Coffea. Sleeplessness, nervous excitement, and restlessness. Two pilules, or a drop of the tincture, may be administered in teaspoonful of water, every hour until sleep ensues.
Aconitum may be substituted for Coffea, and given in thee same manner, should there be any symptoms of fever.
The diet should be simple and nourishing and given not at regular intervals, but it should not bee restricted to gruel even thee first day.
XLIII. Flooding after Delivery.
This is one of the most serious accidents which complicate the expulsion of the afterbirth. The Haemorrhage often occurs with a rush a few minutes after the child is born; sometimes it does not come on for several hours; or, in rare cases,. even for several days. But this need scarcely ever occur; and will not occur if the various suggestions before pointed out are faithfully acted upon, and no serious constitutional or accidental circumstance occasion it.
SYMPTOMS. Pallor of the face, dimness of vision, fainting, etc. When the blood appears externally, there need be no doubt about the case; but at times thee discharge is confined to the cavity of the womb, and can only be detected by the above symptoms.
TREATMENT. Secale, Pulsatilla, Sabi., Ipecac., Croc., Cham, m or Belladonna, may be required: for indications see Menorrhagia, etc., page 50. China should follow any other remedy after the discharge has abated.
ACCESSORY MEANS. After delivery the patient should enjoy the most absolute repose of mind and body for an hour or two. A clean warm napkin should be applied to the vulva as soon after delivery as possible, and be examined every few minutes, by nurse. Thus any excessive discharge may be easily detected. After flooding, the patient is naturally inclined to sleep; this tendency should not be interrupted too soon, as sleep wonderfully recruits the exhausted powers. The patient must not, however, be left alone, for she will require frequent examinations.
XLIV. The Cleansings-Lochia.
After delivery a healthy discharge takes place, which in colour and appearance at first resembles that of menstruation. Gradually, however, it becomes lighter, yellowish, and before its cessation is but slightly coloured. This change form red to a yellowish tinge, is generally effected in about a week. The discharge varied considerably in different females: in some it is thin and scanty, and continues only a few days; in others it is so profuse as almost to amount to Flooding, and lasts for weeks
TREATMENT. Aconitum. Plethoric patients with profuse bright-red discharge, and quick pulse.
Pulsatilla. Simple scanty discharge.
Belladonna. Scanty discharge; headache; flushed face; confusion of ideas; offensive Lochia.
Secale. Very offensive dark discharge.
Sabina. Similar discharge to that described under Aconitum, but without the febrile symptoms; also when the red flow is too persistent.
Bryonia. Suppression of the Lochia, with intense headache, fulness and heaviness, aching in the back, and hot, and scanty urine. In such a condition, Aconite or Belladonna may be alternated with Bryonia, according to the special symptoms.
ACCESSORY MEANS. If the discharge is too bright, or continues too long, the patient should retain horizontal posture, and be kept quite, and fed with simple diet. In suppression of the Lochia, warm moist applications should be made to the external parts. or, if necessary, injections of a warm infusion or camomile flowers. Of course the discharge must not be allowed to become offensive for want of frequent ablutions.
XLV. Constipation and Urinary Difficulties after Deliver.
Contrary to the ordinary practice of interference with the operations of nature adopted by the old school of medicine, Homoeopathy does not recognize the necessity of acting freely upon the bowels on the third day after delivery. When the system is so remarkably susceptible to morbid impressions, and occupied in transferring heightened vascular and nervous functions from one part of the female economy to another, where is the wisdom of disturbing the whole organism by the administration of purgative, and forcibly interrupting a process, which in some constitutions nature has scarcely power to effect? At such a moment the most passive condition of the system is that which every good physician should study to secure, rather than set up new morbid actions, the issue of which no one foresee. This unphilosophical practice, adopted from age to age by the physicians of the old school, fully accounts for the direful consequence which, in delicate, sensitive women, so frequently attend the puerperal state.
For the bowels to remain unmoved for a few days after delivery is natural; it conserves the strength of the patient, and never requires interference.
In four or five days, however, if the patient has had no evacuation, and complains of pain in the bowels or fulness in the head, one or two doses of Bryonia, at intervals of three hours, will generally afford relief.
After this, if necessary, Nux Vomica and Sulphur may be given in alternation every four hours for several times.
The inability to pass water which sometimes follows parturition, may generally be relieved by Aconitum; but if after a few doses this does not succeed, and there is great urging, Camphor may be given every twenty minutes for three or four times.
ACCESSORY MEANS IN CONSTIPATION. The moderate use of plain, unstimulating solid food, at suitable intervals after confinement, will furnish the proper impulse to the intestinal canal, and be more likely to facilitate an evacuation than the exclusive use of liquids. When the bowels do not act duly even after the administration of the remedies, an injection should be given by means of an enema-syringe, page 124. But the writer has ample ground for stating that Castor-oil or other aperients, are never required.
XLVI. Diarrhoea after Confinement.
This is a more serious condition than the former, and suitable means should be taken to correct it as early as possible.
TREATMENT. Pulsatilla. Diarrhoea caused by too rich or fatty food; occurring chiefly at night.
China. When there is much weakness.
Phosphoric Acid. Obstinate, painless, watery Diarrhoea.
Administration. A dose every two hours, or after every evacuation until relieved.
ACCESSORY MEANS. Quietude, and the recumbent posture; cool or cold digestible food.
LICENTIATE OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS; MEMBER OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS; LICENTIATE IN MIDWIFERY, LONDON AND EDINBURGH, ETC. PHYSICIAN TO THE READING AND BERKSHIRE HOMOEOPATHIC DISPENSARY.
Author of "The Stepping Stone to Homeopathy and Health,"
"Manual of Homoeopathic Treatment". Editor of "The Homoeopathic World."