Disease Index

Ulcers – Homeopathic Remedies

ulcer leg
Written by Edmund Carleton

Dr. Carleton gives us some basic guidelines and principles, along with illustrative cases and important remedies. Local medication is pernicious, its apparent successes are deluding suppressions, which are sure to be followed by relapses or metastases to more important parts.

Excerpted from: Homoeopathy in Medicine and Surgery – Edmund Carleton, M. D. 1913

It is my belief that an ulcer, unless of traumatic origin, is the expression of a sick organism and that the ulcer gets well when the individual is restored to health. Local medication is pernicious, its apparent successes are deluding suppressions,which are sure to be followed by relapses or metastases to more important parts. Experience in private and hospital practice confirms this belief. At the Homoeopathic Hospital, Ward’s Island,(now the Metropolitan Hospital- Blackwell’s Island) it has been my privilege to demonstrate, upon a large scale, the truth of the foregoing proposition. A number of wards were filled with ulcer cases, many of them old “rounders,” having large, chronic ulcers of the leg, which had been discharged “improved” (by local treatment, only) from one city hospital after another in turn. Of course these ulcers broke down again as soon as their bearers began to use their legs, and reached us in full bloom. Ulcers of differing character, located in various parts of the body, were observed in the house, in lesser numbers than the ulcers of the legs.

It takes time to cure the individual; some cases seem to be incurable (owing to the limitations of the prescriber)and one must consider the statistics of his hospital. On the other hand, it is always safe to do right and one patient discharged “cured” counts for more than two “improved.” We did our best to cure. Our practice did not cause the statistics of the hospital to suffer. On the contrary, there is reason to believe that our statistics were regarded with envy by some persons. Again, watchfulness, determination and persistence were required to overcome inertia, periodical interruptions, ancient custom and practical skepticism. Frequent inspection of each ulcer disclosed the degree of benefit which had been gained by the use of internal medicine. The ward book told the story of faithful work. That was scanned at every inspection of the ulcer.

My first care, when entering an ulcer ward, was to impress upon the intern, if he was a new man, the importance of securing all the symptoms of each case; of giving the similar medicine; of repeating it only when improvement had ceased and of never changing the remedy in the face of improvement, even though the symptoms had changed.

The late Dr. Selden H. Talcott was the first chief of our house staff and a great executive officer. He inaugurated a system which helped me greatly. Under his supervision the house surgeon caused the dressing-room to be filled with patients and their ulcers to be exposed to view. When these patients had been prescribed for and their ulcers dressed with dry lint, occasionally simple cerate, they retired to the ward and gave place to others.

The dressings were changed when they became foul. Then the ulcer was cleansed, gently, with normal salt solution. The part rested in an easy position. When cicatrization was general (not partial) we debated — especially if the ulcer was of varicose origin — the wisdom of grafting or compressing. My own attitude towards such practices was generally conservative.

In very hot and very cold weather the ulcer wards were frequently disinfected.

 Observation

It was my custom to observe the location, size, shape and depth of the ulcer; the color, quantity, odor and other qualities of the discharge; the edges, whether everted, undermined, necrotic, and so on; the appearance of the borders and the degree of sensitivity and morbid sensations of all parts involved. A minute sufficed for the inspection, but a longer time was required to make a record of the  observations and this was sometimes imperfectly done, it is to be feared. Then the concomitant symptoms were gathered and also the particular and general history and the appearance and condition of the person of the patient. Modalities were sought for with diligence.

To get the sensations was hard work. After using all one’s skill upon a dullard, in the manner taught by Hahnemann, and finally eliciting the fact of burning pain, it was interesting to hear the next patient, who had listened to the preceding dialogue, promptly declare that he suffered “burning pain!”

Strange as it may seem to the inexperienced, it is nevertheless true that if the work has been well done up to this point, the task of finding the similar medicine is more than half finished. Commit to  memory the characteristic symptoms of the polychrests; regard closely the modalities; when necessary search the repertory and consult the text of pure materia medica; try upon a few cases the method which has just been outlined and then tell me if I am right.

Many of the therapeutic hints given in the following list of medicines need additional symptoms to make them available in practice.These it is physically impossible to supply here, of course. The prescriber is supposed to follow up the clues that are furnished. Take fluoric acid, for instance. Attention to the clinical hint, furnished by Lippe, “Ulcerations, especially after the abuse of Silicea,” enabled me to cure a stubborn case.

