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Materia Medica by William Boericke

Materia Medica by
William Boericke
Materia Medica by William Boericke
The Materia Medica by William Boericke was written in 1901. You can read the full book here.
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PULSATILLA PRATENSIS

Wind Flower (PULSATILLA)

The weather-cock among remedies.

The disposition and mental state are the chief guiding symptoms to the selection of Pulsatilla. It is pre-eminently a female remedy, especially for mild, gentle, yielding disposition. Sad, crying readily; weeps when talking; changeable, contradictory. The patient seeks the open air; always feels better there, even though he is chilly. Mucous membranes are all affected. Discharges thick, bland, and yellowish-green. Often indicated after abuse of Iron tonics, and after badly-managed measles. Symptoms ever changing. Thirstless, peevish, and chilly. When first serious impairment of health is referred to age of puberty. Great sensitiveness. Wants the head high. Feels uncomfortable with only one pillow. Lies with hands above head.

Mind.--Weeps easily. Timid, irresolute. Fears in evening to be alone, dark, ghost. Likes sympathy. Children like fuss and caresses. Easily discouraged. Morbid dread of the opposite sex. Religious melancholy. Given to extremes of pleasure and pain. Highly emotional. Mentally, an April day.

Head.--Wandering stitches about head; pains extend to face and teeth; vertigo; better in open air. Frontal and supra-orbital pains. Neuralgic pains, commencing in right temporal region, with scalding lachrymation of affected side. Headache from overwork. Pressure on vertex.

Ears.--Sensation as if something were being forced outward. Hearing difficult, as if the ear were stuffed. Otorrhoea. Thick, bland discharge; offensive odor. External ear swollen and red. Catarrhal otitis. Otalgia, worse at night. Diminishes acuteness of hearing.

Eyes.--Thick, profuse, yellow, bland discharges. Itching and burning in eyes. Profuse lachrymation and secretion of mucus. Lids inflamed, agglutinated. Styes. Veins of fundus oculi greatly enlarged. Ophthalmia neonatorum. Subacute conjunctivitis, with dyspepsia; worse, in warm room.

Nose.--Coryza; stoppage of right nostril, pressing pain at root of nose. Loss of smell. Large green fetid scales in nose. Stoppage in evening. Yellow mucus; abundant in morning. Bad smells, as of old catarrh. Nasal bones sore.

Face.--Right-sided neuralgia, with profuse lachrymation. Swelling of lower lip, which is cracked in middle. Prosopalgia towards evening till midnight; chilly, with pain.

Mouth.--Greasy taste. Dry mouth, without thirst; wants it washed frequently. Frequently licks the dry lips. Crack in middle of lower lip. Yellow or white tongue, covered with a tenacious mucus. Toothache; relieved by holding cold water in mouth (Coff). Offensive odor from mouth (Merc; Aur). Food, especially bread, tastes bitter. Much sweet saliva. Alternations of taste, bitter, bilious, greasy, salty, foul. Loss of taste. Desire for tonics.

Stomach.--Averse to fat food, warm food, and drink. Eructations; taste of food remains a long time; after ices, fruits, pasty. Bitter taste, diminished taste of all food. Pain as from subcutaneous ulceration. Flatulence. Dislikes butter (Sang). Heartburn. Dyspepsia, with great tightness after a meal; must loosen clothing. Thirstlessness, with nearly all complaints. Vomiting of food eaten long before. Pain in stomach an hour after eating (Nux). Weight as from a stone, especially in morning on awakening. Gnawing, hungry feeling (Abies c). Perceptible pulsation in pit of stomach (Asaf). All-gone sensation, especially in tea drinkers. Waterbrash, with foul taste in the morning.

Abdomen.--Painful, distended; loud rumbling. Pressure as from a stone. Colic, with chilliness in evening.

Stool.--Rumbling, watery; worse, night No two stools alike. After fruit (Ars; Chin). Blind haemorrhoids, with itching and sticking pains. Dysentery; mucus and blood, with chilliness (Merc; Rheum). Two or three normal stools daily.

Urine.--Increased desire; worse when lying down. Burning in orifice of urethra during and after micturition. Involuntary micturition at night, while coughing or passing flatus. After urinating, spasmodic pain in bladder.

Female.--Amenorrhoea (Cimicif; Senec; Polygon). Suppressed menses from wet feet, nervous debility, or chlorosis. Tardy menses. Too late, scanty, thick, dark, clotted, changeable, intermittent. Chilliness, nausea, downward pressure, painful, flow intermits. Leucorrhoea acrid, burning, creamy. Pain in back; tired feeling. Diarrhoea during or after menses.

Male.--Orchitis; pain from abdomen to testicles. Thick, yellow discharge from urethra; late stage of gonorrhoea. Stricture; urine passed only in drops, and stream interrupted (Clemat). Acute prostatitis. Pain and tenesmus in urinating, worse lying on back.

Respiratory.--Capricious hoarseness; comes and goes. Dry cough in evening and at night; must sit up in bed to get relief; and loose cough in the morning, with copious mucous expectoration. Pressure upon the chest and soreness. Great soreness of epigastrium. Urine emitted with cough (Caust). Pain as from ulcer in middle of chest. Expectoration bland, thick, bitter, greenish. Short breath, anxiety, and palpitation when lying on left side (Phos). Smothering sensation on lying down.

Sleep.--Wide awake in the evening; first sleep restless. Wakes languid, unrefreshed. Irresistible sleepiness in afternoon. Sleeps with hands over head.

Back.--Shooting pain in the nape and back, between shoulders; in sacrum after sitting.

Extremities.--Drawing, tensive pain in thighs and legs, with restlessness, sleeplessness and chilliness. Pain in limbs, shifting rapidly; tensive pain, letting up with a snap. Numbness around elbow. Hip-joint painful. Knees swollen, with tearing, drawing pains. Boring pain in heels toward evening; suffering worse from letting the affected limb hang down (Vipera). Veins in forearms and hands swollen. Feet red, inflamed, swollen. Legs feel heavy and weary.

Skin.--Urticaria, after rich food, with diarrhoea, from delayed menses, worse undressing. Measles. Acne at puberty. Varicose veins.

Fever.--Chilliness, even in warm room, without thirst. Chilly with pains, in spots, worse evening. Chill about 4 pm. Intolerable burning heat at night, with distended veins; heat in parts of body, coldness in other. One-sided sweat; pains during sweat. External heat is intolerable, veins are distended. During apyrexia, headache, diarrhoea, loss of appetite, nausea.

Modalities.--Worse, from heat, rich fat food, after eating, towards evening, warm room, lying on left or on painless side when allowing feet to hang down. Better, open air, motion, cold applications, cold food and drinks, though not thirsty.

Relationship.--Penthorum, often indicated after Pulsatilla in later colds. Ionesia Asoca-Saraca indica--(Amenorrhoea. Menorrhagia-acts powerfully on female organs. Abdominal pain). Atriplex (Uterine symptoms, amenorrhoea; hysteria, coldness between shoulders, dislike of warm food, craves strange foods, palpitation, sleeplessness). Pulsatilla Nuttaliana, identical effects.

Compare: Cyclamen; Kali bich; Kali sulph; Sulphur. Pimenta-Allspice--(one-sided neuralgias, parts of body hot and cold).

Anagyris (headache, amenorrhoea).

Complementary: Coffea; Chamom; Nux.

Dose.--Third to thirtieth attenuation.