Lac caninum

Backache: Intense, unbearable, across super-sacral region, extending to right natis and right sciatic nerve; < by rest and on first moving (Rhus-t.); spine aches from base of brain to coccyx, very sensitive to touch or pressure (Chinin-s., Phos., Zinc.).

Swallowing very difficult, painful, almost impossible. Soreness of throat begins with a tickling sensation, which causes constant cough ; then sensation of lump on one side, causing constant deglutition ; this condition entirely ceases, only to commence on the opposite side, and often alternates, again returning to its first condition; these sore throats are very apt to begin and end with the menses. Tonsils inflamed and very sore, red and shining, almost closing throat; dryness of fauces and throat; swelling of submaxillary glands. Diphtheritic membrane white like china ; mucous membrane of throat glistening as if varnished ; membranes leave one side and go to the other repeatedly. Desire for warm drinks, which may return through the nose. Post-diphtheritic paralysis. Serviceable in almost all cases where it is required to dry up milk. When walking seems to be walking on air : when lying does not seem to touch the bed. Erratic disposition of symptoms : pains constantly flying from one part to another. Great fear : of falling downstairs : of inability to perform duties. Fear of death, with anxious face. Wakes distressed : must rise and occupy herself. Fear she will be crazy : that any symptom is some settled disease : that everything she says is a lie : that she is looked down upon by everyone : that she is of no importance : that she is dirty : that she wears someone else’s nose : that she sees spiders. That she is surrounded by myriads of snakes. Some running like lightning up and down inside skin ; some inside feel long and thin. Fears to step on floor lest she should tread on them, and make them squirm and wind round her legs. (Compare Arg. nit., Sep.) Fears to look behind her lest she should see snakes : is seldom troubled with them after dark. On going to bed, afraid to shut her eyes lest a large snake should hit her in the face (compare Bell.). Has most horrid sights presented to her mental vision (not always snakes). Horribly afraid they will show themselves to her natural eye. Fear lest pimples would prove little snakes, and twine and twist round each other. Feels that she is a loathsome, horrible mass of disease : could not bear to look at any part of her body, even hands, as it intensified the feeling of disgust and horror. Could not bear any part of her body to touch another.: could not bear one finger to touch another. If she could not get out of her body, she would soon become crazy. Feels that heart or breathing would stop ; frightens herself, which makes heart palpitate. Fancies he is going out of his mind. Looks under chairs, table, sofa, expecting some horrible monster to creep forth : feels that it would drive her mad. Not afraid in the dark : only imagines she sees them in the light. Feels that she is going to become unconscious : wakes with sensation of bed in motion. Dreamed of a large snake in her bed. {Bell.) Dreams often that she is urinating : wakes to find herself on the point of doing so. (Sep.) Th e greater the poison, the greater the remedy ; and some of the most rapidly-acting and heroic medicines in desperate diseases are the snake poisons. They cure, of course, just the conditions they produce : but, when used for healing purposes, these poisons must be given in small, innocuous doses ; and only to persons whose symptoms (physical, mental or moral) resemble the poison- symptoms. Where this is the case, the curative power is amazing. We have quite a number of proved snake poisons, each valuable where its symptoms fit. We will consider one of the most impor­ tant—Lachesis. Lachesis, the venom of the Surukuku snake of South America, was first obtained and proved by Dr. Constantine Hering, one of the most brilliant of Hahnemann’s immediate followers. We have told the tale elsewhere, so will not repeat. But his handling of the live snake and its poison nearly cost him his life. He was rendered unconscious and delirious : but, on recovering, he demanded of his wife, “ What have I been saying and doing ? ” That, recorded, was the first crude proving of Lachesis. Later provings (in many of them the higher potencies were used) have given us a very wonderful medicine. We must try to emphasize its more striking