Free Materia Medica booksMateria Medica by John Henry Clarke
Materia Medica
Strontium Nitricum.
Nitrate of Strontium. SrNO3. Solution.
Clinical.-Cravings, morbid. Ears, eczema behind. Headache. Kidneys, congestion of. Menses, scanty.
Characteristics.-C. M. Boger (H. R., xv. 337) records the following cases: (1) Miss D., 18, brunette, had dull pains over eyes < by sunlight, motion, loss of sleep, sewing, reading; > after stool. With the headache, swelling of upper lids, < in morning. Sometimes bad taste in mouth. Menses irregular, profuse, dark. Feels tired and weak. Is addicted to eating cloves. In hot weather sweats profusely and easily about head and chest, staining yellow. Very susceptible to cold. Cough provoked by oppression of breathing and talking. Formerly bad catarrh; now has right-sided deafness. Had typhoid fever two years before, and during the fever was allowed unlimited quantities of ice. Preceding the fever she had a post-auricular eczema suppressed by salves; now is anaemic and bloated. The urine contained epithelium, excess of chlorides, calcium oxalate, and a trace of albumen (due probably to the clove habit). Glonoin helped the case, but for a time only. Stront. nit. was chosen because Stront. irritates the kidneys, and Nit. ac. corresponds to the vaso-motor disturbance, besides having cravings for odd things. Stront. nit. 6x was given, and in a few days the headache vanished. At the end of a month the post-auricular eruption had reappeared. Five months later there had been no return of headache or palpebral oedema; the craving for cloves had gone; the patient had taken on good flesh and colour. The eruption had not all gone. (2) A case of passive congestion of the kidneys was completely relieved by Stront. nit. in a woman at the climacteric. The menses, which were usually exceedingly scanty, became profuse.
