Aloe


James Tyler Kent describes the symptoms of the homeopathic medicine Aloe in great detail and compares it with other homeopathy remedies. …


Generalities: Aloe, much like Aesculus, has a peculiar engorgement of the veins, causing stiffness and fullness throughout the body, but the greatest disturbance is in the veins of the portal system, with great fullness in the region of the liver, and abdominal, rectal and intestinal fullness.

This is associated with hemorrhoids. It has abdominal pains that drive him to stool like Nux vomica, cutting, cramping pains around the navel.

Pains about the navel that shoot down towards the rectum, cutting like knives. Dysenteric and diarrheic troubles. In the attacks of diarrhea there is gushing of thin, yellow, offensive, excoriating feces, which burn like fire, and the anus is sore.

Stools: He holds the stool with difficulty, does not dare take his mind off the sphincter because as soon as he does so the stool will escape. He cannot let the least quantity of flatus escape, because with it there will be a rush of faeces.

With the Aloe diarrhea the abdomen is distended with gas, causing a feeling of fullness and tightness, and he must go often to stool. Little ones, soon after they begin to walk, will drop all over the carpet, involuntarily, little yellow drops of mucus and faeces. The mother sometimes punishes the little ones, but they cannot help it, they cannot hold the stool, as it is passed involuntarily.

There is a lack of control of the sphincter. This state is not always confined to diarrhea, because sometimes children will go around dropping, involuntarily, little, hard, round marble-like pieces of stool. They do not even know the stool has passed. There is relaxation about the rectum and protrusion of the anus, with bleeding piles. Every mouthful of food hurries him to stool; drinking water will often hurry him to stool.

Diarrhoea from eating oysters out of season. You might be disposed to give Lycopodium because in the text books poisoning from oysters is laid down under Lyc. I do not know that you would be justified in saying poisoning from oysters in season is Lycopodium, and out of season is Aloe, but there is a tremous poisoning effect about oysters in the hot weather and in the breeding season that is not found at any other time.

A great many people become nauseated, bloat up, purge tremendously, vomit everything for several days after eating oysters.

Now, when that group of symptoms is present Lycopodium will cure it and will remove the tendency to get sick from oysters.

But if you notice those who get sick have a cholera-like trouble from eating oysters in the hot season, you will find that that is where Aloe is the remedy.

Relations: This remedy is not well proved, hence I have first referred to the things it is used for clinically. It is more nearly related to Sulphur in its venous condition than to any other remedy. If you study together, side by side, Kali bichromicum, Sulphur and Aloe, you will be astonished at their wonderful relation to the stomach and bowels.

Mind: Among the few mental symptoms we notice,

“She knew she would die in a week.”

“Life is a burden.”

“Disinclined to move.”

Very little is brought out by which we can distinguish it; only a few things common to many remedies are given.

The Aloe patient is extremely excitable when under the influence of pain, and the pains are generally in the abdomen. Colic-like pains, flatulent pains in the abdomen, that drive to despair; be becomes extremely irritable and excited in his attacks of colic.

A little symptom that is somewhat striking is, “Hates people, repels everyone.”

Head: The head congestion, which occurs during the bowel disturbance, is a sort of venous stasis such as is found in the portal system.

“Headache across forehead.”

“Headaches aggravated from heat, ameliorated from cold applications.”

Aggravation from heat and relief from cold runs through Aloe.

He wants to be in a cool room; feels hot and flushed; the skin is often hot and dry; he wants to be uncovered at night in bed; burning of the extremities, hot hands and cold feet, or cold bands and hot feet; these alternate. The head feels hot and he wants something cool upon it. This is from the heat of the surface, not fever.

Sensation of heat in the surface, feeling of congestion and fullness of the surface of the body; fullness and engorged veins all over the body. Bleedings are common in this remedy, venous oozings from the nose, the bowels, the bladder; bleeding in general. The veins become varicose and the skin is hot.

