Lobelia Inflata


Symptoms of the homeopathic remedy Lobelia Inflata from the Guiding Symptoms of our Materia Medica by Constantine Hering, a ten volumes comprehensive record of confirmed symptoms, published in 1879….


     Indian Tobacco. Lobeliacea.

     Introduced and proved by Jeanes. See Trans. Amer. Institute of Hom., vol. 1, p. 171 ; also proved by Barallier, of Toulon.

CLINICAL AUTHORITIES.

Headache, Smith, MSS. ; Nausea, McGeorge, Raue’s Rec., 1871, p. 21 ; Vomiting, Smith, Hom. Clin., vol. 4, p. 60 ; Cardialgia (2 cases), Noack, MSS. ; Jeanes, MSS. ; Hemorrhoidal discharge, Jeanes, MSS. ; Bronchitis, Meyhoffer, Raue’s Path., p. 375 ; Dyspnoea, Jeanes, Hom. Clin., vol. 1, p. 6 ; Asthma, Ker, B. J. H., vol. 8, p. 451 ; Cutler, MSS. ; Asthma, Schlesier, N. A. J. H., vol. 9, p. 252 ; Spasmodic asthma, Barton, MSS. ; Jeanes, Hom. Practice, 1838 ; Whooping Cough, A. R. Rück. Kl. Erf., vol. 5, p. 723 ; Pneumonia intermittens, Rosenberg, Rück. Kl. Erf., vol. 5, p. 822 ; Consumption, Niesz, Hom. Clin., vol. 1, p. 272 ; Heart disease, Schlesier, N. A. J. H., vol. 9, p. 252 ; Pain in shoulder, Caspari, Hom. Clin., vol. 1, p. 272 ; Pain in sacrum, Smith, Hom. Clin., vol. 4, p. 60 ; Ague, Jeanes, Rück. Kl. Erf., vol. 4, p. 942.

MIND.


Desponding ; sobbing like a child.
Apprehension of death and difficulty of breathing.
  

SENSORIUM.


Vertigo : and deathly nausea ; as if starting from left eye, with pain in head and trembling agitation of body.
  

INNER HEAD.


Headache with vertigo.
Dull, heavy pain passing around forehead, from temple to temple, just above eyebrows.
Pressing outward in both temples.
Pains through head in sudden shocks.
Dull, heavy pain in left side of head.
Pressive headache at occiput, left side ; < at night and on motion.
Periodical headache in afternoon, increasing until midnight, every third attack alternately more or less violent.
Sick headache with vertigo ; dull headache, violent nausea, vomiting and great prostration.
Pain over left eye, extending over left side of head and neck ; coldness ; > near fire ; deathly sick feeling at stomach and all over ; sudden pallor with profuse sweat ; fainting when making an effort to move ; cannot bear smell of tobacco ; tobacco smoke brings on fainting ; sour stomach ; sleepiness ; vomiting of bile (vomiting seldom).
θ Gastric sick headaches ; headaches following intoxication, with nervousness and trembling.
  

SIGHT AND EYES.


Hemiopia ; pressure on upper half of eyeballs.
  

HEARING AND EARS.


Sudden shutting up of right ear, as if stopped by a plug, at 2 P. M., > boring with finger in ear.
  

SMELL AND NOSE.


Nosebleed.
Tip of nose very cold.
  

FACE.


Neuralgia of left side of face and temples, with retarded menses.
Flushes of heat or heat of face.
Cold sweat on face with nausea.
Chilly feeling in left cheek, near ear, extending to lower jaw.
Cyanosis. θ Emphysema.
  

TEETH AND GUMS.


Dull, pressing pain in last left molar and temples.
  

TASTE, SPEECH, TONGUE.


Very sharp, disagreeable taste, especially at tip of tongue, and in back of throat.
  

INNER MOUTH.


Flow of profuse, clammy saliva, with nausea.

PALATE AND THROAT.


