Common name : Thorn-apple; Devils apple; Jamestown weed; Mad apple; Stink-weed.
Synonym : Datura Stramonium; Datura lurida; Solanum maniacum.
Habitat : Grows everywhere.
Preparation :
ALLEN says that our tincture is made of the seeds of Datura Stramonium, BLACKWOOD mentions Mother tincture of the fresh herb in flower and fruit. The British Homoeo.
Pharmacopoeia adopts the entire herb.
The old school use the drug as a narcotic and antispasmodic, and especially do we find the dried leaves smoked as cigarettes for the relief of asthma.
Stramonium acts like other plants of the Solanum family in producing cerebral excitation, particularly delirium, which here assumes a peculiar form. Its scarlatina-like eruption is similar to Belladonna. Suppression of urine is one of the peculiarities to be noted; great sexual excitement; tendency to convulsions; fiery eruptions of the skin similar to Belladonna; dryness of the throat, with fear of water.
Therapeutic uses : Acute mania; Delirium tremens; apoplexy; catalepsy; epilepsy; erotomania; aphasia; hysteria; chorea; convulsions; hiccough; diaphragmitis; chordee; coxalgia; ecstasy; enuresis ; affections of the eyes; suppressed eruptions; scarlatina; measles; whooping cough; paralysis; hydrophobia; headache from sun; anasarca after scarlatina; locomotor ataxy; sunstroke; lochia, offensive; tremors; meningitis; tetanus; trismus; Typhus; Burns; etc.
Generalities:
SUPPRESSION OF ALL EXCRETIONS (Secale). Wildness of manners. Inarticulate cries. Lying on their backs; when lying upon stomach, boring head into pillows; prostrate and helpless. Relaxation of voluntary muscles. Sways to and fro like a drunken man. Falling over when sitting, especially towards right side, making a circular sweep. Threatens to fall on rising. Inability to perform co-ordinate movements. Loss of voluntary motion. Inability to take food, to see, hear, speak or feel.
TREMBLING OF WHOLE BODY (Arg. nit.; Gels.; Cimicif.; Merc.), with rigidity of trunk and limbs, constant moans, occasional shrieks, appeared as if terribly frightened; holding a candle before eyes caused convulsions of limbs.
CONSTANT RESTLESS MOVEMENTS (Hyosc.; Merc.; Rhus t.; Bell.), Subsultus tendinum (Hyosc). Chorea-like movements, and features continually changing, at times laughing, at times expressing astonishment, lips moved as if trying to speak, sometimes puckered as in whistling, mouth often opened and snapped together, tongue often run out rapidly and licked about cheeks, head thrown backward and forward spasmodic twisting of spine and whole body, limbs in constant motion (not jerking), anxiety and restlessness, rubbing nose and mouth, pulling at lips, groping about, fingering bedcovers, scratching face or throat, at times the arm suddenly sank down relaxed for a moment, whole body exhausted, then the spasm would begin anew (Merc).
Twitching; and inability to swallow or talk (Hyosc., Op.) CONVULSIONS: AT SIGHT OF A LIGHTED CANDLE, MIRROR, OR OF WATER; worse being touched or loudly spoken to, AND WHEN A CUP OF DRINK TOUCHED THE LIPS; worse arms, face and neck; beginning in face and extending to other parts; with blowing or hissing expirations; with shrieks and hoarseness, alternating with torpor; alternating with rage, during which he beat and bit those who attempted to hold him.
Opisthotonos. Tetanus, Hysterical symptoms. Cramps. Body bent backward as in opisthotonos, muscles of limbs very active, he grasped at his mouth and face, tried to get out of bed and made efforts to grasp small objects, but had no spasms.
Aura running swiftly from right heel to occiput, all along posterior right side. Hyperaesthesia to touch, every motion aggravated. RESTLESS; and calling FOR WATER, SWALLOWING DIFFICULT (Hyosc.). Great strength.
Weakness; in morning on waking, also went back to bed several times; when walking; from least exertion; desire to lie down. Sudden weakness, with violent beating of the heart. Diminution of sensorial power; loss of sensation (touch, taste, etc.). Collapse. Stiffness of whole body. Paralysis of various parts.
“Chorea, with peculiar fright of the drug, with constantly changing spasms; chorea, particularly of the muscles of the face, which assume all kinds of expressions (rarely for chorea, which persistently attacks certain muscles). Hysterical convulsions resulting from fright, especially from being frightened by animals.
HAHNEMANN calls attention to the fact that most of the affections to which Stramonium is homoeopathic are characterized by painlessness.
It is suited to ailments of young, plethoric persons (chorea, mania), especially of children (fever delirium); ailments due to shock; fright; sun; childbirth. Suppression.
Mind: DELIRIUM; NOISY; FRIGHTENED BY STRANGE OBJECTS THAT OBTRUDE UPON HIS FANCY; GAZE FIXED AND SHE TRIED TO REACH TOWARDS SOMETHING WHICH SHE SAW; under impression of danger; clinging to the person who held him in her lap. LOW MUTTERING, THEN SUDDEN AND FURIOUS SCREAMING, BITING, SCRATCHING, AND TEARING WITH HANDS AND KICKING.
