New, Old, and Forgotten Remedies Part 45

February 17th.--5:00 A.M. Took 2-1/2 drachms.

5:02. Eructations taste of drug. Goneness in epigastrium. Pulse, 72.

Some rumbling about navel.

5:10. Head heavy; pressure at right frontal eminence, which increases to sharp, penetrating pain, going to root of nose, then to end of nose, where it is most severe. At root of nose, stuffed feeling, as with dry coryza. Pain in nose gets more and more severe; restlessness succeeds; never had such a pain; seems now all in bones of nose and worse on left side. Forehead has ceased to ache. Pain seems to start from supra-orbital foramen now.

5:15. Upper incisors commence to ache. Aching and bursting pain in nose remains; nose feels swollen. Teeth "on edge." Epigastric goneness.

5:25. Sharp pain in left upper and lower molars. Pain in nose has ceased. Bursting pain in left frontal eminence. Upper molars tender at sockets.

February 23d.--12:30. Took 6 No. 40 pills saturated with 6x dil. 2:00 P.M. Same dose. 4:20. Same. 5:00. Sharp, aching pain deep in left ear, gradually grows worse.

5:10. Singing and dull aching in right ear.

5:15. Singing and a pus.h.i.+ng out in left ear. Fulness of frontal eminences; thence pains go to root of nose and nose becomes tender to touch. Sharp pain again deep in right ear. Aching of "bridge" of nose and of upper left molars. Hands feel numb, especially dorsal aspects.

Rumbling in bowels about navel. Pain again at root of nose. Colic deep in pelvis; pains run down back of thigh to knees.

5:15. Pains again in frontal eminences.

5:25. Aching over eyes; feel like closing them; aching pains run up from above left eye-tooth to eye and over face; occurs by starts and stops.

Frontal headache and pains down nose recur at intervals.

5:30. Aching, very severe, at the left side of "bridge" of nose. Sharp st.i.tch deep in left ear. Throbbing in vertex. Sockets of upper teeth tender. Aching at end of nose, which feels full of blood.

5:45. 6 pellets. All pains continue as above. Brain seems loose, < moving="" head.="" front="" of="" head="" feels="">

6:00. P.M. Stabbing deep in left ear, < by="" pressing="" teeth="">

6:30. Various pains gradually subside.

Pa.s.sIFLORA INCARNATA.

NAT. ORD., Pa.s.sifloraceae.

COMMON NAME, Pa.s.sion flower.

PREPARATION.--The fresh leaves and flowers gathered in May are macerated in two parts by weight of alcohol. A preparation may also be made from the expressed juice of the fresh leaves.

(There has been so much written concerning this unproved remedy that we can only give an abstract of a part of it.

Dr. Lindsay, formerly of Bayou Gras, La., was the first to call attention to it a few weeks before his death. He wrote in answer to an inquiry as follows--Hale's New Remedies):

I have much to say. I am satisfied it is no narcotic. It never stupefies or overpowers the senses. A patient under its full influence may be wakened up, and he will talk to you as rationally as ever he did; leave him a moment and he will soon be off to the Elysian Fields again. I have tried it, my friend, in all sorts of neuralgic affections, and have usually astonished my more enlightened patients with it. Many times I have had them to ask me what in the world it was that had such a sweet influence over them.

(Dr. L. Phares, of Newtonia, Miss., states):

I never saw anything act so promptly in erysipelas. I have used it with advantage in ulcers, neuralgias and teta.n.u.s. I have seen wonderful effects of it in relieving teta.n.u.s, and will mention one case from memory: Some ten years ago I was called to see an old lady, in a distant part of the country, who was reported to be "having fits." I found her to be able to be up most of the time, but, while examining her, convulsions came on, affecting mainly the trunkal muscles, and drawing the head back. I gave her instantly a dose of _Pa.s.siflora_. The convulsions subsided, and she has never had one since. I continued the use of the medicine in small doses for a few days. I have used it in treating teta.n.u.s in horses--a disease usually considered as inevitably fatal to that n.o.ble animal. It has never failed to cure the horse. * *

During the late war, my son, Dr. J. H. Phares, had occasion many times to prescribe the _Pa.s.siflora_ for teta.n.u.s in horses, with one invariable result--prompt, perfect, permanent cure. He fortunately saw no case in man. * * * Since the foregoing was written, I have treated with the hydro-alcoholic extract of _Pa.s.siflora_ several cases of neuralgia, and one of sleeplessness, with incessant motion and suicidal mania. With the same extract during the current week, Dr. J. H. Phares has treated, with the most prompt and satisfactory success, a very virulent and hopeless case of teta.n.u.s, with ophisthotonos, trismus and convulsions, in a child two years old. Other most potent remedies, in heroic doses, having failed to produce any effect in this case, he thinks that nothing but the _Pa.s.siflora_ could possibly have saved the child.

