Some Peculiar Differentiating Features of Remedies – Acute Prescriptions Part 2

(See links to videos at the end of this article.)

Speaking of congestion, brings to mind important remedies like ACONITE, BELLADONNA,FERRUM PHOS.I remember one case from my college days, when a student came to the OPD of one of my teachers.  She had mentioned that she hada very high grade fever which started verysuddenly. She described it as follows:

“I was just outside the door walking and by the time I took the next step to get inside the doorI developed high grade fever with headache.”Looking through the suddenness of fever with headache she was given BELLADONNA onwhich she did very well.If we see the same suddenness of fever along with palpitation and fear of death, we wouldgive the remedy ACONITE.  The Aconite patient suddenly wakes up at mid-night, complaining heis for sure having a heart attack; he displays sudden panic and is sure he is dying. Wheninvestigated he will show heart block, atherosclerotic changes. If you give him Aconite, it willrestore his circulation and the surgery can be avoided.

FERRUM PHOSPHORICUM doesn’t have this suddenness. In fact it is a remedy to bethought of when the patient complains of not feeling well one day prior to developingsymptoms. It is a kind of uneasiness felt by the patient. He describes it as a feeling that hewill develop fever by tomorrow. The prominent feature to observe is the congestion ofcheeks along with paleness of lips.

A remedy which has slowness of complaints is BRYONIA where the patient has symptomsafter being exposed to cold air or cold weather when being heated (from the heat of the sunor from exertion). It is a remedy when the days are hot and nights are cold.For the first two days he feels general malaise and feverish. Slowly he develops the dryness of mucous membranes. This dryness isexpressed in the form of dry cough or dryness of intestine leading to constipation withincreased thirst for large quantities of water and amelioration by complete rest.

PULSATILLA also shares the same dryness and slowness of Bryonia but the peculiarity hereis the thirstlessness and the greenish yellowish discharges. I would like to highlight this pointthat the discharges are more of green than yellow.

In a similar manner, if we see a patient with excessive mucus in the chest with rattling soundand difficulty in expectoration,the slowness of complaints along with drowsiness andsleepiness indicates ANTIMONIUM. Here is a usual history of an ANTIM-TART patient. He’s been to a party or marriage.There he overeats all the heavy, oily, rich food, ice-cream etc. and generally on the next dayhe complains of nausea first, along with drowsiness.It is on the second or third day thathe complaints of mucous and rattling in the chest.

One very important indication of Antim-tart that I have observed in infants and toddlers isconstant crying day in and day out along with no sleep. There is constant relentlesscrankiness. The child can only be relieved by breastfeeding or being carried by the mother. No relief at all from any other person carrying them. In fact thechild does not like being even looked at or touched, examined by the relative or the doctor.

Many times we only think of Chamomilla, Cina in such a situation. ButAntimonium Tart and CalcareaPhos are two very important remedies for constant, relentlesscrying in a child.

Since we have talked about sleepiness and drowsiness let’s not forget the important remedyhere – GELSEMIUM. Gelsemium again has slowness of complaints which develop in a dayor two. It has ailments after exposure to the heat of the sun. The first symptom is prostrationand weakness which is especially felt in the lower limbs and back and along with theheaviness of eyes the patient has that typical drowsy look on face.What is important is that GELSEMIUM seems to be indicated in viral fever where the patient hasgeneral malaise, fever and no localization of pathology. By localization I mean to say thatthere will be no sign of bacterial infection of the respiratory tract in the form of yellowexpectoration or any gastrointestinal infection etc.

‘ARSENICUM ALBUM is one of our top remedies for weakness, prostration which developssuddenly after being exposed to some kind of infective agent or toxic substances like eatingspoiled food or bad water.The patient develops loose motions/ vomiting.  An important feature is that these discharges arescanty. So even after a small quantity of loose motions or vomiting, the patient experiences a profound loss of vital fluids and profound weakness. However these discharges seem to beoffensive and occasionally black in colour. In Arsenic album the main causative factor is loss, especially loss of money, like a big bill he has to pay, damages to property, house, car. The patient also hasanxiety of losing health due to this loss and wakes up at midnight from a lying down positionhaving cough with breathlessness, asthma and a fear he has some incurable disease.

