPSIA FROM NERVOUS SHOCK-Iodine.

A young lady of gouty family, but enjoying good health, active, well nourished, and somewhat stout, met with a severe nervous shock. From that time her health failed. She lost appetite, all food becoming distasteful to her; she had frequent attacks of vomiting and, from being stout, wasted rapidly. She had been under treatment before coming to me, and had received some benefit, but not much. After trying one or two medicines, I put her on Iodine, and on this she began to recover steadily. After taking this some time she was restored to a large measure of health and comfort, though when she left off treatment she was not quite the same as she was before the shock.

This is one type of dyspepsia from nervous weakness. Business causes and continued anxieties are equally prejudicial to digestion, and are best removed by such medicines as Ignatia.

But there is another and often more serious kind of dyspepsia, where the disease is due not to mental but to physical causes. The usual history is the acquirement of evil habits at school, young boys being led on by those older and wickeder than themselves. These habits are indulged in secretly, until something happens to startle the youth into a sense of his criminal folly.

CASE XIV. —DYSPEPSIA RESULTING

FROM NERVOUS DEBILITY.

A youth with the above history consulted me a year or so ago for his indigestion. He had great flatulence, which he was continually belching, acidity, and heartburn, great sleepiness (which was a serious trouble to him, as he was working for an examination). He had queer feelings in his head, and had attacks of nausea, but did not vomit. His bowels were constipated. He came of a dyspeptic family, and had been allowed to eat indigestible things when a child, but that was not the cause of this present attack, though both circumstances helped to make it the difficult case it was to treat.

There were certain things that made his symptoms worse. The eructations were worse after eating water-melon or rice-pudding, and much worse after blanc-mange and custard.

He had a voracious appetite.

I put him on a very strict regimen, which he faithfully followed. He had been in the habit of dining in the middle of the day, and taking tea in the afternoon about four hours after his dinner, and a supper late.

John Henry Clarke
John Henry Clarke MD (1853 – November 24, 1931 was a prominent English classical homeopath. Dr. Clarke was a busy practitioner. As a physician he not only had his own clinic in Piccadilly, London, but he also was a consultant at the London Homeopathic Hospital and researched into new remedies — nosodes. For many years, he was the editor of The Homeopathic World. He wrote many books, his best known were Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica and Repertory of Materia Medica