.When drinking, the oesophagus seems, to have no action and the
7ao
fluid does not go down but passes out through the nose ; a paresis ;
fluids go down the wrong way or out through the nose.
Weakness of limbs and muscles ; weakness and paralysis.
Often there is a state of peace. Wants to be let alone. She tells
you she is not sick; and yet she has a temperature of 105-106®, is
covered with a scorching hot sweat, has a rapid pulse ; is delirious.
You ask her how she is and she says she is perfectly well and happy ;
no pains or aches ; wants nothing and has no symptoms. But thtJ
nurse tells you that the patient has passed no stool or urine. The
face looks besotted, bloated, purple : the eyes are glassy and the pupils
contracted. The brain is in a state of confusion, yet she can answer
questions. Or the mental symptoms may be more marked and the
physical condition less prominent ; there is confusion of mind, delirium, loquacity, but this is rare, more commonly only talks when
aroused ; a condition of stupor in which the patient will say nothing
and do nothing. Delirium with a happy turn of mind.
The stomach is in a state of undue warmth, sinking, all-gone,
hungry, and this is not ^relieved by eating. He fills the stomach full
and yet the faint feeling remains. The food sours in the stomach
and is vomited. He can take no more food. He becomes covered
with a cold sweat ; great exhaustion ; nausea, retching and the vomiting continues. This nausea is a troublesome symptom following the
administration of Opium or Morphine. It is a prolonged vomiting
and nausea. He can take nothing into the stomach and nothing will
stop the vomiting for him. The homoeopath knows the use of Chamomilla and one dose will give wonderful relief at once and stop the
deathly sinking and nausea.
There is never any use for the crude Opium in the sick room. In
surgery at times it is admitted that something seems necessary, and
we will not quarrel with the surgeon. But in disease, in sick people,
k is not necessary. It performs no use and in the end it is an injury ;
it prevents finding the homoeopathic remedy. It has masked tho
symptoms and spoiled the case, and you cannot do anything for days.
Opium has been much abused and much has been learned about it,
but this abuse has not helped much in its proving, for the individualizing symptoms arc not obtained. Big doses cause gross effects, and
the symptoms thus obtained arc sometimes useful, e, g., in cerebral
apoplexy with stertorous breathing, jaw dropped, pupils dilated or
contracted, generally the latter, face mottled, purple, or hot, hot sweat,
one sided paralysis. You would wonder on seeing such a case whether
he had been paralyzed, had Opium, injured himself in a fall or had
been indulging in the bottle, and you would examine the case to distinguish. This is a mechanical trouble, there is pressure of blood on
tht bmin. .. This alone may not -kUl-but ]fttx on- inflammatoty faction