features—because it is indispensable in so many severe and desperate conditions. We shall borrow largely from Kent's illuminating Lecture, besides drawing on experience, and on the provings recorded in Allen's Encyclopedia and Hering’s Guiding Symptoms. Lachesis is very blue, or purple. In heart disease a purple, bloated face should make you think of Lachesis. One remembers a patient in hospital, dying of heart disease, with dropsy, a big liver, and a purple face—one of those pretty-hopeless cases ! Here, Lachesis so altered the seriousness of the condition that she was able, later, to be discharged, and to come up to the out­ patient department for further treatment—when her face was seen to be no longer purple ! Another great Lachesis symptom is often found in those very bad cases of heart disease with failing heart, the aggravation during, or after sleety This is Lachesis, pre-eminently. Lachesis is afraid to go to sleep, because of the increased sufferings—pain, suffocation—or whatever they may be. And yet these “ bad ” hearts need, above all things, sleep. But blueness anywhere points to Lachesis. Kent says, if there is an inflamed spot, it is purple. Ulcers eat in, have false granulations, are putrid, bleed easily—black blood, which coagu­ lates and looks like charred straw. Parts turn black and slough. Enlargement of veins is also a prominent condition of Lachesis. Lachesis affects supremely the throat and the m in d. We will take the throat first. Intense suffering in the throat, even when there is little, apparently, to account for it—though there may be very much ! Here, Lachesis is one of the out-of-propor­ tion remedies. Arsenicum is another : for Arsenicum has a state of collapse quite out of proportion with the physical condition—so far as it can be diagnosed : and Lachesis has sufferings in the throat quite out of proportion to what can be observed there. Choking sensations. Feels as if grasped by the throat. Sensa­ tion of a lump in the throat : of constriction. Lachesis cannot bear a touch on the throat, and needs to loosen the clothing there. Cough excited by touching the throat. And all this is worse, since it is Lachesis, from sleep. Fulness of neck and throat : difficult breathing : choking when going to sleep : and the throat symptoms worse from hot drinks. Everywhere, Lachesis sleeps into an aggravation. And Lachesis does not like heat : is worse from hot drinks : may faint in a hot bath. But the throat sufferings of Lachesis are often serious, and of a destructive nature. Ulceration of the throat—red—grey— deep—spreading. Curiously, in the throat troubles of Lachesis, whether nervous or pathological, empty swallowing is far moi ^ painful than the swallowing of solids. When one thinks of tht enormous masses a snake can “ get outside ” one can éasily remember that the swallowing of solids does not worry Lachesis ! In Lachesis, again, we have a great remedy for diphtheria. This begins on the left side, though it may extend to the right : for Lachesis is pre-eminently a left-sided remedy. It differs here from Lycopodium, which has many spheres of usefulness in common with Lachesis—even diphtheria : only Lycopodium is a right-sid ed remedy, and if it extends, it is to the left. I came across an old Lachesis diphtheria case the other day. A wee boy of 5I, in our Children’s Ward, with a patch of diph­ theria in throat, temperature 103.4, was given six doses of Lachesis 200. The K.-L. bacillus was found in swab and culture ; but the patch promptly disappeared : and a second culture twenty-four hours later, proved sterile. He was discharged, well, in six days. And here one may as well quote a Merc. cy. case of diphtheria, with like happy result. A few weeks ago, a nurse, with a patch on tonsil, proved, by swab and culture, to be diphtheria, was given six doses of Merc. cy. iom, and sent off to a fever hospital, where, thirty-six hours later, her throat was found to be sterile. They ’phoned in surprise, questioning the diagnosis, and were told to come and see the slides, which had been kept. It is interesting to know further that, being a probationer, the girl’s throat had been recently swabbed (before admission to work in the Wards) and had then been sterile. Observe that, with the correct homoeopathic remedy, this “ swab negative ” happens (with diphtheria) in 24 to 48 hours ; and the advantages of such homoeopathic treatment must be patent to all. There is less risk of infection : there is the