Ambra Grisea

Ambra produces faintness (Moschus), nervousness, jerks, and twitches. Reflex

action is increased. The patient has an embarrassed air; the bashful state is very characteristic in

• ▸certain connections.
• ▸Embarrassed in company.
• ▸Cough worse when many people are present.
• ▸As

• ▸if in a dream.
• ▸Forgetful.
• ▸There is defective reaction in nervous patients.
• ▸Sensation of icy coldness

in abdomen. The pelvic organs are painfully influenced. There is voluptuous itching on the

scrotum and some rawness below the thighs in the male. In the female there is discharge of blood

between the periods at every little accident, as straining at stool or extra work. Severe itching on

pudenda. During urination, itching, tickling, burning of vulva and urethra. Nymphomania, with

discharge of bluish white mucus. In childbed, obstinate constipation and tenesmus with

bashfulness; cannot make the attempt to stool if any one is present, even the nurse. There is a

• ▸tickling, spasmodic cough.
• ▸Cough excited by speaking.
• ▸Night cough.
• ▸Cough followed by copious

• ▸belching.
• ▸Itching in chest.
• ▸The limbs go to sleep easily.
• ▸Finger nails are brittle.
• ▸Sweat on slightest

exertion. Sleepless from worry; retires tired, wakeful as soon as touches pillows. < Warmth; >

• ▸cold; < from overlifting.
• ▸Suited to excitable, nervous children.
• ▸Nervous persons.
• ▸Lean persons.

• ▸Old persons.
• ▸Nervous bilious temperament.
• ▸"Dried-up" nervous persons.
• ▸"Thin, scrawny

women."

• ▸Dread of people, and desire to be alone.
• ▸Cannot do anything in presence of others.
• ▸Intensely shy, blushes easily.
• ▸Music causes weeping.
• ▸Despair, loathing of life.
• ▸Fantastic illusions.
• ▸Bashful.
• ▸Loss of love of life.
• ▸Restless, excited, very loquacious.
• ▸Time passes slowly.
• ▸Thinking, difficult in the morning with old people.
• ▸Dwells upon unpleasant things.

Great restlessness.—Hastiness and nervous excitement when talking.—Memory

impaired.—Slow of comprehension, has to read a sentence over and over again, and then does not

understand; thinking powers are quite impaired—Melancholy.—Inconsolable sadness.—Anxiety,

• ▸esp.
• ▸in the evening.
• ▸—Timidity.
• ▸—Despair, and disgust of life —-Repugnance to laughter and

conversation.—Excitement, agitation, and precipitation, chiefly during intellectual

labours.—Imagination occupied with grinning faces and wanton images.—Absence of

ideas.—Difficult conception.—Embarrassed manner in society; bashful.

Infantile or other spasms.—Cramps and sensation of drawing in the

muscles.—Tearing pains, chiefly in the joints, and often on one side only (from the small of the

• ▸back through the r.
• ▸leg).
• ▸—Spasms and twitches in the muscular parts.
• ▸—Susceptibility to numbness

in various parts.—Many of the symptoms appear during sleep, and diminish after rising.—Many

of the pains are mitigated by walking in the open air, or when lying on the part affected.—In the

evening, and in a warm temperature, many of the symptoms are aggravated —Sensation of

drawing throughout the body.—Incisive pain in the hands and feet.—Inflation and pulsation over

the whole body, with great weakness after walking in the open air.—Ebullitions and pulsations in

the whole body, esp. after walking in the open air.—After having talked much, agitation and

trembling all over the body, with restlessness. —Fatigue, esp. in the morning, in bed, and at night

on waking.—Sensation of numbness and of torpor over the whole surface of the body, chiefly in

the morning.

• ▸Slow comprehension.
• ▸Vertigo, with weakness in head and stomach.
• ▸Pressure on front part of head with mental depression.
• ▸Tearing pain in upper half of brain. Senile dizziness.
• ▸Rush of blood to head, when listening to music.
• ▸Hearing impaired.
• ▸Epistaxis, especially in the morning.
• ▸Profuse bleeding from teeth.
• ▸Hair falls out.

