SUGGESTION FOR “A MODEL MATERIA MEDICA”



Nux Vomica likewise causes changes in secretions and some structural alterations.

In nearly every case in which it is indicated, gastric and enteric disturbances are present. Functions are performed defectively, not so much from atony, as from derangement in the normal order of muscular contractility with over-susceptibility to even normal stimuli. This universal quality arises from the tendency of the drug to increase reflex-action (1).

Many ailments are worse in the morning and are made worse by exertion, by exposure to cold air, by leading a sedentary life (1), and for mental exertion (1 19). Complaints originating in an excess of stimulants, condiments, or in so-called “high- living”. Hence, many ailments are due to abdominal plethora, or to sudden suppression of haemorrhoidal flow.

MIND AND SENSORIUM (3)

Over-impressionable from internal or external sources, hence irritable, and even if sad and tearful, still morose or angry.

Feels faint, nauseated and has flushes of heat with the mental symptoms.

Intellectual labour impossible or effected with difficulty; many ailments result (19).

Anxiety with delirious fancies at night-with orgasm of blood, worse in the morning (18) with suicidal impulse in hypochondriasis.

Delirium Tremens with over-sensitiveness and malicious vehemence; marked trembling of the hands. Can bear no contradiction or even gentle persuasions. Reproaches others; quarrelsome; angry; scornful. Dreads intellectual work, if it requires thinking, worse in the morning; slow flow of ideas; makes mistakes in speaking. Cerebral hyperaemia in vigorous, tense-fibred, irascible persons, or when caused by mental labor, abuse of Alcohol, coffee, highly-seasoned foods, etc.; also from suppressed haemorrhoidal discharges; Apoplexy from similar cause (5). Softening of the brain. Feeling of intoxication, dizziness, with heaviness, worse in the morning or when stooping. Confused feeling and fullness, worse after a carousal in the morning. (18), after dinner: worse when the head is erect, though bending forward causes heaviness in the forehead.

Vertigo (6) as if the brain was turning in a circle, momentary loss of consciousness; feels like falling to the side or backwards. Caused by abdominal plethora, and then worse in the

morning (18) or after meals; the face is red or the cheeks flushed on a swallow ground. Also caused by mental exertion, by drinking wine, etc. Nervous vertigo from strong odors, after loss of sleep, after loss of animal fluids with obscuration of sight, ringing in the ears, and fainting.

Head (3, 7)

Headaches originate in irritation of brain tissue; or more commonly reflexly from hepatic and abdominal plethora, from gastric affection and constipation. They are most frequently situated in the forehead, or in the occiput. Characteristic sensations are: fullness; bursting; bruised soreness; tension; pressure. The pains increase from morning (18) to noon. and then decrease towards evening.

Stunning headache after eating, in the sunshine, in the morning(18). Pains seem to be in the middle of the brain. Internal soreness as from the blows of an axe.

Congestive headaches; burning in the forehead, whole head, with hot and bloated face, body chilly; feels, as if the skull would burst; throbbing. Worse mornings (18), moving the head, walking in the open air, studying (19) and after eating. Better at rest and in a warm place.

Clavus, worse from coffee. Headache in the middle of the brain, worse on awaking in the morning (18). Periodical headaches.

Tension, drawing in the forehead as if pressed in; worse at night and in the morning (18) and from exposing the head to cold air.

Headache pressing in the forehead; stitches in the left temple, left eye, or in the occiput; worse in the morning (18) on awaking, or, begins early and reaches the acme at noon. All worse from late suppers, mixed diet, debauchery, mental labor (19) sedentary habits; accompanied with nausea and sour vomiting.

Head feels full, heavy, worse from stooping, worse from want of sleep.

Brain seems to shake when one walks.

Scalp sensitive to touch; liable to take cold from dry winds or drafts. Fetid sweat of one side of the head and face, with dread of uncovering the head; sweat relieves the pains; parts feel cold to the touch.

SPECIAL SENSES (3)

The senses are rendered over-sensitive, are perverted and finally are destroyed. The sense of taste is not intensified proportionately to the others, though even here natural taste of food despite Perverted taste from disordered stomach, shows the characteristic tendency of the drug.

EYES

Retinal hyperaesthesia with pains at the top of the head; sleeplessness. Vision sensitive. Sees objects more distinctly.

Bright, glittering objects in the field of vision.

Photophobia, worse in the morning (18); in Keratitis, Scrofulous Ophthalmia, etc.

Dilated pupils with irritation of the spine.

Amblyopia Potatorum. Blurred vision, worse when overheated. (See also Headaches.) Atrophy of the optic nerve (Nux or Strychnia).

