Due to central irritation, convulsions may occur, especially in children with pale faces when the eruption in infectious diseases does not appear or when irritative cerebral manifestations appear as from worms or teething, the child rolling the head from side to side or boring the head into the pillow and grinding its teeth. This may occur in hydrocephalus and in meningitis. Headaches are common. There is pain at the root of the nose, as though the nose were pressed back into the head. There is severe migraine, trigeminal neuralgia with spasms, vomiting, nausea, dimming of vision, vertigo and a tendency to fall to the left. The headaches are congestive with redness of the face. All the head symptoms are aggravated after wine.
There is left-sided ovarian neuralgia with boring pain, restlessness before the menses, the pain being relieved by pressure and as soon as the flow of blood appears. The flow of blood relieves all her symptoms, but they return as soon as the menses cease. The trembling of muscles, crawling and numbness in the hands, calves and feet, then weakness and stiffness soon develops into paralysis. There is ptosis or complete paralysis of the upper lids; paresis of the bladder sphincter causes voiding on walking, coughing or sneezing. Often he can urinate only when sitting bent backwards.
There may be spasms in the pharynx or oesophagus, causing spasmodic dyspnoea with a sense of constriction, relieved by expectoration. The bloody sputum on coughing is due to the easy rupture of vessels. The nausea and vomiting is worse from movement, eating and wine. There is ravenous hunger about 11-12 a. m. in which state he cannot eat fast enough. Severe conjunctivitis is produced, the pains being worse in the evening and at night, with a sensation of sand in the eyes, profuse lachrymation, agglutination of the lids and photophobia.
CADMIUM.
Cadm. has marked action on mucous membranes, especially that of the alimentary canal. It also acts on the mucous membrane of the nasal passage and the ocular conjunctiva. There is nausea and vomiting of acid, black and yellow masses containing blood or bile, with exhaustion, cold sweat, anxiety, restlessness, trembling of lower jaw, icy coldness and thirst suggesting the picture of Ars. especially after the addition of diarrhoea. There is a desire to be left completely alone. It is also useful in ozaena, the inflammation of the nasal mucosa progressing to ulceration and caries of the bones with an odor of ulcer or cancer. It is a useful drug in gastric carcinoma with constant vomiting. Facial paresis has been cured by Cadm. sulph. In the provings are found twitchings, trembling and paraesthesias showing the analogy to Zinc.
MERCURIUS.
Mercury acts on all mucous membranes, especially affecting the mouth, throat, and large intestinal mucosa. Stomatitis causes offensive salivation, looseness of the teeth with nightly aggravation of the toothache, worse from cold and warmth. There are glandular swellings of the mouth and throat especially the salivary glands. The swollen tongue shows the imprint of the teeth, and even with the moist tongue there is a great thirst. There are ulcerations and aphthae in the mouth. There is always a tendency to suppuration. In the coryza there is yellow-green, thick copious acrid secretion and the periosteum may become involved with ulcer formation. The inflamed eyes, with blepharitis, conjunctivitis and acrid secretion, are sensitive to light and the flame of a fire.
The nocturnal aggravation, and the aggravation from light and warmth are guiding. In the intestinal canal a dysentery like syndrome is produced with bloody, mucous or green acrid stools with marked tenesmus, and no relief from stool. There is ptyalism with tenacious soapy, stringy, profuse, foetid, metallic-tasting saliva. The leucorrhoea is acrid, burning with itching and rawness, being always worse at night. The morning sickness of pregnancy is accompanied by profuse salivation, wetting the pillow while sleeping. The breasts are very painful at each menstrual epoch, or instead of menstruation, milk may fill the breasts.
The cough is dry, worse at night, and from the warmth of the bed, and he is unable to lie on the right side. There is trembling of the extremities especially the hands. There may be clonic convulsions which are choreiform or epileptic in nature, fitting often into the picture of paralysis agitans. Merc. is aggravated by the heat of, but ameliorated by rest in bed, while the modalities are just the opposite for Ars. The chief modalities are, however, the aggravation at night and from the warmth of the bed.
