Definite Medication: Containing Therapeutic Facts Gleaned From Forty Years Practice

CHAPTER I — PRACTICAL DIAGNOSIS

Extract from the Preface

"The eclectic remedies mentioned in this book, especially the tinctures, are Lloyd’s Specific Medicines. Many years’ experience has proved them to be thoroughly reliable and convenient for dispensing.

I have bought my homeopathic remedies for forty years of Boericke & Tafel, of Philadelphia, and know them to be perfectly reliable. Most of the tinctures and triturates are now put up tablet form, a tablet representing a grain of the drug.

Definite Medication

CHAPTER I — PRACTICAL DIAGNOSIS

IN the moving pictures we see a practical illustration of how the modern physician examines a patient and forms a snap shot diagnosis. He walks into the room, lays down his hat and medicine bag, grasps the wrist of the patient, pulls out his watch, appears to count the pulse, rolls his eyes up in his head, which he shakes, and with an owlish look of great wisdom writes out a prescription, reaches out his hand—two dollars, please—grabs his hat and trunk and away he goes. You must bear in mind that it has taken him four years at a medical college to learn how to do all this properly and ethically. What does he know about the patient’s condition? Practically nothing.

An old gentleman had a sick child and called a doctor, who examined the child about as described above and then began to prepare the medicine. The father asked, What ailed the child? The doctor replied, Oh, it’s a little cold and some fever. The old gentleman said, Doctor, I will pay you for the visit but you need not leave any medicine. The second doctor came and examined the child in about the same manner and his diagnosis was as indefinite as the other. He was not allowed to leave any medicine for the child. The third doctor came; he examined the child and then began to prepare the medicine. The father said, What ails the child, doctor? Why it’s measles, any fool ought to know that, was the doctor’s answer. All right, doctor, you may prescribe for the child." The old gentleman was sensible. No doctor should be allowed to give a dose of medicine unless he can give an intelligent reason why he gives it, what he gives it for, and what he expects it to do.

We send our boys to college four years so they can learn how to play football; we send them to medical college four years more to learn how to practise vivisection on the human body. They are then turned adrift upon a confiding public loaded down with technical knowledge and cannot diagnose a simple case of measles.

I always impress the idea upon my students that the very first thing that a doctor must learn is to know how to read the pulse. Not one doctor in a thousand can do it. No man can do two things at a time; you cannot be counting the pulse and reading it at the same time. Keep your watch in your pocket. Just imagine what you could tell from the pulse if you had to depend upon it to diagnose the case as they do in one country across the great ocean. How does it feel to you? What impression do you get from it? Is there a hardness, a tension to it? if so then there is pain or congestion somewhere in the body, constriction of the capillaries, a focus of inflammation. If it feels weak, has a discouraged feeling, it means enfeebled nerve power and weakened vitality. Again we may have what I call the sledge hammer pulse. The heart is driving the blood through the blood vessels with all its force. The blood is being driven to the brain or lungs in an unnatural quantity. Then we have the intermittent pulse which shows functional disease. Bear in mind that behind the heart is the nerve power. It is the man behind the gun. As that gets weak and enfeebled it will affect the heart and circulation. At times the pulse may seem quick yet there is an impression of weakness to it, of a machine which is being driven beyond its power. It gives a jarring feeling to the pulse. When the nerve power and circulation are about normal the pulse feels full, strong and regular. The blood runs clear and there is no tension or friction anywhere.

After the pulse we examine the tongue. Many pages have been written describing the different coatings on the tongue. That never interested me. I want to know how the tongue itself looks underneath the coating. Red papillæ on the tongue showing through the coating indicates the invasion of some disease. I have noticed this twenty-four hours before an attack of pneumonia or measles. In health the tongue is usually moist; very little coating and few fissures are seen. It is a bright red color. In some forms of kidney trouble there will be transverse fissures and often perpendicular ones also. Deep red fissures far back on the tongue will be seen in long standing cases of prolapsus uteri. A dark appearance of the tongue, almost purple, shows imperfect oxidation of the blood. The appearance of the tongue will tell if the patient is digesting his food properly or not.

