BERBERIS


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


      Synonym.– Berberis Vulgaris. Natural order. Berberidaceae. Common name. Barberry. Habitat. A plant indigenous to Europe, but naturalized in New England. Preparation. Tincture from bark of the fresh root.

GENERAL ANALYSIS

Through the ganglionic system Berberis produces engorgement of the venous capillaries, and shows its especial action upon the kidneys and bladder, and next upon the liver, where it promotes the flow of bile, and lastly upon the mucous membranes of these and other parts, and upon the muscular system. Its most marked symptoms are the pains in the region of the kidneys.

CHARACTERISTIC SYMPTOMS.

Head. Vertigo and dizziness. Sensation as if the head were becoming larger (Cimic). Tearing pains in forehead and temples, often changing locality (Pulsatilla). Cold sensation in right temple.

Eyes. Burning pains with dryness and redness; biting.

Nose. Dryness of the nose.

Face. Pale, earthy complexion, with sunken cheeks, and hollow, blue- encircled eyes (Arsenicum, Cinchona, Secale, Sulphur).

Stomach. Thirst, with dryness of the mouth. Eructations; without bad taste or smell. Heartburn.

Abdomen. Violent sticking, pressive pain in region of gall bladder(Baptisia). Pains, mostly sticking in left side of abdomen, often extending to lumbar region, or to the groin, the liver, the spleen or the stomach. Deep-seated, sticking, or tearing pain from the ilium, near spine, obliquely inward toward sacrum. Varicose veins near right inguinal ring. Burning smarting pain in right inguinal fold, with tension on motion. Stitches at origin of Poupart’s ligament, at left ilium, extending down it, then shooting outward into left side of female urethra. Tearing posteriorly in crest of ilium, usually only on one side extending into gluteal muscles or into the bones.

Stool and Anus. Long continued sensation in rectum after stool, as if one had just been to stool, or had just recovered from a pain in anus. Frequent urging to stool. Violent burning pain in the anus, as if parts around it were sore. Tearing, stitching, burning, crawling or itching in and around anus. HArd, scanty stools, like sheep’s dung (Chelidonium, Opium, Plumb.). Watery evacuations (Arsenicum, Cinchona). Haemorrhoids; burning pain before, during and after stool.

Urinary Organs. Sticking, digging, tearing or pulsative pain in region of one or the other kidneys. Burning pain in bladder (Aconite, Arsenicum, Cantharis). Violent sticking, cutting pains from the kidneys into the bladder and urethra. Cutting and burning in the urethra (Can. sat., Cantharis); during and after urinating. Sensation as if some urine had remained after urinating. Stitches in female urethra, beginning in bladder. Pains in loins and hips while urinating. Urine pale-yellow, with a slight transparent, gelatinous sediment, with no deposit, or a turbid, flocculent, clay-like, copious, mucous sediment, mixed with white or whitish gray, and later a reddish mealy sediment. Urine bright-yellow (Arsenicum); blood-red; profuse mucous sediment.

Male Organs. Dragging or lancinating pains in spermatic cord, extending into testicles (Clem., Hamamelis, Mercurius, Pulsatilla). Smarting, burning pains or stitches in spermatic cord. Weakness and coldness of genital organs (Caps.).

Female Organs. Sensation of burning and soreness in vagina; painful to touch. Menses too scanty and painful; gray mucus or blood.

Back. Bruised pain, with stiffness and lameness in small of back; rises from a seat with difficulty (Rhus tox.). Backache worse while sitting or lying (Rhus tox.). Painful pressure and tension in lumbar and renal regions, sometimes with sensation of numbness, puffiness, warmth, stiffness and lameness, extending at times into the lower limbs. Sticking pains in loins, or digging, tearing, as if suppurating, worse on deep pressure.

Upper Limbs. Rheumatic, paralytic pain in right shoulder (Pulsatilla, Rhododendron), with stitches over left eye. Neuralgia under fingernails, with swelling of finger joints.

Limbs. Tearing, stitching or throbbing pains, or bruised feeling in extremities.

Compare. Aloe, Arsenicum, Bryonia, Caps., Chelidonium, Cimic., Cinchona, Clem., Diosc., Iris, Nux v., Pulsatilla, Podophyllum, Silicea, Zincum met.

Antidote. Camph.

Berberis Antidote. Aconite

THERAPEUTICS.

This during is most useful in arthritic and rheumatic affections, particularly when associated with urinary complaints. It is especially applicable when renal and vesical symptoms are prominent. Passage of renal and vesical calculi; nephritic colic; nephritis. In all these conditions the leading symptom is sticking, digging, tearing pains in region of the kidneys, extending to the bladder and urethra. Neuralgia of the spermatic cords and testicles (Clem., Cimic., Pulsatilla). Vaginitis, vaginismus, and dysmenorrhoea, with the characteristic urinary symptoms. Berberis may also be useful in bilious and gastro- intestinal disorders, especially hepatic colic from the passage of gall stones, with jaundice. Bilious diarrhoea, with soreness over the liver, characteristic pain in back and side, burning in anus as if sore.

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).