THALLIUM.
Thallium produces nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite, abdominal pains with retraction of the abdomen, colic and diarrhoea with bloody stools, which latter passes on into chronic constipation. Disturbances in the nervous system with numb sensations in the feet, acroparaesthesia, reduced tactile sense, yet markedly increased sensitivity to touch, especially of the lower extremities, paralysis of the lower extremities, painful muscles and joints, lancinating pains and weakness in the legs, trembling, incoordinated movements of a choreiform nature, visual disturbances from a retro-bulbar neuritis up to amaurosis, and decrease in mentality up to dementia.
There is also complete falling of the hair at the vertex, conjunctivitis with copious secretion of mucus, blepharitis, acute suppurative dermatitis involving the face, and much salivation. Clinically it has relieved the night sweats of tuberculosis. There are also lancinations following each other with the rapidity of electric shocks, in the stomach and bowels, the abdomen being retracted. The relationship to Plb. is clearly seen, to which element it is closely allied physically and chemically. Thall. has clinically relieved the violent pains of locomotor ataxia. Profound poisoning with the metal leads to emaciation, general weakness, and finally cardiac, hepatic and renal degenerations.
PLUMBUM.
This metal produces anaemia and a yellow-gray color of the skin. Often icterus occurs. Lassitude, anorexia, emaciation and wrinkled wan skin make a picture of cachexia. A blue line forms along the margin of the gums. Violent colic with rigid retracted abdomen and the sensation as though a string were drawing the abdominal wall toward the spine, and constipation with hard, lumpy black stool like sheep dung are outstanding features. There is slow comprehension and poor memory; mania may alternate with the constipation. The symptoms of lead depend on its action on the blood vessels the action on the vascular system and on the nervous system. On the blood vessels the action is vasoconstriction and changes progressing to endarteritis and sclerosis occur.
Severe renal injury results from these vascular changes. The violent abdominal pain may be due to smooth muscle action or to spasm of the mesenteric vessels and is relieved by pressure which comes either by bending double or by stretching backward. The type of stool is due to the spastically contracted anal muscles, which condition also produces a spasmodic urgency to stool. The intestinal paresis can produce symptoms of obstruction such as intussusception. OEsophageal and gastric spasms also occur, resembling the tabetic crisis. Lead has special affinity for the optic nerve, causing transient blindness or optic neuritis.
Extensor paralysis of the hands causes the wrist drop. Severe neuralgias with local hyperaesthesias and anaesthesias develop. The skin is sensitive to contact and cold air, in spots. The numbness, twitching and lightning-like pains depend on the neuritis. Cramps appear in groups of muscles such as the calves especially at night and on movement, and are temporarily relieved by pressure. The tearing, boring pains of lead arthralgia come in paroxysms like lead colic. Trembling and muscle weakness may be followed by motor paralysis, soon leading to atrophy.
STANNUM.
Tin produces extreme exhaustion of body and mind. The eyes are sunken, the face pale, she is irritable, sad, and would like to cry, but weeping makes her worse. The weakness is so profound she drops into a chair instead of sitting down, and is obliged to sit down several times while dressing. The weakness in the chest is extreme, and is aggravated from talking, laughing, reading or singing. At times he is so weak that talking is impossible. The extremities are heavy and tremble. The weak, empty epigastric sensation is not relieved by eating; the urge to stool is without result because of the weakness in the abdomen; the weakness on defecation or urination is so great that fainting occurs.
There are cutting and pressure pains about the umbilicus, and crampy gastric and abdominal pain relieved by pressure. The pains are characterized by slow increase and decrease. There is also nausea and vomiting from the odor of cooking food. Palpitation and cardiac anxiety occur on the least effort. The vertigo, depression, trembling and anxiety are worse before and better after the menses. It is particularly suited to the asthenic, relaxed and emaciated with a tendency to enteroptosis. The neuralgias, migraine and other pains increase slowly up to an acne, then slowly decrease, and are always relieved by pressure.