Burning in throat, dryness of fauces, spitting at intervals.
Tough mucus in fauces, causing frequent hawking.
Dryness and pricking in throat, not > by drinking.
Sensation of a lump in pit of throat, impeding deglutition.
Sensation as if oesophagus contracted from below upward.
  

APPETITE, THIRST, DESIRES, AVERSIONS.


Loss of appetite, with acrid, burning taste in mouth.
Cannot bear smell of tobacco or tobacco smoke, although addicted to its use.

EATING AND DRINKING.


After breakfast : pressing outward, in both temples ; itching in left canthus.
  

HICCOUGH, BELCHING, NAUSEA AND VOMITING.


Hiccough with profuse flow of saliva ; in evening, followed by drowsiness.
Frequent empty eructations, flow of water into mouth.
Frequent gulping of a burning, sour fluid.
Acidity in stomach, with contractive feeling in pit of stomach ; heartburn.
Incessant, violent nausea ; profuse perspiration ; copious vomiting.
Nausea : with vertigo ; disappearing very suddenly ; in last stages of phthisis ; < at night and after sleep ; > by a little food or drink.
Nausea with rather cold sweat on head, especially on face, with great but ineffectual efforts to vomit.
Vomiting, with cold perspiration of face.
Nausea and vomiting during pregnancy, profuse running of water from mouth ; morning sickness.
Chronic vomiting in paroxysms, with nausea, profuse sweat, prostration of strength, good appetite ; brick-dust sediment in urine.
  

SCROBICULUM AND STOMACH.


Sensation in stomach : heat or burning ; of weight ; as of a lump ; as from undigested food ; of weakness, extending through whole chest and down to umbilicus.
Faintness or weakness at pit of stomach, from excessive use of green tea or tobacco.
Indescribable feeling about stomach, compounded of nausea, pain, heat, oppression and excessive uneasiness.
Deathly sick feeling all over, especially at stomach.
Bruised soreness from pit of stomach through to back, after cramp in stomach.
Sensation of oppression at epigastrium, as if stomach was too full ; < on pressure.
Dyspepsia, heartburn and running of water from mouth.
Gastralgia biliosa ; paroxysm of excruciating pain, and feeling as of a heavy load in stomach.
Weakness and oppression at epigastrium, extending into chest ; burning in stomach, a burning lump in pit of throat impedes swallowing and respiration ; in swallowing it seemed as if at this point something rose up to meet food and obstruct its descent ; eructation of acid fluid with burning ; vomiting of food after meals, especially after warm food ; had heartburn continually ; urine high colored, copious, red sediment ; pain in left lumbar region.
θ Cardialgia.
Severe pressing feeling in epigastrium, excited by certain kinds of food, and mental emotion ; < evening and night ; after fright and vexation during menstrual period, suppression, alternating heat and cold, nausea, bitter taste, thirst, vomiting of bile, severe pressing in epigastrium after eating and whilst fasting, in evening ; oppression and feeling of anxiety in breast, pain in sacral region ; tongue yellow, pulse small, weak and slow.
θ Cardialgia biliosa.

HYPOCHONDRIA.


Fulness and pressure in hypochondria after eating.
Pinching in abdomen, near edge of liver.
  

ABDOMEN AND LOINS.


Pain in abdomen, < after eating.
Rumbling in bowels and passage of flatus downward.
Sudden, sharp pain in left side of abdomen.
Abdomen distended, shortness of breath ; tympanitis.
Intussusception of bowels ; incarcerated hernia.
  

STOOLS AND RECTUM.


Stool : soft, but passed with great exertion ; green, soft ; frequent, loose during day, with great obtuseness of head.
Discharge of black blood after stool.
Copious hemorrhoidal discharge, consequent debility, sensation of tightness in epigastrium ; acidity of stomach ; oppression of chest.
  

URINARY ORGANS.


Sticking pain in region of right kidney.
Urine increased or diminished ; brown sediment.
Urine of a deep red color, depositing copious red sediment.
  

MALE SEXUAL ORGANS.


