Chloralum - General symptoms

GENERAL

General

Was with difficulty roused either to speak or take food, and on perfectly rallying at 4 P.M. (second day) did not remember a single circumstance after swallowing the second dose at midnight, but that the sensation had been one of unlimited rest, unbroken by anything, but quite different from sleep.

the only symptom to which she could herself refer was to the cramps.

the agonizing pain in her legs was the only occasional break in her otherwise complete mental monotony,.

Perfectly unconscious.

not a flinch responds to the strongest pinch.

screams now and then, and is very restless.

retching. foam at mouth.

turns pale. temperature of skin natural.

pupils dilated. left leg spasmodically stretched, the right being perfectly relaxed and easily flexed (during operation for rupture of perineum), (after forty minutes),.

The face, to the roots of the hair and down to the ramus of the lower jaw, was of a dark-scarlet color, which was very persistent under pressure, most intense over cheek-bones, and shading in different directions.

the ears partook of the same color, which was scattered in blotches over neck and chest, the lowest spot being at the centre of the sternum.

this flushed condition was accompanied by slight contraction of the pupils, injection of the conjunctiva, and an excitement of the circulation.

it continued for about an hour, and passed off during a paroxysm of sneezing (after half an hour),.

On the ninth day of treatment, a rash appeared in the form of red spots which soon became confluent. On the twentieth day, the temperature and pulse rapidly rose to a febrile pitch.

three days later, the temperature had reached 106.7°.

large and repeated doses of Quinine were given without result, and baths had only a temporary effect. OEdematous swelling of the face, cheeks, eyelids, and ears now set in. During the whole course of the disease, the skin, so far from returning to its natural appearance, was the seat now of impetiginous, now of moist, and now of scaly eczema and ichthyoses, so that the process of desquamation, instead of being short as in the acute exanthemata, occupied many weeks, during which great sheaths of epidermis were cast off from all parts of the body. The profound lesions of the skin-nutrition were evidenced in the later stages by a remarkable shedding of the hair, and a gradual falling off of all the nails of the hands and feet. The affection of the skin was accompanied by a similar one of the mucous membranes, first of the intestines, which kept up watery diarrhoea in spite of medicines, and then by a similar affection of the conjunctiva and the bronchi. From the sixth week of the disease onwards a series of large abscesses formed on both arms over the shoulders and armpits, which secreted a considerable quantity of pus. Whilst these phenomena were occurring, there had been for eight weeks a continuous fever, occasionally remitting, and then again running up to a temperature beyond 104°,.

Erythema of head and neck, with well-marked dark areolae. This hyperaemic condition of the skin was extraordinarily intensified immediately after the ingestion of the smallest quantity of wine, beer, or spirits, and was accompanied invariably with palpitation of the most distressing character, both lasting for about two hours.

the excessive hyperaemia disappearing last of all from the forehead in curiously well-defined patches,.

On the fourth day, a redness was developed on the skin of the chest and shoulders, which did not vanish on pressure.

on the sixth day, the eruption had extended over the whole trunk and limbs, livid spots and deep red patches alternating. On the eleventh day, the petechial eruption was diminished on the chest and abdomen, the spots were yellowish, with patches of white skin between them. On the fifteenth day there was a sort of general desquamation.

fissures of the skin over the sacrum and in the neighborhood of the joints (20 grains, thrice daily),.

Singular sensation of fulness of chest, not as if it was filled up, as a person experiences after a hearty meal, but rather as if all the tissues were hypertrophied, producing an indescribable sense of tightness and pressure on the lungs, causing very labored breathing and redness of the face, which attracted attention.

this condition was so uncomfortable that he discontinued the proving, and it was several days before he could breathe freely,.

Used regularly to suffer after meals from a sense of oppression which made going upstairs extremely difficult, and even interfered with speech, although there was no chest disease to account for this.

the symptoms persistently recurred in spite of all treatment till the chloral was left off, when the oppression entirely disappeared,.

