Comparison Belladonna and others

[A. Gaskin]

One of the most important things to decide when we are going into the mental state of a remedy is whether we shall use this remedy in hysteria, in the delirium of the various phases of fever, or in insanity, and to ascertain

this we turn to that part of the proving which gives us the pace of the remedy.

If we want to understand the delirium of Bell. and Bry., to see which one would be suitable in a certain case, we turn to the febrile action of the remedy and see what the nature of that is; the pace tells us largely the kind of delirium, if we don’t know from the delirium itself.

In Bell. is no continued fever, and as a remedy must in its very nature be adapted to the very nature of the disease. (many injunctions written in our books telling us to give Bell. in the acute form of delirium in typhoid fever;

Bry. has just that condition; hence we will see that Bry. Is useful in such cases which present symptoms similar to it; because the pace of the disease is similar to the pace of Bry. which has a continued fever.

Bell. has intermittent and remittent fever, and hence the acute delirium of Bell. is similar to the acute delirium of remittent fever.

Calad.: has a continued fever; it has no great amount of fever in it, but it is a continued fever, there is coma and stupor from fever, "delirium, unintelligible murmuring,",

mental prostration. This remedy is suitable in low, murmuring, exhaustive cases of typhoid fever, cases that are running a very sluggish course; not a very active delirium, but muttering; a low form of semi-conscious

ness, very often coma or stupefaction like

Ph-ac.: a dazed mind

Calc.: chronic sore throats The throat appearance itself is not always sufficient to prescribe on, but the complaints in the throat are those that come on in persons taking cold so frequently that

the patient has not time to get over one before he goes into another, and this engrafts upon him a chronic sore throat. It may in the beginning be a Bell. sore throat, which is quite likely, but before he gets over it he

has taken another cold. Remember that this is a part of the Calc. patient, that he takes cold so easily, he takes cold from every draught, from every exposure, and from damp weather. When getting over a Bell.

sore throat — about the time he thinks he is over it he takes a new cold. Perhaps it has been relieved two or three times with Bell., and then it settles down into a chronic state, and there are little red patches, perhaps

little ulcers, in the throat. This extends all over. It extends to the roof of the mouth, with a sore tongue and a constant dry choking feeling in the pharynx, covering the tonsils and extending up into the posterior

nares filling them with thick yellow mucus.

Chronic inflammation. The uvula may be puffed, swollen. Parts swollen, red, tumid," but in patches. The throat very painful on swallowing, dry, choking feeling.

Bry.: eyes red and congested, listless, does not want to move, to speak, or to do anything, because all of these things are motion, are efforts and they make him worse.

Bell.: this is also true in Bell.; it has all of this congestion and pressure. mental symptoms and everything in connection are marked by activity. Is violent, its fever most intense/much excitement.

Remember Bry. slow, sluggish, passive and insidious in its approach and progress

Brom.: process of inflammation is slow; they are not that violent, rapid kind as in Bell. and Merc.

Hyos.: grading of this general type of insanity should be compared with Stram. and Bell.

Stram.: delirium/insanity expressed in terms of extreme violence.

Bell. Brom. Hyos. run close together that something can be brought out by associating them together.

Hyos.: its mental state it is well to realise that it seldom has much fever in its insanity. It has a fever sometimes in the low form, but when Hyos. is thought of in relation to the febrile state the intensity of

the heat would be in this order: Bell. Stram. Hyos.

Bell. is very hot in its mental states, Stram. is most violent and active, murderously violent, is moderately hot in its fever, as a rule. Hyos. has a low fever, sometimes none at all, with insanity.

When one comes to take into consideration the violence of its delirium, or the maniacal actions, then it changes the order.

The order as to violence of conduct would be: Stram. Bell. Hyos.

Even early in the disease Hell. Lacks the wildness and acute delirium found in Stram. Mand. Bell.

In Bell. and also in many of those medicines that have this nature of cramping and constricting and contracting of circular fibres, there is convulsive tendency.

Bell. violent congestion of the brain + will commonly be attended with cramps in the extremities and convulsions of the muscles all over, or in parts.

Cact.: Not so under.