.FEVER INDICATION

SR.NO	CHARACTERISTIC INDICATION	REMEDY
1.	Sudden fever with headache Congestion	Belladonna
2.	Sudden fever with fear of death Congestion	Aconite
3.	Congestion of cheeks Slowness Feeling as if I will fall ill the next moment	Ferrumphos
4.	Exposure to cold when heated Slowness with general malaise Fever with dryness of mucous membranes	Bryonia
5.	Slowness with dryness of mucous membranes Greenish and yellowish expectoration	Pulsatilla
6.	Slowness with A/f:- oily rich food Mucous in chest Rattling in chest with drowsiness Crankiness of infants and toddlers who can only relate to mother carrying them or breast feeding	Antim tart
7.	Sleepiness Drowsiness with heavy eyes Agg heat of sun Prostration and weakness with viral fever and malaise	Gelsemium
8.	Prostration and weakness Agg eating spoilt food or water causes vomiting with loose motion Offensive scanty discharges Cough, breathlessness with asthma	Arsenicum Album

Other remedies which wake up from lying down position/ sleep with cough are DROSERA,SANGUINARIA, HYOSCYAMUS.

DROSERA patient wakes up in the middle of sleep feeling suffocated and must sit up. Thebout of cough remains for a long time till the patient gets exhausted, weak and can no moresleep. He is suffocated gasps for air, switches on the fan, open windows with no relief. Infact, when the Drosera patient tries to lie down, and the moment his head touches the pillow,his cough begins.

HYOSCYAMUS, seems to have same modality, as soon as the patient touches his head tothe pillow, the cough begins. What will be lacking in Hyoscyamus is the exhaustion, suffocationof Drosera and instead there will be headache and congestion of throat. On examination, youwill find that the uvula is elongated.

SANGUINARIA too gets up coughing from sleep feeling suffocated with hot flushes, heatand redness of face during cough. The cough is relieved after passing flatus.

KALI BICHROMIUM has cough aggravated at night with a feeling that mucus in thethroat and the patient is not able to cough that mucus out. On examination, youwill find that the uvula is oedematous. The stickiness of lots of mucous in the throat is Kali Bichrom.

Stickiness with very little mucous, tickling in the throat and whooping like cough is COCCUS CACTI.

The only remedy known to me where cough is better by lying down is MANGANUMACETATE.

COUGH AND COLD-

SR.NO	CHARACTERISTIC INDICATION	REMEDY
1.	Cough when head touches the pillow with great exhaustion and weakness	Drosera
2.	Cough when head touches the pillow Headache with congestion of throat Uvula is elongated	Hyoscyamus
3.	Cough agg at night Lot of Mucus is sticking in throat Difficulty to expectorate Uvula oedematous	Kali bich
4.	Suffocation with hot flushes after getting up from sleep Redness of face Cough amel by passing flatus	Sanguinaria
5.	Stickiness with less mucus Tickling in throat with whooping cough	Coccus sativa
6.	Cough better by lying down	Manganum acetate

Stomach remedies which can be useful during the rainy season or cold

weather:

Anacardium, Croton Tigilum, Ipecac, AntimoniumCrudum,Colchicum, Agaricus, Aloes, Nux Vomica, China, Podophyllum, VeratrumAlbum, Cocculus Indicus.

The first thing that comes to my mind is the patient who develops indigestion, acidity due to coldweather. The principle remedy here is ANACARDIUM. So it is like the cold weather causesmuscle tightness and difficulty in motion.  In Rhus Tox and Anacardium it causes tightness of stomach and difficulty in movement of stomach musclesespecially in the morning. Therefore, these patients are better by hot food or two hours after eating or by motion/exercise.

