Kalmia Latifolia - General symptoms - Kent Lectures

GENERAL

General

s The symptoms that indicate Kalmia Latifolia show themselves especially in the muscles, in the tendons, in the joints, along the course of the nerves, in rheumatic complaints.

Pains The pains change about, wandering pains, and they axe aggravated from motion. The sharp pains spread from the centres to the extremities, the wandering pains go downwards, down the arms, down the back and down the legs; from the shoulder to the fingers, and from the hips to the toes.

These pains sometimes shoot like lightning, again they tear along the nerves, along the sciatic and crural nerves, down through the calves. In rheumatic constitutions the pains are dull, tearing, crushing and pressing, and are aggravated by motion and go from the lower to the upper limbs. Motion will bring on the pain or aggravate it when it is present. The head pains are very severe. They often begin in the back of the neck or back of the head, and extend to the top of the head. There are also pains in the front of the head, pains over one or both eyes, tearing neuralgic pains aggravated by heat and motion.

Pains come and go with the sun, that is, they begin in the morning at the rising of the sun and increase till noon, then gradually decline and disappear at sunset. He is incapacitated for mental work when in motion and even when sitting up, but, when lying upon his back perfectly quiet, making no motion, the mind works well and with clearness.

with the slightest motion, however, even of the hand, on comes vertigo and confusion of mind.

Moving about disturbs makes him incompetent. The pains are also worse the first half of the night. With these symptoms there is cardiac trouble of rheumatic origin. The condition has increased until organic disease has come, even hypertrophy of the heart and valves.

You will be guided to it especially if the pains wander from place to place, and if they go from above down wards, if they go from the shoulder down toward the fingers, from the hips toward the feet, or down the spine. It is also suitable in old cases of gonorrhoeal rheumatism when the symptoms agree.

The slightest motion, the slightest effort or exertion brings on the vertigo, and this is due to disturbance of the circulation. The heart is so susceptible to any exertion that disturbance of the circulation of the blood in the brain comes on from the slightest motion.

"In a recumbent posture mental faculties and memory perfect, but, on attempting to move, vertigo."

If the patient persists in moving, nausea and vomiting will follow. It has palpitation, shaking the whole frame, audible, vehement palpitation. He cannot lie on his left side.

It is suitable in old, troublesome, recurrent headaches associated with cardiac affections. A headache will come on daily if the sun comes out, but it will not come on if the day is clouded. He is aggravated from the light of the sun and the increasing brightness of the sun's rays.

In addition to these there are paroxysms of pain that are nightly. These are the bone pains, pains in the shin bones as if the periosteum would be torn off.

Medicines also have such I queer whims. We must study remedies as we would human character. Some of them seem to be extremely whimsical, and it is by knewing these whimsical, strange and peculiar things that we are able to mark the character of the remedy, When we know these peculiari ties we have found the circumstance under which the remedy Works

Kidneys There are kidney affections.

All the organs are related. to each other but especially the heart and kidneys. When the kidneys are not working well, the heart is very often troublesome. All through the varying forms of BrightAEs disease the heart is troublesome.

Difficulties of breathing, difficult heart action, with albuminuria. It will relieve the breathing. Again, associated with kidney affections, we have many eye complaints, difficulties of vision, and these also especially call for Kalmia Latifolia. It is often indicated in Bright's disease, with disturbance of vision, occurring during pregnancy.

Pains For the pains in the eyes, the stitching, tearing pains that occur during kidney disturbance in pregnancy, or during albuminuria, Kalmia becomes a remedy,

Kalmia Latifolia is useful in neuralgia; neuralgia of the eye, neuralgia of the face, violent, tearing pains in the face. Sometimes it takes the form of a nightly worse and sometimes it takes the form of daily worse. The aggravation in the daytime comes and goes with the sun. The worse at night time comes with the lying down.

"Anxious expression of countenance" associated with rheumatism of the heart.

"Flushing of the face, with vertigo."

After the disappearance of a herpetic eruption, violent neuralgic pains, shooting, tearing pains in those nerves that supply the part where the eruption was. When shingles, ring-worm, cold sore, or isolated vesicular eruptions disappear, suddenly from some violent cause or inappropriate treatment, or from catching cold, violent neuralgias come in their place and continue until the eruption comes out again.

Kalmia Latifolia becomes suitable if the symptoms agree; that is, if the whole patient is in agreement with the state of the remedy.

