48 – RETENTION OF URINE
This, the opposite condition to Incontinence, may arise from pressure of the distended uterus, or from displacement of the neck of the womb causing obstruction of the urethra. It requires prompt attention, as the pressure of the overdistended bladder upon the uterus may occasion serious inconvenience.
MEDICAL TREATMENT – Aconite, Arnica, B ell., Camph., Cantharis, Causticum, Hyoscyamus, Nux V., Rhus.
LEADING INDICATIONS FOR THE PRINCIPAL REMEDIES –
Aconitum – Retention with inflammatory symptoms.
Arnica – Retention after confinement.
Belladonna – Retention, with congestion to the head, redness of the face, etc. Either of the last two remedies may be alternated with or proceed Cantharis.
Camphor – Sudden spasmodic retention, with burning and great pain. It is chiefly useful at the commencement of the difficulty, and when but little fever exists. Coldness and shivering are further indications for this remedy. It is best administered on loaf-sugar, two drops every ten or fifteen minutes for three or four times.
Cantharis – Urging to urinate, with cutting and tearing pains.
Causticum – Retention after confinement if Arnica does not soon relieve.
Nux Vomica – Painful ineffectual desire to urinate, with discharge drop-by-drop, especially in persons accustomed to alcoholic beverages. This remedy often enables the bladder to recover its contractile power.
ADMINISTRATION – Except the tincture of Camphor, a dose every one to four hours, according to the urgency of the symptoms.
ACCESSORY MEANS IN URINARY DIFFICULTIES – The patient should make regular efforts to pass water; and if she fail in her endeavours, a single introduction of the catheter will generally remove the difficulty. Often however, the use of the catheter is entirely superseded by one or more of the medicines just recommenced, or even by the following measures. The sudden application of a towel to the abdomen, after immersion in cold water, often causes an immediate contraction of the bladder, and consequent discharge of urine. Sometimes the alternate application of a hot and cold towel is speedily successful. Even plunging the hands into a full basin of very cold water, and moving them about, is generally followed by an immediate discharge of urine. Fomentations, and injections of water up the bowel or vagina, afford great relief, and often supersede the use of the catheter. The diet must be sparing, and, in the severe cases, restricted to gruel and demulcent drinks – barley water, gum-water, linseed-tea, or simple cold-water. Tea and coffee should be taken very sparingly, or altogether omitted for a time. A change of the drinking water is often advisable, especially if pure soft water can be obtained. Acids, and too much salt, should be avoided.
49 PAIN IN THE BREASTS
Some patients are troubled with a pricking or acute pain in one or both breasts; the pain may become exceedingly troublesome, constant, or recur in paroxysms; generally there is no fever, although excessive suffering may cause sleeplessness and want of appetite; like faceache and headache, this is generally of a neuralgic character.
CAUSES – Symptomatic irritation in the breast, through pregnancy, which determines a flow of blood to those organs; compression of the breasts with stays, etc. It is especially liable to occur in ladies who have suffered from painful menstruation. As a symptom, pain or tension of the breast may result from tumour in the womb, ovarian dropsy, etc., as well as from pregnancy.
MEDICINAL TREATMENT – Aconite, Belladonna, Bryonia, Cim., Conium, HeparS., Pulsatilla
LEADING INDICATIONS FOR THE PRINCIPAL REMEDIES –
Aconitum – Febrile symptoms, especially if arising from cold.
Belladonna – Erysipelatous redness, heat, hardness, or other inflammatory conditions.
Bryonia – Pricking sensation, sensitiveness, etc.
Conium is also sometimes required for the nervous variety.
Pulsatilla will generally remove this condition when it is chiefly nervous
ADMINISTRATION – A dose three or four times daily for several days.
ACCESSORY MEANS – Hamamelis and Olive oil (one part of the former to ten of the latter), gently rubbed into the breasts, often affords quick relief. Chloroform (one part) and Glycerine (twenty parts) make another useful application. Stays should not be worn, and tight-fitting dresses avoided.
