See also the Sections on “Headache.” “Sick headache,” etc.
ACCESSORY MEASURES:
Dyspeptics should correct all improper habits, pay strict attention to the quality and quantity of food, and the hours at which it is taken. Directions for particular cases cannot be given, as what suits the constitution and circumstances of one may be inadmissible in those of another. But it is most important that the symptoms of indigestion should be early corrected, or the patient may sink into a morbid condition, in which life is deprived of its rich opportunities of enjoyment and usefulness.
The following habits require correction: Eating too much at one time; eating too seldom, or too often; late suppers; too great a variety of food at the same meal; imperfectly chewing the food; the too hasty resuming of bodily or mental occupations after a meal; sedentary habits; neglect of personal cleanliness; habits of drinking, smoking or chewing tobacco, and opium eating; the excessive use of tea, coffee, or any liquid, and eating unripe fruits or improperly-cooked vegetables. It is especially necessary that the dyspeptic’s stomach should never be overloaded.
If possible the meals should be taken regularly and with cheerful companions, avoiding reading and study, and dismissing business anxieties from the mind, which should then be free from all injurious tension. Persons much occupied should not eat full meals during the hours devoted to industrial pursuits; a light repast is best in the middle of the day, making the principal meal at six or seven in the evening, when the work of the day is finished. Heavy meals in the hours of physical labour, without sufficient rest, is almost certain eventually, to lead to Indigestion.
In the list of articles to be avoided by the dyspeptic, we particularly notice the following: Hard, dried meats; veal, pork, sausages, salmon, lobsters, crabs, cheese, pastry, flavoured soups, new-baked bread; too much tea or coffee, or any other liquid, and all substances known to disagree. Generally, malt liquors, wines, and spirits, are injurious; certainly they are never necessary in health.
One of the most common causes of Indigestion is the existence of carious teeth, by preventing due mastication of the food. This is often the sole cause of Indigestion, and in all cases it cannot but aggravate dyspeptic symptoms originating elsewhere. The earliest signs of decay should, therefore, be corrected by appropriate medicines, and by avoiding all causes which tend to impair the integrity of the teeth. Those teeth which are hopelessly diseased should be at once removed, and if necessary for mastication, artificial substitutes should be provided.
Feather beds and too much sleep should be avoided; the patient should retire early and rise early; bathe or sponge the body every morning with cold water; and take sufficient recreation daily in the open air. Neglect of everyday out-of-door exercise is, according to the author’s experience, the most prolific cause of Indigestion. Further, a general cheerful and tranquil state of mind is useful in the cure or prevention of this common affection.
In addition to Cocoa for the morning meal, and tea (not drawn longer than two or three minutes 1 See the Text-Book of Modern Medicine and Surgery.) for the afternoon, the moderate use of Pure Water is perhaps the only fluid required in health. This liquid, so often despised, and even considered by many as prejudicial, is one of the best means for preventing or curing Indigestion. Too much cold water, however, should not be taken at meal times, for it reduces the temperature of the stomach, and checks its action. Sometimes cold water is not tolerated; in such cases toast-and-water is almost always well borne and agreeable.
48. Vomiting (Vomitus)
CAUSES:
Indigestion, of which Vomiting is often a prominent symptom; too much or improper food; pregnancy 2 See the “Lady’s Manual of Homoeopathic Treatment,” 11th edition. diseases of the brain or derangement of the nervous system; Ulcer or Cancer of the stomach; obstruction of the intestines; most of the eruptive fevers; etc.
PROGNOSIS:
Nausea and vomiting occurring in diseases of the brain, or in Epilepsy, are unfavourable indications; in pregnancy, or Hysteria, they are merely symptomatic of irritation reflected by the nervous system to the stomach. When vomiting affords relief, it is a favourable indication, but if the symptoms preceding sickness be not relieved by it, but increase, the disease must be regarded as serious or complicated.
TREATMENT:
Ipecacuanha. Simple copious vomiting with an extremely sickly sensation.