Attack of dizziness, esp. on walking in the open air—Vertigo, which compels the

patient to lie down, with a sensation of weakness in the stomach.—In the morning, headache as

after a nocturnal debauch.—Sensation of weakness in the head, with external shivering.—Pressive

pain in the head, every two days, with heat in the head, burning in the eyes, and paleness in the

face.—Pressure in the forehead, with fear of losing one's reason.—Pressing pain in the forehead

and vertex, with heat in the head, with pale face on alternate days, with fear of losing his

senses.—Pressive squeezing, with perplexity, principally in the forehead and

• ▸occiput.
• ▸—Congestion of blood in the head, esp.
• ▸on hearing music.
• ▸—Acute sensation of drawing in

the head, with ulcers on the scalp.—Dartings in the head.—Pain in the head, as if caused by a

strain from lifting a weight—Pain in the scalp on its being touched, with falling off of the

hair.—The scalp feels sore in the morning, when awaking: this is followed by a sensation of

numbness, extending over the whole body.

Pressure on the eyes, with heaviness, and a sensation as if the eyes were too deep in the

head, with a difficulty of opening them in the morning.—Insufferable tickling round the

eyes.—Itching in the eyelid, as if a sty were being formed.—Inflammatory redness of the

sclerotica, with injection of the vessels.—Confusion of sight, like a mist, and obscurity before the

eyes.

Acute sensation of drawing in the ears.—Tension in the ears —Crawling and tickling in

the interior of the ears —Tinkling and buzzing before the ears.—Increasing deafness; deaf in one

ear, roaring and whistling in the ear.

Spasms in the alze nasi—Nasal hemorrhage, principally in the morning.—Clots or dry

blood in the nose.—Frequent sneezing.—Dryness and stoppage of the nose, with pain, as of

excoriation.—Dry coryza.—Chronic suppression of the nasal mucus.

Redness and heat, sometimes transient, of the face.—Jaundiced face.—Convulsive

movements in the muscles of the face.—Tickling and itching titillation in the face, with eruption

of pimples; the same in the forehead, and in the region of the whiskers.—Red spot on the cheeks,

cramps in the lips.—Cramp of the lower lip.—Hot lips.

In the morning, on waking, dryness and sensation of numbness in the mouth, in the

tongue, and in the lips.—Itching and smarting in the mouth—Vesicles in the mouth, with burning

pain.—Nodosities, with pain, like excoriation, below the tongue.—Tongue coated white, or

greyish yellow.—Offensive smell in the mouth (in the morning).—Ranula.

Drawing, shooting pains, chiefly in the teeth that are carious, and esp. in the open air;

increased by taking anything hot.—Drawing toothache, sometimes on one side and then on the

other.—Bleeding of the gums.—Painful swelling of the gums.

Sensation as of a plug in the throat, with difficulty of swallowing.—Strangling in the

pharynx on swallowing food—Gnawing and scratching in the throat—Accumulation of greyish

mucus in the throat, with inclination to vomit, and vomiting when hawking.—In the morning,

hawking up of mucus.—Asthma in lean and delicate old people.

• ▸Eructations, with violent, convulsive cough.
• ▸Acid eructations, like heartburn.
• ▸Distention of stomach and abdomen after midnight.
• ▸Sensation of coldness in abdomen.

Insipid or rancid taste-—Want of appetite —Sourness in the mouth after taking

milk.—After eating, pressure at the pit of the throat, as if a piece had stopped there.—After eating,

cough and gaping, and a feeling as if food did not go down into the stomach.—Entire

thirstlessness.

Imperfect eructations.—Frequent eructations, often sour, or with the taste of the

food which may have been taken.—Hiccough after having smoked tobacco.—Pyrosis principally

in the evening, or on walking in the open air.—Nausea and vomiting.—Pressure and cramp-like

pain in the stomach.—Sensation of burning in the stomach and in the precordial

region.—Heartburn from drinking milk.

Hepatic pains, most frequently pressive.—Pressive pain in the epigastrium and in

the abdomen.—Heaviness in the belly.—Tension and inflation of the belly, principally after eating

and drinking.—Compression in the belly, sometimes in the morning.—Cutting pains in the

evening, after midnight, and in bed in the morning with diarrhoea —Pain, as from a wound in the

abdominal muscles, on coughing and on turning the body.—Pain in the spleen, as if something

were torn off.—Sensation of coldness in abdomen, sometimes on one side only.—In the evening

sensation of drawing in the abdominal muscles.—Incarcerated flatus.—Flatulent colic in the night.