Psor.: Febrile state. Intermittents, bilious fever, fever from a cold. The patient is so hot that the hand under the covers feels as though in a steam bath and the sensation of

heat causes one to draw it back. It is not the dry heat of Bell. yet it is as intense. It is a steam. He is covered with a boiling sweat in fevers. Head and body hot, and hot air.

Op.: Head and body hot, and hot air. And a violent congestion to the head, an apoplectic condition.

Cact.: violent congestion of the head found in Bell. but with BELL we have the intense heat of the body, fever heat, not found in Cact., it has only a moderate fever. The heat is in the upper

part of the body, in the head and neck. Fullness of the neck; bloating of the neck. Feels as if the head would expand from the pressure of blood in the head, but without any great rise of temperature. It has fever,

but it has these without fever. But with Bell. when you have these pulsations, the patient is immensely hot, and he burns all over. There is some burning in Cact., but not comparably with Bell.

Cic.: head hot and extremities cold, like Bell. in its convulsions

Cocc.: Extreme irritability of the nervous system. The least noise or jar is unbearable. Bell. worse from ajar. As is Cocc. quite like Bell. Cocc. like Bell. in sleeplessness and other general conditions.

Coff.: "Neuralgic toothache entirely relieved by holding cold water in the mouth, returning as it becomes warm. Toothache during the menstrual period. Complaints of anaemic children during dentition." Those

nervous, excitable children that talk to the mother and the nurse very rapidly with brilliant eyes, red face, cannot go to sleep. It will quiet the patient and actually favour the growth of the tooth in a painless manner.

That is the description of a nervous child with many nervous brain and mental troubles. This child is extremely sensitive; it takes cold. The routine prescriber gives Bell. to a child who has hot head, hot face,

and throbbing carotids, and when it does not help he gives more Bell. and increases the size of his dose until the child has a proving.

He makes a Bell. child out of it when Coff. would have cured it. In most instances where Bell. is indicated the child is sluggish and would like to sleep. With Coff. there is excitement.

A feature of infancy is the following: Child may not have diarrhoea, may even be constipated, but it lies in bed and rolls the head in sleep. Bell. and Apis. roll head. Apis. lies on back with the head on its side. Chewing

motion of the jaws; sometimes a sucking; a grinding of the teeth in those who are old and have teeth; rolling the head from side to side; if you lift the eyelids you will find a strabismus. Provers felt as if the eyes were

drawn inward- Podo. has cured such a strabismus in congestion of the brain following a suddenly suppressed diarrhoea.

Children going into severe attacks of infantile fever may threaten convulsions, the head is hot and the body is cold. Most physicians will think of Bell. which has such cold extremities and such a hot head. Do not

forget Arn. especially in those children who seem to have an aversion to being touched, and scream out every time the mother takes hold of the leg or arm. Look into the history a little and you will see that this is a

soreness, and if you strip the child you may observe dusky spots, which give an added indication of Arn.

Hyos.; after recovering from these low forms of disease there is quivering of the lids, and jerking of the lids, jerking of the muscles of the eye so the eyeball is unsteady. It moves from little spasms of the various muscles

of the globe of the eye. All of these symptoms occur either along with the fever, of afterwards. The child goes into convulsions, or has periods of convulsions, where during the course of a week or ten days there have

been from fifteen to fifty convulsions, and it may be that the convulsions have been remedied with Bell. or Cupr-met. or any one of a number of remedies, and afterwards these eye troubles, strabismus and disturbance of

the vision. "An object looked at jumps." The letters jump, while reading.

After Acon. follow well Arn. and Bell.

Sometimes it is true it will appear to you that Acon. is capable of coping with all there is in the disease. But there seems to be a lingering something that holds on and such medicines as Arn. and Bell. and Ip. And

Bry. do have to come in to finish up the attack - or sometimes Sulph. Very commonly Sil. So we have to study the relations of medicines.

Bry. has < 15 h., Bell. will begin at 15 h. and run on towards midnight, but Bry. will begin at 21 h. and run on through the night.

Glon.: "Bad effects from having the hair cut." Bell. is generally thought of for taking cold in the head from having the hair cut.

"Bad effects from being exposed to the sun's rays." "Bad effects from sunstroke."

