Calcarea carbonica. [Calc]
The treatment of epilepsy should be directed to the underlying dyscrasia, as this is at fault in most, if not all, cases. **Calcarea carbonica, with its rickety, tuberculous, scrofulous and flabby symptoms, its characteristic deficiency of lime assimilation, as shown in children by the open fontanelles and backward dentition, will frequently be the remedy with which to commence the treatment. The characteristic relaxation on falling asleep and the sweating of the head and neck are fine indications for its use. It has an excellent clinical record. A epileptic suffering continually from the dread of an attack will withdraw himself as much as possible from the outside world, brood over his affliction and become melancholic, and there is no other remedy so well adapted to this condition as **Calcarea. Its anxiety, palpitation, apprehensive mood despondency, fretfulness and irritability, its weakness of memory, its loss of consciousness, its vertigo and convulsions are prominent and characteristic indications for its use in epilepsy. If epilepsy be caused by fright, suppression of some long standing eruption, onanism or venereal excess it will probably be one of the remedies to use in the course of the treatment, and here it would follow **Sulphur well. The aura may begin in the solar plexus and pass upwards like a wave, or go from the epigastric region down to the uterus and limbs. Like **Sulphur it has a sensation as if a mouse were running up the arm previous to the attacks. **Causticum, too, is closely allied to **Calcarea, and is indicated in epilepsy connected with menstrual irregularities and also in epilepsy occurring at the age of puberty.
Bufo rana. [Bufo]
Epilepsy arising from fright, or self-abuse, or sexual excesses, will often find its remedy in **Bufo rana. The aura preceding the attacks starts from the genital organs; even during coitus the patient may be seized with violent convulsions. In another form for which **Bufo is suitable the aura starts from the solar plexus. Previous to the attacks, the patient is very irritable, often talks incoherently and is easily angered. It is especially in the sexual form, that brought on by masturbation, that **Bufo is signally useful. It has also proved useful in severe cases in children where the head in the convulsion is drawn backwards.
**Ind. has epileptiform convulsions from the irritation of worms, but the patient must be low-spirited and sad– “blue as indigo.” It is the “bluest remedy in the materia medica.” Dr. Colby, of Boston, considers it superior to the bromides. Flushes of heat seem to rise from the solar plexus to the head and there is an undulating sensation in the brain similar to **Cimicifuga. Bufo, like Nux vomica, is vehement and irritable. These two remedies and **Silicea and Calcarea have the aura starting from the solar plexus. **Stannum is also a remedy for epilepsy arising from reflex irritation, as from worms and also from sexual complications.
Cuprum Metallicum. [Cupr]
**Cuprum is a very deep-acting remedy, its well-known power of producing convulsions and spasms and its excellent clinical record make it a valuable remedy in epilepsy. We know positively that poisonous doses of **Cuprum cause epileptic symptoms, and it is among the most curative remedies for epilepsy in child life. The convulsions start form the brain, though the aura, which is one of long duration, seems to center in the epigastrium. Owing to this long duration of the aura consciousness is not immediately lost, and the patient will often notice the contractions in the fingers and toes before they become unconscious. The face and lips are very blue, the eyeballs are rotated, there is frothing at the mouth and violent contractions of the flexors. The attacks is usually ushered in by a shrill cry and the cases are most violent and continued. It is also a remedy for nocturnal epilepsy when the fits occur at regular intervals, such as the menstrual periods. Epileptiform spasms during dentition or from retrocessed exanthema may indicate Cuprum. Dr. Halbert remarks that **Cuprum will stop the frequency of the attacks more satisfactorily than any other remedy, it is his sheet anchor in old and obstinate cases. Butler also claims his best results from this remedy.
**Argentum nitricum is also a remedy for epilepsy, the strong indicating features being the dilated pupils four or five days before the attack, and the restlessness and trembling of the hands after the attack. Menstrual and fright epilepsies often call for this remedy the characteristic being the aura, which lasts a number of hours before the attack. Moral causes may lead to an attack. Patient is low spirited, easily discouraged and frightened.
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.