Constipation and tardy stools.—Fruitless desire to go to stool, with anxiety,

and incapability of enduring the approach of any person.—Irregular intermittent stools, often only

every two days.—Soft, loose, clear-brown stools.—After the stool, pressure in the

abdomen.—Flowing of blood with the stool—Heemorrhoidal excrescences in the anus.—Itching

and tingling in the anus and in the rectum.—Itching, smarting, and stinging at the anus.

In the morning, after getting up, an urgent desire to make

water.—Increased secretion of urine, chiefly at night and in the morning.—Increased secretion of

urine, much more than the amount of the fluid drunk.—Urine of a yellowish-brown, and turbid,

• ▸with brown sediment.
• ▸—Reddish cloud in the urine.
• ▸—Urine tinged with blood.
• ▸—Acid smell from

the urine —Burning in the orifice of the urethra.

• ▸Pain in bladder and rectum at the same time.
• ▸Burning in orifice of urethra and anus.
• ▸Feeling in urethra as if a few drops passed out.
• ▸Burning and itching in urethra while urinating.
• ▸Urine turbid, even during emission forming a brown sediment.

• ▸Nymphomania, Itching of pudendum, with soreness and swelling.
• ▸Menses too early.
• ▸Profuse, bluish leucorrhoea.
• ▸Worse at night.
• ▸Discharge of blood between periods, at every little accident.

Menses too early; and too profuse.—Discharge of blood between

the periods.—During menstruation, increased swelling of varicose veins, with pressure in the

legs.—Leucorrheea thick, slimy, preceded by shooting pains in the vagina.—Running of white-

bluish matter from the vagina.—The leucorrhcea more abundant at night.—Burning, pain of

excoriation, and itching, in the sexual parts.—Violent itching, with swelling of the external parts.

Voluptuous itching of scrotum. Parts externally numb; burn internally. Violent erections without voluptuous sensations.

Voluptuous excitement of, and itching in, the genital parts, without

external cause.—Burning in the region of the spermatic vesicles.—Erections in the morning, with

numbness of the genital parts.—Sore rawness between thighs.—Violent erections in the morning,

without sexual desire, with numbness of the parts.

• ▸Asthmatic breathing with eructation of gas.
• ▸Nervous, spasmodic cough, with hoarseness and eructation, on waking in morning; worse in presence of people.
• ▸Tickling in throat, larynx and trachea, chest oppressed, gets out of breath when coughing.
• ▸Hollow, spasmodic, barking cough, coming from deep in chest.
• ▸Choking when hawking up phlegm.

Cough, with coryza, and expectoration of a whitish and salt

mucus.—Nocturnal cough, excited by excessive tickling in the gullet, cough in the evening, with

pain in the |. side, as if something were torn away.—Spasmodic cough from tickling in the throat

with expectoration of yellowish, or greyish-white mucus, tasting salt or sour, in the morning;

with expectoration in the evening.—Convulsive cough, with eructations and hoarseness.—On

coughing, pressive headache in the temples.—Voice hoarse, harsh, with an accumulation of thick

mucus in the air ducts.—Hoarseness and roughness of the voice, with accumulation of thick,

tough mucus, easily thrown off by coughing. —Cough < by music.

Palpitation, with pressure in chest as from a lump lodged there, or as if chest was obstructed. Conscious of the pulse. Palpitation in open air with pale face.

Breathing short.—Oppression in breathing. —Oppression felt in the chest, and

between the scapulze—Breath fetid in the morning after waking —Wheezing in the

chest.—Painful oppression in the chest and in the back.—Pressure in the chest, chiefly in the

region of the heart.—Sensation of rawness in the chest.—Itching in the chest, and in the thyroid

• ▸gland.
• ▸—Asthma of old people, and of children.
• ▸—At night, trembling in the breast.
• ▸—Palpitation of

the heart, frequently when walking in the open air, with paleness of face, and pressure in the

chest as if a lump were lodged there or as if the chest were obstructed.—Rheumatic pain, as from

a bruise in the chest.

