Synonym. Calcarea. Ostrearum Hahnemanniani. Preparation. Trituration of the pure white middle layer of the oyster shell.
GENERAL ANALYSIS.
Calcarea acts primarily upon the vegetative system, exciting moderately the functions of secretion and absorption, resulting in a condition of irritation which extends to all the organs and systems of the body, impairing their nutrition, favoring a deposit of the earthy salts, and altering profoundly the composition of the blood. In thus affecting the processes of assimilation Calcarea resembles, in its effects upon the system, the three great disorders of nutrition, scrofula, tuberculosis, and rachitis, and it is in the treatment of these conditions, in their various forms of manifestation, that we find its chief sphere of usefulness.
CHARACTERISTICS SYMPTOMS.
Mind. Great anxiety, with palpitation of the heart (Aconite, Cact., Spigelia). Despondent and melancholy (Ignatia, Pulsatilla, Natr. mur.). Disinclination for every kind of work. Frightened apprehensive mood, as of some future misfortune or impending evil (Aconite, Alumina, Anacardium). Feared she would lose her reason, or that people would observe her confusion of mind (Cimic.). Shuddering and dread as evening draws near (Aconite, Arsenicum, Mercurius, Rhus tox.).
Head. Vertigo when walking in the open air (Agaricus, Gloninum, Ledum, Sepia, Sulphur, especially on suddenly turning the head (Sanguinaria); when ascending a height, or looking upward (Cuprum, Sanguinaria), as if everything were turning around. Rush of blood to the head, with heat in it, and with redness and puffiness of the face (Belladonna, Opium). Constant feeling of fullness in the head; confusion. Heat in head, with orgasm of blood.
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Icy coldness in and on the head (Laur.), also one-sided (Phosphorus Veratrum alb.).
Headache, as if a board lay upon the head. Heaviness in forehead; worse when reading or wiring. Painful pressure in forehead, extending down into nose (Aconite, Kali bichromicum). Stitches in head; evenings; left side. Frequent one-sided aching, always with empty eructations.
Large, open fontanelles; head large (Calcarea phos., Silicea). Itching of the scalp; children scratch their hands on being disturbed or awakened out of sleep. Falling off of the hair (Graphites, Natr. mur., Nitr. ac., Phosphorus, Sepia), especially on sides of head. Scabs on hairy scalp. Pimples on forehead.
Eyes. Painful sensation, as if a small foreign body were in the eye (Aconite); sensation of sand. Profuse lachrymation (Euphr., Mercurius); pupils dilated. Swelling and redness of the lids, with nightly agglutination (AEth., Lycopodium, Mercurius, Pulsatilla, Silicea, Sulphur); also in mornings, every watery. Itching in the margins of the lids (Carb. v., Sulphur). Twitching of upper lids. Burning or stitches in the inner canthi. Far sighted. Can see only one side of an object (Lycopodium).
Ears. Swelling in front of left ear; painful to touch. Singing, roaring or crackling in the ears (Cinchona, Sulphur). Crushing in ears when swallowing. Cracking in ears when chewing. Heat and pulsation in ears. Purulent discharge from ears (Hepar s., Graphites Lycopodium). Eruption behind right ear, which becomes moist (Graphites, Hepar s.). Polypus of the ear, bleeding easily. Hardness of hearing; also after suppression of intermittent fever by Quinine; from working in water.
Nose. Intermittent. Swelling of the nose, especially at the root. Sore ulcerated nostrils (Alumina, Aurum, Graphites, Kali bichromicum, Nitr. ac., Pulsatilla). Frequent sneezing without coryza, or with dry coryza. Stoppage in morning on rising. Fluent coryza, with headache. Dryness of the nose at night. Very offensive smell from the nose (Kreosotum), as from bad eggs or gunpowder. Bleeding of the nose, especially in the morning (Agaricus, Ambr., Bryonia). Polypus of the nose (Mar. ver., Phosphorus).
Face. Face pale and hollow or bloated, with deep-seated eyes, surrounded by blue rings (Chinch., Kali iod., Secale) Face yellow. Moist, itching, scurfy eruption on face, chiefly on cheeks land forehead (Antim crud., Graphites, Lycopodium). Eruption on lips and mouth (Antim crud., Graphites, Lycopodium). Swelling of the upper lip in the morning (Apis., Belladonna). Painful swelling of the submaxillary glands (Arum., Aurum, Baryta carb., Natr. carb, Rhus tox., Silicea).
Mouth. Toothache caused by a current of cold air, or by drinking cold liquids (Antim crud., Coca., Staphysagria, Sulphur). Inclination to gnash the teeth, as in a chill. Difficult dentition (Calcarea phos.). Toothache after menstruation. Bleed as if the throat were contracted when swallowing. Spasmodic contraction of the pharynx and oesophagus (Belladonna, Hyoscyamus).
