SULPHUR


In chronic malarial condition where the case has been suppressed and mixed by quinine which the patient had taken, it becomes almost impossible to get a clear picture of any drug, Sulphur helps by bringing out the suppressed symptoms, with indications for the curative simillimum.


Lower Extremities :

Uncertain gait in afternoon, worse ascending stairs. Tearing, forcing him to put them out of bed Bruised sensation after walking in open air. Weakness in morning; after a short walk, with heaviness. Heaviness, in morning in bed, with falling asleep of the limb.

Hip :

Sudden cramplike, painful jerking, about joint. Pain in joint, inability to step, pain at night even on touch. Bruised pain on motion and touch. Tensive pain in joint on walking.

Thigh :

CRAMP IN RIGHT. Tearing in posterior muscles when sitting. Sore between nates. Soreness between thighs, worse walking in open air. DRAWING PAIN; in tubera ischii, hip-joint, and upper half of right femur. Weakness of thighs and legs.

Knee :

Cracking. STICKING, IN RIGHT; on outermost tip; worse standing; on slight motion and on ascending steps, better walking on a level; causing shivering and fright. TEARING, through, knee and tibia, worse evening with drawing, she does not know where to lay the legs; EXTENDING TO FEET WHEN WALKING AND SITTING. PAIN on moving knee, AS FROM STIFFNESS ON RISING FROM A SEAT. Sprained soreness on descending steps. Bruised pain on rising from a seat and on bending it. TENSION IN HOLLOWS AS IF TOO SHORT ON STEPPING; on rising from a seat, worse ascending steps. Knee often spasmodically flexed and extended. Pressure in left patella when sitting and walking. Stiffness in hollows; worse rising from a seat, with weight.

Legs :

Swelling of veins. Trembling, with weariness, sticking and tearing. Inclination to cramp on stretching out foot. Tearing extending into middle of thighs. Heaviness at night in bed.

Tibia :

STICKING; sore pain; drawing.

Calf :

CRAMP in morning in bed; at night on stretching out legs; EVEN WHEN WALKING, WHEN THEY ARE PAINFUL AS IF TOO SHORT. Tremulous sensation when standing. Boring. Weary pain at night in bed.

Ankle :

Cracking on motion. Ankle turns when walking, worse descending steps. Swelling of malleoli, with sprained pain on motion. Sprained pain in left ankle on standing and walking.

STIFFNESS OF MALLEOLI.

Foot :

Swelling in warmth of bed. Tearing at night, with rigidity, preventing sleep. Drawing extending into hips, with cracking in joints on motion. Weariness. HEAVINESS: in morning in bed; worse ankles; on walking in open air, better continued walking.

Heels :

Cutting extending to hollow of foot. Tearing extending into thighs and hip-joints when standing, worse knee, better walking.

Sole :

Jerking, better motion. Cramp at every step. Soft, sensitive, painful on walking. Pain; as if suppurating, when stepping on them; cramp-like, extending to toes on walking. Drawing pain in morning. Numbness, better rubbing, with crawling. Cramps principally at night (Calc.; Camphor.; Chamo,; Ferr.; Nux v.; Nit. ac.; Sil.). BURNING IN THE SOLES (Calc.c.; Sil.; Lach.); WANTS THEM UNCOVERED (Cham.). Coldness of the feet, especially the soles (COWPERTHWAITE). With the rush of blood to the head we often notice heat on the crown of the head and cold feet.

Corns :

With aching and sticking pains. STICKING, in evening in bed. PAIN, AS FROM A TIGHT SHOE. Sticking burning.

Toes;

Swelling. Inflammation of the great toe, with pain. Cramps in toes on stretching out feet. Nails thick, horny, misshapen; worse middle. Pain in nail of great toe; on inside (underneath) of great toe, with soreness.

Skin :

HANG-NAILS. GROUPS OF BLACK POINTS LIKE COMEDONES, ON FOREHEAD, BUT THEY CANNOT BE SQUEEZED OUT. BLACK COMEDONES ON NOSE, upper lip and chin. HANDS HARD AND DRY. Hands cracked, worse about joints, with soreness; above roots of fingers; about knuckles of hands, with rawness and roughness.

Skin cracked, worse open air. Increased excretion of carbonic acid. Skin smelt of sulphur; in morning. Liver-spots on back and chest, with itching in evening. Redness of hands and fingers in evening, with swelling as if frozen, with tension on motion.

DEARBORN says, “No other drug is so commonly employed in dermatological practice, and none will repay more a careful analysis of its characteristics.” He observes that the location of disturbance is not so very important and remarks that “the most troublesome forms are found on the warmer region of the skin, such as beneath the hair at the occiput, the folds, flexures of joints, arms and genitals.” Sulphur should be remembered for diseases (e.g. asthma, diarrhoea, etc.) which alternate with some form of skin trouble, and for skin lesions that are chronic and prone to recur.

One of the important characteristics of sulphur is that bathing or washing the affected part causes increased itching; the sulphur child has a strong aversion to bathing and the adult is afraid of it, because bathing causes that intense itching and which continues such a long time after a bath.