You will find some deep seated brain troubles that will try your patience. Some cases go slowly and gradually into unconsciousness; rolling of the head for days; eyes lustreless; body emaciated, involuntary discharges of

faeces or urine in the bed; tongue dry and parched, so shrivelled that it looks like leather, lips also; face withered and each day looks older; paralysis of one hand or one foot, or it seems that the whole muscular system is

paralysed. Screaming out in pain, although not so shrilly as in Apis. A dose of Zinc-met. Will sometimes bring this patient back to life. In a few days after the remedy there will be a jerking and a quivering in the parts that

were motionless, or its action will be shown in a copious sweat, much vomiting; sudden arousing that is alarming, for it looks like a threatened sinking, but this is the beginning of reaction. Now, for days and nights while

this little one is coming back to consciousness, the restoration of sensation in the parts is accompanied with the tormenting formication, tingling, prickling, creeping and crawling.

The mother and the father and the neighbours will want something done for it, but if you antidote the case will return to where it was before. This suffering is but the awakening to life. It will go on in this way for a week or

two and then will begin to show signs of falling back; it needs another dose of Zinc-met. which will again be followed by sweat, vomiting etc. You will see this in spinal meningitis.

The early stage will be that of congestion and Bell. palliate, but with the onset of the symptoms enumerated above, Zinc-met. the only remedy that will cure. The Bell. case will have flushed face, hot head,

rolling of the head, flashing eyes, throbbing carotids. The Bry. case will be docile, purple, stupid, sleepy, ameliorated by quiet. The Hell. cases will exhibit but little fever; cold extremities, tossing of the head, dilated pupils,

unconsciousness, can hardly be aroused;

rolling head from side to side, but when the reflexes are abolished Zinc-met. comes in. After the relief from Gels., Bell. or Bry. give Zinc-met. Rugged little fellows who hang on for weeks in this state, emaciating and

unconscious. You must take the mother aside and inform her what will happen if the child returns to consciousness. If you do not, you may be turned out of the house. A person advanced in years cannot stand such an

ordeal, but it is astonishing how the little ones can endure the prolonged congestion and inflammation. After scarlet fever and badly treated meningitis; tubercular meningitis. I have carried these severe forms of brain

disease through on PHOS which has a picture somewhat like that of Zinc-met. There is no record of recovery from tubercular meningitis, but a homoeopath can cure some of these cases, though it may take 2 - 3 months

to go down and come up out of it, with two or three relapses.

As a convulsive medicine Ip. is not well enough known. Convulsions in pregnancy. Convulsions in whooping cough; frightful spasms affecting the whole of the left side, followed by paralysis; clonic and tonic spasms

of children and hysterical women. Tetanus, rigidity of the body, with flushed redness of the face. These are strong features of Ip., and they have not been sufficiently dwelt upon, and the remedy is not sufficiently

known as having these states so prominently.

Bell. is more frequently spoken of in the books and in treatises on spasms, yet Ip. is just as important a remedy to be studied in relation to spasms and its action on the spine.

Stram.: In cerebral congestions the delirium subsides into unconsciousness; the patient has the appearance of profound intoxication; pupils dilated or contracted (in Bell. they are dilated)/useful in mania that has existed

for some time; attacks of mania coming on in paroxysms, appearing with more or less suddenness so that a single attack would look like Bell. but the history differentiates. Bell. would be hardly more than a

palliative in the first attack, and the second exhibition of it would do nothing.

Fear of water: an other thing running through Hyos. In insanity and in the delirium of fevers is a fear of water, fear of running water. Of course, hydrophobia, which is named because of that symptom being a striking

feature, has fear of water, but some remedies also have that fear of water. "Anxiety on hearing running water. A fear of water." That runs through Bell. Hyos., Canth. and Lyss.

Stram. has the fear of anything that might look like water, shining objects, fire, looking glass. Fear of things that have in any manner whatsoever the resemblance to fluids.

Lyss.: has cured "involuntary urination on hearing running water." It has cured a chronic diarrhoea when that symptom was present.

Faceache: Coloc.: is especially important, because it is one of the most frequently indicated remedies for neuralgia of this region. Three remedies indicated in faceache more often than any others: Bell. Mag-p. Coloc.

