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Although Apis acts well in white swelling of the knee, which is
comparatively a rare disease, yet it is far more useful in
DYSENTERY.
It is undoubtedly true that Hahnemann has revealed to us the means of
surpassing in this disease the all[oe]opathic wisdom of a thousand
years, by a far more successful, safe and expeditious treatment.
Nevertheless, much remains to be desired in this dreaded disease. Who
does not know that medicinal aggravations are particularly to be
dreaded in this malady? Who has not often felt embarrassed to select the
right remedy among three or four that seemed indicated by the symptoms,
and where it was nevertheless important, in view of the threatening
danger, to select at once the right remedy? Who has not been struck by
the strange irregularity that in a disease which generally sets in as an
epidemic, different remedies are often indicated by different groups of
symptoms? Who has not become convinced after a careful observation of
the course of the disease, that nothing is more deceptive than the
pretended curative virtues of corrosive sublimate in dysentery, and that
it is a matter of duty to be mindful, in this very particular, of the
warning words of the master who, having himself been deceived at one
time by the delusive palliation of mercury, addresses to us the
remarkable warning that "mercury, so far from responding to all
non-venereal maladies, on the contrary is one of the most deceitful
palliatives the temporary action of which is not only soon followed by a
return of the original symptoms of disease, but even by a return of
these symptoms in an aggravated form." (See Hahnemann's Chronic
Diseases, Vol. II.)
This delusive palliation is more particularly one of the effects of
corrosive sublimate in Dysentery; and is exceedingly dangerous in this
disease. Hence we warn practitioners against this danger.
We feel so much the more grateful to the principle Similia Similibus,
which, even though it did not protect its discoverer from faulty
applications, yet finally led us to the discovery of the right remedy
for dysentery.
No.'s 590 and 599 in the American Provings, read as follows: "Violent
tenesmus; nausea, vomiting and diarrh[oe]a, first lumpy and not fetid,
afterwards watery and fetid, lastly papescent, mixed with blood and
mucus, and attended with tenesmus; afterwards dysenteric stools, with
tenesmus and sensation as if the bowels were crushed;" combining these
symptoms with the general character of Apis, particularly the
circumstance that not only the ordinary precursors and first symptoms of
dysentery, but also its terminations and its sequelæ, and its most
important complications find their approved remedy in Apis; all this
shows us that Apis is a natural remedy for dysentery. This truth is
abundantly confirmed by experience. All my previously obtained results
in practice, testify to the correctness of this statement.
At the very commencement of the disease, a globule of Apis 3 is
sufficient to cut short the disease so that the patient feels easy, and
sleeps quietly. During this slumber, fever, pain and tenesmus disappear,
and the patient wakes with a feeling of health. If this should not take
place in three hours, owing to the more advanced state of the disease,
another dose of Apis is required, after which the patient soon feels
well.
If the dysenteric disease has had a chance to localize itself, and to
assume a higher degree of intensity, it becomes necessary to excite the
organic reaction all the more frequently. Under these circumstances we
repeat the medicine every hour, or every two or three hours, one globule
at a time, until all further medication has become unnecessary.
It is well known that epidemic diarrh[oe]a, viz., a diarrh[oe]a
resulting from peculiar alterations of the normal condition of the
atmosphere, earth, water, indispensable food, or from other still
unknown elementary influences inevitably acting upon every body,
commences in the form of a simple, apparently unimportant diarrh[oe]a;
that it gradually increases in intensity as the processes of nutrition
and sanguification become more deeply disturbed, and that it finally
terminates in life-destroying cholera. All these different stages of
diarrh[oe]a, whether with or without vomiting, watery or papescent, of
one color or another, with or without pain, with or without fever, have
yielded readily, safely and thoroughly to Apis in my hands. I must
except, however, cholera of the epidemic form, where I have not yet been
able to try Apis for want of opportunity. As far as my personal
observations go, I am disposed to affirm that the best mode of effecting
a good result, is to give Apis 3 and Aconite 3, in alternation, one drop
of each preparation well shaken in a bottle containing twelve
tablespoonfuls of water, and giving a tablespoonful every hour or three
hours, if the danger is great, and in milder cases a full drop
alternately morning and evening. This treatment is continued until an
improvement sets in, after which the organic reaction is permitted to
develope itself, which will terminate in a few hours or days, according
as the disease is more or less violent, and assistance was sought more
or less early, in the perfect recovery of the patient.
This end is not always attained with equal certainty and rapidity, if
Apis is not given in alternation with Aconite. In such a case, Apis
alone often develops a powerful reaction, which is avoided by the
alternate use of Aconite. Wherever the case is urgent, and it is
important to shorten the durations of the organic reaction, the two
remedies should be given in alternation. In most cases I have seen a few
alternate doses give rise to a pleasant perspiration, speedily followed
by quiet sleep and recovery on waking. May we not expect the same result
at the commencement of Asiatic cholera, and thus arrest the further
development of the disease?
Apis is no less effectual against _chronic diarrh[oe]a_, more
particularly if resulting, not from any deep-seated disorganizations,
but from some permanent inflammatory irritation of the intestinal mucous
membrane, and which causes and fosters so much distress, by rendering
all normal digestion impossible and finally bringing on its inseparable
companion, the last degree of hypochondria. This misery is so much more
lamentable, as it is, so to say, forced upon mankind from the cradle to
the grave by the still prevailing and almost ineradicable delusion of
_cathartic medication_.