Smarting of prepuce ; aching in urethra.
Sensation of weight in genitals.
  

FEMALE SEXUAL ORGANS.


Menses too early, too profuse.
Suppressed menses : in consumptive persons ; with pain in right shoulder.
Violent pain in sacrum ; sense of great weight in genitals.
  

PREGNANCY, PARTURITION, LACTATION.


Morning sickness.
With every uterine contraction violent dyspnoea, which seems to neutralize labor pains ; rigid os and perineum.

VOICE AND LARYNX, TRACHEA AND BRONCHIA.


Oppression felt in throat pit ; spasmodic asthma.
Sensation of fulness in trachea, as if from chest, causing a few short coughs, followed by warmth in forehead.
Peculiar sensation, between tickling and acrid feeling, in larynx ; two short coughs ; feeling of narrowness.
Feeling as of a lump or quantity of mucus, and pressure in larynx.
Spasmodic croup, with stridulous breathing, ringing cough, dyspnoea ; constrictive sensation in larynx ; constant cough and great anguish, with fear of suffocation.
Burning pricking in air passages.
Spasmodic contraction of diaphragm in emphysema, accompanied by pain in epigastrium, tympanitis, impossibility of deep inspiration, extreme dyspnoea and cyanosis.
θ Bronchitis.
  

RESPIRATION.


Sensation of a foreign body in throat, impeding breathing and swallowing.
Dyspnoea and asthma, with sensation as of a lump in pit of throat, immediately above sternum.
Contraction of chest, with deep inhalations.
Want of breath, hysterical.
Impossibility of deep inspiration ; extreme dyspnoea.
θ Bronchitis.
Short inhalation and long, deep exhalation.
Inclination to sigh, or to get a very deep breath ; deep inspiration, > pressive pain in epigastrium.
Extremely difficult breathing caused by a very strong constriction at middle of chest, which impedes respiratory movements.
Dyspnoea < by slightest exertion, or short exposure to cold, to an asthmatic paroxysm.
Deep inspiration relieves pressive pain in epigastrium.
Short and slow inspiration, with desire to cough.
Asthmatic constriction of air tubes.
Asthma : < from exertion, with a disordered stomach, especially a feeling of weakness in pit of stomach ; often preceded by a prickling all over, even to fingers and toes ; paroxysmal, with pain in chest ; lump in throat pit ; weakness and oppression at epigastrium ; oppression at heart and chest.
Sudden and most urgent oppression, pants and endeavors to cough, but is unable to, and is threatened with suffocation every moment.
θ Nervous asthma.
Every day at noon, for three months, asthmatic paroxysms of difficult breathing, terminating in cough without expectoration.
θ Asthma.
Spasmodic contraction of diaphragm in emphysema, accompanied by pain in epigastrium, tympanitis, impossibility of deep inspirations, extreme dyspnoea, and cyanosis.
Convulsive asthma from pulmonic irritation of effused serum.
Dyspnoea, < by exertion, going up or down stairs, exposure to cold, and eating very warm food ; pain in left lumbar region of abdomen ; burning in stomach and throat, with dryness in latter ; lump in pit of throat impeding respiration and deglutition ; weakness and oppression in epigastrium ; gastric derangement ; urine of a deep red, depositing a copious red sediment.
  

COUGH.


Cough : with vomituritio ; with pain in stomach, short, dry ; only a single one, from a feeling of narrowness in chest.
Whooping cough, violent racking ; seemingly from deep in chest, in paroxysms of long continuance ; followed by expectoration of ropy mucus, adhering to pharynx.
Spasmodic cough ; dyspnoea so severe as to cause fear of death ; sensation of fulness in chest, and burning, raw pain in epigastrium ; < from motion ; particularly useful in third stage, when expectoration ceases, or when relapses occur ; also when na inflammatory condition of mucous membrane of larynx, trachea and bronchi accompany the disease.
θ Whooping cough.
Cough with sneezing, gaping and flatulent eructations.
θ Bronchitis.
  