Eruption; BURNING ITCHING; painful eruption about chin. Tetter on nape. HEAT RASH ON NECK. Erythema, worse night in bed, worse heat of bed. Desquamation, on face; on fingers in round spots. Scaly eruptions which had disappeared by external applications returned after SCRATCHING, WITH BURNING ITCHING.

Erysipelas of breast, inflammation, hardness and heat, with red rays extending from nipple, and sticking in it. Biting rash on face, arms and lower limbs, Nettlerash; with fever; on back of hand; over whole body, hands and feet; under hips. Chilblains on fingers, the itching worse by warmth,.

Furunculous pimples, worse face, with red areola and itching. PIMPLES PAINFUL TO TOUCH ON FOREHEAD; ON RUBBING, A STICKING IN THEM. Boils. Panaritium; ulcer about a nail. Ulcer, with tensive pain; scabby, with sour-smelling matter; bleeding of old ulcers. A slight injury on finger becomes sore, with pulsation, then corrosive vesicle and swelling of hand, with pain on touch. ITCHING VESICLES ON BACK OF HAND. A SMALL CUT IS SORE AND SMARTS, THEN BURNING, THEN INFLAMMATION, WITH THROBBING PAIN.

STITCH-LIKE PRICKING OVER WHOLE BODY IN EVENING IN WARMTH OF BED. FORMICATION OVER WHOLE BODY, ITCHING ALL OVER BODY; NOW HERE, NOW THERE worse BETWEEN FINGERS, worse SCRATCHING (Puls.) WHICH CAUSES BURNING. ITCHING IN SPOTS THAT BLEED AND BITE AFTER SCRATCHING; IN SPOTS THAT ARE PAINFUL AFTER SCRATCHING; CRAWLING ITCHING WITH PAIN AFTER SCRATCHING.

“Intertrigo, acne, eczema, herpes, in short, all forms of skin eruptions, generally worse bathing, associated with burning itching, temporarily relieved by scratching, with the peculiar characteristics of the drug.”.

Sleep :

YAWNING, during the day, with sleepiness. Sleepiness, in daytime during menses. IRRESISTIBLE SLEEPINESS DURING THE DAY; she fell asleep when sitting at work; he fell asleep as soon as he sat down during the day.

LATE FALLING ASLEEP AT NIGHT, often not until 1 or 2 A.M., on account of flow of thought; waking every hour; with inclination to sweat. SLEEPLESSNESS; AT NIGHT; BEFORE MIDNIGHT, then frequent waking and tossing about; UNTIL MIDNIGHT, then disagreeable dreams, only tranquil towards morning. In the morning it is hard for him to get up.

SLEEPLESS, EVERY NIGHT AFTER 3 A.M. : on account of irritability and uneasiness; with weariness; WITH MOUNTING OF BLOOD TO HEAD. FREQUENT WAKING; WITH BEATING OF BLOOD IN HEAD, THEN ALSO IN CHEST.

STARTING UP on FALLING ASLEEP. FREQUENT TURNING OVER WITHOUT WAKING. Jerking in lower jaw on falling asleep. Stretching in sleep. Sighing, moaning and lamentations in sleep. Loud talking. Unintelligible murmuring. Sleep light; unrefreshing.

DREAMS :

immediately on closing eyes. VEXATIOUS VIVID dream, out of which he often woke and could not fall asleep again for a long time; so vivid as if she was sitting on the chamber that she urinated in the bed. FRIGHTFUL: of fire; of the dead and dying; of being bitten by a dog; with palpitation. Nightmare. ANXIOUS; AS IF SOMETHING OPPRESSED HIM; as if pursued by wild beasts; that he was falling from a height. Disconnected. Comic, with loud laughter, which continued after waking. Amorous dream, with emission. Dreams of murder.

Fever:

“It is indicated in various types of fever, idiopathic or symptomatic; in the malarial types there is tendency to torpor, with nocturnal aggravation; heat of the head, with cold feet, or heat of the palms and soles at night. In eruptive fevers the eruption is partial and scanty; the tongue is usually dry and red at the tip and edges (Rhus t.).” In chronic malarial condition where the case has been suppressed and mixed by quinine which the patient had taken, it becomes almost impossible to get a clear picture of any drug, Sulphur helps by bringing out the suppressed symptoms, with indications for the curative simillimum.

CHILL IN EVENING, better lying down, WITH HEADACHE. Chilliness, in morning; in evening, then heat of face and hands, with thirst; on least movement in bed. Shivering, ON BODY, WITH FLUSHING HEAT IN FACE. INTERNAL CHILLINESS, without thirst. Chilliness, CREEPING FROM SMALL OF BACK UP THE BACK, from 6 till 8 P. M., better heat of stove, Cold hands, feet and nose. Cold feet, all day and evening till going to sleep; in evening, with heat of head. Chill creeping up the back. Chilliness every evening in bed, followed by heat and profuse perspiration. Chill and fever, no reaction; constantly sinking.

Heat :

ORGASM OF BLOOD. Frequent flushes of heat, sometimes ending with a little moisture and faintness. Dry heat in morning in bed. Intermittent fever, first rigor with thirst, then heat without thirst, but with rash of blood to head.

N C Bose
DR. N. C. Bose, M.D.C.H
Calcutta
Chief Editor, Homeopathic Herald