CASE

An apparently healthy young man (Trans. I. H. A., 1888) had his foot crushed in a railway accident. In consequence he had seventeen operations performed, including five amputations of the leg. The last operation was amputation at the knee-joint. It was performed with great devotion to antiseptics — bichloride of mercury and iodoform. The stump refused to heal. I found it swollen, soft and sore. The edges of the flaps were bluish-red and covered with thin, unhealthy pus. The pulse was rapid, quick, wiry and small. Hectic fever was imminent. Emaciation, anorexia and a sullen disposition contributed to the sad picture. Local medication was stopped and normal salt solution substituted. Silica was given. Destruction went on for twelve days. Then I concluded that my predecessor had given silica and that my prescription had been superfluous. I took the hint given by Lippe and gave fluoric acid, two hundredth centesimal potency, four times a day. In a few weeks the patient was well in every respect. He walks easily with an artificial leg.

A few words of caution as to Lachesis. The clinical fact that more ulcers appear upon the lower third of the outer surface of the left leg than upon any other portion of the lower extremity, combined with the fact that Lachesis is partial to the left side of the person, has led to abuse of the medicine. Other medicines affect the left side. Standing alone, the indication is suggestive but inconclusive. If, in addition, such characteristic symptoms as worse when waking from sleep, intolerance of pressure about neck and waist, and the peculiar sore throat exist, then Lachesis should be chosen.

An example of the ability of homoeopathy to cure is furnished by the following case:

CASE:

She was an apparently healthy girl. When thirteen years old her left ankle became lame and swollen. Her physician, finding the case intractable, referred her to a noted old school orthopaedic specialist in New York, who constrained the limb in a plaster of Paris cast. The patient complained of pain. This was unheeded. At the end of three weeks the foot was found to be dead. Amputation, under antisepsis, was performed just above the ankle joint.

The stump refused to heal and the flaps retracted. The bones protruded and began to die, all notwithstanding the use of local medicine. The leg was re-amputated at its upper third. Generous flaps were formed. Granulation and cicatrization progressed for a while, stopped, relapsed. Amputation at the knee-joint was proposed and rejected. A series of attempts, by other surgeons, to heal the stump failed. I observed an ulcer about three inches long and half an inch wide, of feeble, anaemic appearance, with hard, rough, dry, scabbed edges. There was little sensation and that mostly itching. These symptoms and the history of the case led me to put a dose of Silica, in the two hundredth centesimal potency, on the patient’s tongue. Local medication was excluded.  Improvement was observed in a week. It lasted a number of weeks and stopped. A dose of silica, six thousandth centesimal potency (Jenichen), finished the work in a few weeks more, and left a good stump. She walks well with an artificial leg.

The medicine similar to a given case may not be mentioned in our list. That fact constitutes no bar to its use when the constitutional indications for the medicine are unmistakable.

CASE

For instance (address, R. I. State Society, 1885), an ignorant, dull old man, a regular “rounder” of the hospitals of the city, was brought to the clinic in the Ward’s Island Hospital with an indolent ulcer which occupied most of the space between the knee and ankle. It was deep and raw-looking, but painless. Endeavoring to elicit symptoms I passed my finger firmly over the sore and its edges. The fellow was impassive as a statue and declared that I had not hurt him. What a subjective picture of opium! Yet opium has not produced ulcers and has no clinical reputation for their cure. Objectively it bore no relationship to this case. However one characteristic, subjective indication is worth more than many objective indications. I put a few pellets of opium, two hundredth, from my pocket case, upon the patient’s tongue. Two weeks later, at another clinic, we saw the ulcer. A healthv reaction had been established in it and the entire edge surface was granulating. Convalescence was uninterrupted and the cure was complete.

Case:

Again, in the spring of 1905, a thin, sallow young woman sought my aid, saying that an eminent specialist had fed her with test meals; later had examined the contents of the stomach (and this procedure seemed to aggravate her trouble),had diagnosed ulcer of the stomach and had given medicine, which she was sure increased her sufferings.

After finding circumscribed soreness in the pit of the stomach, gastralgia which extended to the back, vomiting in the morning before breakfast, and a red tongue, I agreed to the diagnosis which my predecessor had made. Her diet was ordered to consist principally of milk, mutton broth and specially made stews of mutton and pigeon. Her symptoms called, homoeopathically, for Nux vomica, but the provings of that substance upon healthy people indicate ulcer of the stomach by inference only and the medicine has but little if any clinical reputation in that direction, I believe. My prescription was Nux vomica two hundredth centesimal potency, every two waking hours for two weeks.

At the end of two weeks she called again. Her case was greatly improved in all respects. The medicine was continued two weeks longer, the intervals between doses being lengthened progressively. That was the last I saw of her. I do not know how the case ended, but believe that she was cured.