Pressive drawing pain in the nape of the neck, and in the back.—Shooting

pain in the loins.—Stiffness in the loins after sitting long.—Heaviness in the back, with pain in the

belly, as if the intestines were compressed.

The arms become easily numbed, whether they are leant upon or used to

carry something, or even in the night, with sensation of torpor.—Paralytic drawing, as from

dislocation, in the shoulder-joints, in the elbows, in the fore part of the arms, and in the

• ▸hands.
• ▸—Trembling of the arms.
• ▸—Pain in the bone of the elbow when touched.
• ▸—Cramp in the

hands on taking hold of anything.—Prolonged coldness of the hands.—Contraction of the

fingers.—In the evening, attack of trembling in the thumb.—In the morning, the skin at the

extremity of the fingers is wrinkled.—Nocturnal weakness of the fingers.—Itchy tetter between

the fingers.—Itching in the palms of the hands.

Sensation of torpor in the legs, with an unsteady walk.—Sensation of

contraction in the (r) thigh, the limb seems to be shortened.—Nervousness of the

legs.—Heaviness, stiffness, and weakness of the legs —Cramps in the legs, and at night in the

calves of the legs.—Acute drawing pain in the legs, from the os sacrum to the feet, with

incapability of supporting the foot on the ground: the affected leg seems shorter than the

other.—Excoriation in the hams, with pain, principally in the evening.—Tingling in the calves of

the legs and in the feet—Arthritic pains in the joints of the feet and in the great toes —Tightness

in the joints of the feet.—Pain, as of ulceration, in the soles of the feet when walking.—Burning in

the soles of the feet.—Itching of the inside of the soles of the feet—Swelling of the

feet.—Shooting pains in chilblains on the toes.—Pain, as of excoriation, in the corns.

Cramps in hands and fingers, worse grasping anything. Cramps in legs.

Itching and soreness, especially around genitals. Numbness of skin. Arms "go to sleep".

• ▸Dry, itching burning.
• ▸—Burning herpes.
• ▸—Suppressed eruptions.
• ▸—Itching, and sensation

of burning in several parts of the skin, as from the itch—Tetters and itchy eruptions appear

during the use of this medicine.—Dryness of the skin.—Burning tetters.

Cannot sleep from worry; must get up. Anxious dreams. Coldness of body and twitching of limbs, during sleep.

Inclination to sleep during the day.—Restlessness at night—Worriment from business

embarrassments.—A gitated sleep, in consequence of cold in the body, and a sensation of drawing

in the limbs.—Sleep, with anxious dreams and reveries.—On sleeping, startings with fright.

Pulse accelerated with ebullitions—Chill in the forenoon, with weakness and

sleepiness, better after eating —Flushes of heat, returning every fifteen minutes, worse towards

evening.—Feverish shivering in different parts, followed by heat in the face.—Transient heat,

sometimes with anxiety at the heart—Perspiration from slight exertion, esp. on the abdomen and

on the thighs.—Nocturnal sweat, particularly on the diseased side, after midnight.

• ▸Anus, irritation of: Asthma.
• ▸Bashfulness.
• ▸Brain, softening of.
• ▸Cardiac asthma.

• ▸Convulsions.
• ▸Cough.
• ▸Deafness.
• ▸Emaciation.
• ▸Epistaxis.
• ▸Face, pimples on.
• ▸Hysteria.
• ▸Jaundice.

• ▸Menstrual irregularity.
• ▸Music, intolerance of.
• ▸Nervousness.
• ▸Nymphomania.
• ▸Pruritus vulve.

• ▸Puerperal convulsions.
• ▸Ranula.
• ▸Reaction defective.
• ▸Spleen, pain in.
• ▸Tympanites.

• ▸Compare: Moschus (faintness; hysteric asthma); Castor.
• ▸, Asaf.
• ▸, Pso.
• ▸and Valer.

• ▸(defective reaction); Coca (bashfulness); Kali bro.
• ▸, Nux v.
• ▸(increased reflexes); Calc.
• ▸, Nat.
• ▸c.

