The Therapeutics of Fevers

Iodium iod.

Allen (1879)In every bookSave

Characteristic

Persons of a scrofulous diathesis, with dark hair and eyes; a low cachectic condition with profound debility and great emaciation (Abrot.).

Great weakness and loss of breath on going up stairs (Cal.); during the menses (Alum., Carbo a., Coc.).

Empty eructations from morning till evening, as if every particle of food was turned into air (Kali c.).

Ravenous hunger; eats freely and well, yet loses flesh all the time (Abrot., Nat. m., Sanic., Tub.).

Suffers from hunger, must eat every few hours, anxious and worried if he does not eat (Cina, Sulph.); feels > while eating or after eating, when stomach is full.

Itching: low down in the lungs, behind the sternum; causing cough. Extends through bronchi to nasal cavity (Coc. c., Con., Phos.). Hypertrophy and induration of the glands—thyroid, mammæ, ovaries, testes, uterus, prostate or other glands—breasts may dwindle and become flabby.

Hard goitre, in dark-haired persons (light-haired, Brom.); feels > after eating.

Palpitation, worse from least exertion (from least motion, Dig.—from least mental emotion, Cal. ars., Lith. c.).

Sensation as if the heart was squeezed together; as if grasped with an iron hand (Cac., Sulph.).

Leucorrhœa: acrid, corrosive, staining and corroding the linen; most abundant at time of menses.

Cancerous degeneration of the cervix; cutting pains in abdomen and hemorrhage at every stool.

Constipation, with ineffectual urging > by drinking cold milk.

Croup: membranous, hoarse, dry cough, < in warm wet weather; with wheezing and sawing respiration (Spong.); especially in overgrown psoric boys.

Child grasps the larynx (Cepa); face pale and cold, especially in fleshy children.

Relations

Complementary to: Lycopodium.

Follows well: after Hep., Mer.; is followed by Kali bi. in croup.

Acts best in goitre when given after full moon, or when the moon is waning.—LIPPE.

Aggravation

Warmth; wrapping up the head; cannot bear hat on (rev. of Hep., Psor.).

Amelioration

Cold air; washing in cold water.

Type

Quartan; tertian. Sporadic La Grippe; tubercular.

Time

Any hour; often at night.

Chill

Shaking chill, or unusual chilliness, even when in a warm room. Hands, nose, feet icy cold; cold feet the whole night. Chill frequently alternating with heat.

Heat

Quartan fever, with a constant diarrhœa on the days free from fever (urticaria when fever has been suppressed, Elat.). Hot flushes of heat over the body (Fer., Sep.). Internal heat, with coldness of the surface. Burning heat of the hands (burning heat of palms of hands and soles of feet, with cold feet, Sul.). Fever with dry skin, weak and rapid pulse, twitching of the muscles, and more coldness than heat of skin.

Sweat

With thirst. Debilitating, sour sweat all over in the morning hours, with great weakness of the limbs. Profuse, cold, viscid sweat at night. Palms of hands sweat continually. Cold feet sweat easily; so acrid that it corrodes the skin (Graph.).

Tongue

Thickly coated, brown in centre, white at the edges. Salivation; salty or sour.

Pulse

Large, hard, with orgasm of blood and throbbing in vessels especially in larger arterial trunks; weak, rapid, thready, irregular; accelerated by every slight exertion.

Apyrexia

Countenance sallow; distressed look; ravenous hunger, must eat every few hours; left hypochondriac region hard and acutely sensitive to pressure. Emaciation, debility, restlessness Gets anxious and worried if he does not eat, yet loses flesh all the time while eating freely.

Analysis

The general characteristic symptoms are the only guides; symptoms of the paroxysm not marked. Fevers of

Iodine often occur in tubercular persons, and may be result of suppressed intermittent by quinine.