INNER CHEST AND LUNGS.


Sensation of pressure on chest ; l. chest above nipple.
Spasmodic contraction of diaphragm.
Pain in chest, with breathing, while sitting after dinner ; > when moving about.
Pain in lower chest, most left side.
Burning feeling in chest, passing upward.
Pneumonia intermittens, particularly in individuals who live in malarial districts, accompanied by affections of bronchi or heart.
Emphysema with very dry tracheal and bronchial catarrh.
It palliated cough and brought back menses, which had ceased for six months.
θ Consumption, last stage.
  

HEART, PULSE AND CIRCULATION.


Slight, deep seated pain in region of heart.
Sensation of weakness and pressure in epigastrium, rising to heart.
Sawing sound about heart, with violent pains, diarrhoea and vomiting.
Sensation as if heart would stand still, a pain deep in, above heart.
Sensation of excessive weakness at precordium, extending upward into chest and downward as far as umbilicus.
Dyspnoea and suffocation from every rapid movement, attended with vertigo, threatened loss of consciousness and a peculiar confusion of head.
θ Heart disease.
Pulse : frequent, but small, weak in evening ; slower than usual.

OUTER CHEST.


Repeated quivering in muscles of left ribs towards spine.
Pressure on lower portion of sternum, left side.
Tension in left chest, from nipple to armpit.
Pain behind sternum.
Feeling as of a band about chest, with irresistible desire to cough.
  

NECK AND BACK.


Swelling and pain on left side of neck.
Rheumatic pain between scapula.
Dull pressure between shoulder blades.
Violent pain in top of right shoulder and shortly afterward in back, from about first to fourth dorsal vertebra. θ Gastralgia biliosa.
Pain under right shoulder blade, < when bending forward.
After noon a burning pain in back, as if in posterior wall of stomach.
Violent pain in sacrum, with fever. θ Suppression of menses.
Extreme tenderness over sacrum ; she cannot bear even pressure of a soft pillow ; cries out if any attempt is made to touch part ; sits up in bed, leaning forward to avoid contact with bedclothes ; after each vomiting spell breaks out all over with sweat, followed by a sensation as if thousands of needles were piercing her skin from within outward.
  

UPPER LIMBS.


Lame feeling in left upper arm.
Rheumatic pain in right shoulder joint, goes to left upper arm and around elbow joint.
Pain in shoulder of an elderly lady, who had not menstruated for two years ; relieved pain and brought on menstruation.
Fine crawling stitches inside of right deltoid.
Pain in right deltoid, place size of palm of hand sore to touch.
A sharp shooting pain in an old scar of right ring finger.
Sweat of palms of hands, back of hand dry and cool ; tips of fingers cold.
  

LOWER LIMBS.


Inflammatory rheumatism of right knee, with tearing pains in fibula.
Painful stiffness in knees, as after a long march.
  

LIMBS IN GENERAL.


Shooting pain through whole body, into tips of fingers and toes.
  

REST, POSITION, MOTION.


Bending forward : pain under r. shoulder blade <.
Motion : headache <; pain in epigastrium <.
Slightest exertion : dyspnoea and asthma <.
Too weak to stretch out her hand to do anything.
Making an effort to move : causes fainting.
Going up or down stairs : dyspnoea <.
From every rapid movement : dyspnoea and suffocation.
  

NERVES.


Weakness ; feels too weak to stretch out her hand to do anything ; complete muscular relaxation.
Faintness, with profuse sweat ; fainting, great pallor.
  

SLEEP.


Gaping, followed by crawling in nose and sneezing ; then gaping and belching of wind.
Wakened early by very impressive dreams ; arm amputated, wounded by a shot, etc.
  

TIME.


Morning : sickness, of pregnancy.
Towards middle of day : shuddering chill followed by heat and sweat, lasting until next morning.
During day : looseness of bowels.
At 2 P. M. : sudden shutting up of ear.
Afternoon : a burning pain in back.
Evening : hiccough with profuse flow of saliva ; severe pressing in epigastrium ; pulse weak.
Night : pressive headache <; nausea <; pressing in epigastrium.
  