• ▸(coldness in abdomen); Act.
• ▸r.
• ▸(night cough); Nux v.
• ▸(thin, nervous persons); Ars.
• ▸(Asthma);

Phos. (asthma, nervous excitability; "irritable weakness"; slender build); Bov. (flow of blood

• ▸between the periods); Lach.
• ▸and Sep.
• ▸(< from overlifting); Coff.
• ▸, Chi.
• ▸, Ign.
• ▸, Sul.
• ▸, Puls.
• ▸, Staph.
• ▸;

• ▸Sec.
• ▸(scrawny women).
• ▸Antidoted by: Camph.
• ▸, Coff.
• ▸, Nux v.
• ▸, Puls.
• ▸, Staph.
• ▸Antidote to: Staph.

(especially the voluptuous itching of scrotum); Nux v.

• ▸Do not confound with Amber-Succinum q v.
• ▸Moschus frequently follows advantageously.
• ▸Compare: Oleum succinum (hiccough).
• ▸*Sumbul; Castor; Asaf; Crocus; Lilium.

Second and third potencies; may be repeated with advantage.

swered, a flitting, flighty talker, who does not seem to realize that I

have not answered his questions ; that patient, I say to myself, needs

Ambra grisea. That state of mind belongs to modern society women

in such great frequency that you will be astonished to note it on all

hands. A modern society belle that could not darn the heel of her

stocking to save her soul will in a few years get into just that state,

and even Ambra will not cure her. But there is a kind of nervous

sickness manifested by these symptoms that Ambra grisea will cure.

Alternation of depression of spirits with vehemence of temper is another feature. That naturally belongs to old age. A period of greatest excitability is often followed by depression, a state of indifference

to all things, to joy, to grief, to people etc., treating with indifference

things that would naturally break the heart of a well-balanced person.

He does not even wonder why he is not excited over these wonderful

things, so decided is the state of indifference. Many of the complaints

are worse in the morning. He gets up with confusion and dulness of

mind and is in a dreamy state and towards evening he takes on symptoms of insanity.

Ambra is one of the most frequently indicated medicines in simple,

nondescript vertigo of old men. So dizzy that they cannot go out on

the street ; so dizzy upon getting up in the morning that they must

wait a while until they can get around on their feet. It is the dizziness belonging to senility and to premature old age. Now, when this

man undertakes to meditate upon something his ideas are whisked

away. It is a sort of confusion with vanishing of ideas. He has to

make an unusual effort a few times to bring his thoughts back tothe place before he can concentrate the mind to meditate upon some

idea. But while concentration of the mind is dilBcult, he is compelled

to sit and dwell upon the most disagreeable things that force themselves

upon him and he cannot get rid of them. It is somewhat analogous

to Natrum mur,, but the peculiar feature of the Natr, mur, is that she

delights to dwell upon past unpleasant occurrences and lies awake at

night thinking about them. Ambra grisea is forced to dwell upon

such things. Images, false faces, hideous imaginations, fancies and

visions annoy him and keep him awake. In the semi-dreamy state he

is kept holding up before his mind these grimaces. Such a state of

mind may come on from business embarrassments with vertigo, congestion to the head and brain fag.

One thing running through this remedy is that the presence of other

persons aggravates the symptoms ; also the marked aggravation from

conversation, A woman, when attended by a nurse, is unable to have

a stool without sending the nurse into another room. In spite of much

straining she can do nothing unless alone. It is said in Natr, mur,

that the patient cannot urinate in the presence of other persons. The

AMBHA GRtSKA

n

urine will not start when anyone is around. That is a sort of general

feature of this remedy. ConJfusion of mind and embarrassment in the

presence of other persons. Embarrassment in company. As soon as

he goes into campany there is flushing, trembling, nervous excitement

and the thoughts vanish. With these symptoms the patient imagines

that he is going out of his mind, and finally he settles down into a

state of melancholy, sadness and despair, and does not want to live.

