To relieve this form of malady, for which the instrument is often ruthlessly employed, and the application of such injurious agents as Tobacco, Horseradish, Ginger, Capsicum, kreosote, Camphor, Chloroform, Opium, Myrrh, and Catechu, I give, with marked success, such harmless remedies as Aconite, Belladonna, Calcarea C., Staphys, Spigelia, and Nux Vomica, in potencies varying from the 3rd to the 12th dilution, administered in accordance with the Homoeopathicity of the same.
Aconite stands foremost as a remedy in toothache of the congestive or inflammatory kind, when the cause may be traced to exposure to a current of air or keen wind; when the pain is throbbing, stinging, or pressing, as if the tooth were shattered to pieces, with redness and tenderness of the gums, and throbbing headache.
Belladonna ranks next in importance and value as a remedy in the inflammatory form of odontalgia; is chiefly indicated when the pains are of rheumatic, tearing, drawing, or throbbing kind, accompanied by redness, heat, and swelling of the gums.
Calcaria Carbonica is recommended for toothache with congestion of blood to the head, particularly at night; when the pains are either beating, stitching, boring, gnawing, or digging, both in the sound and carious teeth; swelling and sponginess of the gums, with a tendency to bleed.
Staphysagria is a valuable remedy for toothache when the following indications are present:-A painful gnawing or drawing sensation in the teeth every now and then, followed by a throbbing sensation in the gums, which are generally pale; heat in the face; swelling of the cheek, and headache of a stupefying or boring kind; or if the pain comes on when eating, the teeth being loose, black, decayed, and brittle, and seem to penetrate more deeply into their sockets when pressed upon.
Spigelia I administer, with marked success, when the pain is tearing, sticking, or comes on in sudden and painful jerks; aggravated by cold liquids, or exposure to cold air; most violent on retiring to rest, and reclining the head on the pillow (right side), and diminishing in severity on raising the head, moving about, or eating and drinking; but commencing again so soon as the head regains the pillow. The latter symptoms are peculiarly characteristic of the action of Spigelia; consequently “curative” when such symptoms arise from other causes, as the following case, recorded by me in the 2nd vol. of the “Monthly Homoeopathic Review”, p. 315, clearly defines:-
J. G., aged 25, a cook in a gentleman’s family, consulted me on the 16th of June, 1857. For two months previous to this date she had been a martyr to toothache, traced to a carious condition of the last molar in the upper jaw. She was entirely free from pain during the day; but on retiring to bed, and laying the head on the pillow, the pain commenced with all those agonies so characteristic of the complaint. On raising herself into the sitting posture, the paroxysms would either leave her altogether, or become considerably diminished in force; returning, however, again so soon as the head regained the pillow; such being the nightly freaks perpetrated by this dental torment, that the poor girl had scarcely an hour’s quiet repose for weeks. Her master, an amateur Homoeopathist, tried his skill in this case, and administered. from time to time, such remedies as Aconite, Belladonna, Chamomilla, Nux Vom., and Pulsatilla, with no favourable result.
The remarkable provings of Spigelia Anthelmia, as recorded in Hahnemann’s “Materia Medica Pura,” vol. iv., ([*Toothache, a sort of pressing from within outwards; most violent when lying on the right side; he does not feel it while he is eating or drinking, but immediately after the toothache commences again, and he frequently wakes in the night from that pain;- toothache preventing his night’s rest; it drives him out of his bed; he does not feel that pain in the daytime, except immediately after a meal; not during a meal.*]) indicated to me the specific virtue of this medicament in that peculiar form of odontalgia. I selected the 12th dilution; and the second dose sufficed to perform a perfect cure.
Dr. Hempel, in his comprehensive and truly philosophic exposition of the Homoeopathic law (see “Materia Medica”, p. 1080), makes the following observations on the action of Spigelia upon the teeth:-“Toothache especially when decayed teeth are affected with painful jerks, and the pain is aggravated by cold water, or the contact of cold air; or it may be given for a passing pain in the teeth from within outwards, most violent when lying on the right side; intermitting while eating and drinking, but commencing again immediately after, and frequently waking one at night.”