TEMPERATURE AND WEATHER.


Near fire : coldness >.
After warm food : vomiting.
Exposure to cold : dyspnoea <.
  

FEVER.


Shuddering towards middle of day.
Coldness > near fire, or from heat.
Chills down back, heat in stomach ; general shivering.
Thirst before chill ; shaking chill and coldness, < after drinking.
Heat with thirst and sweat, particularly in face.
Sweat : with heat, or after heat has lasted for some time ; after heat with sleep ; copious night sweat.
Intermittent fever (quotidian).
Fever and ague, with chill in middle of day, followed by heat and sweat, which lasts until next morning.
  

ATTACKS, PERIODICITY.


Every day at noon, for three months ; asthmatic paroxysms.
Periodical headache : in afternoon, increasing until midnight, every third attack alternating more or less violent.
Quotidian intermittent.
  

LOCALITY AND DIRECTION.


Right : sudden shutting up of ear ; sticking pain in region of kidney ; pain in shoulder ; violent pain in top of shoulder ; pain under shoulder blade ; rheumatic pain in shoulder joint, goes to left upper arm ; fine crawling stitches inside of deltoid ; pain in deltoid ; sharp shooting pain in an old scar of ring finger ; inflammatory rheumatism in knee.
Left : as if nausea started from eye ; dull pain side of head ; pressive pain side of occiput ; pain over eye, over side of head and neck ; neuralgia of side of face and temples ; chilly feeling of cheek ; dull, pressing pain in last molar ; itching in canthus pain in lumbar region ; sudden sharp pain in side of abdomen ; repeated quivering in muscles of ribs ; pressure on side of lower portion of sternum ; tension of chest ; swelling and pain on side of neck ; lame feeling in upper arm.
From within outward : as if needles were piercing her skin.
From below upward : oesophagus as if contracted.
  

SENSATIONS.


Vertigo, as if starting from left eye ; right ear as if suddenly stopped by a plug ; as of a lump in pit of throat ; as if oesophagus contracted from below upward ; as of a lump in stomach ; as from undigested food in stomach ; as if stomach was too full ; as of a heavy load in stomach ; as if lump rose up to meet food and obstruct its descent ; fulness in trachea, as if from chest ; as of a lump in larynx ; as of a foreign body in throat ; as if heart would stand still ; as of a band about chest ; as if thousands of needles were pricking her skin from within outward.
Pain : in head ; through head in sudden shocks ; over left eye, extending over left side of head and neck ; in left lumbar region ; in sacral region ; in abdomen ; in right shoulder ; in epigastrium ; in chest ; in stomach ; deep in above heart ; behind sternum ; on left side of neck ; under right shoulder blade ; in right deltoid.
Excruciating pain : in stomach.
Violent pain : in sacrum ; about heart ; in top of right shoulder ; in back.
Indescribable feeling : compounded of nausea, heat, pain, oppression and excessive uneasiness about stomach.
Sudden sharp pain : in left side of abdomen.
Sharp shooting pain : in an old scar of right ring finger.
Shooting pain : through whole body into tips of fingers and toes.
Tearing pains : in fibula.
Neuralgia : of left side of face and temples.
Burning, raw pain : in epigastrium.
Pinching : in abdomen.
Inflammatory rheumatism : of right knee.
Rheumatic pains : between scapula ; in right shoulder joint, to upper arm and around elbow joint.
Cramp : in stomach.
Sticking pain : in region of right kidney.
Burning pain : in back.
Fine, crawling stitches : inside of right deltoid.
Aching : in urethra.
Slight, deep seated pain : in region of heart.
Dull, heavy pain : passing around forehead, from temple to temple, just above eyebrows ; on left side of head.
Pressive pain : at occiput, left side ; in epigastrium.
Dull pressing pain : in last left molar and temples.
Burning : in throat ; in stomach.
Burning, pricking : in air passages.
A burning lump : in pit of throat.
Smarting : of prepuce.
Bruised soreness : from pit of stomach through to back.
Extreme tenderness : over sacrum.
Prickling : in throat ; all over.
Prickling itching : of skin all over body.
Peculiar sensation between tickling and acrid feeling : in larynx.
Crawling : in nose.
Flushes of heat : in face.
Warmth : in forehead.
Severe pressing feeling : in epigastrium.
Dull pressure : between shoulder blades.
Pressure : on upper half of eyeballs ; in hypochondria ; in larynx ; in epigastrium ; on lower portion of sternum.
Painful stiffness : in knees.
Weight : in stomach ; in genitals.
Oppression : at epigastrium ; of chest ; in throat-pit ; at heart.
Pressing outward : in both temples.
Tightness : in epigastrium.
Contractive feeling : in pit of stomach.
Tension : in chest from nipple to armpit.
Fulness : in hypochondria ; in trachea ; in chest.
Feeling of anxiety : in breast.
Constrictive feeling : in larynx ; at middle of chest ; of air tubes.
Feeling of narrowness : in throat ; in chest.
Deadly sick feeling : at stomach and all over.
Dryness : of fauces ; in throat.
Repeated quivering : in muscles of ribs toward spine.
Peculiar confusion : of head.
Weakness : extending through whole chest down to umbilicus ; at pit of stomach ; at epigastrium, extending into chest ; at precordium.
Lame feeling : in upper left arm.
Itching : in left canthus.
Chilly feeling : in left cheek near ear, extending to lower jaw.
Coldness : of tip of nose ; of tip of fingers.
  

