Asa Foetida - General symptoms

GENERAL

General

(Sitting), Pain in pit of stomach.

cutting in abdomen. drawing across abdomen, etc.

after eating, stitches in both sides of abdomen.

sticking, etc., in left side of lower abdomen.

stitches in chest after hawking.

stitches in intercostal muscles.

throbbing in thorax. palpitation of heart.

twitching in muscles of lower half of back.

pain in small of back.

bruised feeling in extremities.

pressive pain at scapular end of clavicle.

burning on anterior surface of thigh, pain on outer side of thigh.

tearing in left femur.

restlessness in thigh, etc.

stitch in left knee-joint.

stitch in right calf. stitches in right calf, etc.

pain on back of left foot.

pain in right sole..

(Walking), Cutting in abdomen.

stitches in left side of abdomen.

drawing, etc., in lower extremities.

tearing around hip-joint.

pains in knee, etc. stitches in right calf.

pressure on joint of foot, etc., pressure on joint of left foot.

pressing pain in joint of right foot.

pressing pain in joint of left foot.

pressure in joints of feet, etc.

stitches in right toe.

pain below edge of ribs.

chilliness in back, etc..

He at once felt as if he could not remain indoors, but must walk about in the open air, with apprehension, feeling as if the heart would burst, and quick breathing.

for two days there were violent palpitation of heart and excitement of mind. Since then he has had, from time to time, the following symptoms, which he never had before (The symptoms are given in groups, just as he from time to time reported them).

Attacks of faintness, with anxiety, as if he would die, and with one attack desire for suicide. With the faintness, shivering and very feeble action of the heart. Feeling as if the heart were swollen, preventing a deep inspiration. Restless, must walk about. Dislike for solitude. At times heart feels bound together tightly, as if it could not beat.

afterwards this was felt only on exertion or walking.

Moving arms makes heart beat quickly. Sometimes heart beats short and quick, at other times he feels as if there were no action of it.

The flatulence and spasmodic contraction of stomach and oesophagus with reverse peristalsis are the most marked symptoms. In its selection, its relation to the hysterical and hypochondriacal patients, must be borne in mind. Besides these superficial symptoms, it has been found to affect favorably deep ulcerations, caries of bones, especially in the syphilitic organism; here the Extreme sensitiveness and terrible throbbing, nightly pains, guiding to its use.

Full, stout aspect, but intolerably nervous and OVERSENSITIVE

Fits of violent, hard throbbing, pressure, sharp sticking, etc

Clavus

Easy relapses

Bone aches

Pains extend outward, are associated with numbness and change place or are better by touch

Boring

Blueness

Foul, thin acrid secretions

Magnifies her symptoms

Craves sympathy

Fickleness

Fainting

Hysteria

Clutches throat

Occipital ache better stool

Eyelids stick to ball

Numb about eyes

Ozoena

Puffy, purple face, as if heated

Greasy taste

Everything presses toward throat

Globus

Spasm of gullet and stomach

Rancid or explosive belching Regurgitations

Flatulence; sudden; pushing upward, hysterical

Wind colic

Reverse peristalsis

Bowels seem knotted

Foul, dark watery diarrhoea

Spasmodic tightness of chest

Heart seems full, distended

Reflex heart symptoms, of nervous origin

Dark red swelling

Eruption of air vesicles

Bluish ulcers; with high sensitive edges

Foul, burrowing pus

Caries

Narthex asafoetida. N. O. Umbelliferae. Tincture of the gum resin (obtained by incision from the living root).

The symptoms of Asafoetida present an almost perfect picture of hysteria, of the flatulent order. Reversed peristalsis of stomach and bowels. Excessive abdominal distension and sensation as if everything in the abdomen would burst through the mouth. After belching of wind strong rancid taste in mouth. Sinking sensation at epigastrium, agg. 11 a.m. Hysteria from suddenly suppressed discharges. Many of the discharges of Asaf. are fetid watery stools of most disgusting odour.

profuse and greenish. fetid flatus. Eructations smelling like garlic. Hiccough-like contractions of diaphragm. Griping (into a ball) pain below navel while standing. Heat in spleen and abdomen. Stitches in right hypochondrium, towards the diaphragm. Asaf. affects the left side generally left side of abdomen.

left hypochondrium. left side of neck and nape.

left arm. left leg. Hysterical restlessness and anxiety. Eyes inflamed, dry sensation, amel. in open air. The fetid smell of the drug may be regarded as one of its "signatures." Fetid discharge from nose.

bones affected. The following is a strong characteristic Bones of orbits bruised, sore, and sensitive (iritis; after abuse of Merc Viv ^Mercury. Merc Viv ^Merc. has less of the sensitiveness). Caries of bones. Multiple nodes on roof of mouth, discoloured, bone deeply involved. Deficient milk with over-sensitiveness after confinement. Periosteal affections ending in ulcers which are so sensitive that no dressing is tolerated. Pressing pains in various parts, especially pressure from within outwards, agg. in room, amel. in open air. Many symptoms come on or are agg. after eating or drinking. Heat in face after eating. Diarrhoea after eating. Suited to nervous and hysterical people.

phlegmatic, scrofulous, and syphilitic who have taken much Merc Viv ^Mercury. Sensitiveness to contact is a leading characteristic. Most pains are accompanied by numbness in the affected parts. Many symptoms appear while sitting and are amel. in open air. Touch amel. pain in head.

on touch pains cease or change place. Scratching amel. itching.

