IDENTIFICATION
Persistent constant anxious nausea with clean or nearly clean tongue, pale face, cold sweat on forehead and thirstless; if vomiting occurs it does not relieve the nausea.
ESSENTIAL
Irritable; morose. Desires knows not what, like Bryonia Depressed mentally, tissues irritable. Oversensitive to warm atmosphere, heat, cold, and to touch. Profuse salivation. Pulse weak. Chilly externally, heat internally. children cry and scream. Nausea especially, and vomiting usher in the acute attacks.
COMMENT.
Mind
Holds everything in contempt. children cry and scream continually. Mental depression, tissues irritable in combination. Ipecac. is sometimes as restless as Arsenicum, but unlike Arsenicum, its prostration comes in spells, that of Arsenicum is continuous.
Head
Pain in head, to tongue. Bruised or crushed sense in head, with nausea and vomiting is the most characteristic of Ipecac. As if bruised, pain piercing, to root of teeth. Constrictive and contusive head aches in left side parietal region, begin daily at 11 a.m, increase gradually until intolerable, and decrease in the same manner, like Stann., ceasing completely at 2 p.m.
Eyes
Staring, a.m., on waking. Pain in eyeballs shoots into head, tears gush. Extremely valuable in pustular conjunctivitis of children.
Face
Muscles of face stiff, during cough.
Mouth
Child puts its fingers in its mouth. Salivation compels constant swallowing. In the sweetish, bloody taste it differs from Berberis in that Berberis has also a bitter taste and the mouth is pasty or sticky, while with Ipecac. the mouth is clean; again, Berberis has dry mouth, Ipecac. moist.
Stomach
Nausea, with itching, must scratch until one vomits. Nausea, during labor; vomits, after stooping. Vomits green mucus, jellylike, grass green, or, black, tarlike blood. Persistent nausea accompanies all the haemorrhages of Ipecac. In vomiting Ipecac. differs from Ant-t. in having more nausea and a clean or only slightly coated tongue, while Ant-t. has more retching and vomiting and a thickly coated tongue.
Abdomen
Cutting pain, left side to right, reverse of Lycopodium; paroxysmal stitches in sides, left side to right, or, in region of navel to uterus. (L): Pain in region of navel, to uterus; sore, bruised, tender pain in region of navel; stitching pain, downward. distressed, relaxed sense.
Rectum
Diarrhoea, during cholera epidemics.
Stool
Green as grass, or greenish mucus and frequent. Dark pitchlike blood in some cases of dysentery.
Urinary
Urine very bloody, especially from kidneys, with nausea and cutting pains.
Genitalia
Labor pains cutting, in navel region. (L): Copious menses, with faintness. Thick leucorrhoea, feeling of desperation, frightful irritation in vagina.
Larynx
Laryngismus stridulus, before cough.
Respiratory Organs
Takes long breaths, as if panting during haemorrhage.
Cough
Spasmodic, amelioration cold drinks; suffocative, 7 p.m. (L): Suffocative cough, child becomes stiff and blue in face. Child becomes rigid and stiffens during cough, loses its breath, face turns pale or blue, like Cina which also grinds the teeth. Whooping cough, spasmodic rigidity which is characteristic, loses breath, turns pale or blue, strangles, gags, vomits mucus, may bleed from nose and mouth. Spasmodic cough, amelioration cold water.
Chest
Anxiety about heart, amelioration copious expectoration; pressing pain in diaphragm. (L): Inflamed lungs, pneumonia, of infants; the leading remedy. Haemorrhage, bright red blood, dyspnoea, nausea; best remedy during phthisis. Coarse rattling, great expulsive power, reverse of Ant-t. Differs from Ant-t. in chest troubles in that it brings on a crisis speedily, Ant-t. slowly.
Limbs
Convulsions of limbs, thigh weak, during pregnancy. (L): Pain in femur. Cold hands and feet not perceptible to one’s self.
Sleep
Sleepy, after vomiting.
Chill
Internal, aggravation heat; of upper part of body. (L): From disordered stomach. Short chill, long fever. Aggravation warm room, amelioration drinking.
Heat
Night, alternating with chill, with sweat; short chill, long heat, no thirst. It is said that Ipecac. should be given in the beginning of all intermittent fevers, if no other remedy seems clearly indicated. Very similar to Eup. in intermittent fever, but Eup. lacks the persistent nausea of Ipecac., and the paroxysms are only partially developed, while Ipecac. lacks the bone pains of Eup., yet the paroxysms are fully developed. Pain between shoulders, down back as if it would break, rigors, fever, vomiting of bile, and seldom thirst usher in the febrile state. Dry hacking cough; constipated with pleuritic stitches: Aconite; dry teasing constipated before and during chill: Rhus; constipated during chill and head: Bryonia
Sweat
Copious, only after abuse of quinine. Copious sour sweat, often soaking through bed.
Skin
Itching with nausea, must scratch until one vomits. Considered, when used locally and internally, a specific for malignant pustules and anthrax. Uncontrollable desire to scratch between the acts of vomiting. Erysipelas, vomits, chill, pain in back thirstless, constant nausea.
General
Convulsions, from indigestion; weak, after menses, out of all proportion to the loss of blood. (L): Weak, after menses. Haemorrhages come with a gush; Ipecac. ceases to be the remedy in headache when the patient becomes anaemic and dropsy threatens, it is then that China comes in; persistent nausea accompanies all the headache of Ipecac.; when there is a steady flow of bright red blood give Ipecac. and do not resort to applications, manipulations, etc. Ipecac. is just as important for spasms as Belladonna Ipecac. does its best work when there is thirstlessness; it is considered a short acting drug. Like Lachesis, the pains fly from left side to right, reverse of Lycopodium, but with nausea, those of Cim. from side to side.