Much heat in the orifices of the body; the eyes, mouth and throat are hot and burn. There is a sensation of dryness, burning and excoriation about the anus.

Stomach and bowels: Under “Eating and Drinking” we find “Soon after supper growling in abdomen.”

There are colicky pains in the bowels from eating and drinking when there is no diarrhea, even when there is a state of constipation.

This remedy is useful for the complaints of old beer drinkers. Diarrhea brought on from drinking beer. In persons who have a diarrhea every time they drink beer you will most likely find that Aloe will agree with the symptoms, but sometimes it will be Kali bichromicum, for these two remedies are very similar as to their stomach and bowel symptoms.

“Belching with oppression of stomach.”

Here is another instance of the tendency to capillary and venous engorgement. “Vomiting of blood” and blood from the bowels.

There is much pain in the hepatic region, burning and heat, etc. Mostly in the right hypochondrium you will find distension and fullness. It is pre-eminently a liver medicine. It is not as deep in its action as Sulphur.

You will often find that Aloe will serve as a palliative when it will have to be followed by Sulphur, Acid Sulphuricum, Kali bichromicum or Sepia, the medicines that follow Aloe and are complementary to it, finishing its work.

Aloe will make a good beginning in these liver troubles when there are great fullness, distension, stitching pains in the region of the liver and a dry, hot, burning skin, with no increase of temperature.

Fever and skin: Aloe has some fever, but this sensation of heat of the skin and dryness is without fever and is such as is found in psoric patients. The proving has not been sufficiently extensive to demonstrate whether Aloe produces eruption to any extent or not, but if such could be proved this would place it among the anti-psorics.

It is not a deep long-acting constitutional remedy like Sulphur, and yet it is not so short-acting as Aconite or Belladonna. Complaints come on only with a moderate degree of rapidity. It may be associated very well with Bryonia. Bryonia does not go so deeply into the life substance as Sulphur.

Fullness and distension: Perhaps one of the most striking features of the abdominal state is the fullness, distension and rumbling. It seems as if the abdomen would burst and the rumbling is so great that it can be heard by anyone in the room. It keeps on one continuous gurgling. The stool gurgles out with a noisy rumbling, like water out of a bung-hole.

The text of the earlier writers speaks of it as a sputtering, for while the stool is passing out it is accompanied by much flatus which gurgles and sputters. The abdomen seems to be as much distended as ever even after great quantities of flatus have passed. There is no relief. The pain is especially felt across the abdomen, about the hips.

Great distension as if the abdomen would burst across the transverse colon, and also in the ascending and descending colon; pain, gurgling, rumbling, heaviness, and feeling of pressure outwards.

“Twisting and griping pain in the upper abdomen, around the navel, compelling him to sit bent up which relieves.”

“Feeling of weakness in abdomen as if diarrhea would result.”

The weakness is sometimes very great, so much so that he is compelled to go to bed with the diarrhea, and you will often mistake it for Podophyllum, so great is the exhaustion. Podophyllum has great distension, tremendous gushing, much flatulence, great rumbling in the bowel and the trouble comes on at 4 o’clock in the morning.

Aloe is like Sulph. again, in that it drives him out of bed in the early morning with diarrhoea, and there are times when be puts the feet out from beneath the covers to cool them off; the soles of the feet burn and he uncovers them. Griping in the abdomen, feeling of weakness in the abdomen.

“Painfulness in whole abdomen, especially in sides and along both sides of navel.”

So sensitive is the abdomen that he can find no comfortable position.

“Dull, abdominal pain as after taking cold, morning and evening repeatedly.”

Female: Now here are abdominal symptoms that relate to the condition of the woman and not to diarrhea.

“Feeling as if a plug was wedged in between symphysis pubis and os coccygis”

“Labor-like pains in the groins and loins worse when standing.”

Aloe has cured prolapsus of the uterus of long standing when it was associated with fullness, heat of the surface of the body, tendency to morning diarrhea, dragging down of the uterus and sensation of a plug wedged in between the symphysis pubis and coccyx.

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.