(The editor of the _California Medical Journal_ (1889) says):

We have been employing it [_Pa.s.siflora_] in some cases of spinal meningitis after the acute symptoms had subsided, when the patients were unable to sleep, either day or night: could not endure the bed, and were unable to maintain the sitting posture, with highly satisfactory results. It is administered in small doses. Add ten drops of the mother tincture (h.o.m.oeopathic) to half a tumbler of water; teaspoonful every two hours.

(At the meeting of the h.o.m.oeopathic Medical Society of Delaware and Peninsula, November 14, 1889, Dr. W. D. Troy read a paper on _Pa.s.siflora_ (see _h.o.m.oeopathic Recorder_, May, 1890), from which we take the following):

My erysipelatous case was a man of some fifty years. When first seen was a-bed, high fever, facial erysipelas of the flaming, rampant sort, the one eye had disappeared, the other was in rapid retreat. Patient in great anxiety; sharp, stinging pains; could not rest. Was about to give _Apis_ when I thought of my _Pa.s.sion flower_. Gave two-drop doses of the tincture every two hours. Put one-half an ounce of same into one quart of water for local application, to be applied hot by flannels and oiled silk. After six hours patient fell asleep; was awakened for medicine every three hours during the night; went to sleep easily after each dose. Said in morning he had had a night's good rest. Found inflammation markedly reduced. I now changed the remedy--gave _Ham._, both internally and externally. On next visit found patient every way worse. The disease had sneaked across the scalp and invaded the whole face. The case began to look serious. Returned to the _Pa.s.siflora_ and kept to it with the most happy results.

My next experience was in a Ch.o.r.ea--a girl budding into womanhood, but in whom the menses had not yet appeared. Child was well developed for her years, fourteen. I learned that for two or three years past the child had "fits," varying at times from moderate to severe. The neurosis was unilateral, the right side alone being affected. The child had had traditional treatment, "off and on," for some time without manifest improvement. I began with the _Pa.s.siflora_ 1x dil., 10 gtt. doses every three hours. Kept it up for several days, the Ch.o.r.eic symptoms being not quite so violent; still I was growing anxious--wanted more positive results. Added daily a five-drop dose of tincture. After a few more days the mother informed me that there had been a slight "show"--merely enough to stain the diaper, and that for the last two days there had been hardly any "fits." This was encouraging. I judged that the day of deliverance was nigh. Very little more of the drug was given until about the time for next menstrual flux. Then I resumed it with the most satisfactory results. No nervous symptoms save such as are more or lest common to all women at the "periods" subsequently prevailed.

(The following case was reported by Dr. D. C. Buell Dunlevy, of Port Chester, N. Y.--_h.o.m.oeopathic Recorder_, Nov., 1890):

Mr. D----, aet. 52, sent for me to attend him during the month of May. I found him presenting all the prodromal symptoms of delirium tremens, and at once ordered him to bed, and none too soon, as the event proved. For seven days he tossed about in a wild delirium, which was greatly aggravated by marked gastric irritation. I had him carefully watched, both day and night, until the delirium wore off. The treatment up to this time was _Cannabis Ind._ for the mental trouble and _Nux v._, which greatly relieved the gastric symptoms. But the moment he began to improve the old cravings for liquor and morphine returned. Right here let me say that for years he has been a great sufferer from piles, and the only rest he could get was to sit propped up in his chair. His sufferings caused him to seek relief during the day in liquor, and at nights in morphine. And this habit had so fastened itself upon him that try as he might he could not give it up. When he came under my treatment I at once put a stop to all stimulants and narcotics, but not without considerable trouble, for he seemed determined to have them. Night after night he would lie there calling for something to make him sleep, and this kept up until he was bordering on a state of insanity. Fully realizing that something must be done, and that quickly, too, I made up my mind to try _Pa.s.siflora_. This I did, and from the time I gave him the first dose improvement set in and has continued ever since. I at first gave him a half teaspoonful of the [Greek: theta] at bed time, but this not proving sufficient I increased it to a teaspoonful. He has now been taking it almost constantly for a period of eight weeks and claims he has not had as natural a sleep for years; and lays particular stress on the fact that when he awakes in the morning he feels so refreshed and his mind remains clear. But what seems even more wonderful is that from the day he first took this drug up to the present he has never felt the slightest desire to return to his former habits. The mere mention of liquor or opium seems to sicken him, and I am fully satisfied that he is now cured and will (so far as liquor and opium are concerned) remain so.

He now takes special delight in praising the drug to his friends, and really seems never to tire talking about the wonderful help it has been to him. I have also prescribed the drug to others for insomnia and always with success, one case excepted, in which I gave it for hemicrania, and here, although it quieted the patient, it failed to produce the desired sleep.

