ANAC.-Semecarpus Anacardium. Duration of Action; 30 days in chronic diseases. COMPARE WITH. Aconite, Arsenicum, Calcarea, Nux. v., Oleand. ANTIDOTES. Camph., Coffea, Juglans.
CLINICAL REMARKS.
HAHNEMANN.
“The following symptoms indicate the use of Anacardium with tolerable certainty; Hypochondriac, sullen mood; depression of spirits; dread of men; fearfulness; apprehension of near death; deficiency of moral feeling (Depravity, flagitiousness, inhumanity, hardheartedness); sensation as if he had two will, s one of which repels him from what the other leads him to do; sensation as if the spirit were disunited from the body; desolate emptiness of the head; headache pressing from the temple toward the eyes; headache in the occiput, arising from wrong stepping and great noise. Weakness and dimness of the eyes; nets and dark spots before the eyes; painful swelling of the ear; itching in the eats; running at the ears; grumbling of the ears; roaring in the ears; surdity; bleeding at the nose; fetid odor from the
mouth, without his perceiving it; accumulation of water in the mouth, feculent taste in the mouth; violent thirst; want of appetite; nausea early in the morning; weakness of the stomach; difficult digestion; oppression at the pit of the stomach, early in the morning on waking up; oppression at the liver; hardness of the abdomen; blood with the stool; varices of the rectum, sometimes painful; itching of the arms; humor oozing out at the rectum; burning in the glands before and after micturition; involuntary erections during the day; there is but little enjoyment in coition; leucorrhoea with itching and soreness; feeling of dryness in the nose; obstruction of the nose; chronic coryza, and discharge of mucus from the nose; expectoration when coughing; rattling in the larynx, when lying on one side; stitches and heaviness in the forearm; tensive pain and weakness in the arm; trembling of the right hand; burning in the soles of the feet; weight in the limbs, especially in the knees; tremulous lassitude; want of irritability of the skin, which cannot be excited into itching or becoming moist by the use of resins; sensitiveness to cold and draughts of air; catching cold easily; falling asleep late; anxious dreams; chilliness; sweat when sitting. ”
Camphor and Spirits of Nitre do not seem to act sufficiently as antidotes; Coffea-cruda is a powerful antidote against the anger and the vehemence consequence upon the use of Anacardium.
NOACK AND TRINKS.
“The `Confectio-anacardina seu sapientium’ has been celebrated as a distinguished remedy against weakness of mind, memory, and the senses. Nevertheless, R.A. Vogel (`Hist. Materia Medorrhinum, p.276) remarks: That `Caspar Hoffmann has called this confection of the wise a confection of fools, because many had lost their memory, and had become mad on account of using it too often and inconsiderately.’ Hence it was only the improper and too frequent use of Anacardium that made it hurtful; if applied correctly it became curative.”.
GENERAL SYMPTOMS.
Drawing and pains in almost every part of the body. General aching in the interior of the whole body. Sensation as if all the bones were bruised, early in the morning, when lying in bed, with stiffness of the nape of the neck and the small of the back, and headache in the forehead and temples; relieved on rising. Repeated lacerating, in paroxysms, simultaneously through the upper and lower extremities. Heaviness in the left upper and lower extremity when walking. Highest degree of debility, he can scarcely move his hands; he trembles from every motion. Very faint from going up stairs. A short journey on foot completely exhausts him.- plus – Paralysis of some parts. Panting, languishing condition, like paralysis, his legs totter when standing; painful weakness of the feet, when sitting. Weariness of the limbs, as from walking too much, and sleepiness as from great weakness.*Catches cold easily, and is very sensitive to currents of air.
SKIN.
The skin of the body is insensible to itching stimulants. Corrosive stinging itching upon the body. Burning itching, principally at night, increased by scratching. Pain, as of a boil, in the affected parts.
SLEEP.
Disposition to sleep. Uneasy sleep, at night, with frequent tossing about. Light sleep, with frequent waking. Sound sleep until nine o’clock in the forenoon. Slumber, day and night, with great heat and thirst; the skin feels hot; he grumbles and sighs when asleep. Constant stupor, without dreams; after waking, he is quite stupid; hot skin with red cheeks and cold forehead, although he complains of heat in the head; at the same time, violent thirst and dryness in the throat. He lies in a state of dreaming, night and day, without sleeping, full of anxious
thoughts about his daily business. Vivid dreams at night; about fire; dreams about dead bodies; anxious dreams, full of danger; he screams anxiously when asleep. Startings, as in affright, when lying in bed waking, in the evening. Violent drawing in the abdomen, and in the extremities, with subsequent burning, followed by pain in the bones when touched, so that she cannot fall asleep, in consequence of the pain. Diarrhoea at night, with subsequent constipation. Cramp in the calves, at night. Twitches of the mouth and fingers, when asleep.*Pressure in the pit of stomach early in the morning, on waking.