He loathes his life and wants to die. '‘Great sadness.*' “Melancholy,

sits for days weeping.*' Such is the mental state of this prematurely

old patient with broken down constitution. It is a picture of a wreck

and the question will arise when you find a patient that looks and acts

in this way whether you have received him in time to cure him. You

readily sec you have before you one who is going down hill and going

into insanity of one form or another. A physician sees the forenmner

of a great breakdown when he secs an Ambra grisca patient with the

nervous mental state, the quivering, trembling and excitement in one

who was once a strong, vigorous man. Some great business or domestic shock has come upon this patient. It is not the aspect you see

when phthisis is coming on ; you do not see the cachectic condition, but

it is a prostration of the nervous system, a mental prostration. A man

goes through the trial of one death after another in the family and

there seems to be nothing remaining ; he cannot look at it philosophically ; he has lost his business and his friends and then he takes on

dreaminess and wonders whe&er life is worthing living. Then it is you

get the Ambra grisea aspect

Many of the complaints oomc on in the morning and many come on

after eati?ig, “Vertigo with feeling of weight on vertex ; worse after

sleep," but especially in the morning. It is not mentioned in the text,

but it is also worse after eating. “Had to lie down on account of

vertigo and feeling of weakness in stomach."

Running through the nervous symptoms we have music is intoler^^

able; music makes him tremble, aggravates his mental symptoms and

gives him pain in the back as from a hammer. A number of physical

symptoms are brought out by listening to music. The tones seem as

if they were a material substance taking hold of him.

Complaints are often one-sided; perspiration on one side of the

body or perspiration on tlie affected side. “On right side of head, a

spot where hair when touched pains as if sore." The same sensation

is in the skin, oversensitive to touch. “Scalp feels sore in the morning when awaking ; this is followed by a sensation of numbness." The

word numbness you will find running through the complaints. You

will find a peculiar kind of numbness, such as belongs to old people.

Diminished sensibility of the parts ; feeble circulation.

Again, we find under the eye symptoms, “Dulncss of viaion as if

lO

AKIBRA GRtSEA

from looking through a mist/’ There is dimness of vision coming on

without any condition in the eye that would justify it. It is a nervous

dimness of vision, a senile paralysis coming on. ‘Itching on eyelid

as if a sty was forming/’ Itching is felt all over the body ; itching

in all the little openings.

Among the symptoms that are not in the text and that are decided

symptoms belonging to this remedy are, ‘‘Pressing headache starting

from both temples, drawing and tearing in the head, no and fro.

Shooting through the head, lancinating, cutting pains, worse on exertion, better from quiet and lying. Headache when blowing nose.

Pressing pain in the left frontal eminence and in the eye. Burning in

the right eye and in the eye-lids. Tearing in short streaks in and upon

the right eye, pressure on the left eye brow, shooting, aggravated after

eating ; lachrymation.” These are in the original provings, but not in

the text ; they have been left out. This is the case all through the

Guiding Symptoms ; important symptoms w^erc left out because it was

necessary to cut down the work.

• ▸“Hearing decreases.
• ▸” Dulness of hearing without any organic affection of the ear.
• ▸So perverted is his ability to hear that music aggravates his symptoms, that is through the nerves of hearing.
• ▸“Listening

to music brings on congestion to head.” Music aggravates his cough.

Think of one commencing to cough simply because he hears music I

What a strange thing that is! Calcarca has such sensitiveness that

the stroke of the piano is painful in parts, especially in the larynx.

This remedy is full of bleeding. Copious bleeding from the nose in

the morning. There we get the morning aggravation again. We get

the idea of the feeble circulation Ijccause of the easy oozings from

mucous membranes. “Copious nose bleed early in bed.” “Dried blood

gathered in nose.” “Long continued dryness of the nose, frequent

irritation as from sneezing.” In the nose an old, dry catarrh with

atropic condition of the mucous membrane. The nose inside becomes

shiny and withered.

Dryness of the mouth without thirst. Biting pain in the throat

between the acts of swallowing. Rawness in the throat. The throat

complaints are worse in the morning. Complaints are worse after

eating and worse from warm drinks, especially from warm milk.

“After eating, cough and gagging.” There is a peculiar combination

of symptoms about the throat. Dryness and accumulation of mucus

in the throat which he tries to expel, and when making an efEort to

cough out the mucus he gags and sometimes vomits. Vomiting from

cough. Weakness at the pit of the stomach after every evacuation ;

an “all-gone” feeling in the pit of the stomach. Pressure deep in the

region of the liver ; worse in the morning ; worse after eating ; worse

after stool. Distension of the abdomen with great flatulence^ espe-

AMBRA GRtSEA

dally after eating. Some symptoms are worse after drinking. Sometimes these complaints come on in the middle of the night, rousing

him up with rumbling and cutting in the bowels. The abdomen is

cold ; it feels as if the whole inside of the abdomen were cold. At

other times the coldness seems to be on one side of the abdomen.

