| The following case serves to bring out the point
of this paper.
CLINICAL CASE
Miss L.D.,aet I8, brunette type.
Dull pain over eyes, aggravated by sunlight and motion, by loss
of sleep and by sewing, or reading; ameliorated by stool along with
the headache. Swelling of upper eyelids worse in the morning.
Sometimes a bad taste in the mouth.
Menses irregular, profuse, dark; feels tired and weak; is addicted
to eating cloves.
In hot weather sweats profusely and easily about the head and chest,
sweat stains yellow; is very susceptible to cold.
Cough provoked by oppression of breathing and by talking.
Is afflicted with right-sided deafness from a former catarrh; had
typhoid fever two years ago, at which time she was allowed unlimited
quantities of ice; preceding the fever had a post-auricular eczema
suppressed by salves; is now anaemic and bloated.
A urinary analysis showed the following condition: small round
and spindle form epithelium present, pavement form in quantity,
chlorides I8 per cent, calcium oxalate a quantity; traces of albumin.
The first two prescriptions for this case were flat failures, then
Glonoin helped for about a week when it also refused to act. This
was a hint, however, to lead me in the right direction which I reasoned
out thus: here was some help from a nitrate, a vasomotor remedy,
the kidneys show albumin, probably due to the clove habit in part,
the excess of chlorides with calcium oxalate point to a faulty digestion;
now if I am able to select a remedy which affects the vasomotor
system the kidneys and the digestive tract conjointly, a cure is
almost certain. Strontium irritates both the kidneys and the intestines
and its nitrate combines vasomotor effects.
For these reasons I gave Strontium nitrate 6x prepared by myself;
in a few days the headache vanished, at the end of a month the post-auricular
eruption returned, thus showing its deep antipsoric action; in five
months there has been no return of the oedema or headache, the craving
for cloves is gone and by the way, Nit. acid has all sorts of cravings
for odd things and entered into the prescription in combination
with the Strontium in the form of Strontium-nitrate. The patient
has taken on good flesh and color, although the eruption is not
yet all gone nor will it be for some rime; lately the prescription
has been repeated in order to remove all that is left of the eczema.
Boenninghausen mentions Strontium as an antipsoric and there is
a proving in the Symptomen- Codex copied from Hartlaub and Trinks
Materia Medica, but almost no cures have thus far been recorded
in our literature. Lately the allopaths have used it in various
combinations in Bright's disease, indigestion, rheumatism, nervous
conditions and locomotor ataxia, but through it all the fact shines
transparent as daylight, that they seem to regard the Strontium
as a base with which to combine other drugs like iodine etc., endeavouring
thereby to get a better and milder and less irritating effect from
the latter. Many of these applications really rest on a crude homoeopathic
basis and when the combined gastro-intestinal and nephritic symptoms
groups have been present, they have had striking results. The drug
will stand out, I predict, in the future as a very prominent remedy
in these states.
The purpose of this paper is two-fold; first to point out the
necessity of proving the various Strontium salts, in order that
the most active one may speedily come into use, for we have been
very neglectful of this truly noble drug.
The Magnesium salts formerly found a very limited usefulness,
until Mag. phos., was brought forward by the Schusslerites; now
almost every one prescribes it at one time or another. In a like
manner I predict a brilliant future for Strontium just as soon as
good provings are available. Since treating the above case, I have
successfully relieved a case of passive congestion of the kidneys
with the nitrate. This patient said that although she had always
had homoeopathic treatment for her children, personally she had
never derived the least benefit from it. She obtained complete relief,
and her menstrual flow, which is usually exceedingly scant, became
very profuse; as she is now in her climacteric, the relief was correspondingly
great.
A sciatica with oedema of the left ankle, after refusing to yield
to several remedies, was completely cured by the carbonate; this
oedema of the ankle is a symptom in the original pathogenesis although
I believe it is clinical there; it has been a frequent observation
in practice that severe sciaticas also exhibit concomitant kidney
disturbances, and remedies directed to the combined conditions have
been the most successful.
Whenever we can detect the combination of organs, primarily affected
by a given drug and then define its modalities by means of provings,
we will hold in our hands the key to that ponderous symptomatology
of which we now hear so much complaint.
In a given case the question is not what organ is affected, but
what phase of the disease is exhibited by the combined affected
organs; all authors recognise these varying types of each disease
and it is our special business to detect the remedies which have,
in there pathogeneses a corresponding COMBINATION of affected organs,
after which there remains the modality, which, once determined,
the longest steps have been taken towards the final choice.
