New, Old, and Forgotten Remedies Part 23

It has never failed me in this terrible disease to give relief. My experience with it dates back to the fall of 1884, in Ross county, Ohio, where I was called to treat a very stubborn case, then under the treatment of one of my old school friends. The patient, a lady about fifty years old, had suffered with two previous attacks, lasting about three months each time. At the time I was called to treat her she had been confined to bed about four weeks. She was suffering intensely, the joints of upper and lower limbs being swollen and extremely tender; in fact, so sensitive that one could scarcely walk about the bed without causing great suffering; temperature, 103; pulse weak and intermittent.

At my first visit, 2:30 P.M., I ordered all of the joints to be wrapped with cotton, to exclude all air. I then gave her _Bry._ On my return, next day, I did not find much improvement, excepting the nausea, which was due to heroic drugging she had been subjected to. Continued _Bry._ The next day the appet.i.te some better, but joints still very tender; temperature and pulse about the same; some difficulty in respiration. I then resolved to try _Gaultheria_. I left one drachm vial of the remedy and ordered the same to be divided into two equal doses, one-half at one o'clock P.M., the balance at five o'clock P.M.

At about 7:30 of the same evening a messenger came into town in great haste, saying my patient was failing very fast, and requested me to come out as soon as possible. On my arrival at the home I found the patient sitting by the fire. The husband informed me that he thought she was losing her mind. I asked her why she was out of bed; she said she saw no reason for staying in bed after a patient was well, and further said that about one hour after taking the first dose she began to move easily, and after taking second dose all of the soreness and swelling left the joints. She also said she was all right; that we need not feel alarmed about her. I made only one visit after; continued the same remedy; there were no relapses.

No. 2. A prominent woman in Nebraska had been under treatment for ten days with free old-line medication, Dover's powders and _Morphia_ as palliatives. Husband consulted me to know whether anything could be given to relieve her suffering. I called and found her with temperature 102, pulse 105, left (hand) fingers and elbow joints swollen, very sensitive to touch or movement. I at once a.s.sured her that I thought she would get relief without any more _Morphia_. Gave her one-half drachm _Gaultheria_ and requested her to take twenty drops in two hours if pain and soreness was not relieved. This was about 4 P.M. I met her husband next morning on street on my way to visit her again and he said "that he hardly thought it necessary, as his wife was relieved in about one hour after taking first dose and felt no pain after second, and that she was up dressing her hair when he left home." She had a slight return on account of overwork, but remedy always gave relief and made firm patrons of one of our best families for me. I always advise patients to wrap the joints with cotton to exclude air and advise them to keep quiet.

No. 3. Young man, twenty-eight; had two attacks before, one lasting three months, the second ten weeks. This was the worst case that I have ever treated. As the heart was very weak, pulse intermittent, I put him on the remedy, _Gaultheria_, with almost immediate relief, but second day there was relapse, which again responded immediately to treatment by same remedy; with this, or in connection with this remedy, I used some _Bry._ 3 and _Rhus tox._ 3. I dismissed him in ten days, more than pleased, as we were always able to control the pain immediately without any other remedy than _Gaultheria_.

I cite these cases among the many that I have had, and have never failed to get good results in any; will say that I give any other remedy after soreness and swelling are removed that may be indicated, always taking the necessary precaution to exclude all air from parts affected and to keep them warm. About three hours apart is as often as I give remedy, and always careful to give it on sugar and remove it from room, with _spoon used_.

No. 4. Since my article on neuralgia I had a quite severe case of sciatica that had taxed the skill of one of my worthy compet.i.tors for nearly two months without any good results; he was about to go to Hot Springs for some relief. Meeting me on the street, wanted to know if I thought any of my "little pills or drops would give any relief." I a.s.sured him that I was quite positive that I could. He could hardly move about, and suffered very much if he did; he came and got a prescription and found relief to his great astonishment almost immediately; has had it refilled twice and has worked every day; he takes the remedy morning and night; there is no pain or soreness, nor has there been any after first day, only if he sneezes or gets the leg cramped there seems to be slight contraction of nerve, but the remedy has done most satisfactory work in this case and gained a valuable family.

