Chills


Chills. Case I.- W.B. says he has had several chills and that they are increasing in severity. The first he noticed of his departure from health was…


Case I.- W.B. says he has had several chills and that they are increasing in severity. The first he noticed of his departure from health was a peculiar burning of his skin, his face swelled and looked red, especially about the eyes. He thought it was erysipelas. The burning and itching were intense. It felt so badly that he could not resist pinching and snatching. His eyes closed from the rapid swelling and neck got too big for his collar; over the chest the itching and burning were almost maddening. He applied cold water to his face which gave him comfort and reduced the swelling so he could open his eyes. In spite of the itching and burning he must keep in a warm room. In spite of the local relief from cold the general state was made worse from cold. The urticaria went back and the chills came, on beginning in the hands and feet. Chill 12 to 1 for several days, then 10:30 a. m. every other day. Chills begin by a dry cough which lasts until fever is marked. He climbed upon the heater and piled clothing over him during the chill and did not become even comfortably warm until the fever warmed him. Thirst only during chill, for large quantities of water. Bones ache during chill and fever. Fingers cold and dead during chill and the numbness wears off during the fever. Gushing diarrhoea during chill. Fever is not very marked and there is no sweat. During apyrexia, he must wear heavy clothing to keep warm; he is much affected by weather changes. Great restlessness day and night. The amelioration from warmth is a marked feature of his whole case. Rhus tox 1m. cured. No more chills.

The beginner might think of Apis in the above case on account of the urticaria and the thirst during the chill, but there was no suffocation attending the, eruption, and the amelioration from warmth must exclude apis. Rhus. has no characteristic place for a chill to begin nor special time, but the gushing diarrhoea and aggravation from cold generally and more especially the chill beginning with a dry cough must point to Rhus. as the most appropriate remedy.

Where there is a gushing diarrhoea during chill or fever, and urticaria, Elaterium should be consulted. It is characteristic of Hepar to have urticaria during the chill, of Rhus, Ignatia, and Apis during the fever, Rhus, Hepar, and Apis during apyrexia, of Elaterium after the chills have been suppressed. But I have never seen the urticaria crop out incompletely during the apyrexia and seem to get relief by a gushing diarrhoea, in cases cured by Elaterium. It has been only a clinical observation.

James Tyler Kent
James Tyler Kent (1849–1916) was an American physician. Prior to his involvement with homeopathy, Kent had practiced conventional medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. He discovered and "converted" to homeopathy as a result of his wife's recovery from a serious ailment using homeopathic methods.
In 1881, Kent accepted a position as professor of anatomy at the Homeopathic College of Missouri, an institution with which he remained affiliated until 1888. In 1890, Kent moved to Pennsylvania to take a position as Dean of Professors at the Post-Graduate Homeopathic Medical School of Philadelphia. In 1897 Kent published his magnum opus, Repertory of the Homœopathic Materia Medica. Kent moved to Chicago in 1903, where he taught at Hahnemann Medical College.