Helonias Dioica - General symptoms - T.F. Allen

GENERAL

General

Chamaelirium luteum, Gray (Helonias dioicia, Pursh; H. lutea, Ait.; C. Carolinianum, Willd; Veratrum Album ^Veratrum luteum, Linn.; Ophiostachys Virginica, Delile).

Natural order, Liliaceae. Common names, Unicorn plant, Devil's Bit, Blazing Star.

Preparation, Tincture of the root.

Previous to taking the remedy I never felt better, more cheerful, or in better spirits.

soon after taking there was an entire change in the surrounding circumstances.

I very soon became irritable, gloomy, and dull.

could not endure the least contradiction or receive any suggestions in regard to any subject.

all conversation was unpleasant, and what I most desired was to be left alone, reserving to myself the privilege of finding fault with everything around me.

I consider that this moral condition was not accidental, but purely a pathological state, produced and kept up by the action of the medicine (seventh evening).

previous to this evening this state assumed an intermittent form, but after this date it was unchanged for several days, and was one of the most constant and marked effects,.

While reading, a feeling of fulness, pressure from within outwards, in vertex and occiput.

at the same time the scalp seemed to burn.

when I read earnestly, concentrating my attention, all these sensations vanished.

but if I turned my attention from the book to my hand they were instantly perceived.

I found that I could get rid of them or bring them on just as I liked (after four hours, first day),.

Headache comes on every day at 4 or 5 P.M., if not then, surely between 8 and 9 P.M.

it is a dull aching in temples and forehead.

pressure over the root of the nose.

and when it is on, feel as if I had caught cold.

am feverish without feeling hot to others or having an increase of pulse.

at this time am also very irritable (from the eleventh to fourteenth day),.

Frequently while walking (and only then), a sudden pang deep in the right groin.

it would smite me suddenly as an electric shock, make me limp for a few steps, and soon pass away.

pressure with the tips of the fingers in the groin seemed to relieve it.

at least I was instinctively led into this manipulation, and relief seemed to come from it (seventh week),.

A peculiar stool. sensation as if each lump of faeces had the shape of a large minnie bullet, which passed from the anus the big end first.

the anus seemed to be much distended for an instant, and then out flew a fecal mass just as a pumpkin-seed shoots from the fingers.

the stool consisted of four lumps which made their exit separately, but as fast as they could follow each other, for it seemed as if each single one had to "work its passage" by forcing upon the anus.

in the evening (fourth day),.

I think it must be allowed that Helonias is somewhat diuretic.

a daily average of 46.347 ounces is certainly a plus for one of my stature and weight. I do drink water freely, but I "chew tobacco," and my spittoon will testify that the salivary glands do extra duty. I think the primary action of Helonias is to reduce the renal excretion. When Helonias Dioica is in full action, the kidneys have an even burning feel, and they ache.

evidence, I take it, of renous congestion, retarded blood flow, hence the urinary plus,.

On March 28th, 29th, and 30th (fifth, sixth, and seventh days of the proving), 1380 minims in all were taken. A glance at Table II will show the effect upon the renal excretion. It decreases from 57 1/2 ounces to 24 ounces 3 drachms. Three days' time are required with the doses taken, then the drug is suspended, and in the next three days the quantity of urine increases from 24 ounces 3 drachms to 73 ounces.

a plus of nearly 50 ounces. On the following day, it falls from 73 ounces to 47 1/2. Such variations are beyond even the maximum of physiological oscillation. On the 26th, I dined at 12, emptied the bladder at 1 P.M., and again at 2. The rate of excretion was 2 1/4 ounces in an hour. On the 29th, I repeated this process, and found the rate to be 7 1/4 ounces in an hour. On the latter date, at 12 M., I had taken 480 minims of the tincture. Possibly this phenomenon of renal stimulation may be ascribed to the alcohol. However, as the tincture was diluted with thrice its quantity of water, it is a probable that the stimulation is due to the Helonias. According to Böcker and Hammond, alcohol lessens the water of the urine, and this must be borne in mind in estimating the downward slope of the quantity line for the 29th, 30th, and 31st. The decrease begins on the 29th, and reaches the minimum on the 31st, the whole quantity eliminated being 128 1/8 ounces. The increase began on April 1st, and reached the maximum on April 3d, the whole quantity 163 1/4 ounces. The "reaction" is plus. These quantities added, give 48.55 ounces as the daily mean, another plus. As a like quantity of water was drank daily, and as no change in the temperature of the weather occurred to explain this plus by skin action, I am disposed to ascribe it to the drug. If we assume 45 ounces as my daily rate of excretion, which is certainly liberal, we shall find that nine of the nineteen days give a quantity below this, while the remaining ten are above it. The nine minimum days give, as a total, 350 7/8 ounces, which is 38 3/10 ounces per diem. The ten maximum days give 551 3/8 ounces, 55 13/100 ounces daily. If we take enough from the maximum, ten days' quantity, to bring the minimum, nine days quantity, up to the mean of 45 ounces per diem, we still have a plus of 46 3/8 ounces. That Helonias is a diuretic in the same sense as Apocynum Cannabinum ^Apocynum cannabinum, I am not prepared to affirm.

that it is a renal stimulant, I think may be safely assumed. Let not the term stimulant mislead. The Helonias renal stimulation is a condition of debility, renous paresis, the result of previous arterial tonic contraction,.

Helonias lowers the specific gravity. A mean of 1.01571 for nineteen consecutive days is not normal. Suppose that, on account of the experimenter's sedentary habits, we assume 1.018 as the normal specific gravity of his urine, we then find that under the Helonias action it is for fourteen days of the nineteen below this, and that for seven of these fourteen days it is at 1.014 for two, 1.013 for three, and 1.012 for two. A glance at Table II will show that the depression of specific gravity is not directly dependent upon the quantity of urine excreted. On different days we have 73.572 and 47.7 ounces, each of 1.013 specific gravity.

46, 43.4, and 24.3 ounces of 1.020.

42.3, 39.4, 37.2 and 36.5 ounces of 1.017. The consideration of this leads us to the urea. As the daily average, according to Table II, exceeds the "physiological amount" by nearly 50 grains per diem, one would say that the primary action of Helonias is to increase the elimination of urea. A glance at Table II will show that on only seven of the nineteen days did the urea fall below the daily rate of 345.94 grains, and the greatest minus will be found to coincide with the days in which a great amount of alcohol was taken. In three days, 28th, 29th, 30th (of March), 1380 minims of tincture were drank, and in the urine of the 29th, 30th, and 31st, the effects of the alcohol is shown in a minus of 130.58 grains of urea. On twelve of the nineteen days there is a plus of urea, which extends from 9.76 to 215.26 grains daily. So far, then, as these data go, we must believe that Helonias primarily increases the elimination of urea,.