Aconite. [Acon]
The sphere of **Aconite in bronchitis is limited to the onset of the affection, and here it must be distinguished carefully from other remedies also suitable to this stage. When, as a result of checked perspiration, exposure to cold, drafts or dry, cold winds, a cold is taken starting in with a coryza, frequent sneezing, chilliness, restless sleep, full, hard pulse, and the characteristic mental condition, Aconite will come in, though its stage is a brief one is usually over before the physician sees the case. It is of use, therefore, only before the inflammation is localized. Dr. Pope says that **Aconite will often prevent the development of a thorough bronchitis. If the cases are characterized by lassitude and physical weakness and indisposition with a full flowing pulse and moderate congestion, then **Aconite is supplanted by **Gelsemium. Often times it is difficult to determine which of these remedies is indicated, when **Ferrum phosphoricum must be considered, and more especially so in the bronchitis of children, where it will often check the trouble. It stands therefore, midway between **Aconite and Gelsemium, with less restlessness and bounding pulse than the former and less flowing pulse and drowsiness than the latter remedy. It corresponds to cases where every little cold adds to trouble, the cough is short and dry, the lungs are sore, and the breathing is somewhat oppressed.
**Veratrum viride suits violent cases from the first where there is high temperature, full, hard rapid pulse, and great heat of the body. It differs from **Aconite in having no anxiety and no restlessness. When the arterial turgescence is over its period of usefulness is past.
Belladonna. [Bell]
**Belladonna suits cases of bronchitis with a violent fever, short, dry, continual, distressing cough, worse at night and on lying down, where the breathing is irregular and hurried, no expectoration, or, if present, it is apt to be bloodstreaked, fulness in chest without any pain, though children will cry when coughing, the skin is hot and inclined to moisture, not dry like **Aconite or Veratrum viride. There is a tendency to drowsiness, the patient does not sleep, but dozes in semiconscious manner and starts frequently. Do not be too great hurry a change to another remedy when the cough is spasmodic and the child cries after each paroxysm. **Belladonna is still the remedy.
Bryonia. [Bry]
Probably this remedy is seldom indicated in pure bronchitis, though very frequently given. It is of especial good service when the cough is very severe,***hurting the head and distant parts of the body. The patient presses the hands on the sides of the chest while coughing to relieve the pain. There is great pressure over the sternum, dyspnoea, and a dry cough, which seems to start from the stomach. It is worse after a meal and there is but little expectoration. The cough is more the result of an irritation in the larger bronchi than in the finger tubes, and the hacking produces sore spots in the trachea and chest. Stitching pains in the sides, of course, further indicate **Bryonia. The cough is aggravated by coming into a warm room from the cold air. Hughes says that it is the best remedy after **Aconite for what is known as a cold on the chest. If the expectoration becomes copious, loose, thick and muco-purulent, **Pulsatilla may be indicated; if accompanied by nausea and vomiting of mucus, then give **Ipecacuanha, esp. in a children especially bronchitis following measles and whooping cough, **Chelidonium is an excellent medicine.
Phosphorus. [Phos]
Especially suitable to sub-acute and lingering cases in delicate, tall, slender, overgrown or phthisical subjects. It thus suits non- resistant individuals. There is a paroxysmal cough with pain under the sternum, suffocative pressure in the upper part of the chest with constriction of the larynx, hoarseness, mucous rales, bloody and mucous sputum or purulent, having a salty or sweetish taste; patient better after sleep. The respiration is embarrassed and the tendency is toward pneumonia. **Rumex has a tickling in the supra-sternal fossa; any change in breathing causes cough; must breathe warm air to avoid coughing. With **Phosphorus the cough is worse after meals, and a guiding symptom is soreness and rawness of the chest; the cough is also worse going into the open air, being the reverse of **Bryonia. Talking, or any use of the voice, aggravates the cough.
**Hepar sulphur. When the cough begins to loosen and becomes rattling, fatiguing and choking, with moist rales, **Hepar will be the remedy. ***”Coughing into a choke” is a valuable indication for this remedy. It corresponds more closely to subacute cases. It is particularly adapted to dyscrasias, herein differing from Pulsatilla.
Professor of Materia Medica in the University of Michigan Homeopathic Medical College. Member of American Institute of Homeopathy. In addition to his editoral work he authored or collaborated on: Boericke and Dewey's Twelve Tissue Remedies, Essentials of Homeopathic Materia Medica, Essentials of Homeopathic Therapeutics and Practical Homeopathic Therapeutics.