Stomach. Ravenous hunger in the morning. Loss of appetite, but when the began to eat he relished it. Great thirst. Frequent eructations, tasting of the food (Antim crud. Cinchona, Carb. an., Graphites, Phosphorus, Pulsatilla); of tasteless fluid. Nausea in the morning (Nux v., Pulsatilla), with qualmishness and shuddering., with blackness before the eyes. Nausea, with a flow of sour water from the mouth. Nausea caused by drinking milk. Sour vomiting; especially during dentition (AEth.). Pit of stomach swollen, like a saucer turned bottom up. Burning in stomach, extending up into throat (Arsenicum), after every meal. Pain in epigastric region on touch. Pressure in stomach, as if a lump were in it into head. Pressure in stomach, as if a lump were in it Arsenicum, Bryonia); after eating. Severe pressure in pit of stomach.
Abdomen. Tight clothes about the hypochondria are unendurable (Carb. v., Graphites, Lachesis). A feeling as if laced below the hypochondria, with trembling and throbbing in the epigastric region. Pressure in hepatic region with ever step. Stitches in the hepatic region during or after stooping. Abdomen hard and very much distended (Arsenicum, Baryta c.). Frequent severe cramps in the intestinal canal, especially in the evening and night, with coldness in the thighs. Drawn pain in posterior part, extending towards back; in right hypochondrium extending towards symphysis pubis. Tensive pain in abdomen. Incarcerated flatulence (Aurum, Carb. v., Lycopodium; rumbling. Mesenteric glands swollen and hard in children. Relieves pain attending the passage of biliary calculi. Swelling and painfulness of the inguinal glands (Clem.) Painful pressure in lower abdomen; on physical exertion.
Stool and Anus. Swollen haemorrhoids protrude and cause pain during stool (Aloe, Lachesis, Acid Muriaticum, Pulsatilla). Discharge of blood from the rectum. Feeling of heaviness in lower portion of rectum (Aloe). Cramp in the rectum the whole forenoon; a griping and stitching, with great anxiety; was not able to sit, but obliged to walk about. Burning in rectum and anus (Arsenicum, Cantharis, Iris). Crawling as from pin worms in rectum. Stool frequently first hard, then pasty, then liquid; undigested (Antim crud., Cinchona, Podophyllum); offensive, like bad eggs (Ascl., t., Chamomilla); white; sour. Stools look like lumps of chalk, in children during dentition. Tendency to diarrhoea and acid stomach, and prolapsus recti; precursory of tuberculosis of the lungs. Constipation; stools large and hard (Bryonia, Sulphur).
Urinary Organs. Very dark-colored urine, without sediment; offensive (Kreosotum, Sulphur); dark-brown, with white sediment (Cantharis, Colchicum); sour smelling at night. Frequent urination.
Male Organs. Inflammation of the prepuce, fraenum, and orifice of the urethra, with a little yellow pus beneath fraenum and glans. Excessive sexual desire, with retarded erection, and too early emission of semen during coitus (Natr. carb.); followed by excessive weakness. Frequent emission at night which debilitate both body and mind.
Female Organs. Menses too early; last too long; too profuse (Ambr., Amm carb., Coccus., Nux v.). Leucorrhoea like milk (Coni., Lycopodium, Pulsatilla, Sepia, Acid Sulphuricum), with itching and burning. Mammary glands pain as if suppurating (Mercurius, Phytolacca, Silicea)., especially when touched. Inflammation and swelling of genitals.
Respiratory Organs. Whistling in the larynx after lying down evenings. Painless hoarseness, mornings (Causticum, Carb. u.). Frequent need to breathe deeply. Shortness of breath on going up the slightest ascent (Aconite, Ammonium carb., Ascl. t., Arsenicum, Cact.).
Cough; tickling as from a feather in the throat; at night; dry, especially at night (Hyoscyamus); first with dry, afterward profuse salty expectoration ( Ambr., Carb. v., Lycopodium, Phosphorus Stannum, Sepia), with pain as if something had been torn loose from the larynx; in the morning, with yellowish expectoration (Pulsatilla). Cough caused by a sensation of a plug, which moved up and down the throat. Cough excited by inspiration; by eating. Expectoration of mucus, with a sweetish taste (Stannum); of blood, with a rough, sore sensation in chest.
Stitches in chest in evening on breathing. Raw pain in chest during cough. Chest painfully sensitive to touch, and on inspiration. Tightness and oppression of the chest, as if filled too full with blood; anxiety. Cutting in chest on inspiration. Sore pain in chest on inspiration.
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).