Antimonium Crud. Nausea; thickly-furred white tongue; eructations; loss of appetite, etc.
Arsenicum. Burning in the stomach and throat, excessive weakness, purging, coldness of the hands and feet, etc. (also Veratrum Alb.). Even in vomiting from malignant or cancerous disease of the stomach, Arsenicum often gives great relief.
Nux Vomica. Vomiting, with dryness of mouth, disturbed sleep, and constipation. It is especially indicated when vomiting follows the use of strong drink, indulgence at table, or late or irregular hours.
ACCESSORY MEANS:
In violent vomiting and long-continued retching, sucking small pieces of ice is grateful and soothing. Extract of meat, in small quantities, is the form of nourishment generally best adapted to the imperfect condition of the digestive functions, till ordinary food can be taken. In other cases, soda-water and milk, in equal proportions, given in small quantities, can be retained and digested.
49. Sea-sickness (Nausea Marina)
SYMPTOMS:
These need not be described, as they are so well known to process embarking for the first time, especially during the early part of the voyage, and when stormy weather prevails.
CAUSES:
The motion of the vessel. The seat of the affection is in the brain, with which the stomach is in close sympathy. Some persons of delicate nervous organisation are subject to similar derangement from the oscillations of a carriage or the movements of a swing.
TREATMENT:
Nux Vomica. The complaint may be prevented or modified by taking this remedy thrice daily, for several days previous to embarkation. It is useful also after the sickness is over, and may be alternated with Arnica, if the muscles have been severely strained and feel sore.
Petroleum is, in our experience, the best curative agent.
Arsenicum. after severe and prolonged seasickness with great weakness.
Cocculus and Veratrum are also recommended.
For convenience, and to prevent injury to the general stock of medicines, those likely to be required for sea-sickness should be procured in a separate case.
ACCESSORY MEANS:
For several days before embarking, indigestible food, overloading the stomach, and other irregularities, should be avoided. During the early part of the voyage, unless the weather be very fine, the traveller should remain a good deal in a recumbent posture, avoid looking at the motion of the waves, and keep his attention diverted from the subject. The application of broken ice in Chapman’s icebags along the back is said to be a preventive; but hitherto we have no experience of its value.
50. Dysentery Bloody Flux
Dysentery is inflammation and ulceration of the large intestine, and is most frequent and violent in India, the Chinese seas, and other hot climates. It was the cause of the death of M. Paul Bert, the late Governor of Tonquin. In this country it is most frequent in autumn. From its being an attendant on war, it is the most anciently described of all diseases.
SYMPTOMS:
This disease is generally attended with thirst, dry skin and tongue, headache, and other symptoms of fever. The most marked symptom of Dysentery is frequent, painful desire to stool, with great straining tenesmus without any evacuation, except a little mucus and blood, shreds of fibrine which the patient sometimes thinks to be the coats of his own bowels, and lumps of hardened faeces scybalae. In hot climates the attacks are acute and violent, the pain being very severe around the navel and at the bottom of the back. The bladder often sympathises with the rectum, exciting frequent efforts to pass water.
CAUSES:
Exposure to sudden and extreme changes of temperature, as from the heat of day to the cold and damp of night; insufficient protection from cold and wet, as sleeping on the ground; intemperance; a poor or irregular diet. It is, therefore, often epidemic, among people reduced by privation, particularly soldiers in cramps. The effluvia from dysenteric evacuations are infectious, and consequently may be a cause of spreading the disease; they should therefore be disinfected and immediately removed, or, if convenient, buried.
REMEDIES:
Aconitum. If febrile symptoms are well marked, the early use of this remedy will often arrest the disease at its onset. It should be administered several times, at short intervals.
Mercurius Corrosivus. Bloody evacuations, with pain and extremely severe straining. This is the principal remedy.
Colocynth. Is often required after Mercurius, especially when the colicky pains are severe and periodic, and the discharges mixed with green matter of lumps. If Mercurius has not been previously administered, it may be alternated with Coloc.
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."