Aconitum Napellus - Cough symptoms - Kent Lectures

COUGH

Cough

The child is put to bed and rouses up from the first sleep, perhaps at 9 or 10 or 11 o'clock, grasps the throat, coughs violently, a croupy, choking cough, with hoarse bark.

Hardly any other remedy can correspond to that rapidity of action, taking cold in the daytime and developing itself so suddenly.

Croup that comes on from exposure today, and does not develop until tomorrow morning or tomorrow evening, may correspond to quite a number of other remedies but especially Hep Sulph Calc ^Hepar, which is slower in its pace.

And it is more suitable in children somewhat run down and subject to frequent attacks of croup.

Spongia Tosta ^Spongia is also similar, but it lacks many of the elements more likely to occur in run-down children, those always taking cold.

It would be a difficult matter to distinguish between the appearance of the Aconite and the Spongia Tosta ^Spongia croup so far as the croup is concerned, because both have all the anxious appearance found in croup.

The Aconite croup is a violent croup, inflammation of the larynx, and, at the same time, spasms of the larynx, coming on with great rapidity.

The Spongia Tosta ^Spongia croup is less inflammatory, the inflammation grows with the spasms.

but while Spongia Tosta ^Spongia may rouse up at 11 o'clock at night, suffocating and choking, it has not the intense febrile excitement that belongs to Aconite, nor the anguish, although it has all the dryness that is found in Aconite.

Aconite conditions are dry as a usual thing, or there is only a little watery discharge.

Spongia Tosta ^Spongia is entirely dry; if there is an inflamed mucous membrane, it is dry. We have in the croup symptoms in Aconite Larynx sensitive to touch.

"Croup, waking in first sleep, after exposure to dry, cold winds."

Constant short, dry cough.

"Dry cough, vomiting and retching, intense fever, spitting of blood."

Dry cough, sensation of dryness of the whole chest, sensation of dryness in the larynx and throat. Pours down great quantities of cold water, and once in a while after a violent coughing spell he gets up a little blood. But the expectoration is generally mucus.

All these coughs in pneumonia, in croup, and chest troubles come on suddenly, and if he goes to sleep he will have spasm of the larynx, with dryness of the larynx. He goes to sleep and the larynx becomes dry and he wakes up and grasps his larynx; he thinks he is going to choke.