– These are hard concretions formed from the bile and found in the gall-bladder. They vary in size from that of a small pea to that of a bean. They may cause no trouble, and are often found after death in patient who have never felt inconvenience from them. But sometimes they cause excruciating pain in their passage from the gall-bladder by the bile duct into the intestines.
Diagnosis.-The pain of passing gall-stones (biliary colic, as it is called) must be distinguished from other kinds of pain in the body. It differs from inflammatory affections by the absence of fever in the first instance, and of any history of chill. It comes on suddenly, and remains limited to a small area, just below the free ribs on the right side; and is generally accompanied by symptoms of liver derangement, as jaundice or white stools. The discovery of gall-stones in the motions when an attacks is over settles the diagnosis, and when a patient has had one attack there is no difficulty in diagnosing those that follow.
General Treatment.-The usual method of treating attacks of biliary colic, is to give the patient opium, and so dull the pain until the stone has passed. But homoeopathy offers a much better mode of treatment, not only for the actual attack but also for the condition.
Medical Treatment.
Calcarea c. 30.
-Mix ten drops in half a tumbler of water, and let a teaspoonful of this be taken every five minutes during an attack until the pain abates. When the attack is over, let the patient take one drop of the medicine night and morning for a month.
China 6.
-In the same way, should Calcareac. not succeed.
