AESCULUS HIPPOCASTANUM


Symptoms of the homeopathic medicine AESCULUS HIPPOCASTANUM from A Text Book of Materia Medica and Therapeutics by A.C. Cowperthwaite. Find all the symptoms of AESCULUS HIPPOCASTANUM…


Natural order. Sapindaceae.
Common name. Horsechestnut.
Habitat. A tree native of middle Asia, but cultivated in temperature climates Preparation.
Tincture from the fresh, ripe, hulled nuts.

GENERAL ANALYSIS

This drug acts prominently upon the liver and portal system, causing congestion, and giving rise, secondarily, in. the colon, rectum and anus to catarrhal inflammation. The haemorrhoidal vessels become intensely contested, resulting in haemorrhoids in their most aggravated form. The chief characteristic symptom is a severe aching pain in the lumbar and sacral regions.

CHARACTERISTIC SYMPTOMS

Mind. Depressed; gloomy; despondent; irritable (Bryonia, cham., Nux v.). Unable to fix the attention.Head. Dull pressure in forehead; slight nausea, followed immediately by stitches in right hypochondria (bry.) Confused feeling, with vertigo. Frequent flying pains through the temples. Flushes of heat over the occiput, neck and shoulders.Eyes. Weight in the eyes; they feel heavy and dull. Painful aching over let eye. lachrymation.

Nose. Stinging and burning in posterior nares and soft palate. Sneezing. Dryness of posterior nares.

Face. Pale, miserable appearance (Arsenicum).

Mouth. Tongue coated white or yellow (Bryonia, Nux v., Pulsatilla). Salivation. Taste bitter (Aconite, Cinchona, Coloc., Bryonia, Nux v., Pulsatilla, Sulphur); metallic (Mercurius, Sulphur). Tongue feels as if it had been scalded Apis, Iris, Pulsatilla, Sepia)

Throat. Feeling of dryness (bell) and roughness (or rawness and burning) in throat, as from taking cold (Aconite, Alumina). Constrictive feeling in fauces. Swallowing difficult; inclined; inclined to swallow with dryness in throat.

Stomach. Violent vomiting (Ant. tart., Ipecac.) great burning distress in. the stomach (Arsenicum, Cantharis, Iris., Phosphorus). Pressure as from a stone in pit of stomach (Aconite, Arsenicum, Bryonia, Nux v., Pulsatilla) Eructations of wind; empty.

Abdomen. Tenderness in the right hypochondrium (Bryonia, Chelidonium, Cinchona, Mercurius); stitches; fullness. Much distress in liver and epigastrium (chel., Nux v). Constant, severe aching pit of stomach to right lobe of liver. Abdomen tender and sore to touch. Emission of foetid flatus.

Stool and Anus. Dry uncomfortable feeling in rectum, as if it were filled with small sticks (Nitr. ac). Soreness; burning, itching (Sulph) and fullness in return, also in anus. Haemorrhoids like ground nuts, purple; painful sensation of burning; generally blind; aching and lameness of shooting in the back prolapsed feeling. Burning in the rectum after stool (aloe, Nitr. ac., Sulphur). Ineffectual urging to stool (Nux v). Stool large, hard, dry, and passed with difficulty (Bry); feeling as if anus protruded after stool.

Urinary Organs. Frequent scanty urination (Aconite, Cantharis, Coloc., Digit); urine scalding hot. Urine dark and muddy; dark brown sediment; yellow (Ambra) with thick mucous sediment (Berb).

Female Sexual Organs. Thick, dark, corroding leucorrhoea, with aching and lameness in the back across the sacroiliac articulations.

Respiratory Organs. Raw feeling in chest (Ambra., Phosphorus, (Rumex) Tightness in chest (phos) Pain in right lung on motion when breathing.

Heart. Twitching over the region of the heart. Functional disturbances of the heart from haemorrhoidal complaints.

Back. Constant backache affecting the sacrum and hips, very much aggravated by walking and stooping forward (Cimic.); scarcely able to rise after sitting. Back gives out when walking. Tearing pain in small of back and hips when walking. Aching between the shoulders.

Lower Limbs. Legs so weak she can hardly walk. Knees ache. Tendo-achillis sore.

Generalities. Paralytic feeling in arms, legs and spine. Feels faint, weak, and weary (Alumina, Cinchona, Sulphur). Disposition to stretch and yawn. Fullness in various organs, as if they contained too much blood. Mucous membranes dry, swollen, burn and feel raw.

Conditions. Suitable in persons with haemorrhoidal tendency, and who suffer with gastric, bilious or catarrhal troubles.

Compare. AEsc. glab., Aloe., Baptisia, Belladonna, Berberis, Bryonia, Collins., Diosc., Nitr. ac., Nux v., Phytol., Podophyllum, Sulphur

THERAPEUTICS.

Aesculus hippocastanum has been found most useful in the treatment of haemorrhoids. They are usually blind, very sensitive, and always accompanied by a sensation of dryness in the rectum as if it were filled with little sticks or splinters. There is also usually a severe aching and lameness in the small of the back, and considerable fullness and distress in the region of the liver. The drug has been found quite useful in piles after Nux vomica, Sulphur or Collinsonia have failed. Its symptoms are some- what similar to those of Aloe. Like the remedies already named it is also quite useful in constipation and prolapsus ani, other symptoms of the drug agreeing. It has been found useful in dyspepsia and gastralgia, but only when associated with a bilious condition due to an engorged portal circulation, and usually haemorrhoids. While the characteristic pain in the back is commonly associated with haemorrhoids, it may also indicate the drug in lumbago. In dysmenorrhoea, and in leucorrhoea, when the discharge is dark, thick and corroding. AEsculus is also a remedy for follicular pharyngitis when the chief symptom is a dry rough or raw feeling in the fauces, and a sensation of constriction, and especially when occurring in haemorrhoidal subjects.

A.C. Cowperthwaite
A.C. (Allen Corson) Cowperthwaite 1848-1926.
ALLEN CORSON COWPERTHWAITE was born at Cape May, New Jersey, May 3, 1848, son of Joseph C. and Deborah (Godfrey) Cowperthwaite. He attended medical lectures at the University of Iowa in 1867-1868, and was graduated from the Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia in 1869. He practiced his profession first in Illinois, and then in Nebraska. In 1877 he became Dean and Professor of Materia Medica in the recently organized Homeopathic Department of the State University of Iowa, holding the position till 1892. In 1884 he accepted the chair of Materia Medica, Pharmacology, and Clinical Medicine in the Homeopathic Medical College of the University of Michigan. He removed to Chicago in 1892, and became Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College. From 1901 he also served as president of that College. He is the author of various works, notably "Insanity in its Medico-Legal Relations" (1876), "A Textbook of Materia Medica and Therapeutics" (1880), of "Gynecology" (1888), and of "The Practice of Medicine " (1901).