Indications for Medicines

Alumen. Ulcers: spreading, in mouth, noma of rectum, indolent with redundant granulations. Haemorrhages from all orifices. [Nitric acid.]

Amanita, or agaricus muscarius. Ulcers: carious; corroding, excavated, indolent, fistulous, phagedenic. Pricking and burning pains. Great debility and trembling. Skin red, burning and itching.

Anagallis arvensis: Ulcers on gouty joints.

Anantherum muricatum: Ulcers yellowish, violet, swollen, everted, syphilitic. Hunger at night.

Angustura vera: Very painful ulcers, with deeply penetrating caries. Tetanic spasms. Aggravation three p.m.

Antimonium crudum: Deep, spongy ulcers; especially with gastric symptoms. Fistulous ulcers. Ulcers breaking out around a wart.

Antimonium tartaricum. “On the tips of the fingers and toes small ulcers, not very deep, little discharge and not much pain, they spread and destroy one joint after another, and one phalanx after another falls off, finally hands and feet are separated in their joints; a slight livid redness around the ulcers. Leprosy of the Society Isles.” (Guiding Symptoms.)

Argentum metallicum. Grayish ulcers with shaggy borders, on prepuce and in throat. Bloody, purulent, ichorous, putrid, scirrhous ulcers on os tinae.

Arnica Montana: Bed-sores, especially in region of sacrum and hips. Varicose ulcers, with bruised, sore pains.

Arsenicum album. Ulcers: of cornea; nose (malignant); tongue with blue color, about the umbilicus, on the tips of the fingers, on the lower limbs, with burning and lancinating pains on soles of feet and toes; flat hard on edges, stinging, burning, spongy with redundant granulations turning black, pus thin, ichorous.

Asafoetida : Ulcer on the tibia, ulcers, very painful to contact, especially in the circumference, gangrenous. Bad effects from abuse of mercury, especially in syphilis. Most pains are accompanied by numbness of the affected parts. Many symptoms appear while sitting, and are relieved in the open air.

Aurum metallicum : Dark-colored ulcers which involve the bones, in mercurialized or syphilitic patients, boring pains, worse at night, mental depression.

Baptisia tinctoria: Putrid ulcers, especially of the mouth, with stupor, low delirium, fever and prostration. I have repeatedly verified the foregoing indication in large ulcers of the leg. The patients were in a typhoid state, and had the peculiar delirium.

Bismuthum : Ulcers gangrenous, bluish; or dried, parchment-like. (Lachesis)

Borax : Unwholesome skin, small wounds suppurate and ulcerate. Patient agitated by looking or moving downward.

Bryonia alba : Putrid ulcers, feeling cold, when accompanied with the characteristic symptoms of this medicine.

Calcarea fluorica : “Hard, elevated edges of ulcer, and bone-like appearance of centre, surrounding skin purple and swollen.(C.E. Johnson)

Calcarea ostrearum : Ulcers on the cornea, in nostrils with scales, in corners of the mouth,in the larynx, in the lungs; in unwholesome, readily ulcerating skin. Ulcers deep, fistulous, carious. Warts, inflamed, stinging, suppurating and forming ulcers. With children this medicine may be often repeated; but with aged people a single dose suffices and repetition usually does harm.

Calcarea phosphoricum : Tuberculous ulcers of vertex. Large ulcers above and around ears, and in region of parotid glands. Ulcers on malleolus, edges callous,ichor putrid.

Carbo vegetabilis : Ulcers varicose, scorbutic, livid , easily bleeding [phosphorus] , foetid , burning at night. Syphilitic ulcers with high, sharp, ragged edges, painful, easily bleeding; discharge thin, acrid, offensive. Decubitus in typhus. Especially old people with feeble reaction. [opium].

Causticum: Varicose, fistulous, phagedenic ulcers. Ulcers bleeding, swollen; with boring, burning, tense sensations; pus corroding, thin, ichorous; margins blistered; better in damp weather and from walking.

Chamomilla : Sensitive ulcers, with redundant granulations and inflamed edges. Red, swollen, sensitive ulcers; with burning, smarting, lancinating, darting pains, worse at night, during menstruation, from heat, motion, rising, moisture and drinking coffee; better from cold [fl.acid]. Irritable, impatient subjects.

Chelidonium majus : Old, putrid, spreading ulcers.

Cinchona officinalis : Sensitive, ichorous, putrid ulcers.

Cinnabaris : Honey-combed, fistulous ulcers.

Clematis erecta : Spreading, ichorous, foetid ulcers.

Conium maculatum : Blackish ulcers, with bloody, foetid, ichorous discharges, especially after contusions. Particularly useful for old persons.