The Bell. pains are as violent as any, + red face, flashing eyes, hot head and great sensitiveness of the part to touch. In Coloc.: pain come in waves, > heat/pressure; < during rest; brought on by excitement or vexation.

Generally on the left side; while those of Bell. are on the right, and are caused by cold. Mag-p. has tearing pains that shoot like lightning along the nerves and > heat and pressure.

Sulph.: Long and tedious right-sided neuralgias. Persistent neuralgias in those that live in a malarial climate, when the short acting remedies given for the neuralgia, such as Bell. and Nux-v. relieve only for a short time

And Sulph. fits.

Ruta.: "Eyes feel hot like balls of fire." To use it for a pure inflammation when the eyes feel hot would be a failure.

Euphr., Bell. and Acon. are used in simple inflammations from a cold, and the anti-psorics where the case is chronic. But if a woman strains her eyes from long sewing on fine work, and the balls feel like fire, she

needs Ruta. Acon. inflammation with lachrymation, and the eyes look like raw beef after exposure to cold winds.

Sil. is full of throat symptoms but is seldom indicated in acute forms because its pace is too slow; it comes on after there has been a series of colds, colds which are ameliorated a number of times by Bell. or

other acute remedies, but still continue to

settle in the tonsils and in the glands of the neck. Sil. breaks up the tendency. There is a catarrhal state in the throat that is roused up by every cold into an increased flux, with hoarseness, settling back into the

chronic state again; chronic catarrhs of the pharynx. It competes with Nat-m. in inveterate sore throat.

Calc.: voice painless hoarseness. The vocal cords are tired and cannot endure strain; almost a paralytic weakness.

Sometimes a copious flow of mucus from the larynx. Much irritation in the larynx, but weakness.

Bell. and Phos. have burning and rawness

Phos. painful, in Bell. very painful. He cannot speak without pain. Calc. wonders why he has so much trouble with the larynx, because he has no feeling in it

Phos. Bell. Rumx. soreness of the larynx, sore to touch, but the Brom. soreness is commonly below the larynx and in the throat pit as well.

Bar-c.: Child with enlarged tonsils, and enlarged glands elsewhere, some what dwarfish intellectually, slow to learn.

"Inflammation of the tonsils." The inflammation is not so violent as that which comes on in Bell. it does not come on in a night, it does not go on rapidly to suppuration; but it is a very sore throat,

has come on slowly and after many days of exposure and there is gradual growth and development, while that of Bell. comes on with great rapidity. Hep. is also rapid and goes on to suppuration. There is a

remedy for inflammation of the tonsils where the ear is involved and is ameliorated by heat that very few use, but it is of great value; it is Cham. and especially indicated if the patient is irritable. The pain > heat and

comes on with great violence. It might be mistaken for a Bell. inflammation, but Cham. cures it permanently.

Cycl.: Desires lemonade

Chel.: sitting up in bed with high fever, bending forward upon his elbows, << motion as Bry. All of the pains are extremely < motion. This patient is sitting with a pain that transfixes him; he cannot stir, he cannot move

without the pain shooting through him like a knife. The next day you will see that his skin is growing yellow. If you see him in the beginning Chel. relieve him and you will prevent that pneumonia. It is not uncommon in

children and it is extremely common in adults. Do not get confused with Bry. Both are violently worse from motion. Bry. wants to lie on the painful side, or wants to lie on the back if the pneumonia is mostly in the

posterior part of the right lung. In Chel. < touch and motion. Bell. has that extremely painful tearing rending of the right lung with pleurisy, but in Bell. one cannot touch the right side, cannot press it, but must lie on the

other side, and he cannot move. Cannot stand a jar of the bed because of the extreme sensitiveness to motion. All three in this particular way because they have some things in common, but the remedies are different.

Puls.: Most troublesome cases of prolapsus. It competes with Sep., Bell. Nat-m., Nux-v. Sec. all of these are remedies with great relaxation, bearing down; some have even cured procidentia.

Squil.: Dry cough at 23 h., < from cold water and cold air. Bell. has cough at 23 h. < from uncovering, red face, congestion in head. Lach. has cough soon after going to sleep, which may be 23 h.

Vorwort/Suchen. Zeichen/Abkürzungen. Impressum.