(The following is extracted from a paper on _Pa.s.siflora_, by Dr. C. A. Walters, of Brooklyn. _h.o.m.oeopathic Recorder_, July, 1890:)

In April, 1888, was called to an infant, 14 months, convulsions, caused by dent.i.tion; symptoms called for _Belladonna_, of which the 1x dil., 5 drops in half a gla.s.s water, teaspoonful every fifteen minutes until better, then once an hour. The child improved from start, and the convulsions ceased in one hour from commencing the medicine. The next day the child appeared in usual health, and the _Belladonna_ was given once in eight hours and discharged from further attendance.

Thirty-six hours after I was recalled, the child was in another spasm.

No _Belladonna_ symptoms being present I gave 5 drops of _Pa.s.siflora_ tincture, every fifteen minutes, with the result that it never had another spasm from that day to this. The child slept soundly all through the night and awoke the next morning in its usual good health.

Since then I have prescribed it for the sleeplessness of dent.i.tion without a failure, giving it usually in from 5 to 10 drops a dose, to be repeated every fifteen minutes until sleep. I never give it during the day for this purpose, but begin at bedtime.

In the insomnia of adults, from whatsoever cause, I always give 60 drops at bedtime, and if not asleep in half an hour I give the same dose.

Experience has taught me that to give it in smaller doses is a waste of time and disappointing to the patient. Two such doses, _i. e._, 60 drops a dose, are almost absolutely sure of giving the patient a natural and refres.h.i.+ng sleep. The old school seem to have been forced to resort to _Sulfonal_ (whatever that may be) as the only thing capable of producing sleep, and yet, judging from the reports in their journals, it does not seem to "fill the bill." Were they ever to give this a trial we would not hear so much of _Morphine_, _Chloral_, _Bromides_, and the like.

I have never used _Pa.s.siflora_ in erysipelas, having always been able to discharge my patients in from two to four days by giving them _Jaborandi_.

In neuralgia and headache it has acted with wonderful rapidity, even the headache of uterine displacements being brought under its influence. It is almost a daily occurrence to have people whom I never saw before come miles to my office for that "sleeping medicine made from the pa.s.sion flower."

In conclusion let me say to the brethren, try it. But give it in appreciable doses. Don't be afraid of it. I would not hesitate to give it in four drachm doses, if required. But why give four when one will do?

P. S.--Since writing the foregoing I have used _Pa.s.siflora_ in two cases of delirium tremens. It acted like a charm in both cases; sent them to sleep in half an hour, and when they awoke, twelve and fourteen hours after, they were themselves again. Sixty drops of tincture a dose, two doses in each.

(The following was reported by Dr. Joseph Adolphus, in _American Medical Journal_:)

A lady who had for several months suffered untold agonies, as she described her sufferings; her pain was described as if a weight of many pounds was lying on her brain; the sense of pressure and tearing inside the skull was fearful; her head felt as if enveloped in ice; the pains ran down the back of her neck, and finally reached the lower end of sacrum, so that a slight touch of the coccyx caused exquisite agony.

This was a case in which coccyG.o.dinia was a.s.sociated with the cerebral and spinal disease. I failed to relieve the pain for more than a few hours at a time with all other remedies I had tried; at this juncture, when despair was taking the place of hope, I thought of _Pa.s.siflora_, which I then administered in teaspoonful doses every two hours; the result was something to be remembered, for she enjoyed excellent and refres.h.i.+ng night's rest the following night, waking up in the morning much refreshed, nearly free from pain, with a good relish for breakfast.

I continued the medicament every four hours for several days, for no further uses for medicine seemed indicated, as there was a rapid and complete recovery.

A lady complained of pain in her r.e.c.t.u.m continuously; the coccyx was also quite tender to the touch. There were several erosions on the lips of the os uteri; leucorrhoea and severe pain in the small of the back when a certain spot (over last dorsal and first and second lumbar vertebrae) was pressed on. I found she had been treated secundum artem for the uterine trouble, locally and const.i.tutionally, to no certain satisfactory result. Her respirations were often twenty-eight to thirty per minute, much wakefulness, and at times feeling of constriction across her breast and a sense as if her heart would stop beating.

Teaspoonful doses of the _Pa.s.siflora incar._ was the specific in her case. She continued it every four hours two weeks, but from the outset of treatment she felt the right remedy was administered.

These r.e.c.t.u.m troubles in women are frequently met with in practice. I find the _Pa.s.siflora incar._ the best single remedy I have for them.

Recently a man consulted me for a constant pain in his heart; he described it as sharp and like a pang--often causing a sense of immediate dissolution, and fear of death was on him all the time; pulse irregular in rhythm, now rapid, next slower, occasionally a beat missing; sounds very normal, but accentuated and sharp. _Pa.s.siflora incarnata_ was a specific in this case; no doubt the center and probably the local ganglia were irritated from some cause, and, whatever it was, the medicament removed both.

By the way, I must not forget to say you will find it a valuable medicament in sleeplessness and tossing restlessness in your fever patients. I use the tincture in teaspoonful doses every four hours. It appears the remedy has a soothing effect on the whole nervous system, without any appreciable narcotic properties.