Triturations of pure Carbonate of Potassium are used.
General Action
All the salts of potash are poisonous (even though potash is necessary to the integrity of tissues). They enfeeble the heart, lower the temperature and cause anaemia. They promote tissue waste, increasing the amount of urine and its solid constituents, especially uric acid and urea. (Among the potashes in our Materia Medica are to be classed Causticum and Tartar emetic). In studying the symptomatology special attention should be paid to the character of the secretions from mucous membranes, to the pains and the time of aggravation.
Allies. The alkalies in general; Hepar, Lycopodium, Nux-v., Phosphorus
Generalities
Emaciation, with pallor, sunken eyes and dim vision. Twitching here and there. Trembling; sudden; of hands and legs, and easily fatigued when walking. Sticking is the most characteristic pain; S. externally on head, in nape and teeth, and sticking swelling of cheek; S. and crawling within ear, with similar sensation in stomach and oesophagus. Tearing from within l. ear into external cartilage, and at the same time in bone above and beneath r. patella. Suppurating pain on pressure upon any part. Hammering pain in whole body at night. Rheumatic pains in back, chest, shoulders and arms, (<) moving them. Bruised pain in all muscles. Burning pains, (<) epigastric region, (<) pressure. Drawing pain in whole body, now here, now there. Drawing in abdomen, arms and legs, (<) rest, with bruised pain in upper arm. Tension within body, extending to head and eyes.
Inclined to take cold; when walking in open air in evening, then sweat at night and restlessness and heaviness in neck; after becoming heated on moving about, loss of appetite, shivering, diarrhoea, with griping, restless sleep, etc.; symptoms of taking cold from every draught of air. Dread of open air (Hepar, Nux-v.). Perceptible beating of all arteries. Pulsation over whole body, even to tips of toes; painful P. in clavicles, shoulders, sides of abdomen, etc. Sensitiveness on touch and motion. Hollow feeling in whole body. Agitation. Swollen feeling in all her flesh. Oppression at night if she lies on r. side, with anxiety, necessity to sit up until she has eructations. Heaviness; in morning in bed. A child desires to be carried constantly. Restlessness as if menses would appear, a week before menstruation.
Weariness; in morning on waking, (>) rising, (<) afternoon; after afternoon nap, with nausea; in evening; in evening, almost amounting to nausea; after eating, with sleepiness; after eating, with throbbing in pit of stomach and headache; after a moderate walk, with warmth in stomach, drops of sweat on forehead (in winter) and trembling of limbs; (<) small of back, with relaxation of cervical muscles and of arms and legs, with faintness about heart; every morning as if he would faint or have vertigo; sudden W. in evening on lying down, with aching, nausea, warmth and weakness in pit of stomach, vertigo and vanishing of ideas, two similar attacks in morning; tremulous W. when walking, first in knees, then trembling in abdominal muscles and in arms. Faintness as soon as he moves a little. Much talk affects her. Pains recur at 2 or 3 A.M., so that he cannot lie, and are worse than during the day when moving. Pains renewed in morning after usual stool. Aggravation in open air, especially of febrile condition. Amelioration from emission of flatus upward and downward.
Clinical This drug is generally indicated in conditions of weakness, with low temperature, soft pulse and mental indifference; the pains in every part of the body are acute, sticking; there is general aggravation from cold (Nux-v.), and the time of aggravation, from 3 to 4 A.M., is quite characteristic of the drug. Its action on mucous membranes is characterized by catarrh, with very scanty tenacious secretions. Muscular rheumatism of various parts of the body, with sharp lancinating pains, always (<) early morning. General anaemia, with great sensitiveness to cold air; with gastric-abdominal symptoms; with tendency to cough and sharp chest-pains.
Mind
Delirium. Easily becomes violent. Easily aroused to anger; A. in morning on waking, so that he gnashes his teeth. Fears; about her disease; in evening in bed; and aversion to society. Easily frightened; (<) touching body lightly. Anxiety; in evening. Sad; presentiments. Weeping mood; in evening; after fatigue in open air; because it was constantly in her thoughts that she must die.
