Iron.
CHARACTERISTICS.
Anaemia and atony not secondary to organic disease. Erysipelas or acute rheumatism in anaemic subjects. Mental derangements, diarrhoea or atonic dyspepsia from anaemia and muscular weakness. Weak, irregular heart, with anaemic murmur of the arteries. Patient may be in good flesh, but have pale membranes.
TOXIC EFFECTS.
Lassitude. Aversion to mental and physical exertion. Cerebral congestion, with feeling of fullness and pain in the head.1. White-coated tongue, pappy taste. Nausea, vomiting. Exhaustion of the gastric glands. Bowels feel full and distended, worse after eating. Diarrhoea.2. Irritation of the bladder, with frequent desire to pass water. Mucus in the urine. Nocturnal incontinence.2. Weak heart.4.
DOSE.
Ferri carbonas saccharatus, 2 gr.
Ferri et ammonii citras, I-5 gr.
Ferrum reductum, I/2-2 gr.
Ferri sulphas. I-3 gr.
Syrupus ferri iodidum. 10-40 m.
Tinctura ferri chloridi, 5-30 m.
The tincture and sulphate are especially valuable styptic and astringent preparations. Care should be taken to protect the teeth when administering iron. It is advisable to begin with the minimum dose.
THERAPEUTIC USES.
The subject is in an anaemic and atonic state, in good flesh, but with pale membranes.1-2.
Rush of blood to the head, with swollen veins and flushes of heat. Atony. Anaemia. 1.
Fluttering of the heart at the climacteric, fulness of the head, frequent flushings of the face, hot flushes with perspiration. Atony and anaemia.1-2-4.
Neuralgia of the fifth nerve or gastralgia due to anaemia.
Mental disorders due to atony and anaemia.1.
Anorexia. Tongue white or yellowish-white with pasty taste. Anaemia.2. (Tincture of the chloride or the sulphate).
Vomiting following meals, from atonic state of the stomach.2. (Five drops of the chloride in glycerin. Dilute with water and administer through glass tube).
Stools of undigested food, without pain. Atony.2.
Morning diarrhoea, with muscular and mental debility. Bowels feel sore as though bruised.2. (Small doses of the tincture, or iron with strychnine citrate).
Muscular weakness of the rectum, with undigested stools mixed with mucus.2.
Debility of the mucous surfaces of the intestines and bronchial tubes, with mucous secretions.2.
Loud systolic bruit at the apex of the heart, with anaemic murmur of the arteries. Atony.4.
Weak irregular heart with impoverishment of the blood.1-4.
Amenorrhoea, menorrhagia or dysmenorrhoea caused by the anaemia. (Iron and ammonium citrate).
Hematemesis, Epistaxis or bleeding hemorrhoids with atony and anaemia.
The rheumatic diathesis in pale and delicate subjects. Pains in joints and muscles. (Twenty to thirty drops of the tincture may be given every four hours).
Acute rheumatism in anaemic subjects.
Erysipelas with prostration. (Fifteen to thirty drops of the tincture every two or three hours.
Give in water through a tube).
Nocturnal enuresis caused by weakness of the sphincter vesicae.3.