Boenninghausen emphasises the following symptoms, which, moreover,
only comprises what I have already pointed out; they also show Strontium
to be a congestive remedy.
VERT1GO, WITH HEADACHE AND NAUSEA. DISTENSIVE PRESSURE IN ENTIRE
HEAD; IN LEFT SIDE OF HEAD.
Heat, heaviness, drawing and sticking in head.
Head symptoms are worse in forehead, occiput and RIGHT SIDE of head,
aggravated in the evening and during vertigo.
BURNING, DRAWING, AND REDNESS IN EYES. Quivering and twitching in
eyebrows.
Sparks before vision, aggravation in the dark.
ITCHING OF NOSE. REDNESS, BURNING, heat and itching of face, itching
of cheeks and
chin; twitching of face and lips, tearing in face.
Aggravation in afternoon and evening.
STICKING, drawing, griping and tearing in teeth, SWELLING OF GUMS.
DRYNESS, heat, numbness and bad odour from mouth; dry palate. RAWNESS,
inflammation, sticking, dryness and pain in pharynx on swallowing.
Increased saliva.
TONGUE DRY, sensitive, sore sensation on; slimy coating, aggravation
on swallowing and in the MORNING.
Loss OF APPETITE, aversion to meat; CRAVES BREAD, BEER. Tastelessness
of food.
NAUSEA, STICKING, cutting, contraction, pressure in stomach, aggravations;
afternoon on inspiration, walking amelioration from eructations
after eating.
ABDOMEN; INFLATED, motions in, burning pressure, squeezing, PINCHING,
CUTTING, twinges, fullness, itching on, aggravation from touch,
stooping, afternoon, rising from sitting, pressure, inspiration,
during menses, amelioration: external warmth.
ST1CKING IN ABDOMINAL RING. RUMBLING AND DISCHARGE OF PUTRID FLATUS.
Diarrhoea, BURNING IN ANUS DURING AND AFTER STOOL, TENESMUS.
BURNING IN ANUS AND RECTUM.
URINE PALE, ammoniacal, DIMINISHED or INCREASED; NIGHTLY URI-NATION.
Menstrual blood watery and clotted. COUGH HACKING, dry, short; with
expectoration; aggravated at NIGHT. STICKING IN CHEST, with cough.
Contractive sensation in chest.
PALPITATION IN THE EVENING. BRUISED PAIN IN LUMBAR REGION. Aggravated.
FORENOON AND EVENING. TEARING PAINS IN SHOULDERS, ELBOWS, WRISTS.
DRAW-ING IN THE FINGERS. AGGRAVATED EVENING AND NIGHT. GRASPING
IN LOWER EXTREMITIES. TEARING PAINS IN LOWER LIMBS. Aggravated on
LYING,
TWITCHING DURING SLEEP.
DISCUSSION
W. M. James M.D.: In regard to the Strontium
salts, the carbonate is an excellent remedy for rheumatic pain in
the shoulder, right side. I have been vainly trying to remember
the particular indication by which I was led to it. I have had several
cases in which there was pain in the right shoulder, for which we
usually give Sanguinaria, Ferrum Muriaticum or Ferrum metarlicum,
all of which are useful in rheumatism in the right shoulder. The
point I wish to make is this: A patient who prided herself upon
her physica1 vigour after some over exertion in climbing mountains,
in which she probably strained her heart, came home with typhoid
fever, high pulse, etc; then came severe pain in the right shoulder.
The pain remained after the fever abated, and became very violent.
I studied the case and finally selected Strontium and in the course
of a week or ten days the improvement was marked and soon the cure
was complete.
I thought that would be a good confirmation of what Dr. Boger has
been saying about the Strontium salts. I have had other cases and
have relieved the pain considerably and restored the shoulder to
use. I will say for Ferrum that it helped me out of a difficult
case of a similar nature. An old woman 76 years of age had a chalk
stone in the shoulder; you could fee1 the stone slightly project
from the socket. The arm was confined to the side, for she could
not move it much without suffering. I gave her Ferrum metallicum
which seemed to release the arm somewhat, and then Ferrum phos.,
and finally Ferrum muriaticum. The result was entire restoration
of the use of the arm.
H. C. Allen M.D.: I am very glad to know that
we have another remedy like Sanguinaria for right shoulder pain.
I wish to thank Dr. Boger for giving us some other indications for
the other salts of Strontium.
B. Le B. Bayries M.D.: I have used Ferrum in
pain and disability in the right shoulder with entire success.
|