Fretful; in evening on falling asleep, and in morning on waking; during dinner, with drawing pain in head; (<) noon and evening, and every noise is unpleasant. Impatient with his children. Obstinate and does not know what he wishes. Longs for things with impetuosity, is contented with nothing, rages if everything does not go according to her wishes, and often does not know what she wishes. Uneasy. Irresolute. Alternating mood, at one time good and quiet, at another excited and angry at trifles, often hopeful, often despondent. Dread of being alone. Hurry in thought and action. Dread of work. Disinclined to everything and indifferent. Distraction. Want of presence of mind. Mistakes in speaking, could not find the right word or expression. Sensation as if thoughts vanished; and memory, with whizzing in head. Unconsciousness; as if in occiput, after much speaking, (>) pressure eyes together.
Head
Jerks towards l., then stiffness of nape. Sticking; through head; externally in various parts. Jerking tearing. Aching; morning on waking (Nux-v.); in morning during menstruation, with heaviness; in evening, (>) moving about, with throbbing and sticking in knees; at night, (>) wrapping up head; on second day of menses; from walking in open air; after taking cold in head, with toothache; (<) forenoon, with general shivering chill; (>) sitting up in bed, (<) lying down; jerking; shattering; ulcerative, after dinner, (>) lying down; as if something moved in head, (<) moving head. Painful twisting internally. Sensation as if something in it were loose and twisted towards forehead. Painful throbbing when writing.
Constriction as from a band, after dinner. Fulness as if brain pressed against skull. Weakness. Confusion; in morning, with heaviness in region of brows; in evening; in morning after rising, as if he had not slept enough, with loss of liveliness; on waking in evening, with loss of ideas, did not know where she was, then anxiety; as after intoxication and as if ears were stopped, with nausea; intermittent, as if screwed in, with sticking in brain. Rush of blood, with orgasm in body; R. at night in bed and at times sensation as if senses would vanish; R. causing intoxicated feeling. Vertigo; on turning around; on turning suddenly; when sitting; when walking; when standing and walking, (>) open air; (<) morning and evening; (<) eating; everything turns around with him when walking and in open air; like a swaying to and fro when sitting before eating; on rising, as if head were too light; as if there were a depth behind him and would fall, on turning around after looking into a mirror and after reading.
Forehead.- Sticking; in morning; in upper part of F. and above temples on moving jaws; and at times in l. side of head, with pain in chest and coldness of limbs; in forepart of head. Tearing in l. eminence. Boring inward above l. eye. Pain in afternoon when walking, with peevishness; P. in evening on going to sleep, (>) rest, (<) walking, with nausea; P. in evening, with drawing; with pressure above eyes; with photophobia; with vomiting of mucus and acids; extending into eyes and root of nose, with drawing tearing; through eyes; throbbing; crawling, above F.; like confusion. Paroxysmal bursting sensation. Drawing in forenoon and at midnight. Pressure outward when writing; P. outward over l. eye. Digging throbbing in bone above l. eye. Intermittent throbbing in F. and especially sides of head; after dinner when walking and standing. Heaviness in sinciput, with pain. Weakness over eyes after rapid walking.
Temples.- Jerking in l.; bubbling J. in r. muscles. Sticking; inward in l.; outward above l. and then in middle of forehead; tearing, in l., extending into zygoma. Tearing, and in l. parietal bone; T. in r.; in l. in evening, extending into joint of jaw. Intermittent pinching in l., also tearings. Sharp pain externally. Pain; in r. from morning till noon; from both towards middle of head; outward in r. Beating vibration in r.
Vertex.- Pinching in whole upper part of head, (<) l. side. Drawing and tearing. Pain when pressing upon head; throbbing P. in upper part of l. side, more externally, becoming sticking on pressure. Pressure upon V. in evening.
Sides.- Sticking forward through r. Tearing externally on one when walking in open air. Tearing drawing in l. half, above, on front of and in temples. Pain in r. after taking cold, with heat in eyes; one-sided paroxysmal P. in evening, with weakness, almost amounting to nausea. Heaviness in l. half.
Born in 1837in Westminster, Vermont. . He was an orthodox doctor who converted to homeopathy
Dr. Allen compiled the Encyclopedia of Pure Materia Medica over the course of 10 years.
In 1881 Allen published A Critical Revision of the Encyclopedia of Pure Materia Medica.