50 – ITCHING OF THE GENITAL PARTS (Pruritus vulvae)
SYMPTOMS – Pruritus of the vulvae is often one of the most distressing ailments to which pregnant women are liable. It consists in an intolerable itching of the vulvae (external genitals), sometimes without any abnormal appearance except such as arises from the violent rubbing which the irritation excitas; in other cases an aphthous efflorescence, similar to the Thrush of infants, encrusts the inner surface of the labia and adjacent parts, and may extend to a considerable depth towards the womb. In other case, again, the aphthous condition is not present, but the parts take on a copper-coloured appearance, and present numerous slight abrasions, with excessive irritation. From the surfaces thus affected a vitiated watery exudation takes place, together with the most intense and incessant itching. Sometimes this affection is accompanied by sexual excitement, – or it may have a periodic character. It is not limited to pregnancy, and sometimes troubles the unmarried of all ages; it is most common, however, during gestation, and at the change of life.
CAUSES – Acrid fluids from the glands of the vulvae or vagina; any conditions leading to congestion of the generative organs, as inactive habits, too much sitting, especially if combined with too high living or the use of stimulants; at times it is owing to an aphthous form of inflammation of the mucous membrane of the vagina, and may co-exist with the sore mouth which sometimes accompanies pregnancy or lactation. Worms or Pediculi may occasion the irritation. A want of proper cleanliness also is, no doubt, of frequent cause. Taking opium, or hydrate of chloral has caused it. Disorders of the digestive organs, – Constipation, Piles etc., are frequently associated with this condition. It is especially liable to occur in ladies who have suffered from Leucorrhoea or urinary troubles.
MEDICINAL TREATMENT – Aconite, Ambra., Arsenicum, Belladonna, Borax., Collinsonia, Conium, Graphites, Kreosotum, Lycopodium, Mercurius, Platina, Sepia, Sulphur, Thuja.
INDICATIONS FOR THE PRINCIPAL REMEDIES
Ambra – With itching of the anus
Arsenicum – Chronic eczematous Pruritus
Borax – This remedy has often great power over this affection, and should be used internally, and as a wash.
Conium – Itching and soreness of the parts from acrid milky Leucorrhoea.
Graphites – Itching with excoriations or vesicles. It should be administered internally, and as a wash.
Kreosote – Pruritus with foetid corrosive Leucorrhoea.
Mercurius – Aphthous or eczematous Pruritus
Platina – Pruritus associated with ovarian or uterine disorder.
Sepia – Inflammation and swelling of the vulvae; Leucorrhoea, with bearing-down and excoriation of the parts.
ADMINISTRATION – A dose three or four times daily.
Carbolic Acid, diluted Tincture of Iron, infusion of Hops (1 oz. of the drug to one quart of boiling water), and
12 Flowers of Sulphur, have all proved efficient, in different hands, as local applications.
ACCESSORY MEANS – Local treatment is generally necessary. Frequent and thorough ablutions of the external parts with tepid or cold water are very desirable for the comfort of the patient, and at the same time conducive to her recovery. A wash of Castile soap and warm water is often very useful. The hip-bath, used several times daily during an attack, and persevered in afterwards once a day, will be found very efficient in aiding the cure, and in preventing this troublesome affection. Temporary relief may be obtained by a solution of borax in watery, applied twice daily, and often gives much relief. A tablespoonful of Eau-de-Cologne mixed in a teacupful of warm water, and applied directly by means of cloths saturated with the mixture, is another valuable application.
51 – ABORTION – MISCARRIAGE
When the expulsion of the foetus occurs in the early months of pregnancy it is termed Abortion or Miscarriage; after about the seventh month. Premature Birth. In the former-Abortion or Miscarriage-the child is not viable (capable of an independent existence); in the latter – premature birth – it is. When Abortion has once occurred, a predisposition to it is engendered in subsequent pregnancies, and especially at about the corresponding period; consequently indiscretions and excesses are most likely to be fatal to natural delivery at this particular time than at any other. Abortion must be regarded as a serious evil; it not only deprives the mother of the product of her pregnancy, but often places her health, and even life, in peril.
SYMPTOMS – (1) Slight symptoms of Miscarriage – A feeling of indisposition to exertion, depression, weakness and uneasiness at the bottom of the back and at the lower part of the abdomen, and other symptoms, resembling those which often precede menstruation.
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."