I hope these few cases may be of some benefit to the readers of the _Recorder_: 1. Be careful to observe the rule that if remedy should nauseate cease giving for twelve or twenty-four hours. 2. Always give on sugar or in tablets. 3. Remove it immediately from room after administering. 4. Cover joints to exclude air and keep them warm. 5.

Give any other indicated remedy.

HELODERMA HORRIDUS.

PREPARATION.--The virus, obtained by irritating the animal and allowing it to bite on gla.s.s, is triturated in the usual way.

(Dr. T. L. Bradford furnishes us with the following cla.s.sification of this reptile):

The heloderma is cla.s.sed as follows: Order: Saurii. Lacertilia. Lizards.

Sub order: 5. Fissilinguia. Family: Lacratidae. Heloderma horridum of Mexico; the crust lizard; the Mexican Caltetopen. Called heloderma from its skin being studded with nail or tubercle-like heads. The Gila monster is a native of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. It is smaller than the Mexican variety, and is called, by Cope, Heloderma Suspectum. It is the only lizard whose character is not above reproach, hence the name.

Zoology says: An esquamate-tongued lizard with clavicles not dilated proximally, a pos...o...b..tal arch, no postfront-osquamosal arch, the pre and post frontals in contact, separating the frontal from the orbit, and furrowed teeth receiving the different ducts of highly developed salivary glands.

(There has been considerable difference of opinion as to whether the Heloderma is poisonous or not; but the following abstract from a paper on the subject read before the College of Physicians, Philadelphia, 1883, by S. Wier Mitch.e.l.l, together with the provings made later, ought to very effectually settle all dispute on this point; the conclusions are the result of experiments on animals):

The poison of heloderma causes no local injury. It arrests the heart in diastole, the organ afterwards contracts slowly--possibly in rapid rigor mortis.

The cardiac muscle loses its irritability to stimuli at the time it ceases to beat. The other muscles and nerves respond to irritants.

The spinal cord has its power annihilated abruptly, and refuses to respond to the most powerful electrical currents.

This virulent heart poison contrasts strongly with serpent venom, since they give rise to local haemorrhages, causing death chiefly through failure of respiration and not by the heart unless given in overwhelming doses. They lower muscle and nerve reactions, especially those of the respiratory apparatus, but do not cause extreme and abrupt loss of spinal power. They also produce secondary pathological appearances absent in heloderma poisoning.

The briefest examination of the lizard's anatomy makes it clear why it has been with reason suspected to be poisonous, and why it poisons with so much difficulty. Unless the teeth are entire, the poison abundant, and the teeth buried in the bitten flesh so as to force it down into contact with the ducts where they open at the crown of the teeth, it is hard to see how even a drop of poison could be forced into the wounds.

Yet it is certain that small animals may die from the bite, and this may be due to the extraordinary activity of the poison, and to the lizard's habit of holding tenaciously to what it bites, so as to allow time for a certain amount of absorption.

(The provings and the clinical cases that follow were from the virus of the Gila monster obtained by Dr.

Charles D. Belden, of Phoenix, Arizona, in 1890, who suggested it as a possible remedy for paralysis agitans and locomotor ataxia. He obtained the virus from a captive monster by irritating it and then letting it strike, or bite, a piece of heavy gla.s.s; by this means he obtained a few drops of a pasty yellowish fluid. In his letters Dr. Belden quotes Sir John Lubbock as follows):

This animal does not bite frequently, but when it does it is understood that the result is a benumbing paralysis like to paralysis agitans or to locomotor attaxia. There is no tetanic phase, being, as I apprehend, a condition almost reverse in objective symptoms to hydrocyanic acid or strychnia.

(Dr. Belden also writes):

It seems to me that it (the poison) differs in so many points from all present known venoms that it is worth our having. In the first place it is alkaline, and all other poisons of reptiles are acid. Second, its effect is not always sudden but is lasting--causing sickness for months and death even after a year. Again, although it does not produce paralysis it is not the tonic spasm, but rather the slow creeping death from extremities. It does not seem to excite but to depress.