Ferula Asafoetida. Umbelliferae.

* * * *

Lumps of "foetty," as they called it, where put in the corn for the horse, to keep off distempter.

What it has accomplished I am unable to say, but it is certain that these farmers looked upon Asa foetida as a great protective against disease.

It has been used also by the laity as a medicine for fainting, for hysteria, and all sorts of nervous symptoms and complaints.

The use is justified by the proving. These things are scarcely worthy of note, but it shows the general use among the people, as a domestic medicine, in crude form. It has been used more extensively in this form than in professional practice in a legitimate way.

Aspect There is one class of patients you will find who will trouble you. Those cases that come into your office with puffed, venous, purple faces.

they have an appearance of plethora.

the face looks puffed, bloated and dropsical at times.

it is a dark red, dusky face.

such a face we shall cure sometimes with Asa foetida Carbo Animalis ^{Carbo an}., Aurum, Carbo Veg ^{Carbo veg}. and Pulsatilla ^Pulsatillaare also related to this kind of face, but it is a very troublesome face, it shows more or less cardiac disturbance and venous stasis.

The venous side of the heart will often be involved, or be about to be involved, when you have this kind of face.

I never like to see them come into my office, for they are hard cases to manage. They have deep-seated troubles, with bleeding, they are subject to sudden inflammations, and they do not rally quickly.

Constitution In this constitution we have ulcerations; a little place will ulcerate and suppurate, and the ulceration will burrow; this is just what Asa Foetida does.

Another thing this kind of constitution will do is to set up an inflammatory condition of the periosteum with swelling, periostitis of the tibia for instance, where the circulation is not very active.

inflammation of cartilages with tumefaction and purple skin, stitching pains and dropsy, ulcerations and fistulous openings. This medicine is good for just such states.

"Ulcers with extreme sensitiveness."

Patients often say,

"I get no sympathy when I am sick because I look so well;" fat, flabby and purple.

Asa Foetida will seldom be thought of in lean persons; they seem to be free from complaints like those of Asa foetida, but in fat, flabby persons, extremely nervous, extremely sensitive to pain, full of hysteria.

Purple when out in the cold, purple when excited. In other words, you see before you the venous constitution, and these people get the worst kind of hysteria; they go off almost from no cause into fainting; from a close room, from excitement, from any disturbance; sometimes cramps come on, but more especially fainting.

They are subject to stitching pains from the bone to the surface; that is, from within out. The periosteum, becomes irritated, and glands become swollen.

Old scars turn purple, threaten to suppurate, take! on a venous aspect, become painful and turn black. Ulcers form at the site of old scars in old syphilitic patients and sometimes in psoric patients. Most complaints come on during rest and are better by slow motion.

There is another grand feature running through Asa Foetida; it is full of discharges, catarrhal discharges, discharges from ulcers, watery discharges from different places and even watery stool; and all these discharges are horribly offensive and ichorous.

Deep, flat ulcers from bone and periosteal affections give out a watery, bloody discharge that is horribly offensive, with pains shooting outwards. Get the idea of the venous stasis well fixed in your mind and with this syphilitic state added to it.

The ulcers are deep, with bluish edges. Varicose veins surround the ulcers. Inflammation of the bone and periosteum, with blueness all around the ulcers.

The bone pains that are felt in the head are sometimes very distressing. Old syphilitic bone pains in the head, stitching, penetrating. It seems where there are lumps and nodules, about the head, this medicine seems to burry things. Shooting, stitching, tearing pains, under left frontal eminence.

Asa Foetida stitching pain is sometimes described as if a nail or plug were driven into the head. These nervous headaches are syphilitic hysterical or scrofulous; hysterical pains described as rending, tearing, stitching.

The remedy, Asa Foetida, is full of burning, and so the eyeballs burn, better in the open air. Iritis, but the inflammation sometimes involves the choroid, the retina, and mucous membrane, making a general inflammatory condition of syphilitic character.

There are tearing pains in various places around the eyes; sticking, stitching pains, worse at night. Ulcers, with stitching pains, worse at night. Burning. stitching in the eyes with dryness, so that the lids stick to the balls of the eyes, pain worse at night.

There is a misty appearance before the eyes, dullness as if looking through a fog. It also seems as if the atmosphere were filled with little floating black flies.

"Muscae volantes."

You have looked into the air and seen little gnats and mosquitoes; well it appears to these patients as if these were there when they are not there. The discharge from the eyes is ichorous, bloody and often offensive.

Asa Foetida same syphilitic miasm may attack the car and the bones of the car. These bones may decay and the hearing be lost.

"Burning in the ear with discharge of foetid pus."

Stitching pains in the ears from within out

"Feeling as if the nose stopped high up, as if he could not breathe through it, with fullness of the head, when riding in a carriage." (Aurum, Aurum Muriaticum ^{Aurum mur}.)

