Calcarea Carb,. when the symptoms are-
1. A slimy, insipid taste, slimy coating on the tongue.
2. A burning sensation in the stomach, acrid eructations, sometimes sour, at other times alkaline in taste; a feeling of pressure over the stomach, with vomiting of food and mucus.
The symptoms indicative for Arsenicum are characterised by a foul, bitter, or sour taste, a hot, burning sensation in the oesophagus and pharynx, eructation of sour acrid fluid, nausea, retching, and vomiting of slimy or stringy mucus tinged with blood; pain in the stomach, oppressive anxiety, trembling and coldness of the extremities; a small, irregular, and frequent pulse, with a peculiar anxiety of countenance.
Phosphorus, Pulsatilla, Nitric and Hydrochloric Acids are likewise valuable remedies in certain forms of Gastralgia: the former did good service in a case of the kind which came under my notice some months since: the two latter should be taken a brief period before meals.
CONSTIPATION
There is not a more fatal error than that which tempts the lady to watch her bowels too attentively. A certain degree of constipation is in some patients natural to their condition, and therefore should not be too speedily interfered with; however, for the evacuation to be absent for the period of days or weeks, is essentially wrong and dangerous.
It is well known that, under the absorbing influence of gestation, a strange torpor often afflicts the lower intestines. The colon and rectum become loaded with dry and hardened faeces; and to such an extent have they been distended as to materially interfere with the process of labour, or to provoke even Peritonitis after the child has been born. Therefore, the lady in such a condition is entreated, for her own sake and that of her offspring, to encourage the habit on which the safety of both so much depends.
There is a moment when nature seeks relief; this should NEVER be neglected. Should, however, nature fail in her efforts, one of the following medicines, administered in accordance with the totality of the symptoms, will invariably succeed in giving the desired relief, viz. Alumina, Bryonia, Nux Vom., Opium. or Podophyllum Peltatum.
Alumina-When constipation appears to arise from an apparent absence of peristaltic action in the bowels, with hard, dry, and pale faeces.
Bryon.-When the same condition occurs in warm weather, particularly in persons prone to rheumatism, with a sensation of pressure in the stomach, bladder, or perineum; faeces hard, large, and devoid of mucus.
Nux Vom.-is a sovereign remedy when the cause may be traced to a want of power in the intestine to expel its contents; a kind of paralysis, with a sensation as if more had to be expelled, as if from constriction of the rectum, the faecal mass pale and lumpy in consistence.
Opium claims a priority in constipation when there exists a sensation as if the anus were firmly closed; a feeling of heavy weight in the lower part of the abdomen; the faeces hard, small, and round, like balls, either blackish or deeply discoloured.
Podoph. P.-When congestion of the liver exists, with a deficiency of bile in the intestines. In obstinate cases of constipation, and when urgent symptoms demand relief, i sometimes prescribe a “Lavement,” consisting of 10 or 12 ounces of warm soap and water (soapsuds); but to those who object to such an operation, a teaspoonful of castor-oil, or the same quantity of “Lenitive Electuary,” prepared according to the formula of the official Pharmacopoeia of this country, will frequently yield the desired result. In addition to such simple measures, a lady so circumstanced is advised to augment the proportion of vegetables and fruit, to drink a tumblerful of cold water night and morning, and to take moderate exercise in the open air.
FASTIDIOUS TASTE – LONGINGS
The stomach, during gestation, is capable of influencing the imagination; therefore we have many and strange stories of what formerly were termed “Ladies’ Longings’. For such caprices regular medicine has no antidote. She can drag and tear the health to tatters, but with the mind it is her belief she has no business to meddle. She therefore leaves such fancies alone; and though unfortunate ladies have drunk vinegar and brandy to excess, or have eaten coals, cinders, common salt, or chalk, until their bowels became clogged, the doctor did nothing to relieve his client. She of course perished, having no strength when the season of labour arrived.
Yet, notwithstanding such lessons, general practice pursues its old routine, and refuses to benefit from inquiry.
The mind, however, Homoeopathy assays to deal with as a portion of the body; for morbid thoughts and conditions, it proposes relief in such medicine as Acidum Nitricum, Arnica Montana, Cicuta Virosa, Lachesis, Nux Vomica, Pulsatilla, and Sulphur.
