Recently a few cases of Crataegus have come so forcibly to my attention that I have decided to write a short sketch about this rarer lesser proven remedy.
I need not give you a textbook picture of this drug because you can read it for yourself in any good materia medica. However, I do favor the account given of it in Anshutzs New, Old and Forgotten Remedies. For instance, at the bottom of page 111 the author was suddenly seized with a terrible pain in left breast; it extended over the entire region of the heart and down the left arm to the wrist. What a nice picture of Latrodectus mactans! Yet Crataegus did the job-better than morphine.
Now citing a few such cases of my own:.
CASE 1.
Mrs. J.H., age 83, comes from a cardiovascular family and she has a blood pressure of S. 250 D. 100. I do not know how she lives without a stroke.
She complains of a pressing misery in the chest with choking. She must hold her chest, < exertion < ascending stairs. Short of breath. Sensation as if the heart flops over. Sensation as if the right knee comes unjointed. Vertigo with tendency to fall forward < leaning forward. Feet burn. Easy satiety.
This case looked a great deal like Nat. mur. yet Crataegus made such a marked change for the better that she was able to do all her spring house cleaning, and at 83, too.
CASE II.
Mr. D. O., age 72, looked for the world like Lach. Wheezing; could not lie down. Edema of genitalia and lower extremities. Fast irregular weak heart. Intolerant of pressure of clothing around throat and abdomen. Purplish rosy due to feet and legs. Yet Crataegus changed the whole dropsical picture and the man is truly being rescued from the grave and that at 72 with dropsy, too.
Therefore, once in a while when looking around for a good heart remedy in your violent cardiovascular cases, think of Crataegus.
When your remedy picture seemingly points to Phos., Nat. mur., Lat. m., Ars. or Lach., but disappoints you, think of the lesser well proven remedy, Crataegus.
The mother tincture has been used. I am interested to know if anyone has had success with using it in the potencies.