PICKED THE BED-CLOTHES, saw bugs, etc; large dogs, cats and other horrible beasts seemed to grow out of the ground at his side and he sprang away from them in terror. HE SAW BLACK OBJECTS, spoke of black people and black clouds and grasped at the air; at first looked stupid and gave incoherent answers, afterwards looked like an idiot, then bit a mans hand, SOMETIMES CRIED OUT THAT SHE SAW CATS, DOGS AND RABBITS AT THE TOP, SIDES AND MIDDLE OF THE ROOM. Sees persons not present. SOLELY OCCUPIED WITH OBJECTS OF HIS FANCY.
SYMPTOMS RESEMBLING HYDROPHOBIA; RAGE ON ATTEMPTING TO ADMINISTER LIQUIDS, LIKE HYDROPHOBIA, SPASMS OF PHARYNX SO THAT ANYTHING TAKEN CHOKED HIM AND WAS REGURGITATED. AVERSION TO FLUIDS.
Paroxysms of laughter. Delirium alternating with insensibility, VOICE SQUEAKING; symptoms resembling delirium tremens, and struggling to get out of bed, rolling from side to side, unless supported she fell forward to the ground.
ALL MOTIONS HASTY and forcible, he is anxious if he cannot finish them at once. APPREHENSION. STARTING UP IN FRIGHT; SHUDDERING AND FRIGHT. Imagines that he is alone and is frightened. Sadness in evening in bed, with thoughts of death and violent weeping. Fear of sudden death.
Talking much, but speech difficult; continued incoherent talk. Disinclination for real work, memory lost.
Disposed to talk continually (Cic.; Lach.); incessant and incoherent talking and laughing; praying, beseeching, entreating; with suppressed menses.
“Raving, with attempts to escape; talking, laughing, or singing; especially with symptoms of terror, thinks he will be killed or that wild beasts are chasing him. Mania, wild delirium, with terrifying hallucinations. The child screams in fright, or an adult is horrified or loquacious, is particularly afraid of the dark. Hallucinations; he particularly imagines that he is surrounded by black insects or by small animals of black color. The loquacity of this drug may be compared with that of Hyosc., and Lach; Stramonium is persistent in being confined to one subject; he imagines he is talking with spirits or absent people.
Very frequently useful in delirium tremens, with visions of animals from which he attempts to escape. In delirium of fever, characterized by an abnormal sense of properties of his body, it is similar to Baptisia; the Stramonium patient is apt to imagine, that certain parts are of unnatural size, or that they are double. Hydrophobia; of all drugs known to us this seems most nearly a specific for this dreadful disease, and some cases, supposed to be genuine, have been cured.”.
The delirium of Stramonium is for the most part terrifying. Convulsions, with consciousness (Nux); renewed by sight of bright light, mirror or water (Bell.; Lyss.).
CLARKE says, “In a case of mine, Stram. relieved an extensive eczematous eruption which came on after a fright.”.
TESTE calls attention to the following forms of mania; Nymphomania of lying-in-women. Certain forms of religious monomania, exaggerated and ridiculous scruple of conscience. Fixed notion that some unpardonable sin has been committed (which the patient is nevertheless unable to remember); that he is possessed of the devil. Hallucination, which terrify the patient.
Fantastic sensation : Starts as if a shock of electricity has been passed through her body. As if objects were smaller than they really are. As if dizzy. As if nose were shifted. As if pins and needles were in forehead. As if bones were sawed through. As if he had no limbs. Cries as if from sight of hideous objects. As if very tall. As if navel were to be torn out. As if very tall. As if navel were to be torn out. As if parts of limbs were completely separated from body. As if boiling water in throat. As if cold water were poured down back.
DESIRES LIGHT AND COMPANY; cannot bear to be alone; worse in dark and solitary place; cannot walk in a dark room.
Desire to escape, in delirium (Bell.; Bry.; Op.; Rhus.).
Head :
Swelling and internal fullness as if it would burst. Frequently raises head from the pillow; head moved to and fro. Spasm to either side after a swoon, with redness of face. Aching: in evening; deep in brain, worse over eyes, with heaviness; with vertigo and heaviness of head, alternating with lightness and disposition to faint. Deep-seated throbbing. Fullness RUSH OF BLOOD. Confusion. Stupid feeling. Apoplexy, Drunkenness; in morning; and heavy feeling in body. Head feels as if scattered about (Bapt.).
Vertigo :
Every morning after rising, with want of thought, weakness of memory and vision as through a gauze. Vertigo on raising head from pillow; on sitting and standing in a room, with nausea; with flickering before eyes; with staggering as if he would fall forward and to the left. “Vertigo when walking in the dark.”.
Forehead :
Wrinkled. Tingling as if pins and needles were in it. Pain in right side. Throbbing in forehead and in vertex and eyeballs. Vertex : Pressure every day, late in afternoon and evening, worse right side. Pain in right side of occiput, occasionally throbbing; also in left side.