(A supply of this poison was sent to Dr. Robert Booc.o.c.k at his request for proving, and he made three different trials of it, the results of which were published in the _h.o.m.oeopathic Recorder_ for March and April, 1893; but as Dr. James E. Lilienthal has arranged the matter in schema form we will here only give fragmentary quotations from Dr. Booc.o.c.k's papers, which are quite long, covering nearly thirty pages. The following is from Dr. Booc.o.c.k's paper):

I am in my sixtieth year, sanguine, bilious temperament, fair complexion and weigh 160 pounds; height, 5 feet 6 inches. My normal pulse rate is 72, full, round and regular. I am in very good health. I do not drink alcoholic beverages of any kind, neither do I smoke nor drink strong coffee, or tea, or cocoa. My usual and favorite beverage is hot water with a little milk and sugar in it. If much sugar or salt is used my stomach gets very sour, and water-brash is the result. I therefore use very little of either, though I am very fond of sweetmeats.

When I received the first bottle of _Heloderma horridus_, I took a one drachm vial and filled it with the 6x trit., and dissolved it in four ounces of diluted alcohol, of which I took a few drops, dried my fingers on my tongue, and a severe feeling of internal coldness, so intense as to cause me to fear being frozen to death, ensued. I had some twitches about my heart, as if the blood was hard to get in or out. I was somewhat alarmed, but as I had no trembling I sat over the register and tried to get warm. The day was a very cold one, but my office was comfortably warm, and I had no consciousness of having taken cold.

I was not surprised at feeling this so soon after taking the few drops, for I know that I am very sensitive to any medicine and have a bad habit of tasting medicine, but never without being conscious of its effects, sometimes very unpleasantly so.

Now, to-day is warm and damp, thunderstorm this morning, although it is December 9th. The storm lasted three or more hours; lightning very vivid. I had already taken one drop of the 30th, with a very severe nervous headache, but I forgot that when I took the medicine. I have medicated 2 oz. No. 35 globules with 30th dilution, and having taken six globules as a dose before they were dry.

A feeling of heat in head and face, some headache over the right eyebrow. Cold feeling in my legs; after two hours a numb feeling around and down my left thigh; feeling very drowsy, so took a short nap in my chair. Was awakened suddenly with a jerking in my head. Central part of frontal bone so queer as to awaken me.

When my office bell rang it threw me into a startled and trembling condition, something new to me. At 5:30 took four globules more.

8 P.M. The pressure at my heart and in my head and scalp is very great.

A feeling of great heat and some pressure. Not so much burning in my face, but a feeling on my left cheek as if being p.r.i.c.ked with points of ice. A very severe and tired feeling, with coldness of legs and feet. A slight dryness of my lips, with a tingling feeling and great dryness in my throat. Gurgling in the region of the spleen.

9:30 P.M. The pressure and heat on the top of my head appears like an inflammation of the meninges. It does not affect my mind; that remains clear, and I can think and read as well and as long as ever. No more medicine. * * *

December 29, 1892. No medicine. Some trembling, but not so great or so extensive; it does not now extend along the whole limb. Parts of right arm and left thigh hemiplegial; no acute feeling. But some muscles will twitch and tremble for a few seconds. Just enough to arrest my attention and amuse me, and feel like saying, "h.e.l.lo, _Heloderma hor_! have you not done with me yet?" For it is a great surprise to me how these feelings will come on and creep over me. And I am inclined to ask myself, can it be that all these strange and to me new feelings can be the effects following the taking of these few doses? And yet, if it were necessary, I could swear they were. I have my fears if I will ever be free from these nervous trembling spells, and the feeling in my head and heart.

(The foregoing gives the gist of the first trials. The third and last now follows. It was made with repeated doses of the 30th potency.)

12 meridian. Sensation as if a cold, freezing wind were blowing upon me from the bend of my knees. Head feeling as if the scalp were being drawn tight over my skull, and my facial muscles were being drawn very tight over the bones. A giddiness and a cold pressure from within the skull. A cold, running chill from superior maxillary down to the chin. Trembling of limbs. Coldness extending from the knee into the calf of the leg.