If the desire or “longing” be for vinegar, the patient should take Arnica Montana.
If for brandy, Nux Vomica, Lachesis, Pulsatilla, or Sulphur.
If for coal or finders, Cocculus, or Cicuta Virosa.
If for salt, Carbo Vegetabilis.
If for chalk or plaster, Acidum Nitricum, or Nux Vomica.
Yet it is better to render unnecessary the best of remedies; and therefore the lady is particularly advised to pay strict attention to the health of her body. At this period she should not be too much in the house, or be left too much alone. A companion of her own sex should reside with her, so that cheerful conversation, and the aspiration natural to a healthy associate, may tempt her sometimes abroad.
Something, moreover, might be done by the husband occasionally exerting his mind to find out trivial and easy employments for his helpmate. It is one of the curses of modern society, that business claims the heads of most families during the day-time. A woman thus left to herself, and compelled as it were to solitude, naturally mopes; and it is to draw her out of such a humour during the most critical and delicate portion of her existence, that the above proposal is suggested.
DIARRHOEA
A contrary state is not unusual, diarrhoea being a frequent complaint with pregnant women. These attacks may come on at any time, but are most frequently witnessed during the early months. Ladies, however, should not in every case be alarmed, or in all instances seek to check such defluxions.
As the most ignorant of my readers must be aware, that during impregnation certain reliefs are suppressed, a looseness of the bowels not unseldom supplying the same outlet to peculiar humours. It should consequently be always noted whether the visitations of diarrhoea are periodic; as, in case of their being so, checking such evacuations may not be altogether free from danger.
For such a condition the Allopathic physician drugs his patients with ponderous doses of Hyd. C., Creta, Dover’s powder, Ipecac, Rhubarb, Tincture of Camphor, carbonates, and the old well-known chalk mixtures.
The Homoeopathic physician, on the contrary, administers his remedies in a mild and gentle form; and by adopting the beautiful formula which forms the groundwork of Homoeopathy, is enabled, with a simple remedy, to restore the system to its normal condition. Thus-
Ant. Crud.-he administers if the diarrhoea follows some sudden emotion, such as fright, joy, etc.
Dulcamara-If from exposure to cold, and the evacuations are watery, slimy, greenish, or yellow.
Hyoscyamus-When the evacuations are painless and involuntary.
Chamomilla or Colocynth-If following anger or chagrin, with bilious secretions, and spasmodic, colicky pains.
Calcarea Carb. or Sulph.-If the diarrhoea assumes a chronic form.
Phosphorus-When the diarrhoea is watery and painless.
ICTERUS, OR JAUNDICE
Another peculiarity attendant upon this season of existence, but more essentially attacking the patient during the latter periods of pregnancy, is Jaundice. Some females think this symptom warrants a resort to most violent remedies; they therefore do themselves no little injury by indulging their propensities. However, to such as may be inclined to listen to reason, the writer intimates the jaundice is no more than a reasonable effect produced by the enlarged uterus pressing against the biliary duct. A better and a safer cure, which will often prove effective after all medicine has failed, is to lie for several hours in the day upon a sofa, invariably reclining upon the left side.
The reason for giving this last injunction is the situation of the “biliary duct,” which, being upon the right side of the body, of course, must be relieved from all pressure when gravitation inclines to the left. Should, however, this artifice not succeed, it is then time to have recourse to medicine; but instead of blue pill, Colocynth, falap, Scamony, and the various drastic medicines now, unfortunately, too common in this country, the sufferer is entreated to take nothing more potent than either Mercurius Sol., Chamomilla, Chelid., Majus., Nux Vom., Podo-phyllum, or Sulph., in the third or sixth dilution.
Either of the above has, in my experience, proved highly efficacious; while in neither of them have I witnessed the remotest possibility of injury either to mother or offspring.
William Morgan wrote The homeopathic treatment of indigestion, constipation, and haemorrhoids, The philosophy of homeopathy, The Text Book for Domestic Practice, The Liver and Its Diseases, Both Functional and Organic, Diabetes Mellitus, Syphilis and Syphiloidal Diseases, Cholera, Diphtheria, The signs and concomitant derangements of pregnancy, Contagious diseases; their history, anatomy, pathology, and treatment, Diseases of the Liver, and their homeopathic treatment.