speedy cure of a most distressing and dangerous disease : and, as Hahne­ mann expresses it, here you have “ a gentle, rapid and permanent cure—the cure undisturbed by after-sufferings.” This cannot be said of anti-toxin treatment—which, by the way, is not meeting with universal commendation in these days. In the Lachesis cases of diphtheria, the trouble not only is, or begins, on the left side, but the tongue is not the filthy tongue of the mercury salts. We will take the mental and moral symptoms next : they are very interesting, and have led to beautiful cures. Kent says, “ self-consciousness, self-conceit, envy, hatred, and cruelty : an improper love of self. All sorts of impulsive insanity : with face purple and head hot : perhaps choking, and the collar feels tight." But short of the actual insanity which he describes, certain things stand out, as pointing to Lachesis. Jealousy ; suspicion ; " a s when a girl never sees a whispered conversation going on, without thinking they are talking about her, to her detriment.” Lachesis is an important remedy in states bordering on insanity ; as when " a person imagines her people are trying to damage her—suspects that people are contriving to put her into an asylum : that they are trying to poison her—or wonders if it is only a dream. Dreams of the dead : that she is dead, or about to die : that preparations are being made to lay her out ”. Or; again,' “ thinks that she is under superhuman control : that there are commands—partly in dream—that she must obey. She may think she is commanded to steal—to murder ;—and she has no peace of mind till she confesses to something she has never done. Then, religious insanity : thinks she is full of wickedness, and has committed the unpardonable sin : that she is going to die, and go to hell.” Kent says, " the physician must not make light of these things : they are very real to the patient, and must be treated with respect :—as if they were so.” Jealousy : Suspicion : and then Loquacity. With many of us, Lachesis stands for loquacity, and loquacity for Lachesis. “ Makes speeches in select phrases, but jumping off to the most heterogeneous subjects.” One word often leads into the midst of another story. Kent says also, so sensitive to surroundings, and so disturbed by noise, she can hear the flies walking on the walls, and distant clocks. In this Lachesis resembles one of the Opium states, and compares with Lyssin. Here is an example of the jealousy of Lachesis. A young man with a severe streptococcal infection of the back of tongue and throat—patchy and suggestive of diphtheria, got a few doses of Lachesis in high potency. His throat was quickly well ; but he proved Lachesis in an extraordinary and unexpected way. He ” did not know what had happened to him ” during that week-end in the country. He had become taciturn—sus­ picious—and ” so frantically jealous that he had broken off his engagement ”—perhaps a blessing in disguise, as it turned out. The proving soon wore off : but here one may say that, had not jealousy been latent in this youth, even Lachesis could not have evoked it. You cannot get out what is not there. Here is a second case, that has been published, but is so illuminating as to the curative power of Lachesis in what was practically insanity, that it will be useful here. A young woman suffering from insane jealousy of her husband. She was always looking at herself in the glass, because she said her face had changed. She was always peeping through the little window into their shop, to see what her husband was doing ; whether he was flirting with the shop girl. Phos. helped her a little, then not. She got pretty bad, was caught with a razor ; came down into the shop in her night-dress ; tried to do all sorts of extraordinary and mad things. They followed me about in despair about her : she was not safe. We discussed her case, and the doctor I was working with picked out the main symptoms, jealousy and suspicion, and of course she got Lachesis. I think she needed a second dose a month later. Then she bloomed into her old self, smiling and happy, all the trouble forgotten, and she had remained well seven years later, and was then lost sight of. Here is another involuntary proving of Lachesis :— A person had been taking l.achesis in the 30th potency for some old catarrhal symptoms, and later took a dose of Lachesis 200. It had a most unpleasant effect. There was almost incessant urging for stool, with practically