Pain and pressure within the skull from crown to occiput, and from back forward over the left eye. A very drowsy feeling. I could sleep if I gave way to the feeling. * * * *

January 4, 1893, 7:45 A.M. Took another dose of six globules. Pulse, 72.

Temperature, 97 35. A flush of heat in my face. A feeling as if I were walking on sponge or as if my feet were swollen. Dull headache. The arctic cold feeling is more in my right arm, elbow joint, and right thigh and left foot. A great trembling of my arm. It is hard work to steady my hand, which holds my book, enough to continue reading or writing.

The feeling of swelling in my feet of walking on sponges sensation continues; a springiness, with a sense of looseness in stepping out, which requires some caution, as if I were not sure of my steps. The trembling of my hands is on the increase; feeling of soreness in my heart, more under left nipple; pain in my back, lumbar region. Some little scalding of urine; flow not so free and full, intermitting slightly, as if I had some calculus in the bladder which interfered with continuous flow. Stool more free and full.

Earwax, which had been very dry, now flows from both ears, but is more free on the left side. Left nostril sore; ulcerated. Throat sore and tender to outside touch. * * *

9 P.M. Very weak feeling, with pain in my heart; same place, under left nipple. Head aches and arctic rays in various parts of my body. * * *

January 5, 12 noon. Took twelve more globules. Numb feeling in my head.

A feeling as if I would fall on my right side. A good drive this morning in the snowstorm; and felt a desire to bear to the right side and could not walk straight because of this, and had repeatedly to stop or step to the left to get a straight course on the causeway. A good deal of the same feeling, but very weak and sleepy; was compelled to lie down, but did not sleep, although feeling very drowsy; laid very quiet, as if I was in a stupor; the old feeling in various parts of my body, only more acute; a feeling in various parts as if a needle were being thrust into my flesh.

4:45 P.M. Took thirteen globules. A very stiff neck the most prominent feeling. All the previously recorded feelings, only more intensely. I have a painful boring feeling in the middle third of left thigh. * * *

8:30. Flushed, hot feeling in my head and face, but no increase in color; but then I have just come out of the storm.

9:30. Took twelve globules more and retired to rest; very tired; slept very profoundly until 1 A.M., then could not sleep. My back, in the lumbar muscles, ached so and my left leg that I could not sleep for hours, and my brain felt as if scalded; an intense burning feeling in the meninges, for this did not affect my power to think. This hot feeling commenced and spread down my back. An intense pain over left eyebrow, through my left eye to base of brain and down my back. The pain in the back of my head caused me to bore my head deep into my pillow, and reminded me of cases I have seen of cerebro-spinal meningitis. An intense weakness, as if I had no power to move, and no wish to do so, and yet I was afraid I could not attend to my business. Yet, strange to say, I was not alarmed, but pa.s.sively indifferent. I could not open my eyes without great effort; it was hard work to keep them open and the easiest thing for them to close, as if there were a great weight upon them, keeping them down. I begged to be allowed to remain in bed until some one wanted me professionally, and yet I could not thus give way to my feelings, and so got up.

7 A.M. Feeling very weak and giddy. Staggering about my bedroom trying to dress. It was all that I could do to lift a hod of coal to the stove.

The pains in my head and lumbar muscles, back of my head near atlas and middle third of left thigh and right elbow are the most noticeable from the great pains; and arctic coldness in my feet and hands and arms; have had a transient feeling of pain in the little finger and little toe of right side. Very feverish or parched in the night, and my breathing was hard and sounded as if I was drawing my breath through iron pipes. I feel that I must not take any more medicine at present. When I remember what a long time I was in getting to the end of the previous proving, I feel that I dare not go any further.

The dose I have been taking, a No. 35 globule, is as large as ten such as is ordinarily used for the 30th or for high dilutions, so that I have taken as good as sixty high dilution globules as a dose, and lately as high as one hundred and twenty-four and sometimes oftener daily.

I was surprised at these hot flushes and burnings in my head and along my spine. And these strongly reminded me of some feeling a proving of _Gelsemium_ caused, only that has sweat, whilst this has no moisture, everything being dried up. Saliva, tears, nostrils, and earwax; the great weakness and pain in the body reminds me of cerebro-spinal meningitis.