RATTLESNAKE.
Introduction
Crot. was first proved by Hering. assisted by five others, the report being published in 1837.
Symptoms
It presents a somewhat similar picture to that found under Lachesis, but with a more marked tendency to haemorrhage. Two pathogenetic symptoms read: “Bleeding from orifices; bleeding suddenly from eyes, ears, nose, gums, urethra and beneath nails.”
The blood of Crot. is dark and disorganized. It produces haematogenous jaundice.
There is general exhaustion as pronounced, if not more so than found under Lachesis, and Hering says the coldness and collapse (34) are more marked than under Camphor.
It is a remedy useful in “broken down constitutions” and in “low typhoid states” (Hering).
It is useful in senile dementia (166), with the forgetfulness (133) of figures, names of places, or with antipathy to his family (131); he imagines himself surrounded by foes (53) or by hideous animals (54). In these latter symptoms we can see the application of Crot. in the delirium of typhoid or typhus fevers, or in that of delirium tremens (54).
It is a remedy to be thought of in cerebro-spinal meningitis (133), with delirium, nosebleed of dark blood (142), tongue swollen and red, offensive breath and offensive, bloody stools.
It is of value in severe headache with diphtheria, or in occipital (100) or frontal headaches associated with dysmenorrhoea (96), as well as for ciliary neuralgia (75) coming on at the menstrual period.
Crot. is to be thought of in keratitis, with aggravation at the menstrual period, and like Lachesis, it is used for “haemorrhages into the retina” (77) due to kidney or “other diseases, or when it seems to be of spontaneous origin” (Hering).
It is useful for acne (14) and for papular eruption on the chin associated with delayed menstruation (15), and it is one of the remedies to be thought of in people who grind their teeth (187) at night, even to the extent of cracking the molars, and associated with delayed menstruation.
In the oesophagus we have hysterical spasms (147), with inability to swallow anything solid.
In diphtheria calling for Crot. we find the fauces swollen and dark red (191), with less feeling of constriction around the throat than under Lachesis, but with greater tendency to haemorrhage form the nose, mouth, kidneys and anus.
In the stomach we have inability to retain anything, with vomiting of food or of blood (208).
It is to be thought of in bilious vomiting, with inability to lie on the right side without instant vomiting; in atonic dyspepsia (178), with a sensation of throbbing (181) or fluttering (11) near the umbilicus; in the gastritis of chronic alcoholism (176); in ulcer of the stomach (181), with vomiting of blood; and for black vomit in yellow fever (209).
In the abdomen there is great tenderness and sensitiveness (12), cannot bear the touch of clothing, and with inability to lie on the right side (8); and it is especially useful in haemorrhagic, or black jaundice, with dark red face and skin, and haemorrhage of dark blood from any or all the orifices of the body.
The diarrhoea is offensive, dark or bloody and usually associated with vomiting. It is caused from “imbibition of septic matters in food or drink; from “high game'” (Hering) and from bilious, remittent or other low-type fevers.
The urine is usually scanty and bloody (193) the result of nephritis or of disorganized blood (194) in low fevers.
In whooping cough, besides the tendency towards epistaxis (47) and spitting of blood, we have cardiac weakness and blueness of the face (47), with slow return of the normal color after the paroxysm. We may find the “attacks followed by puffiness of face or haemorrhagic spots” (Hering).
The heart is weak, although the rate be rapid, with a sensation as though it tumbled about, or “over” (Hering) (114), the circulation is poor and the skin dark blue (207) in the inflamed parts.
Crot. is a very useful remedy in purpura haemorrhagica (158), in boils, carbuncles, abscesses and varicose ulcers (205), when the parts look blue and unhealthy, and the tendency towards gangrene (82), and associated with great prostration. It is to be thought of in chilblains (31), especially when threatened with gangrene, in erysipelas (68) after vaccination (205) or from the bites of insects, and in lymphangitis and septicaemia from dissecting wounds (209).
It is extremely valuable in fevers of a malignant type, especially when they present a haemorrhagic or putrescent character, and is to be remembered in bilious, bilious remittent and malignant fevers of the South; in haemorrhagic measles (131); in scarlet fever (164), with weakness, unconsciousness, efforts to vomit anything taken into the stomach, and when vomiting, oozing of blood from the gangrenous fauces; in typhus (193) and typhoid fevers (193), with haemorrhage form the bowels and kidneys (85) of dark (193) decomposed blood (194).
Crot. is the most homoeopathic remedy in yellow fever (209), with symptoms of blood-poisoning, pains all over the body, swollen parotids, sensitiveness of the liver, dark bloody stools, nosebleed and vomit, face dusky, hands nearly black, suppression of urine (209) and tendency to collapse (34).
I use Crot. 6th.