no result. This went on, most inconveniently, for days : till a dose of Sepia finished the trouble at once. In Kent’s Repertory we find, “ urging, but not for stool,” with one drug only, Lach, in highest type. And elsewhere, Sepia is found, as antidoting this symptom in Lach. It is also interesting that the same person took Lach, im without any such inconvenience and misery. Certainly different potencies give very different results. And a German homoeopathic physician, years ago, used to say that the 200th (of most remedies) was a schlechter potenz—a wicked potency—it had provided him with many cases of aggravation. He dreaded to use it. With some drugs, as Lycopodium, for instance, one prefers to start with a 30th, or a Im, and to leave the 200th severely alone. As to loquacity . . . There was a particular out-patient afternoon when one of the most trying of patients was pouring out her tale, with extraordinary volubility and a puzzling lack of sequence, while one ” tried to get a note in sideways ” for future reference. At last (to the missionaries who haunt our ways, and who were pretty on the spot with their medicines), “ Well ?—what is the remedy ? ” ” Lachesis ! ” was the answering chorus. When that patient next turned up—silence and quiet answers, and then an irrepressible gurgle from the missionaries, who had recognized the patient—the erstwhile typical Lachesis. But many drugs have opposite effects : and one finds with surprise, what few people seem to know, that Lachesis which has loquacity and hastiness of speech in the highest type, has also slowness of speech in the same black type. And Lachesis, as we saw just now in a case of involuntary proving, has taciturnity also. One must not be caught out by half-knowledge and pre­ conceived ideas : it is always well to make sure. Hyoscyamus vies with Lachesis in loquacity and jealousy ; and Pulsatilla, Nux and Stramonium can all be jealous and sus­ picious. But loquacity, jealousy and suspicion belong to Lachesis and Hyoscyamus, and in a lesser degree, Opium and Stramonium. Lachesis4 is worse in Spring : in mild, rainy, and especially in cloudy weather. In regard to ” Worse from sleep—or in sleep.” A small boy in Hospital was suffering from asthma, and he had attacks in sleep, which failed to wake him. Two drugs only have this. Sulphur and Lachesis. For some reason, Sulphur was given : but, later, LacheSis cured. Here are some of the symptoms from the provings :— As soon as she goes to sleep the breathing stops. Afraid to go to sleep for fear he will die before he wakes. Troubles come on during sleep, and patient wakes in distress or pain : as with cough—asthma—or spasm. On waking, vertigo ; dry, hacking cough ; all symptoms worse. Some of the terrifying dreams we have already quoted. In the headaches—the bursting headaches—it seems as if all the blood in the body had gone to head. Pulsating headache, with general pulsation from head to foot. Hammering headaches : and “ hammering ", Kent shows, is a strong feature of Lachesis. The inflamed ovary pulsates : and it may feel as if a little hammer were hammering on the inflamed part with every pulsation of the arteries. Fistula in ano has been cured, he says, when it feels as if a little hammer continually hammered the little fistulous pipe : and fissure, of long standing* when it felt as if the inflamed parts were being hammered. Haemor­ rhoids also, with this sensation of hammering. Bursting and hammering ! And, with the Lachesis headaches, probably purplish face, puffy eyes engorged and lids bloated. And always worse on waking : worse after sleep. Other peculiar symptoms of Lachesis are disturbance of the time-sense, “ an unusual confusion as to time ”. Extraordinarily vivid imagination : but makes mistakes in writing {Lye.). The raging pains- in face and teeth, extend to ear. Pains in throat extend to ear. Eyes feel as if they had been taken out and squeezed, and then put back again. A thread drawn behind eye to eye. Feels as if, when throat was pressed, eyes were forced out. Enormous swelling of lips. Tongue difficult to protrude, catches in teeth. Fishbone sensation in throat (Sil., Hepar.). I have always regretted, and never forgotten, a spoilt Lachesis case—spoilt for want of (then) knowledge. It was a huge cavity in a woman's calf : one of those big excavated ulcers one used to see so often in student days. Lachesis was her remedy, and was prescribed. The second time she appeared, there was