The eye is another organ that we must study carefully. It often confirms what we have seen in the pulse and tongue. With tension of the pulse we usually get contraction of the pupils. If the white of the eye has a pearly tint—an unnatural brightness about it—there is a drain upon the system. You can see it exemplified in phthisis pulmonalis, advanced cancer, Bright’s disease and ulceration of the stomach. The yellow clouded appearance of the eye denotes toxic matter in the blood. A greenish tint denotes decomposition of albumin. From my experience I can always tell a patient’s condition; whether they are improving under my treatment by looking at their eyes as soon as they come into the office. A clear eye with bright expression tells you that your patient feels better and is better.

CHAPTER II — SPECIAL REMEDIES FOR THE BRAIN AND SPINE

Extract from the Preface

"The eclectic remedies mentioned in this book, especially the tinctures, are Lloyd’s Specific Medicines. Many years’ experience has proved them to be thoroughly reliable and convenient for dispensing.

I have bought my homeopathic remedies for forty years of Boericke & Tafel, of Philadelphia, and know them to be perfectly reliable. Most of the tinctures and triturates are now put up in tablet form, a tablet representing a grain of the drug.

CHAPTER II — SPECIAL REMEDIES FOR THE BRAIN AND SPINE

SPINAL IRRITATION. This is the least understood of any disease and one of the most common diseases among our American women. The symptoms are heat in the palms of the hands, tingling at the end of the toes at night in bed, a headache that begins at the back of the head and extends over to the frontal region. If we examine the spine we will find tender, sensitive spots. There is more or less indigestion, palpitation of the heart and the patient will complain that her back hurts her when she presses back against anything.

I was called when in New Hampshire to see a lady who had not been able to lie down in bed for several weeks. She sat in a rocking-chair all the time, and she could not sit still but kept rocking. She had all the symptoms mentioned above. Several doctors had treated her. Each one had a different diagnosis and treatment but none of them understood the case. I placed her upon the following treatment: Tincture Belladonna two drops once in three hours, Sulph. Quinine two grains before breakfast. Dialysed iron gtts. xx before dinner and supper. I also had the whole length of the spine painted with tincture iodine, a strip as wide as my two fingers night and morning, until it was so sore she could not bear it any longer. In a week she could lie in bed and sleep like other people. She finally recovered entirely.

Another case in Vermont afflicted with the same spinal complaint had been confined to her bed for some time. She had been under the treatment of the best doctors in that part of the State but they could not help her. She suffered severely with headaches as well as other symptoms of spinal irritation. None of the doctors seemed to understand her case and she had become practically bedridden. I began the treatment of this case with the same remedies as in the first case and cured her.

When I came to New Jersey twenty-seven years ago, about the first patient I had to treat was a lady with spinal irritation, who lived in one of the large cities of the State. The doctors had given her up as incurable. I treated her as I had treated the other cases and cured her and she has been free from the trouble ever since. There are many cases scattered over the country that I have cured of this condition and I trust the present generation of physicians will understand this disease and have better success with it than the past generation.

Spinal Meningitis. When there is throbbing pain in the spine, drowsiness, but cannot sleep, starts at every sound, belladonna is the remedy. Tincture belladonna, gtts. v; aqua, ounces iv. Mix. Sig. Teaspoonful once an hour. If the pulse is full, hard, and with tension to it, veratrum viride is the remedy. Tincture veratrum, gtts. x; aqua, ounces iv. Mix. Sig. Teaspoonful every hour. To relieve the nerve tension, pain.: In the legs, worse on motion, great thirst—drinking large quantities of water, bryonia is the remedy. Tincture bryonia gtts. v; aqua, ounces iv. Mix. Sig. Teaspoonful once in three hours.