Numbness is a great feature of Asa Foetida, numbness of the scalp, or deep in the head; numbness here and there; numb, dead feeling associated with the pain; numbness after pain; often numbness after sleep.

Other nervous manifestations occur besides those that are hysterical. It has choreic motions. You would expect such a peculiar nervous constitution to have almost everything among its nervous symptoms.

"Constantly chewing and working frothy slime out of mouth, with swollen tongue."

"Speech unintelligible."

"Grinding of teeth; starting at night."

Swelling of the lips, and of the whole buccal mucous membrane, especially the lower lip, with burning in the mouth.

There are syphilitic symptoms in the throat, attended with the usual burning, darting, stitching in ulcers; pain when swallowing; a sensation of a ball rising in the throat, such as occurs in globus hystericus; choking, must constantly swallow.

Hysterical and choreic affections of the oesophagus and trachea. Spasms of the oesophagus. This lump in the throat, or suffocation, is a sort of hysterical spasm of the oesophagus.

"Dryness and burning in the oesophagus."

"Hiccough-like contractions of the diaphragm."

Choreic jerkings of the diaphragm, with expulsion of wind like the sound of a pop-Gun Powder ^gun going off almost every second. It is a condition that the patient has no control over; It is like the shooting off of little, guns forcing loud belching, loud eructations of wind from the stomach.

There are a few symptoms mentioned in the text just here that are worthy of note.

"Pulsation in pit of stomach; perceptible to sight and touch."

"Pressing, cutting, stitching pains."

A queer observation has been made that flatus was not passed downward, but all upwards.

"Eructations; smelling like garlic; tasting rancid, sharp or putrid."

Always horribly offensive. Offensiveness is a characteristic of the remedy. And then there is a

"gone empty feeling in the pit of the stomach," not a pain.

"Pulsations after eating."

"Meteorism of the stomach."

These patients are afflicted with diarrhoea from the slightest indigestion, after any indiscretion in diet, a painful watery diarrhoea.

"Liquid stools of most disgusting smell."

"Blackish-brown papescent offensive stools, which relieve."

"Uterine ulcer sensitive and painful."

Women of feeble, flabby, venous constitutions are subject to hemorrhages and miscarriages. Women who are not pregnant sometimes have the breasts fill up with milk, wonderfully annoying thing, and but few remedies have it; this is one of the few.

It has also deficiency of milk.

"Ten days after delivery milk diminished."

These patients sometimes get hysterical asthma; all sorts of disturbance in breathing, dyspnoea.

"Asthmatic feeling in trachea."

"Asthmatic attacks at least once a day all her life, brought on by every bodily exertion, coition, especially by every satisfying meal."

"Obstinate titillating cough worse at night."

Many of these complaints are worse at night; nightly aggravations. Syphilitic complaints are commonly worse at night and such anti syphilitic remedies as Merc Viv ^Mercurius, Staphysagria ^Staphysagria, Hep Sulph Calc ^Hepar, Nitric Acid ^{Nitric acid}, etc. are all worse at night.

Among the other chest complaints, I will read a few of those that are marked here prominently and are striking ones.

"Pressure and burning of the sternum."

"Compression of chest as from a heavy weight."

"Stitches in chest."

"Single, violent stitches from within outward, at short intervals."

Asa Foetida is full of rheumatism and gouty symptoms; gouty affections in general, in nervous constitutions.

When such a nervous constitution finally produces gouty formations, the nervousness often disappears; for it has been relieved by the deposit in the joints; a transformation scene has taken place.

It is useful in old syphilitics who are subject to eye complaints, ulcers on the eyeball, ulcers on the cornea, ameliorated in the open air, with a sensation of numbness in the eyes.

inflammation of the Iris Versicolor ^iris, with ragged appearance of the Iris Versicolor ^iris.

they are subject also to severe, sharp stitching pains that come from within out.

Asafoetida/b>. Enormous accumulation of flatulence all pressing upward.

Great suffering, especially hysterical, from suppression of discharges. Discharges foetid.

Great sensitiveness to contact; in ulcers, especially periosteal.

Full of wind; flatulence with eructations all pressing upward, but none downward. Seems as if she would burst with the upward pressure, reverse peristalsis.".

"Especially useful if its nervous symptoms come on after the suppression of leucorrhoeal or other habitual discharges." All discharges offensive, even of ulcers, and great sensitiveness to contact or touch. Osteitis or caries with this same exceeding sensitiveness to contact (Hep Sulph Calc ^Hepar). Compare MOSCHUS.

CASTOREUM.

ASAFOETIDA. Valeriana ^VALERIAN.

Ambra Grisea ^{AMBRA GRISEA}. Here are five so-called hysterical remedies. They have many nervous symptoms that are similar, and I will only give a few characteristic symptoms of each and leave their study to those who love to study. These five remedies should be studied together.

Introduction

Asa Foetida in olden times was frequently abused for man and beast. Our grandfathers supposed it was a protection against disease and hence they used it in the stables.

Region

NERVES

Mind

Gullet

Digestive tract

Periosteum Ears

Nose

Tibia

Left side