Radium Bromatum - General symptoms

GENERAL

General

Dry, burning heat as if afire; craves cool air

Sudden shifting or electric pains; must lie down

Dull, hard ache; deep in joints Constriction, chest, heart, etc

; with air hunger

Numbness, worse stretching part

Rheumatism

Gout

Weak muscles

Necrotic changes

Pain over eyes [left], backward

Red, smarting eyes, worse reading

Rushing in ears, better lying on face

Raw throat

Craves pork

Averse to sweets

Abdominal, alternating with ear or chest pains

Sore, prolapsed rectum

Dysuria, then erections

Itching genitals Cough, worse smoking; better open air and exertion

Tightness at heart

Weak between scapulae

Ascending lumbar pain Irritable, thick, burning, itching skin; moist if scratched; worse face and genitals

Branny scales

Scabby; on ears

Eczema

Psoriasis

Scleroderma

Callosities

Vivid dreams; of fire; awakes panting, with pounding of heart; seeming true

Rheumatism of hands

Radium Bromide. Ra Br2, 2H2O. Trituration.

catarrh of. redness of. Ophthalmia. Phimosis. Prurigo. Pruritus Ani et Vulvae. Psoriasis. Rheumatism. Rodent ulcer. Sclerotitis. Skin, affections of. Tic douloureux. Trachoma. Ulcers. Warts. X-ray Dermatitis.

l. foot to r. knee, then to l. knee, hands, and toes. She had also a peculiarity about her stools. They were slate-coloured, very offensive, urgent, and came at noon during a meal. On these symptoms of Dieffenbach's proving "Defecation at noon.

stool soft, dark, or offensive, slate-colour, clay-colour.

pains in extremities, wakes 4 a.m., pains in all joints.

knees, ankles, feet. could not walk, had to lie down," Rad. b. was given, and cured entirely. Other of my cured cases will be found in the Schema marked (°). I have also distinguished the symptoms from my proving with the letter (C) appended to each symptom. All the rest are from Dieffenbach. This enables a comparison to be made between the two. Peculiar Sensations are As if skull too small.

as if foreign body (lash) in eye.

as if something dropped into trachea. Knees feel as if the bones would protrude. Intolerance of tobacco was produced. The Conditions of Radium are very marked in the general amel. by motion, agg. by warmth of the bed, and amel. in open air.

amel. lying down. amel. after sleep.

amel. by pressure. agg. at night. agg. by shaving, by washing. agg. by smoking. agg. 3 a.m., 4 a.m., 7 a.m., 11 a.m., noon, night.

Skin of face very irritable.

this gradually got worse and lasted two months.

the skin became thickened and broke in places, exuding clear moisture.

amel. scratching, agg. by washing, which caused oozing.

amel. bathing in very hot water.

agg. shaving (only possible on alternate days).

agg. night when warm in bed. (Finally cured by Rhus Venenata ^{Rhus ven}.) (C).

Dose

Thirtieth and twelfth trituration.

Region

Skin

Nerves

Lymphoid tissue

Bones

Muscles and joints Lumbo-sacral

Great toe

Shifting sides

Characteristics

The discovery of Radium and its properties in 1898 by Pierre Curie and his wife set many persons thinking, and among them, naturally, those who are engaged in the healing of the sick. Curie himself made the first "proving." He put a tiny bit of Radium salt in an indiarubber capsule and fastened it to his arm, leaving it there for ten hours. When he took it off the skin was red, the place turned into a wound, which took four months to heal, leaving a white scar the size of a shilling surrounded by discoloured puckered skin. On another occasion he left it for half an hour. A wound appeared at the end of a fortnight and took another fortnight to heal. On a third occasion, left for eight minutes only, two months later the skin became red and a bit sore, but it soon passed off.

In 1904 I began to make a few provings with the 30th, and in 1908 I published them in Radium as an Internal Remedy, along with some observations by Dr. Molson, experienced by himself when making triturations, and by Dr. Stonham with the 30x. A full account of these will be found in my book. By far the most important proving is that by Dr. William H. Dieffenbach, of New York City, published in The Journal of the American Institute of Homoeopathy, August 1911, and afterwards reprinted in pamphlet form the same year. Dieffenbach had the co-operation of Drs. R. S. Copeland, W. G. Crump, H. C. Sayre, and Guy B. Stearns in his proving, and this leaves little to be desired. It was carried out on both men and women on a much more heroic scale than mine, with 30x, 12x, and 6x, in repeated doses, but the 6x produced such severe symptoms that Dieffenbach warns against its use medicinally. Pure Radium is a white metal which "oxidises in water, burns paper, turns black on exposure to air, and has the property of adhering firmly to iron." This last quality is not without significance, and shows a close affinity with Ferrum Met ^Ferrum. Radium Bromatum's atomic weight is 225. It is found in the ore pitchblende, and Drs. E. Stillman Bailey and F. H. Blackmarr, of Chicago (J. A. I. H., September 1911), have used triturations of this combined with Thorium for radio-treatments. Although Dieffenbach used much more crude preparations than I did, his results confirm most of mine, and also greatly extend them, the eyes, skin, joints, and alimentary tracts being particularly affected. Dieffenbach quotes Professor William His, of Berlin, who published an article on the "Use of Radium in Gout and Rheumatism." His used Radium emanations (inhalations of the gas), Radium injections into joints and muscles, and the drinking of Radium water. The provings show the homoeopathicity of the drug to these conditions, although His used it empirically. Dieffenbach, who had been investigating Radium for ten years before he published his pamphlet, records that as a result of former X-ray and Radium-ray experiments one prover's hands had, when the proving commenced, eczematous eruptions, cracks, scaly excrescences, and wart-like outcroppings. After his proving with 6x these gradually disappeared. This is confirmed by a case reported to me by Mr. E. S. Pierrepont. A girl employed in the X-ray Department of the hospital with which he is connected developed dermatitis of the r. hand and fingers. An ointment was prescribed without benefit, and cracks appeared on the skin. Two doses of Radium b. 30 were given, on Mr. Pierrepont's suggestion, one in the morning and one in the evening. The following day the patient came out in a rash, which the matron mistook for measles, eyes watering, fingers very sore, and she felt very ill. By the following day the rash had disappeared and she felt well. The fingers were now better, and they got quite well, except that a sore feeling was left after washing.

A noticeable feature of both Dieffenbach's proving and mine was the disappearance of small naevi, which is significant, seeing that the rays are used for the destruction of naevi.

first right, then left

lids swollen, oozing from corners, lips hard, swollen. One dose of Rad. b. 30 was given. The result was dramatic. The first night she was able to sleep with only once waking. Two days later the rash had nearly gone, and the eyes had ceased to water. In a few days all had vanished, and the patient could enjoy open air. In H. R. (April 1923) Dr. S. L. Guild-Leggett records the case of a girl aged 2 1/2 years who had shifting rheumatism