Inveterate constipation in old persons, and espedally when it is impossible to have anyone near at the time of stool. “Frequent ineffectual desire for stool ; this makes her very anxious ; at this time presence of other persons becomes unbearable.” After the normal stool

there is pressure in the abdomen or a sense of emptiness and weakness in the abdomen which is better after passing flatus or eructation.

Bloody urine with red sediment in the urine. Urine when emitted

• ▸is clouded, yellowish-brown and deposits a brownish sediment.
• ▸“Soursmelling urine.
• ▸” The urine is copious.
• ▸“During urination burning,

smarting, itching and titillation in the urethra and vulva.” “Sore

rawness between the thighs.” “Voluptuous itching on scrotum.”

“Violent morning erections without desire,” with numbness of the

genitals. The symptoms are most erratic, as much so as in Ignatia

and Natr. mur. Taken as a whole they can be reconciled, but taken

a few at a time they seem wonderfully inconsistent. You must get the

whole remedy in order to comprehend it.

Copious discharge of blood between the menstrual periods. “Discharge of blood between periods at every little accident.” Discharge

of blood from the vagina from pressing at hard stool ; even from a

walk that is a little too lox^ or from too great exertion. “During

menses left leg becomes quite blue from distended varices, with pressive pain in leg.” “Lying down aggravates uterine .symptoms,” quite

an unexpected thing. Menses too early and too profuse. “Menses

appear seven days before time,” and then comes that horrible itching

of the genitals ; “soreness and itching with swelling of labia.”

Another marked feature of this remedy that you might expect with

all this nervous excitement and prostration is dyspnoea with cardiac

symptoms, difficult breathing, a sort of asthma. It comes on from any

little exertion. Asthma on attempting coition.

“Itching, scraping and soreness in larynx and trachea.” “Titillation in throat, larynx and trachea.” Everywhere there is itching, and

the itching is very often a form of crawling. “Asthma of old people

and children,” in feeble, tremulous, weakly ones. “Whistling in chest

during breathing.” “Spasmodic cough.” “Violent spasmodic cough

with frequent eructations and hoarseness** A good deal of this cough

is of nervous origin. It is a cough with excitement, with nervousness,

with trembling, which would make one of considerable experience

wonder if that patient did not have brain and spinal cord trouble.

Nervous cough, such as occurs often in spinal irritation. Cough from

AMMONmM CARBONICUM

constriction of the larynx followed by copious flow of white mucus.

This is a paroxysmal cough, much like whooping cough. Asthmatic

dyspnoea from any little exertion, from music, from excitement.

Cough with congestion of blood to the head. Cough from thinking

and from anxiety.

It is not very long after these symptoms show themselves before

this patient will emaciate and wither, until the skin looks like dried

beef. With all he is a tremulous and shaky patient.

He complains a great deal of tearing pressure deep in the left side

of the chest. Sensation of rawness in the chest and itching in the

chest. Titillation and itching, moving about here and there if he tries

to touch the place and scratch it.

You will not be surprised to know that this patient suffers from

palpitation of the heart upon slight exertion, from excitement, from

music, from any effort to put the mind on anything, with trembling

and quivering. And this palpitation he notices even to the extremities ;

he throbs all over. His extremities pulsate. He is conscious of his

arteries everywhere and the palpitation of his heart causes oppression

of breathing.

The limbs easily become numb ; pressed upon in the slightest manner they go to sleep ; go to sleep on being crossed. Coldness, trembling and stiffness of the extremities. The finger nails become brittle

and are shrivelled. The arms go to sleep when lying down. “Sore

and raw between the thighs and in hollow of knees. Heaviness of

lower limbs, paralytic weakness ; the patient is growing old ; senility

is coming on. This remedy has cured the premature trembling that

comes on in middle-aged persons. It has cured the ^'going to sleep''

and numbness and feeble circulation with loss of muscular power. It

is very suitable in children who are excitable and nervous and weak.

“In lean persons." “Old persons and childen."