Crotalus horridus : Obstinate, even malignant ulcers, with yellow complexion and great indifference.

Cuprum metallicum : Hard, inflamed ulcers, jerking pains. Sensitive, pus scanty and corroding, red borders.

Diadema aranea : Ulcer on left heel.

Drosera rotundifolia : Bleeding, burning, cutting ulcers; pus thin, ichorous, worse in the morning, when lying on the sore side, sitting, warm in bed , better from cold, rubbing, walking.

Dulcamara : Ulcers worse at night, from wet and cold.[Rhus tox]

Euphrasia. Ulcer and pannus, extending from above downward to centre of cornea; with smarting lachrymation; profuse, thick, acrid discharge, lids thick and red, photophobia and pains worse in daylight; blurring of sight, relieved by wiping.

Ferrum metallicum : Pale, oedematous ulcers.

Fluoric acid. Ulcerations especially after the abuse of Silicea (Lippe) Varicose ulcers. Ulcers worse from heat, better from cold. (Hering)

Graphites : Ulcer on cornea, deep ulcers, even with hypopyon. Margins of lids ulcerated. Ulcers on legs, with acrid pus, dryness of skin and constipation. Callous ulcers of the feet and toes. Old ulcers with foetid pus, redundant granulations, itching and stinging.

Guarea trichiloides : Lupus of an ochre-red color.

Hamamelis Virginica : Varicose ulcers, stinging or pricking [Pulsatilla]

Helleborus niger : Ulceration around the nails. Painless ulcers.

Hepar sulphur calcareum : Kerato-iritis, with ulcer of cornea and hypopyon; sensitive to air and touch. Tuberculous, Lupus of face. Ulcer at corner of mouth. Thrush on inside of lower lip. Ulcers on gums and in mouth, with lardaceous base. Ulcer resembling chancre on prepuce. Mercurialized chancres. Uterine ulcers. Skin inclined to ulcerate, edges sensitive and bleed easily, the ulcer surrounded by small pustules. Pus bloody, corroding, smelling like old cheese. Pain as from a splinter, sometimes burning, itching, throbbing; worse from cold and at night.

Hydrastis Canadensis: Ulcers of throat, putrid, after abuse of mercury or chlorate of potash; of stomach; of rectum, of bladder. Open cancer of the breast improved; indolent, of leg, of foot. Cutting, stinging, burning pains; pus scanty. Debilitated, tuberculous persons. [Hepar, Kali bichromicum, Pulsatilla]

Hyoscyamus niger : Painful, bleeding ulcers, bruised feeling on moving the part.

Kali bichromicum : Ulcers: of cornea (indolent); septum (perforating), frontal sinus, lips (mucous surfaces), tongue deep, yellow, syphilitic (edges); mouth (aphthous); roof of mouth (sloughing); uvula; velum palati; tonsils; fauces; pharynx; stomach; duodenum; chancre (deep), under thumb nail, on previously inflamed foot; lupus , syphilitic. Ulcers deep yellow, dry, oval, edges regular, overhanging; areola bright red; base hard, corroding, excavating, dark-colored in centre ; discharge stringy; pains sharp, worse from two to four A. M. and from cold.

Kali carb: Ulcers bleed at night.

Kreosotum : Spongy, burning ulcers, pus acrid, ichorous, foetid. Gangrenous, malignant, putrid ulcers.

Lachesis : Ulcers of the cornea, face, neck, mouth,,tongue, throat, stomach, male and female sexual organs, leg. Left side, mostly[Sulph. ac]. Ulcers: sensitive and burning to touch, bleeding readily, discharging ichorous, offensive matter, areolae purple surrounded by numerous small pimples, relieved by warmth. Ulcers malignant, indolent, spreading, painful, with redundant granulations; re-opened cicatrices; spongy, syphilitic,; phlebitis; fungus hematodes; bed-sores, with black edges. (Arsen., asaf., hepar, lyc., sil.) Concomitant indications should be regarded.

Lycopodium clavatum : Ulcers bleed and burn when touched; itching, shooting, tearing at night; fistulous, with hard, red, shining, everted edges and inflammatory swelling of affected parts; phagedenic; cancerous; foul centre; thin, offensive, ichorous discharge. Worse on right side. Old persons, having the characteristic indigestion and urine.

Mercurius viv : Ulcers large, bleeding, margins everted like raw meat, bases covered with a callous coat; superficial, flat, readily bleeding, base lardaceous, worse from heat of bed, serpiginous. Carious, cancerous, fungous, phagedenic, syphilitic ulcers.

Mercurius corrosivus siiblimatus : Perforating or phagedenic ulcers. Ulcers or chancres with thin pus, leaving stains. Upon linen as from melted tallow.

