Kali Nitricum - General symptoms - T.F. Allen

GENERAL

General

(Morning), Disinclined to think, etc.

dizziness. stupefaction, etc.

of head. headache. on waking, headache, etc.

pressure in forehead. on rising, headache on vertex.

burning, etc., of eyes.

after rising, sour taste.

on rising, sticking in throat.

in bed, nausea. after rising, feeling in stomach.

pressure in stomach. after waking, desire for stool, etc.

cough. oppression of chest.

on waking, pain in small of back.

from 2 to 5 o'clock, tearing in shoulder.

pain in shoulder. in bed, perspiration.

(Evening), Most symptoms.

fretful mood. confusion of head, etc.

pressive headache. drawing through forehead.

in bed, throbbing on occiput.

while walking in open air, toothache.

burning pimples on tip of tongue.

when walking, pain in groin.

after lying down, cough with expectoration.

stitches in kidneys. jerkings of limbs.

tearing in arm. tearing in wrist.

pain in hand. drawing in legs.

tearing in sole. while sitting, contraction of toes.

itching. coldness, etc.

febrile attack..

Pain in the right side of the forehead, suddenly while walking, which soon extended towards the top of the head and thence into the occiput and both temples.

the pain seemed to be seated in the scalp.

first felt only on shaking the head, as when coughing, walking, etc., and the pain was indefinite in character.

afterwards it gradually became more violent, and was felt on turning the head and even during rest.

when most violent the skin of the forehead was painful as if bruised.

together with painful pulsation in the occiput and temples.

on firm pressure the headache was relieved so that it was scarcely felt.

in the evening it had entirely disappeared,.

Drawing and tearing in the occiput, so that she could not move the head, with stiffness in the nape of the neck for an hour.

followed after two hours by drawing and tearing in the scapulae, with great weakness.

she could scarcely lift her feet.

together with coldness without thirst, heat at night without thirst or subsequent sweat (sixth day),.

A visible jerking motion of the muscles of the face, especially by the eye and on the right side of the neck, during a light nap in the morning, about 8 o'clock.

the first attack was in the region of the right articulation of the jaw.

I was perfectly conscious, but afterwards on thinking about it I became fearful that it would develop into an epileptic spasm.

and I fell to dreaming during the night that the eyes were tightly closed, and I ineffectually endeavored to open them during the attack and was obliged to open them by force with the fingers,.

Sudden violent irritation to cough in the right side, near the pit of the throat, as if in the right bronchus, neither painful nor itching.

it could be suppressed by a slow, deep breath, and by an effort of the will.

this provocation to cough lasted about an hour (at that time I was treating two patients who had a similar irritation to cough),.

Pressive pain in the right side of the chest, in the region of the false ribs.

this pain afterwards extended farther towards the pit of the stomach, where it remained for a long time like a pressure, with increased loud eructations and loud emission of flatus.

the pressure in the stomach afterwards changed to a simple sensation of hunger (second day),.

Sticking and pain in the left side of the chest, for two hours, relieved while walking in the open air, but recurring more violently towards evening, like a cutting and tearing in the lungs, aggravated by deep inspiration.

then after half an hour chilliness and tearing in both limbs, from the knees to the toes, so that she was obliged to go to bed, where she became warm and fell asleep (seventh day),.

Pressive burning pain in the epigastric region, which gradually increased, and at last became a dull boring pain (immediately).

after half an hour a cutting pain along the tract of the intestines, so that it seemed as though he could follow the action of the drug in the bowels.

at the same time, profuse emission of flatus and desire for stool, with heartburn and some heat over the whole body.

after an hour, a normal stool,.

Pressive pain in the posterior and upper portion of the epigastric region, near to and behind the cartilages of the ribs, which extends almost to the pit of the stomach, only when walking.

this pain returned next day in the upper portion of the left half of the epigastric region while walking, towards noon, not felt in the afternoon and evening even while walking rapidly,.

In three hours nausea and griping set in.

these continued to increase to the eleventh hour, when some whiskey and Nux Moschata ^nutmeg which had been taken was vomited. At the twelfth hour, violent watery purging in large quantity set in and continued for an hour, and the pain ceased. On the morning of the third day he felt a good deal of lumbar aching, which he attribued to the confinement. At midday he took 2 ounces of Hollands in cold water.

an hour after he passed water, which was coffee-colored from admixture of blood,.

A kind of sensation of hunger, no real appetite followed by a real aversion to food the whole morning (over three hours), with white-coated tongue, so that my coffee was not taken, contrary to habit.

at 10 A.M., with real appetite, bread and butter was so much relished that without intending it I ate a piece more than usual, after which I felt very well (tenth day),.

Diarrhoea four or five times in the day, followed by smarting in the anus.

after some thin stool is passed once, it seems as though the orifice of the anus became stopped (haemorrh. saccat.), which caused a disagreeable sensation.

after prolonged and great urging very little passed, feeling like hardened faeces, with relief of the tenesmus (sixth day),.

Three pasty stools. with the third evacuation in the evening there was associated a slight cutting in the whole intestinal tract, which lasted two hours and gradually disappeared (after 10 grains).

next day the evacuation was hard, not copious (after 12 grains).

on the following day, three thin evacuations (after 13 grains).

next day, four watery evacuations (after 15 grains),.

A paralytic pain in the right shoulder-joint towards the forepart, as if in the head of the bone, but only felt while the arm remained in one place.

as soon as the arm was moved, the pain disappeared.

if the arm was turned on its axis, there was a cracking in the forepart of the joint, which seemed to be caused by the tendon of the biceps muscle.

there was a similar pain in the first joint of the right ring finger, only noticed on flexing and extending it. On the next day these symptoms had entirely disappeared, except that when lying down (and as it happened after a new dose of the drug) there was noticed a similar pain in the left patella, which disappeared after sleeping, and gave place to dull sticking pains in the anterior and farther portion of the left side of the chest,.