Myelitis. In this disease when there is general weakness about the hips and loins, extending down the legs, a feeling of exhaustion, pains in small spots that come and go—worse by thinking of them, cold feet, oxalic acid, sixth decimal, is the remedy. Give two grains every three hours. When there is pain in the back, comes on suddenly, relieved by motion, attended by numbness, artemesia abrotanum, third decimal dilution, is the remedy. Put twenty drops in a glass of water and give a teaspoonful once an hour When there is sudden loss of power in the extremities, knee jerk, rigidity of the legs, spastic gait—often tremulous, lathyrus sativus is the remedy. Give three tablets of the third decimal trituration night and morning.

In the tremors of multiple sclerosis hydrobromate hyoscyamus, third decimal trituration is indicated. It should be given in one grain doses every hour.

Strychnine, in any form, should never be given in any spinal irritation, congestion or inflammation because it is a spinal irritant. The spine is very sensitive to the smallest dose of strychnine and it will aggravate all the symptoms.

Cerebro Spinal Meningitis. My first recollection of this disease was in the early part of the Sixties in Maine, when we had an epidemic. They called it Spotted Fever in those days. The regular physicians treated it with morphine internally and ice applied to the spine. The result of such treatment was not very flattering to that School of Medicine. This is one of the epidemics that has swept over this country at different times and it has always found the eclectic physicians on the firing line. They have met the disease and conquered it.

In the first stage with fever, headache, etc., ferri phos. is a safe and reliable remedy to prescribe. Put five grains of the third decimal trituration in a glass of hot water and give a teaspoonful once in fifteen minutes for an hour; then a teaspoonful every half hour. For the drawing back of the neck, spasms of the back, rush of blood to the head, natrium sulph., third decimal is the remedy. Add five grains to a cup of hot water and give a teaspoonful every half hour in alternation with the ferri phos. If the patient is a child, in most cases the above treatment will cut short the acute symptoms. If the pulse goes down and the child seems weak and exhausted, give kali phos. sixth decimal. Put five grains in a cup of hot water and give a teaspoonful once in fifteen minutes; it will bring the pulse up and the general condition of the child will be improved. I have been able to control the spasms in small children, with the following prescription:

img2.png Magnesia, Phos.

Kali Phos., a. a. grs. v.

Hot Water, img3.png iv.

Mix. Sig. Teaspoonful every few minutes until it controls the spasms.

As a tonic calcarea phos. third decimal may be given. Dose three tablets once in three hours. It has been my practice to apply a mustard paste—equal parts of Indian meal and mustard mixed with warm water—the whole length of the spine. If you have libradol (Lloyd’s) it may be applied to the spine until there is slight nausea. This is an excellent local application for pain. When there is redness of the face, eyes swollen—have a dull appearance, pupils dilated, throbbing carotids, pulse full and bounding, belladonna is the remedy. Tincture belladonna gtts. v, aqua img3.png vi. Mix and give teaspoonful every hour. After the acute symptoms have passed we often see alternate tonic and clonic spasms for which cimicifuga is indicated. For the neuralgia, severe pain in the upper part of the spine, headache—feels like a band drawn tight round the head, worse when lying down, begins at the base of the brain and goes over to the forehead—gelsemium is the remedy. I combine the two remedies as follows for children:

img4.png Tr. Gelsemium.

Tr. Cimicifuga a. a. gtts. xx.

Aqua. iv.

Mix. Sig. Teaspoonful every hour.