Finally, on rising one morning, he found his legs suddenly give way under him, was unable to stand or walk, and was obliged to get into bed again.

this attack fortunately passed off in the course of the day, but left behind it great nervous depression and general weakness, accompanied with a feeling of utter vacuity of mind and inability to concentrate the attention upon anything,.

10.30 A.M., quiet sleep, although a good deal of noise in the hospital (prover suffers from a slight bronchial attack). 11 A.M., prover goes with another patient in bath-room and takes lukewarm bath.

11.45, returns from bath, takes hearty meal, and at 1 P.M., goes to sleep again. 5.30 P.M., wakes up refreshed.

pulse, 72. respiration, 32.

temperature 37,.

Frightfully severe pains, particularly about the joints, worse in moist and cold weather.

the pains very strictly resemble the analogous sufferings which are (somewhat rarely) produced by chronic alcoholism.

they do not run in the course of the nerves like neuralgia, nor are they exactly in the joints, like articular rheumatism.

they seem to encircle the limb, the finger, etc., immediately above or below a joint (1 ounce),.

Chloralum, used in physiological doses, is a powerful hypnotic and cardiac depressant. It has a marked effect on the skin, producing erythema, ecchymosis, etc., which symptoms have been utilized homeopathically with much success, especially in the treatment of hives. Emotional excitability, hallucinations. Night terrors in children. Muscular prostration.

Muscle prostration

Indifferent and sleepy or cerebral excitement; hears voices

Mania

Bileless stools

Bed-wetting

Wants to be fanned

Dyspnoea

As of a weight on chest

Weak heart

Urticaria Sleepless from fatigue

Night terrors

Hydrate of Chloral. C2 HCl3 OH2O. Solution; trituration.

Introduced as a hypnotic, Chloral soon showed that it possessed wide powers of disturbing the organism, and many persons (including the late Professor Tyndall) have been fatally poisoned by overdosing. The brain, eyes, urinary and sexual organs and skin are most affected. W. S. Gee cured with it a terrific headache of several days' duration dull, heavy aching in forehead.

coming on each morning 8 a.m.

agg. sudden motion. agg. lying down.

amel. in, open air. The 6th gave great relief though it aggravated at first, the aggravation occurring ten minutes after each dose. One dose of the 25x cured permanently. A person under the influence of Chloral hears voices, sees visions of arches, &c., when in the dark or when the eyes are shut. Night-terrors in children have been cured with it. The brain tissue is probably congested in the same way as the skin in the urticaria of the drug. Urticaria gives a good illustration of the effect of the drug on the minute tissues. The brain is congested.

hard, full, pressing pains in head. Eyes injected.

the eyeballs feel too large.

lids swollen, heavy, can hardly lift them. Asthma and wheezing respirations are probably due to an urticarious condition of the lung tissue. A symptom that is very significant is this When lying on back, inspiration was through the nose, while expiration was blown from the lips as in apoplexy. The heart's action is increased, with oppression. Palpitation, hypertrophy. Later there is paralysis of heart. Heart dilated or weakened, with peculiar fulness and lightness of chest and sense of emptiness in stomach. The sense of sinking and oppression at the pit of the stomach is marked and shows a profound action on the solar plexus. The insomnia for which Chloral is suited is that due to over-fatigue. Snoring in sleep. Lying down agg. Wants fanning.

open air amel. agg. Night and evening.

Dose

First trituration in hives, otherwise, higher potencies. Locally, in offensive foot-sweat, bathe with one percent. solution. For its physiological effects, five to twenty grains. Use cautiously.

Clinical

Anaemia. Angina pectoris. Apoplexy. Asthma. Bedsores. Bronchitis. Chorea. Conjunctivitis. Dropsy. Dysmenia. Enuresis. Erysipelas. Haemorrhagic diathesis. Heart, hypertrophy of; paralysis of. Hydrophobia. Keratitis. Labour, abnormal. Leucorrhoea. Night-terrors. Palpitation. Ptosis. Puerperal convulsions. Purpura. Urticaria.

Region

BRAIN

Heart

Muscles

Liver

Skin