Pain in the arms extending from the elbows into the wrists, where it is a tearing and breaking, as if it would twist the bones.

thence into the knuckles, where it distends the spaces between them, with swelling of the parts.

thence it extends as a crushing pain as far as under the nails.

somewhat relieved by rubbing the hands, with a feeling as if the hands were larger than usual, wooden, heavy, and numb, and paralytic.

loss of power in them, though only at night,.

Tearing in the inner side of the left thigh, high up (apparently in the pectinaeus and triceps) several times.

afterwards in the left upper arm, then in the middle of the outer portion of the left thigh, then on the anterior surface of the leg (tibialis anticus), then on and behind the external malleolus, then in the back, between the left scapula and the spine (in the rhomboideus, serratus posticus superior).

these tearings occur in rapid succession not long after eating, in the evening (eighth day),.

I applied a thermometer to the pit of my stomach, and the highest degree to which the Merc Viv ^mercury would rise was 98.

I then took a drachm of Nitre dissolved in an ounce of water.

two minutes after this my pulsations were reduced from 72 to 64.

four minutes after they were as low as 62, and from that time they began gradually to increase, till at the end of ten minutes they were at 70 and soon after at 72, the exact number at which they were before I took the draught.

about twenty minutes after I had taken the Nitre, on looking at the thermometer, the Merc Viv ^mercury had risen from 98° to 99 1/2°, and in twenty minutes more it was fallen again to 98°, and my pulse still continued to bead 72.

this was exactly, in every respect, the state in which I was before I took it. As the rising and falling of the Merc Viv ^mercury in all the subsequent trials was extremely irregular, I shall leave out of my narrative of the following experiments the observations I made on it, and lay it down as a postulatum, that whatever power Nitre may have of cooling the body, it does not exert it in any perceptible manner on its external parts.

Twenty minutes after this dose I took a drachm and a half of Nitre, dissolved in 3 ounces of water.

after two minutes my pulse was weak, fluttering, and unequal, and beat about 70 in a minute.

soon after I felt, a painful sensation at the upper orifice of my stomach, and on arising from my chair, it was with some difficulty that I walked through the room.

I then returned to the chair and felt my pulse again.

it was now become so quick, fluttering, and irregular, and my head was so giddy, that I could not exactly number the strokes it beat, though, as near as I could judge, they were between 96 and 100.

in about an hour every one of these disagreeable symptoms began to abate, and continued slowly decreasing all that day.

the next morning when I got out of bed they were entirely gone off.

Dissolved 1 1/2 drachms in 3 ounces of water, which I felt twelve hours exposed to the air, and then swallowed.

immediately before I took it my pulse beat 64.

the second minute after it beat the same.

the fourth minute after it beat 59.

and from that time began in increase as in the former experiments, till it came to the standard at which it had been before I took the Nitre.

Some days after this I dissolved 1 1/2 ounces of Nitre in 3 pounds of water, and took a draught of it every hour, except in bed.

the whole was drank in twenty-four hours.

after four or five draughts I felt a slight chilliness at my stomach every time I took it.

but this generally went off before the time of taking the next draught, and on that account gave me but little pain.

I now resolved to try what would be the effect of the same quantity of Nitre, when every different dose was taken immediately on its being dissolved.

for this purpose I divided 1 ounce of it into eight equal parts, and took one of these parts, dissolved in 4 ounces of water, every ninety minutes. The weather was at this time very warm, and, therefore, the first three or four doses cooled and refreshed me.

the fifth and sixth, however, gave me a chilliness and pain in my stomach.

the seventh and eight increased these sharp stinging pains, not only in my stomach, but through my whole body, which were so violent that for fifteen minutes after each dose I could not breathe without feeling a very acute pain on every inspiration.

As I had been able to take 1 1/2 ounces of Nitre with very little inconvenience when it had been long dissolved, I resolved to make one more effort to try if I could manage the same quantity, when every dose was taken immediately after being dissolved. I therefore prepared eight powders of 1 1/2 drachms each, with a design to take one of them every ninety minutes, as in the last experiment.

the second dose gave me a chilliness at my stomach.

the third gave me some of the above-mentioned pains.

and the fourth increased them so such a violent degree that I was obliged to desist from taking any more,.

Twitchings of the muscles came on, with many involuntary motions.

while sitting in a chair, she would suddenly leap up, and when in the act of doing one thing would instantly turn to do another.

the muscles would act quite contrary to the will, and do that which she neither wished nor had power to prevent.

her symptoms afforded every character of Chorea St. Viti, as laid down by Cullen.

the left arm and leg chiefly affected (after fourteen days),.

Attack of dizzy faintness, in the morning while standing.

better on sitting down.

then it became black before the eyes, with great weakness and sleepiness, pain in the small of the back and constriction in the abdomen, lasting a quarter of an hour, three times in the forenoon.

when this ceased, the pain extended down the leg to the ankle, where it remained the whole day.

in the afternoon, coldness with thirst, worse in bed, lasting till midnight, when she fell asleep, with agreeable warmth,.

Vomiting, first of contents of stomach, and then of blood.

a good deal of fluid and clotted blood of a purplish color was ejected.

continued vomiting for four hours, during which she must have drunk and vomited above two gallons.

for six hours afterwards she took nothing.

but then again became sick, and vomited repeatedly for three hours.

ejecting grumous blood, both fluid and clotted,.