The pains are stitching and tearing, very severe, sometimes cutting and shooting when Kalmia Latifolia is mw useful. The pain will seem to take hold of a nerve and will hold on to it for many minutes, Coming with violence, coming suddenly and letting loose suddenly. Pains come in the extremities in the same way, taking hold as if the nerve were being pinched by nippers, or as if it were being torn to pieces.

"There, now it is gone!" says the patient.

Pretty soon, again, you will see his face in a state of horrible distress. The pain is there again and he cannot move a muscle, and "there, it is gone!" he says, and it remains away for some minutes and sometimes for hours.

"Fluttering of the heart, palpitation of the heart."

"Palpitation up into the throat, after going to bed, trembling all over."

Very slow pulse. I remember a patient, an old syphilitic, who was told if he ever made a violent move he would die, the valves of his heart were so badly affected. He had all the murmurs that it seemed possible from the heart valves.

He had traveled all over and had taken large doses of Merc Viv ^Mercury, and his syphilitic condition had to a great extent been suppressed, until finally the whole trouble had located in the heart. Kalmia removed all the dyspnea and palpitation in a few months, and it was nearly two years before there was a marked return of the symptoms and a repetition put him in a state of health, so that be needed no more medicine.

Kalmia Latifolia shows what a deep-acting remedy Kalmia is, how long it may act, what wonderful changes it may effect. A remedy must be capable of going deep into the life to do such things.

"Wandering rheumatic pains in the region of the heart."

"When articular rheumatism has been treated externally and cardiac symptoms ensue."

Rheumatism that goes from the lower to the upper limbs. Not uncommonly you will meet such things. These "rubbers" that go around the streets with a strong liniment and considerable magnetism frequently do cause a rheumatism to leave the knee joint, and when it does that, the heart is likely to be the organ that suffers.

Then Kalmia, Aurum, Bryonia ^Bryonia, Rhus Tox ^{Rhus tox}., Ledum Palustre ^Ledum, Calc Carb ^Calc. and Abrotanum ^Abrotanum, and sometimes Cactus Grandiflorus ^Cactus, are remedies that prove suitable for such cardiac affections. Rheumatic affections that are driven away in this manner are changed without being cured. The people cannot realize the danger, of merely removing symptoms. Every removal that is not in accordance with cure affects the centres of man, that is the heart and brain.

Rubbing is a dangerous thing. When you are importuned with the question,

"Doctor, will it hurt me to have this rubbed?" you reply, "If rubbing does not affect any change in the symptoms, it will do no harm."

In proportion as it mitigates the symptoms or relieves, just in that proportion it does the patient harm, for the whole vital economy is weakened. There are instances where rubbing is of benefit, but not in rheumatism.

In paralyzed muscles it is a beneficial exercise, for then rubbing can take the place of exercise of the patient himself, of the muscles. But rubbing is not admissible if it is used to reduce pain. The more agreeable it is, the worse, it is for the patient.

In a Phosphorus ^Phosphorus patient you would be astonished what wonderful relief they can get from rubbing. There is no person more inclined to be weak in the vitality, in the internal economy, than the Phosphorus ^Phosphorus patient. He is an excitable, weakly patient, and feels better by rubbing and craves it, but if he has rheumatism in the knees and the knee is rubbed the rheumatism may go to the heart, The Phosphorus ^Phos patient loves to be rubbed, because rubbing relieves the symptoms.

he loves to be magnetized.

"Weariness of all the limbs; shuns all exertion."

"Weakness the only general symptom with neuralgia."

Kalmia Latifolia weakness is a state that you can glean something from. When severe pain is fatiguing the economy the heart is threatened. A general weakness, prolonged weakness after confinement, or from the pain, as we find in Hep Sulph Calc ^Hepar, but with the weakness, these pains are threatening to leave their parts and go to the heart. He is perfectly exhausted and continuously tired.

The text speaks only of Aconite ^Aconite and Belladonna ^Belladonna as the antidotes. Spigelia Anthelmia ^Spigelia follows Kalmia Latifolia very well and antidotes it. Benzoic Acid. ^{Benzoic acid} is a natural complement to it. Calc Carb ^Calc., Lithium Carbonicum ^Lith. carb., Lycopodium ^Lyc., Nat Mur ^{Nat. mur}., and Pulsatilla ^Puls. are the remedies that are closely related and should be compared.