The Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica
Myrica Cerifera myric.
General
Wax Myrtle. Myricaceæ.
A shrub from three to ten feet high. It grows in sandy soil along the sea and shores of our northern lakes, and has a spicy odor. The tincture is prepared from the fresh bark of the root.
Provings by Chase, Collis, Wesselhœft C., Krebs, Linnel (Trans. Hom. Med. Soc. Mass., 1864, vol. 2, p. 397), Walker (Hale's New Rem, 2d ed., p. 728), Sharp (M. Hom. Rev., vol. 20, p. 749).
CLINICAL AUTHORITIES.
- Affection of pharynx , Preston, Hom. Phys., vol. 4, p. 158 ; Hepatic derangement , Bowie, Hah. Mo., vol. 12, p. 362 ; Jaundice , Simpson, Hah. Mo., 1886, p. 824.
Mind
Great despondency ; terribly depressed ; irritable.
Pleasant exhilaration, succeeded by depression and pressure about head.
Deficient concentrativeness ; dull, drowsy state.
Sensorium
Vertigo : with dulness and drowsiness ; with rush of blood to head and face on stooping ; with nausea.
Inner head
Awakes with pains in forehead, temples and small of back.
Dull, heavy feeling over and in eyes ; drowsiness ; jaundice.
Dull, heavy aching in forehead and temples on waking in morning.
Headache, with pain and stiffness in nape of neck.
Empty feeling in head.
Sight and eyes
Eyes congested and yellow.
Eyes and sclerotic have a dirty, dingy, yellowish hue, lids abnormally red.
Eyes feel dull and heavy ; also on waking.
Eyes burn and tire easily when he reads ; lids heavy.
Smarting in eyes, with feeling as of sand in them, difficulty of closing lids.
Hearing and ears
Ringing in ears, with slight vertigo ; also with pressure about head.
Ringing in left ear.
Smell and nose
Severe coryza in morning.
Fetid and bloody ozæna.
Upper face
Face yellow, jaundiced.
Fulness with heat and throbbing, especially after being out in open air.
Teeth and gums
Tender, spongy and bleeding gums.
Taste, speech, tongue
Taste : bad, foul, he cannot eat because of it ; bitter ; nauseous.
Tongue coated a dirty yellow.
Thick, yellowish, dark, dry and crusty coating on tongue, rendering it almost immovable.
Inner mouth
Mouth dry ; thirst, water > partially and temporarily.
Adhesive coating over buccal membrane ; dry, scaly crusts on roof of mouth, that water scarcely moistens or dissolves.
Aphthæ ; follicular stomatitis.
Palate and throat
Ulceration of fauces.
Catarrh of throat and posterior nares.
Aphthous tonsillitis.
Stringy mucus detached with difficulty ; offensive, tenacious in nose and throat.
Pharynx dry, sore as if it would crack, impeding, finally obstructing deglutition.
Slimy, glutinous, frothy mucus in pharynx, gargling scarcely detaches it ; causes disgusting taste, preventing eating.
Appetite, thirst. desires, aversions
Hunger, yet full feeling as after a hearty meal.
Loss of appetite, loathing of food.
Scrobiculum and stomach
Indescribable feeling of distress in epigastric region ; fulness and pressure ; weak, sinking feeling.
Hypochondria
Dull pain in right side, immediately below ribs ; thick yellowish white coating on tongue, no appetite, desire for acids, unrefreshing sleep. θ Hepatic derangement.
Dragging pain in back ; miserable feeling all over ; dull pain in hepatic region ; no appetite ; loathing of food ; sleeplessness. θ Hepatic derangement.
Very despondent ; dull, heavy headache, < in morning ; yellowness of sclerotica, with redness of eyelids ; tongue coated dirty yellowish, as if smeared with mud ; taste bitter ; offensive breath ; no appetite ; yellowness of skin ; dark colored urine, like ale ; feels very weak and drowsy ; with much soreness and aching, < in lower limbs.
Sallow complexion ; tongue thickly coated ; breath offensive ; tenacious, thick, nauseous secretion in mouth ; no appetite ; stools pale ; urine dark ; extreme lassitude ; great sleepiness during day ; abdominal pain and tenderness, < in hepatic region. θ Jaundice.
Jaundice : fulness of hepatic region and of upper abdomen ; drowsiness, debility ; stools mushy, clay colored.
Abdomen and loins
Weak, faint feeling as if diarrhœa would ensue.