most amazing healing in the ulcer. But instead of waiting to let the vital reaction carry on towards cure, it was interrupted, by repeti­ tion of the remedy. When she came again, it was much worse :— and then she came no more. It was a tragedy. “ My people perish for lack of knowledge." Work is not always easy : but the spoiling of good work is easy, and deplorable. When things are going well, past all expectation, let them get on with it. Solomon says, " there is a time for everything ". But the time of rapid and extraordinary improvement is not the time to “ butt in ". Here are some of Allen’s big black type symptoms, that is to say, symptoms repeatedly caused and cured by Lachesis. " Loquacity. Vertigo on waking. Vertigo on closing the eyes. Headache extending to nose—or to root of nose. Tearing, zygoma into ear. Hawking of mucus, with ratmess of throat, after a nap in the daytime. Dry. throat, in night, on waking. Pains in throat, in connection with ears. Throat and larynx painful, even bending head backwards. Throat seems swollen, as if .two lumps as large as fists came together ; on empty swallowing, not on eating, which seems to do good. Sensation of a crumb of bread in throat. Such a sore and ulcerated throat, that she could with difficulty swallow. Sensitive throat, as if sore, with pain on left side. Liquids can be more easily swallowed than solids. Can endure nothing tight on the throat. Throat very sensitive to external pressure . . . Everything about the throat is distressing. If in the evening on lying down anything touches the throat or larynx, it seems as if he would suffocate, and the pain is worse. Throat sensitive, even to the touch of the linen. Larynx painful to touch : whole throat painful to touch. A feeling as if something were swollen in pit of throat and would suffocate him : it cannot be swallowed : with soreness of throat. Cough worse after every sleep. Cough caused by pressure on larynx. Dry, hacking cough, caused by touching the throat : also occurring after sleep at night. Constantly obliged to take a deep breath. During heat, as of orgasm of blood, obliged to loosen the clothes about the neck, as though they hindered the circulation of the blood, with a suffocative feeling. Beating in the anus, as with little hammers. Diarrhoea followed by throbbing as with little hammers in the anus. Cramp-like pain in precordial region, causing palpitation and anxiety. Weakness of whole body, on rising in the morning. Great physical and mental exhaustion. Obliged to open the clothes, which affords relief {with faintness). Obliged to wear the clothes very loose, especially about the stomach ; even in bed is obliged to loosen and raise the nightdress in order to avoid pressure ; she dares not even lay the arm across the body on account of the pressure . * * * Other Notable Symptoms (but in Lachesis they are endless !) Quick comprehensions, mental activity with almost prophetic perception. Ecstasy : a kind of trance, or mind confused and wandering. Thinks she is someone else and in the hands of a stronger power : that she is dead, or nearly dead, and wishes someone would help her off : is pursued by enemies. Fears ; medicine is a poison ; that there are robbers in house and wants to jump out of window. Is under superhuman control. Fears she will be damned. Religious monomania. Delirium, with most extraordinary loquacity. Makes speeches in very .select phrases, but jumping off to most heterogenius subjects. Extremely impatient at tedious and dry things. Morbidly talkative : gives a rambling account of her ailments. Talks, sings, whistles. Wakes feeling friendless and forsaken. Hopeless. Dread of death : fears to go to bed ; fears poison. Fear of cholera : gets cramps in calves from fear. Ailments from fright, disappointed love, or jealousy. Stitches as from knives in eyes coming from head ; or from eyes to temples, vertex and occiput. As if a thread drawn from behind, from eye to eye. When throat pressed, feels as if eyes forced out. Eyes feel as if they had been taken out and squeezed, then put back. Headache frightfully severe : as if brain would burst skull. Cutting headache, as if part of right side of hèad were cut off. Weight and pressure vertex : weight like lead in occiput. Headache occiput to eyes. Lips dry, black, cracked, bleeding. Puts tongue out with difficulty : tongue trembles. Tongue: blisters; ulcers ; threatens suffocation. Gangrene of tongue. Wants oysters, w'ine, coffee.