OLEANDER


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


      Synonym – Nerium Oleander. Natural order – Apocynaceae. Common name – Rose Laurel. Habitat – A shrub native of Southern Europe, Arabia and North Africa. Cultivated elsewhere as an ornamental plant. Preparation – Tincture from the fresh leaves.

GENERAL ANALYSIS

Acts upon the cerebro-spinal system, producing paralytic conditions with a weak, irregular pulse; but its most important action as regards therapeutics is upon the skin, especially the scalp.

CHARACTERISTIC SYMPTOMS

Mind. Absence of mind and inattention; confusion when reading. Difficulty of grasping the connection when reading a long sentence. Loss of memory. Dullness of intellect, slow perception. Peevish, fretful, out of humor with everything. Indolence, aversion to doing anything.

Head Vertigo, with tottering of the limbs; on looking fixedly, or on rising in bed or on looking down. Heaviness and pressure in the head. Pressive headache in forehead, from within outward. Pain in forehead as if it would split. Headache better from forcible squinting. Violent gnawing itching on the scalp as form vermin; better when first scratching; after scratching, smarting and soreness as if raw. Desquamation of the epidermis of the scalp. Humid scaly biting, itching eruption, especially on back part of the head.

Eyes. Burning and tension in eyelids when reading.

Ears. Cramp-like drawing in the outer ear.

Mouth. Toothache only when masticating. Loss of speech. Food has a flat, insipid taste in evening.

Stomach Ravenous hunger, with trembling of the hands while eating. Vomiting of food and greenish water, followed by renewed hunger and great weakness over the whole body. Much thirst, especially for cold water. Violent, empty eructations. Pulsation in pit of stomach, as of beating of the heart.

Abdomen. Rolling and rumbling in the intestines, with emission of a great quantity of foetid flatus, smelling like rotten eggs (Arnica).

Stool and Anus Burning at the anus before and after stool; when not at stool. Passes food undigested in the morning which he has eaten the day before. Liquid, soft, yellow faeces. Involuntary stools; in children when passing flatus.

Respiratory Organs. Stitches in sternum and left side of chest, during inspiration and expiration.

Heart. Dull, drawing pain over the heart, worse when stooping, and at least during expiration. Anxious palpitation of the heart; chest feels expanded.

Upper Limbs. Cramp-like drawing in arms and fingers. Dull pressure in forearms, hands and fingers.

Lower Limbs. Weakness of the lower limbs when walking, with sensation as if “asleep” in fore part of feet, worse in soles. Paralysis of the legs and feet.

Skin. Violent itching of various parts of the body; eruption, bleeding, oozing out of fluid, forming scabs. Biting, itching on undressing.

Sleep. Voluptuous dreams with seminal emissions.

Fever. Febrile chilliness over the body, without thirst or subsequent heat.

Compare Anacardium, Cinchona, Coccul., Clem., Nux v., Staphysagria, Silicea

Antidote. Camph.

THERAPEUTICS.

Has been used chiefly in Crusta lactea, with symptoms above described, especially on occiput and behind the ears. Has also been used in paralysis, especially hemiplegia, preceded by vertigo. Very weak digestion. Diarrhoea with above symptoms. Diarrhoea of phthisis.

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).