In one case I saw the spasms were very severe, feet and head almost came together (opisthotonos) small blotches (petechia) on the back, severe pain in the back of the head and between the shoulders, back of the head felt very hot. Here veratrum viride was the remedy. I prescribed tincture veratrum gtts. v, aqua img5.png ii and ordered a teaspoonful of this mixture to be given every hour. Do not forget, the more pronounced the tendency to opisthotonos the stronger the indication for veratrum viride. The above remedy conquered the spasms and the child got well. There is a septic condition underlying this disease and echinacea is the remedy to meet that condition. When there is a chilliness over the back, alternate flashes of heat—over the whole body, headache and flushing of the face, profound prostration, give tincture echinacea gtts. x once in two hours. The patient should be bathed all over once a day with Epsom salts and warm water (one ounce of the salts to a pint of water). It neutralizes the toxines, allays the irritation of the sensitive nerves, soothes the patient and thus produces rest.

Opiates and dye house stuff must not be given. They arrest secretion and weaken the vitality of your patient, and lower the power of the system to resist the disease. Remember nut only in this disease but in all others, work with Nature, never against her. Morphine never relieved pain; it only stupefies the patient so they do not feel the pain. In its place give tincture passaflora in five drop doses every half hour. It will often quiet the children and give them rest.

In one case where I was called the family physician had treated the child for cerebro spinal meningitis and it had recovered with paralysis of the legs. I treated this case with calcarea phos. third decimal and kali phos. third decimal; giving three tablets of each remedy in alternation every three hours. This treatment was continued until the little patient could walk. Deafness is another sequel frequently met with in this disease. Give sulphur sixth decimal and silicea sixth decimal in alternation (three tablets of each) every three hours. From my own experience I should say that this disease can be cured in the very large proportion of cases. I have been successful in about every case I have seen. Watch your case carefully; give the remedy indicated. Expect the best results but be prepared for the worst.

Locomotor Ataxia. When the lower extremities appear heavy, can scarcely drag them along, patient staggers when walking, cannot walk except when the eyes are open and in the daytime, great craving for indigestible foods, alumina is the remedy. Prescribe three tablets of the third decimal every three hours. In the first stage of this disease belladonna is the remedy indicated when the conjunctiva is congested, pupils dilated, with ptosis, diplopia and incontinence of urine. Give belladonna first decimal dilution in ten drop doses three times a day. When there is paralysis of the bladder, loss of sexual desire, shooting pains, the ataxic gait—worse when closing the eyes, cannot walk in the dark without reeling, legs feel as if made of wood, argentum nitricum sixth decimal is the remedy. Give in doses of three tablets every three hours. For the general nervous exhaustion phosphide of zinc is the remedy to be given in doses of one-tenth grain three times a day. For the lightning pains give tincture canabis indica gtts. x, aqua img5.png iv. Mix. Sig. Teaspoonful once in two hours. Constipation is an obstinate symptom Of this disease, see article on constipation, page 95, for the indicated remedies. For the incontinence of urine equisetum first decimal dilution is the remedy, to be given in five drop doses every three hours. For the severe gastric distress (gastralgia) carbo veg., third decimal should be prescribed. Give your patient three tablets every three hours. There are perforating ulcers on the feet and soles of the feet that arc best treated by silicea sixth decimal, giving three tablets three times a day. The sexual excitement, painful erections in the morning, calls for picric-acid sixth decimal. Prescribe it in doses of three tablets every two hours. The burning of the soles of the feet may be relieved by the belladonna as given above. Secale conutum is one of your best anti-tabetic remedies and has made cures of this disease in the first decimal dilution, giving five drops once in three hours. In alternation with this remedy you should also give tincture stramonium first decimal dilution for the head symptoms. Dose. Five drops once in three hours. This is one of the diseases where electricity may be used as a valuable adjunct if the doctor understands how to use it intelligently and judiciously.

Tetanus. In this disease where the lips are drawn back showing the teeth, jaws locked together, our Homeopathic friends have cured some cases with tincture augustura, giving doses of five drops every half hour: also with the first decimal dilution of hypericum giving ten drops once in two hours. It is the remedy in injuries which affect the spine.

The best treatment for lock jaw is first a vapor bath; one can produce free perspiration in a few minutes with two lumps of fresh lime, half the size of a man’s fist; wrap each piece in a moist cloth and this again with a