FEVER.
Chilliness several minutes, after dinner; continual shivering. even in a warm room. The open air is disagreeable to him. Chilliness and want of appetite. Icy-cold shiverings; chilliness over the whole body, as if he had caught cold in the wet; horripilations over the whole body, with heat in the face, without thirst. Feverish uneasiness in the afternoon, as is felt during a cold, accompanied by languor, and tremor of the limbs. Quickly-passing heat in the face and brain, in the afternoon, with redness of the cheeks; heat in the face, with nausea and heaviness in the whole body, every afternoon at four o’clock. Heat over the whole body, with chilliness. Heat of the skin, with great thirst, and dry, parched lips. Internal heat, with external chilliness and cold sweat. The rest of the body being moderate. Clammy sweat in the palms. Frequent waking from sleep, with general sweat. Night-sweats.
MORAL SYMPTOMS.
Sadness. Anxiety, apprehension of threatening misfortune. Fearfulness and apprehension, in the evening after having spent the day with a cheerful disposition. He imagines he is surrounded with enemies. Apprehension and thoughtfulness, when medicating over his present and future destiny. Want of confidence in his strength, and despondency. Has little confidence in himself. In the forenoon he is extremely hypochondriac, low-spirited and desponding, with stupidity foolish and childish manners; all his motions are extremely awkward and indolent. Excessively peevish and ill-humored; everything which surrounded him made a disagreeable impression upon him; gloomy, peevish mood, with desire of going into the open air. He takes everything in bad part, and becomes vehement.-Irritable and contradicting; a slight offence makes him vehemently angry, he breaks out in personal violence.-Want of disposition to do anything. Dread of labor. He is very indifferent and unfeeling. Excessive cheerfulness. He laughs when he ought to be serious. he refrains from laughing at the ludicrous. *Sensation as if he had two opposite wills acting against each other.
SENSORIUM.
*Sensation as if the connection between body and mind were dissolved. Great weakness of memory. He remembers with difficulty. In the afternoon his memory is better than in the forenoon. Increased quickness of memory; he spontaneously recollects the smallest circumstances of times long past. Dullness of the senses, with anxiety; he scarcely perceives what is taking place around him. Every kind of intellectual labor is difficult for him, owing to absence of mind. Dullness of sense; dullness of the head and prostration of strength. His head feels muddled and empty. Increased fancy; he is constantly thinking of some new object to which the mind forcibly clings. The mind gradually becomes dull, so that he is without any ideas. His mind is animated; he likes to enter upon acute analytical investigations; but every effort of this kind gives him an acute oppressive pain in the forehead, the temples, and the occiput. Any little effort of the mind causes a sensation in the brain as bruised. Illusion of the fancy; he imagines he hears his name called by distant mother and sister, with an apprehension of misfortune and anxiety. Melancholy illusion; he imagines he sees a bier in a side-room, upon which either his friend or himself is lying. He confounds the present with the future.
HEAD.
Painful dullness of the head, especially in the morning. Dizziness of the head, as after taking spirituous drinks., Vertigo on stooping, with sensation as of turning round;in the open air. Vertigo, as if the objects or himself were wavering; he is obliged to hold on to something. Pain in the head, especially in the forehead; stunning, aching, occasioning vertigo. Pressure; in the head, worse in walking, as if the brain were shaken. Dull pressure in the centre of the forehead, gradually extending over the whole anterior part of the head, in the evening. Violent pressure in the region of the right temple. Dull pressure, as from a plug, on the right side of the vertex. Pressure in the temple. Pressure from without inwards, and sense as of squeezing in both temples, with continual constriction of the upper part of the head, increasing towards evening. Compression simultaneously in both temples; constrictive headache in the forehead with peevish mood and violent digging pain, diminished by pressure. Head feels as if compressed by a tight band, with pressure in the left temple; lacerating headache during hard labor. Repeated lacerating in the whole head, with chills over the body, low spirits, and uneasiness; the pain returns every third day. Sudden, acute, piercing, and biting lacerating in the temple, as far as the brain. Lancinations in the forehead over the right eye. Sharp stitches through the head, reaching deep into the brain. Headache, with stitches in the left temple. drawing pain in the head. Several violent dartings, at intervals, so that he would like to scream. Violent digging headache in the evening; relieved by pressure and during a meal; accompanied by intolerable pain, as if a heavy body were forced in at those parts; better in the evening. Throbbing headache. Heat in the head. The headache is worse during motion. Pressure in the forehead, over the left-eye-brow, from without inwards.