Mercurius iodatus ruber : Syphilitic eruption over whole body, with moist, offensive-smelling ulcers on legs. Lupus. Large, foetid ulcers of throat, in malignant scarlatina.

Mezereurm: Ulcers covered with thick, whitish-yellow scales, under which thick, yellow pus collects. Vesicles appear around ulcers, itch violently, burn like fire; fiery red areola.

Muriaticum acidum: Putrid ulcers on legs, with burning around them. The cases that have received this remedy at my hands have all been in typhoid condition, sliding down in bed. It has always done good work for me.

Nitric acid : Violently bleeding ulcers, with stinging pain, as from splinters, or with burning, especially when touched. Mercurial ulcers. Carious ulcers.

Paeonia : Ulcer of breast, rectum, leg, foot, toe, from pressure, decubitus.

Petroleum : Ulcers with stinging pain and redundant granulations, deep, with raised edges; fistulous, indolent, offensive smelling pus, scanty and corrosive; decubitus.

Phosphoricum acidum : Ulcers inveterate, flat, with dirty, foetid pus or indented bases like carbuncles, with coppery circumference. No tenderness about ulcer.

Phosphorus : Fistulous ulcers, erysipelatous, pus thin, ichorous, hectic. Open cancers, bleeding easily.

Phytolacca decandra : Ulcers syphilitic, malignant. Ulcers of male and female sexual organs; of legs and sides and soles of feet; of mucous membrane, especially in nose, throat and rectum; looking as if pinched out; lardaceous base; pus watery, foetid, ichorous; shooting, lancinating, jerking pains.

Plumbum : Decubitus. Ulcers burn. Small wounds easily become inflamed and suppurate.

Ranunculus bullbosus : Flat, burning, stinging ulcers, with ichorous discharge.

Ruta graveolens : Ulcers and scales on scalp. Fistulous ulcers on the legs.

Sabina : Ulcer on tibia, with lardaceous base.

Sanguinaria : A case that had given me a great deal of trouble finally surrendered to this medicine. Both legs were affected, the tendons showing; the discharge was profuse, thick and putrid. The concomitant symptoms helped me to the selection of this remedy. They were: periodical (from suppressed intermittent fever), stupid, semi-paralyzed state, worse on the right side; red spots over the cheek-bones, especially the left, coming on at 11 :30 a. m. and lasting until 5 p. m.; cold feet in the afternoon.

Sarsaparilla : Ulcers, after the abuse of mercury.

Selenium : Flat ulcers on the legs.

Sepia : The least injury tends to ulcerate, in thin delicate skins.

Silica : A very useful and much abused medicine. Ulcers of corners of mouth; of lower lip (malignant); mouth gangrenous with perforating ulcer of palate; of stomach; of female sexual organs; on leg; of tibia, about nails; phagedenic; extend in depth; after abuse of mercury, flat, with bluish-white base; offensive, with ichor, redundant granulations, stinging, burning, itching; edges hard, high or spongy. Sensation of coldness in ulcers. Ulcers of all kinds. Mercurius and silica do not follow each other well. Fluoric acid follows Silica well, and antidotes its abuse.

Staphisagria : Ulcers scorbutic, mercurial, syphilitic, carious ; pains gnawing, jerking, tearing, shooting.

Stillingia sylvatica : Ulcers, in unhealthy skin.

Sulphur : Ulcer on instep. Ulcers about nails ; nails crumble off. Ulcers cancerous, crusty, pricking, pulsating, swollen, tearing, with tension; pus offensive; spongy base, raised, swollen edges, bleeding easily, surrounded with pimples. Bedsores. Varicose ulcers bleed easily, secrete foetid pus, and burn and itch much. Indolent ulcers.

Sulphuricmn acidum : Ulcers on inflamed tongue. Stomatitis ulcerosa. Cancrum oris, ulcers extending rapidly. Ulcers in lungs. Gnawing pain in ulcers of skin. Bruised, sore feeling over the entire body. Weakness with sensation of trembling. Old people. Left side principally affected [Lach]. Aggravation in the open air; from smelling coffee.

Thuja occidentalis : Ulcers of male sexual organs with itching or pricking pains; of female sexual organs; erosions of os uteri; of skin, flat, with bluish-white base.

Viola tricolor (Jacea) : Burrowing, itching, ichorous ulcers.

About the author

Edmund Carleton

Edmund Carleton, M.D., graduated from New York Homeopathic Medical College in 1871. He was president of IHA in 1894. He was also the author of Homeopathy in Medicine and Surgery, published by Boericke & Tafel.

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