Interestingly,both these remedies belong to the same family.In short, in Anacardium, the digestion is very slowed by cold weather.In ANTIMONIUM CRUDUM, the digestion is slow and this because the patient has indulgedin overeating so the stomach feels heavy with a thick milky white coating on the tongue. One ofthe causations in Antimoniumcrudum in the Indian scenario is ailments from eating Vada Pav.The patient seems to desire some kind of refreshing juice or fruit like apples or other fruits.This desire for refreshing fruits is also seen in three other remedies.

1. TARENTULA and spider remedies
2. VERATRUM ALBUM
3. CHINA OFFICIANALIS

CHINA desires refreshing fruits or stimulants (tea, coffee, etc) to feel energetic and excited.In fact, even though China has profuse vomiting and diarrhoea he seems to desire some kind ofspicy, tasty food like Biryani because the taste in the mouth is either bland or bitter. Due to the illness life seems too boring, bland with no excitement, therefore the desire forsuch foods or to go for a trip. In china we also see the desire for royalty like, high having end cars, bungalow’s etc but the patient’s situation is a middle class man, so heimagines or dreams of riches.

In TARENTULA or other SPIDER remedies, they lose their appetitecompletely and the only thing they want to have is fruit or fruit juices. Along with this, there isabusiveness where the patient uses very foul language, which is veryembarrassing for the family or friends. This is very characteristic of TARENTULA. Such abusive language is observed in insect remedies also, especially Cantharis and Apis.

Cantharis will have intense burning urination along with fever , chills , shivering. Apis willhave urticarial rash on exposed parts or all over body with intense burning ,ameliorated by cold application.

Coming back to remedies with craving for fruit juices. VERATRUM ALBUM desires fruits andrefreshing things, accompanied by sudden loose motions or vomiting with collapse. Youwill see that the patient shows the signs of collapse, fluctuation in blood pressure (high orlow), and difficulty in breathing with profuse cold sweat especially on forehead.

Whenever we see patients with ailments from sedentary lifestyles, eating highly seasonedfood or alcohol, the first remedy that comes to mind is NUX VOMICA. The symptoms ofwhich we have already studied earlier in this article.

A few other remedies which have the same causations are AGARICUS and ALOES. In Aloes, you will see involuntary stools. The patient typically says, “I am feeling like I ampassing flatus but I realize that I have passed stool.”While in Agaricus, we find the cerebellum being affected along with the alcoholic gait.

A typicalhistory of Agaricus is as follows:

A patient ate at a party last night where he started to feel uneasy. The next day, the he wakes up with severe back ache or pain in the spine followed by chills and fever. In theevening, the patient feels he is not able to walk steadily, feels he will lose balance and thatthe floor is lower down then usual so he starts taking high steps.

Another remedy where you see the spine getting affected is TARENTULA. Thepatient is hysterical, sick or feigning sickness which goes to on to uncontrollable violence or lewdness and taking the clothes off. The physicalsymptoms associated with this are complete loss of appetite or desire only for fruit or fruitjuices or sand (indigestible things).

We may occasionally confuse this remedy with HYOSCYAMUS.In Hyoscyamus we seecongestion in the head while Tarentula has affection of the nerves and spine.

A patient comes to you with persistent nausea and profuse vomiting where the vomitcontains profuse white glary mucus. On seeing so much of mucus the patient is surprisedas to from where it is coming from, as he has not even eaten thatmuch food. This is present along with a clean tongue. The remedy is IPECAC.

Another remedy CROTON TIG. has complaints after eating fruits or meat followed byrumbling or gurgling in the abdomen before stools which is relieved by passing stools. Thisstool seems to come out in one shot with a lot of force. When the patient hasdiarrhoea he would tell us that he is so much influenced by the diarrhoea that hecannot see anything else in life. Actually it is the feeling of being possessed by their own disease due to which they are not able to do anything. For e.g thepatient will say, “I cannot getinvolved in anything because of the constant thoughts of my own suffering.” In fact you willsee such patients telling you that some kind of ghost is taking possession of their body and itis making him do nothing else but only what it wants him to do.