Griping pains, rumbling, urging to stool, passing only flatus.
Stools and rectum
Passes very offensive flatus.
Stools : loose, mushy, with tenesmus and cramplike sensation in umbilical region ; light yellow ; mushy, clay colored (jaundice).
Loose, light colored stool, growing lighter daily, until it became ash colored and destitute of bile.
Chronic diarrhœa ; diarrhœa of consumptives.
Urinary organs
Urine : high colored, saturated with coloring matter of bile ; beer colored, with yellowish froth ; pinkish brown sediment ; dark and turbid.
Male sexual organs
Chronic gonorrhœa.
Female sexual organs
Leucorrhœa excoriating, fetid, thick and yellowish, of several years' duration.
Voice and larynx. trachea and bronchia
Chronic bronchitis.
Cough
Cough : tickling at night on lying down ; profuse expectoration ; < by talking ; chronic, with profuse expectoration and much irritation of throat.
Inner chest and lungs
Pulse : impulse increased, but 60 ; feeble, irregular ; slow.
Neck and back
Pain in back of neck.
Dull, aching dragging on walking ; lassitude, headache.
Rest. position. motion
Lying down : cough.
Stooping : rush of blood to head and face.
Cannot move tongue : thick coating.
Nerves
Slight nervous excitement and restlessness followed by a sick, debilitated sensation that is most characteristic.
Weak and drowsy ; muscular soreness and aching in limbs.
Great debility. θ Jaundice.
Sleep
Drowsiness, vertigo, semi-stupor.
Restless, or sleeps soundly until towards morning ; generally awakes feeling <.
Waking with dull frontal headache.
Drowsiness with and after headache.
Time
Morning : dull aching in forehead and temples ; severe coryza.
During day : great sleepiness.
Night : tickling cough.
Temperature and weather
Open air : heat and throbbing in face ; causes chilliness.
Fever
Chilliness on going out of doors, slight aching in lumbar region.
Excited, feverish feeling, alternating with chilliness ; warm sensation along spine, then chill and gentle sweat.
Face hot and flushed.
Night sweats. θ Phthisis.
Attacks, periodicity
For several years : leucorrhœa.
Locality and direction
Right : dull pain in side.
Left : ringing in ear.
Sensations
As of sand in eyes ; pharynx as if it would crack ; full feeling, as if after a hearty meal ; tongue as if smeared with mud ; as if diarrhœa would ensue ; itching as from fleabites.
Pains : in forehead, temples and small of back ; in nape of neck ; in hepatic region.
Soreness : of pharynx ; of muscles.
Griping pains : in abdomen.
Cramplike sensation : in umbilical region.
Smarting : of eyes.
Burning : of eyes.
Aching : of muscles ; in limbs ; in lumbar region.
Dragging pains : in back.
Dull, heavy aching : in forehead and temples.
Dull pain : in right side ; in hepatic region.
Pressure : about head ; in stomach.
Dull, heavy feeling : over and in eyes.
Tenderness : of hepatic region.
Fulness : in stomach ; of hepatic region.
Warm sensation : along spine.
Indescribable feeling of distress : in epigastric region.
Empty feeling : in head.
Weak, sinking feeling : in stomach.
Stiffness : in nape of neck.
Dryness : of pharynx.
Itching : of skin.
Tissues
Catarrh of mucous membranes ; mouth, pharynx, bile ducts, etc.
Muscular lameness, lassitude, depressed spirits.
Low states, with or without jaundice ; debility ; viscous state of mucus, scanty, tenacious, crust forming secretions on tongue and in mouth and pharynx.
Granulated eyelids and throat.
Ulcerated mouth and throat.
Diphtheria : thick, vitiated mucous secretions, difficult to detach.
Chronic, offensive, irritating leucorrhœa ; profuse catarrhal discharges of long standing generally.
Skin
Yellow, jaundiced appearance ; itching as from fleabites.
Yellowness of skin of whole body.
Stage of life, constitution
Stout person, æt. 50 ; jaundice.
Man, æt. 70 ; tall, robustly developed ; affection of pharynx.
Relations
Compare : Asar. can., Acid. benz., Berb. vulg., Bromine, Chimaph., Corn. circ., Chelid., Cubeba, Digit., Eryng. aquat., Eupat. arom., Hydr. can., Hepar sulph., Kali bich., Laches., Merc. iod., Podoph., Spongia .