Nux Vomica is a potent remedy in the toothache of pregnant ladies, when the pains are either sticking, drawing, tearing, digging, or jerking; when there is impaired digestion, and an inactive condition of the bowels; is particularly adapted for those of a sanguine or nervo-bilious temperament, and who have partaken too freely of strong tea or coffee.
HYSTERIA
More to be feared then toothache, because it is far more constitutional, both in its origin and its symptoms, its demonstrations being at times so violent as even to produce abortion, is “hysteric convulsions.”
This malady more frequently attacks the nervous and hysterical female.
These convulsions are generally preceded by a sensation of strangulation about the throat, or a feeling as if a ball were imbedded in that cavity; by involuntary sobbing, and ineffectual attempts to swallow; after that, the body may, for a time, become motionless, or may writhe about from side to side; the hands frequently clutch the throat; the face is generally pale, and does not lose its natural form; the patient retains her consciousness, though unable to articulate. Such a condition may last for an uncertain period, when all the signs are aggravated; and the attack terminates by the evacuation of a quantity of flatus upwards, a copious discharge of clear limpid urine, and frequent shrieks, sobs, and tears.
The lady’s health, of course, is injured, but nevertheless may bear a healthy offspring, and subsequently do well; although sad tales are recorded as the consequences of neglect during hysterical convulsions.
EPILEPSY
There is always danger of an hysterical diathesis being confounded with an epileptic declaration, to which pregnant women are strongly liable. Those convulsions of epilepsy are, however, announced by certain premonitory symptoms, which every patient should be acquainted with, and be able to recognise, so as immediately to call for assistance.
A lady moving in the upper ranks of society some years ago, residing in Harley Street, Cavendish Square, had a narrow escape from inattention to this particular. She felt herself ill, and luckily at the moment rang for the servant to put some coals upon the fire, As the footman entered the room, he was surprised to behold his mistress fall from her chair, in a strong convulsion, upon the floor. I was immediately sent for, and this lady, I am happy to record, is now the mother of five fine children.
The incipient symptoms of epilepsy are pains in the head, lassitude, a sense of giddiness, confusion of mind, disturbance of the senses, consisting of sounds in the ears, loss of sight, specks floating before the eyes, un-quiet sleep, palpitation of the heart, a feeling of cold, fluttering in the region of the stomach, nausea, and even vomiting. At times the face is red, and the white of the eyeball powerfully injected. Such symptoms may be largely varied, and hardly in two ladies are they actually the same. But if these signs are remembered, the leading characteristics may be recognised, notwithstanding that their declaration may be somewhat varied. It may also be mentioned, that in many cases epilepsy is developed without the slightest warning being given.
APOPLEXY
There is, however, a more fearful malady, with which both hysteria and epilepsy are too liable to be confounded: this is the terrible apoplectic convulsions to which women during the latter months of gestation are liable. This may attack the patient suddenly, or it may be preceded, even for a lengthened period, by the following group of premonitory symptoms, which should be carefully remembered, and not treated lightly.
There is a sense of pressure and constriction in the head; there is confusion of ideas, headache, and giddiness; there is loss of memory, flattering of the speech, flashes of light, double vision specks floating before the eyes; there is partial deafness and noises in the ears; a pallid face, drowsiness, fainting, nausea, and at times vomiting.
But when the apoplectic seizure is sudden, the premonitory indications are few and of short duration. A sharp acute headache, sickness and faintness, are all that is experienced, when the lady falls suddenly to the ground, and becomes either convulsed, rigid, or motionless, with a slow, stertorous, or puffing breathing, a flushed and livid countenance, with a prominent and motionless condition of the eye. From this state she may never recover.
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.