PODOPHYLLUM, is another remedy for diarrhoea and profuse, putrid, polychromatic,painless stools, with prolapsed rectum and prostration. In my experience Podophyllum has diarrhoea coming on every summer where the patientcomplains of heat, burning micturation, loose motions that come on suddenly and withurgency. The patient says that occasionally she wakes up in themorning and there are stools on her clothes which she might have passed involuntarily in hersleep. During the day after passing the stools she has a very strong empty feelingin the stomach with sensation as if nothing is left in it and a weakness, sinking feeling in theabdomen.

COLCHICUM is another gastro intestinal remedy with diarrhoea due to cold weather or loss of sleep. The patient usually complains of nausea, vomiting, loose motions with cholera like symptoms. There is extreme sensitivitytowards the sight and smell of food which causes nausea and distension of the abdomen.There is bloating with sensation as if gas would burst out of the abdomen. After this excessive fluid loss there is fluid imbalance and the patient develops dropsy, oedema,scanty urine and gout.

COCCULUS also has ailments from nursing and caring but this is followed by weakness anddullness. The patient becomes so weak that he can’t even stand, talk, comprehend orunderstand things around him.

Gastro Intestinal Remedies

SR.NO	CHARACTERISTIC INDICATION	REMEDY
1.	Indigestion with agg cold weather Muscle tightness with difficulty to move Amelioration from heat in any form Digestion is slow	Anacardium
2.	Slow digestion Milky white coating on tongue Overeating causes heavy stomach Desire refreshing fruits	Antim-crud
3.	Desires Refreshing fruits or stimulants Desires biryani Taste is bland or bitter	China
4.	Desires fruits or refreshing fruit juices Loses appetite completely Abusiveness causing embarrassment to family and relatives	Tarentula
5.	Desires fruits and fruit juices Sudden loose motion and vomiting Collapse like symptoms Cold sweat	Veratrum album
6.	Involuntary stools Feels like passing flatus but passes stool	Aloes
7.	Cerebral affection with alcoholic gait Severe backache with affection of spine with not able to walk steadily	Agaricus
8.	Hysterical with sickness  or feigning sickness Uncontrollable violence or lewdness Loss of appetite with desire for fruits and sand	Tarentula
9.	Profuse nausea and vomiting Vomitus has more white glary mucus than amount of food eaten. Clean tongue	Ipecac
10.	Agg from fruits, meat Rumbling in abdomen with sudden shot like diarrhoea Influenced by complaints so much that cannot think of anything else	Croton tig
11.	Summer diarrhoea with sudden, urgent, involuntary stools Burning micturation Stools on clothes passed involuntarily in morning sleep	Podophyllum
12.	Diarrhoea from cold weather Nausea, vomiting with cholera like symptoms Sensitivity to sight and smell of food Bloating with fluid imbalance	Colchicum
13.	Ailments from nursing, sleep loss. Weakness and dullness, difficulty in comprehension, in standing, talking	Cocculus

At the end, I would like to conclude by saying that all my ideas in the above article are notwritten in stone. They are purely based on my own experiences and I am confident thatfinding the peculiar symptoms is the only way you will be able to cure the patient and for that a DETECTIVE APPROACH is what will get you the rainbow. These remedy pictures are not complete in any way but only show peculiar differentiating features, which is what I wanted to focus on.Also, I am honoured to get an opportunity to be able to share my ideas. I look forward to your suggestions and feedback .

Video 6  :-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMO8CqKe8sw

Video 7 :- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZQW69HDHxU

Video 8 :- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSl0AMMXsUk

Video 9 :- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A29ppvrM-7Y

Video 10 :-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNnWVjNhZCo

Video 11  :-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiUlPck1wKo