Common name. Carbonate of Magnesia. Preparation. Triturations.
GENERAL ANALYSIS.
Acts on the mucous membranes of the intestinal canal, and upon the female generative organs, producing irritation and catarrhal inflammation, and in the latter deranged menstruation.
CHARACTERISTICS SYMPTOMS.
Head. Pressive headache. Rush of blood to the head. Falling out of the hair (Graphites, Mercurius, Nitr. ac., Natr. mur., Phosphorus, Sepia). Tetter on the scalp, itching during wet, rainy weather.
Eyes. Agglutination of the lids in the morning (Calcarea c., Lycopodium, Mercurius Pulsatilla, Sulphur).
Ears. Hardness of hearing.
Face. Nightly tearing, digging, boring in the cheek bones; insupportable during rest, and driving from one place to another.
Mouth. Toothache at night, compelling one to rise and walk about; pain insupportable while at rest; worse in cold; during pregnancy. Bloody saliva. Bitter or sour taste in the mouth (Cinchona, Lycopodium, Nux v.).
Stomach. Desire for fruit and acid things (Antim crud., Ant. tart., Cinchona, Hepar s., Phosphorus, Phosphorus ac., Veratrum alb.); for meat (Abies can.). aversion to green food. Violent thirst, especially toward evening. Constrictive pain in the stomach.
Abdomen. Distension of the abdomen, with profuse emission of flatulence, with relief (Aloe, Lycopodium). Griping, cutting and rumbling in the whole abdomen, followed by thin, green stools, without tenesmus.
Stool and Anus. Piercing pain in rectum, as from needles (Aloe.). Stools green and frothy, like the scum of a frog pond, or with white floating lumps, like tallow; always preceded by griping, worse on right side. Constipation (Ammonium mur., Alumina, Bryonia, Nux v., Opium).
Female Organs. Menses too late and scanty (Pulsatilla). Menstrual flow more profuse during the night than during the day, with dragging pains, better from pressure on abdomen and stopping. No menstrual discharge during the pains, only after them. Menstrual discharge glutinous, thick, acrid, black, pitch-like.
Generalities. Rheumatic pains in shoulders, and limbs in general. Neuralgic lightning-like pains. Epileptic attacks; frequently falls down suddenly, with consciousness. Weakness, especially in the morning. Weary and tired, especially in the feet, and when sitting. Restlessness in the limbs in the evening, after sitting long.
Sleep. Cannot sleep after 2 or 3 A.M. Unrefreshing sleep, more tired in the morning than when going to bed.
Skin. Violent itching over the whole body.
Fever. Great internal heat at night, with night sweats and aversion to uncovering, with dread of exposure.
Amelioration. From motion (Rhus tox.); in the open air.
Conditions. Persons, especially children of irritable disposition, nervous temperament; lax fibre; sour smell.
Compare. Arsenicum, Aloe., Calcarea c., Chamomilla, Graphites, LYc., Nitr. ac., Nux moschata, Phosphorus, Sepia, Silicea, Complementary to Chamomilla
Antidotes. Chamomilla, Pulsatilla, Mercurius, Nux v., Rheum.
THERAPEUTICS.
Magnesia carb. is a useful remedy in acid dyspepsia. Dyspepsia from milk which sours; also from cabbage; potatoes and other gross food. Diarrhoea, especially of children with characteristic stools, m and usually more or less colic, which is relieved by bending over, sour eructations, etc. Aphthae. With this drug there is, especially with dyspepsia, a marked disposition to neuralgia, especially of the face, in which it is an excellent remedy; the pains are lightning-like, are usually worse at night, and are accompanied by great restlessness, must get up and walk about. Neuralgic toothache, especially during pregnancy, worse at night from warmth of bed and better from cold drinks. Lenticular cataract. Warts on lids. Styes. Chronic blepharitis. Nausea and sour vomiting during pregnancy. Dysmenorrhoea with symptoms mentioned in pathogenesis. Leucorrhoea, white, acrid, with colic, relieved by bending over. Epileptiform spasms.
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).