TISSUES.


Headache accompanied by irritation of pneumogastric.
Gastric derangement, with extreme nausea and vomiting ; morning sickness ; spasmodic asthma ; emphysema ; whooping cough ; cardiac disturbance ; intermittent fever.

TOUCH, PASSIVE MOTION, INJURIES.


Touch : right deltoid sore.
Sits up in bed, leaning forward to avoid contact with bedclothes on sacrum.
Pressure : oppression at epigastrium.
Cannot bear even pressure of soft pillow over sacrum.
Boring with finger : > sudden shutting up of ear.
  

SKIN.


Prickling itching of skin all over body.
  

STAGE OF LIFE, CONSTITUTION.


Light hair, blue eyes, fair complexion ; inclined to be fleshy.
Child, at. 1 1/2, suffering three months ; asthma.
Servant girl, narrow and depressed thorax, suffering for years ; spasmodic asthma.
Young woman, suffering many years ; cardialgia simplex.
Servant maid, at. 26, bilious habit, suffering a long time ; cardialgia biliosa.
Physician, suffering for ten years ; asthma.
Man, at. 35 ; gastralgia biliosa.
Woman, at. 38, mother of several children, suffering since childhood ; spasmodic asthma.
Woman, at. 38, suffering with chronic dyspepsia ; cardialgia.
Man, at. 45, fat and robust ; hemorrhoidal discharge.
Man, at. 49 ; ague.
  

RELATIONS.


Antidoted by : Ipec.
Compare : Arsen. and Rosa damas. in hay fever or rose cold ; Digit., Tabac. in heart affections ; Arsen., Veratrum alb. in gastric troubles ; Ipec. in spasmodic asthma ; Ant. tart. and Ipec. in morning sickness.
“Lobelia is to the bad effects from drunkenness in people with light hair, blue or grey eyes, florid complexion, fat or corpulent, what Nux vom. is to people of opposite temperament.”

C. Hering
Hering got the degree of M. D. from the University of Wuezburg with highest honours. The theme of his thesis was "De'Medicina Futura" (The medicine of future). Hering left Germany for West Indies and finally arrived at Philadelphia in Jan, 1833. He established a homeopathic school at Allentown, Pennsylvania, commonly known as "Allentown Academy". Soon he became very popular as a physician. He is known as the 'Father of Homeopathy' in America.