Scarcely has the little being seen the light of the world, when the
process of purgation begins. Nurse, aunt, grandmamma, everybody, hasten
to hush the cries which the rough contact of the outer world extorts
from the little being, by forcing down its throat a little laxative
mixture, and the family-physician, who goes by fashion, approves of all
this. It is his habit, in after-life, to combat every little
costiveness, every digestive derangement, every incipient disease, by
means of his cathartic mixture, and his skill is considered
proportionate to the quantity of stuff which the bowels expel under the
operation of his drugs. Laxative pills, rhubarb, glauber-salts,
bitter-waters, aloes, gin, etc., etc., are in every body's hands, and
become an increasing necessity for millions. An ancient prejudice
decrees that, to permit a single day to pass by without stool, would be
to expose one's life to the greatest danger. Every year we see thousands
rush to warm and cold springs that have the reputation of being
possessed with dissolvent and cathartic properties. Those who cannot
afford to go to the springs, use artificial mineral water in order to
accomplish similar purposes. Very seldom a disease is met with, that is
permitted to run its course without dissolvent or cathartic means. It is
still a profitable business to sell patent purgatives, such as cider in
which a little magnesia has been dissolved.
Everybody feels how offensive these things are to nature; how they
attack the stomach and bowels; how they derange digestion and nutrition;
how slowly patients recover from the effects of such drugs; how chronic
abdominal affections, after having been eased for a while by such drugs,
soon return again with redoubled vigor; how the dose has to be increased
in order to obtain the same result; how the intervals of relief becomes
shorter and shorter, and how, in the end, the stomach is totally ruined,
and the abnormal irritation and paralysis of this viscus, with the
diarrh[oe]a and constipation, corresponding to these conditions,
gradually lead to the complete derangement of the reproductive process.
In spite of all this, long habit has secured to these pernicious customs
a sort of prescriptive right. The distress consequent upon them,
increases in proportion as the reactive powers of the organism decrease,
which is more particularly the case in the present generation. The
suppression of these abuses has never been more necessary than in our
age. Indeed, the old proverb is again verified: "Where need is greatest,
there help is nearest."
The world is not only indebted to Hahnemann for a knowledge, but also
for a natural corrective of this serious abuse. His provings on healthy
persons show this beyond a doubt. Few men, if their attention has once
been directed to this abuse, will feel disposed to deny its extent. Nor
has a favorable change in this respect been looked for in vain, since
hom[oe]opathy has now, for half a century at least, shown the
uselessness of all regular methods of purgation, and the superiority of
the means with which this new system accomplishes most effectually all
that those pernicious methods promised to do. It should be considered a
duty by every physician, to be acquainted with the new means of cure.
The continued use of purgatives should be considered a crime against
health. They will soon cease to exist as regular means of treatment, and
their pernicious consequences will no longer have to be relieved by
remedial means. But until their use is abolished, we shall have to
counteract them by adequate means of cure, more particularly the
abnormal irritation and the paralytic debility, which are the most
common consequences of the abuse of cathartics.
It is a most fortunate thing that we have in Apis one of the most
reliable means of removing the evil effects of cathartic medicines. A
single globule of Apis 30 is sufficient to this end. It is best to use
it as follows: dissolve the globule in five tablespoonfuls of water by
shaking the mixture well in a well closed vial, and let the patient take
a tablespoonful of this solution. If this dose acts well, no repetition
is necessary for the present. If this dose should not be sufficient, we
prepare a new potence by throwing away three tablespoonfuls of the
former solution and substituting four tablespoonfuls of fresh water,
shaking the mixture well. We give a spoonful of this second solution,
twenty-four hours after the first had been given, and, if necessary, a
third spoonful prepared in the same way, and even a fourth and fifth,
after which we await the result, without thinking either of improvement
or exacerbation.
Generally, a feeling of ease is experienced shortly after taking Apis.
The painful sensitiveness of the pit of the stomach and of the abdomen,
together with the troublesome, disagreeable and oppressive distention
and weight, soon disappear; the tongue gradually loses its swollen and
cracked appearance, its dirty redness, its slimy coating, its sore
spots, tardy indentations along its edges, the burnt feeling at its tip,
which is dotted with very fine vesicles, that cause a good deal of
soreness; the pappy, sour, bitter, metallic, foul taste disappears; the
appetite is again normal; both the previous aversion to food and the
excessive craving disappear; the absence of thirst, which is so common
in this condition, again gives place to a natural desire for drink, the
bluish-red color and swelling of the palate and throat, and the
incessant urging to hawk, decrease visibly: the distress after eating;
the sour stomach with or without nausea or heartburn; the excessive
rising of air; the regurgitation of the ingesta; the eructations which
taste of the food that had been eaten long before; the yawning; the
irresistible drowsiness when sitting; the general loss of strength; the
vacuity of mind, the aversion to talking and to company, decrease more
and more every day; the whole abdomen feels easier and softer: the
excessive and irresistible urging to urinate, especially after rising
from a chair or from bed, and accompanied by a distressing nervousness,
abates; the diarrh[oe]ic and abnormally colored evacuations, together
with the frequent and irresistible urging, increased after eating, early
in the morning and after sour and flatulent food, and accompanied by
various sore pains in the rectum, diminish more and more, and give place
to normal evacuations, first for days, next for weeks, although they
continue to alternate more or less with constipation, or painful,
insufficient, hard stool, until they terminate sooner or later,
according as the disease is more or less deep-seated, and had lasted
more or less long, in permanent restoration of the normal secretions and
excretions of the digestive organs. At the same time the many distresses
which the abnormal condition of the bowels and stomach had occasioned in
the head and heart, disappear; the poor patient who had been a prey to
so many sufferings, feels like one born again.
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