Biting, as from salt (17), worse in the external canthi, with lachrymation.

Conjunctivitis, especially if the cornea is involved; also when ecchymoses are found in the conjunctival tissue, or when blood oozes from between the lids. Eyes swollen, red streaks in the whites, pressive-tensive pains.

Blepharitis, smarting and dryness (17): margins of lids feel, as if rubbed sore. (See Skin.) Worse from touch, and in the morning (18).

Spasms of the muscles. Eyes wild, upturned, or in constant motion. Paralysis of the rectus externus.

EARS Sounds reverberate.

Noises: ringing; hissing; roaring in the morning(18).

Ear-ache; lancinating, pinching pains.

NOSE

Over-sensitive to odors, even fainting.

Illusory smells; of Sulphur, bad cheese, a smoking candle-wick, etc.

Nose-bleed during sleep or in the morning; preceded by red cheeks, headache; or accompanying abdominal plethora.

Catarrh (18): mucous membranes are irritated and inflamed, with a sensation of smarting (17) conjunctival roughness and rawness (throat). Discharges are scanty, watery and acrid, thick and adherent, or bloody and clotted.

Colds are contracted by exposure to dry, cold air, or by a draft. Gastric symptoms are usually present. The air-passages feel stuffed. Diphtheria has been relieved when the breath was putrid, and an undisturbed nap relieved.

Stuffed nose even with watery or thick mucous secretion. Severe pains in the frontal sinuses. Sneezing. Itching along the Eustachian tubes. Pharynx feels constricted. Throat and larynx, as if scraped and raw.

Small aphthous ulcers in the mouth, stomacace.

Cough dry, painful, caused by irritation about the plate, in the throat or larynx, by constriction, or by adherent mucus in the trachea, or by eating; worse when exerting the mind (19), on ascending, in the evening on lying down, or in the morning (18); with bursting headache, bruised pain in the abdominal walls, tightness of the chest.

GASTRO-ENTERIC SYMPTOMS (3, 9)

Irritation of stomach and bowels leads to irregular and perverted functioning, and to abnormal cravings (10). Hence arise excesses with consequent over-stimulation, with abnormal plethora, resulting in dyspepsia, neuroses, piles and many reflex phenomena. There are many nervous symptoms; such as cardialgia, colic, bearing-down etc. The mucous membrane is affected very much as in other parts, with smarting (17) rawness and scanty secretions or clotted bloody discharge. Most of the ailments are markedly exacerbated in the morning (18).

Face pale, yellow; flushed red, the skin being still sallow; yellow about the mouth.

Toothache, stinging in decayed teeth; tearing in cold air; worse from exerting the minds (19). Gum-boils.

Tongue dry in the morning (18) without thirst; still there may be much saliva in the fauces. Tongue white or yellow coated, worse near the root. Saliva increased.

Taste bitter, putrid, sour; food has natural taste. The mucus hawked is bitter or putrid.

Appetite wanting, though there may be hunger. Hungry 24 hours before a dyspeptic attack. Craves sauces, condiments, beer, fats, meats, lime (11). Aversion to food. Ailments from coffee, milk, beer, brandy, cold foods (11).

Thirst, but water nauseates. Aversion to drinks (11).

Eructations sour, bitter; also with spasmodic constriction of the oesophagus. Heart-burn. Water-brash.

Hiccough; also when worse from hot drinks.

Nausea, qualmishness and faint-like weakness. Vomiting with marked retching (12) and deathly nausea. Vomit is sour, bilious, foetid, slimy, bloody, or excrementitious.

Distended stomach and abdomen (14), worse after eating. Cannot bear the pressure of the clothing about the hypochondria. Flatulency, abdominal plethora, etc.

Pains (13) pinching, clawing, spasmodic; cramping; pressing as from a stone; accompanied with nausea; with pains in the back, pressure between the scapule etc. Gastralgia. Colic, flatulent, haemorrhoidal from cold or from indigestion.

Flatus incarcerated; presses up under the ribs or downwards or to rectum and bladder, with tormenting but ineffectual urging to defecation and maturation. Liver swollen, sensitive painful. Congested liver of drunkards (15).

E. A. Farrington
E. A. Farrington (1847-1885) was born in Williamsburg, NY, on January 1, 1847. He began his study of medicine under the preceptorship of his brother, Harvey W. Farrington, MD. In 1866 he graduated from the Homoeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania. In 1867 he entered the Hahnemann Medical College, graduating in 1868. He entered practice immediately after his graduation, establishing himself on Mount Vernon Street. Books by Ernest Farrington: Clinical Materia Medica, Comparative Materia Medica, Lesser Writings With Therapeutic Hints.