Arsenicum iodatum

Volume I — Special Symptomatology

(Arsenici lodium.) Pharmacology. — Gently heat in a tubulated retort placed in a sand bath, a mixture of one part finely pulverized metalic arsenic and five parts iodine. The iudide is afterwards to be re-sublimed, to separate the excess of arsenic. This forms an orange-red volatile solid, which is dissolved by water, and entirely volatilized by heat. Officinal Preparations. — Triturations ; aqueous solutions. Analogues.— Arsenicum, Arum triphyllum, Nitric acid, etc.

Head.

Vertigo.

Dullness of the head, with dull pain in the left malar bone, and occasional slight frontal headache the entire morning.

An exceedingly sharp pain in the forehead and both ears.

Severe frontal headache, with dullness of the entire head in forenoon, with stiffness and soreness of left side of neck; worse on moving the head.

° Chronic, obstinate, scaly eruptions on the scalp. {Hale.)

Face.

Erythematous redness of the face.

Eyes.

Puffiness of the lower eyelids.

An uneasy sensation of tension or stiffness around the eyes. Weakness of the eyes with burning pain — a feeling as if lachrymation would set in.

° Chronic strumous ophthalmia, with ulceration. (Tb-)

Nose.

• Thin, watery, irritating discharge from the nose, from the

anterior and posterior nares.

• Fluent, acrid coryza, with paroxysms of sneezing — worse in

the open air.

• Soreness, rawness and scabbiness in the nostrils.

° Acute and chronic catarrh, with ulceration and inflammation

of the nasal passages and frontal sinuses. c Hay-fever/ the most effectuul remedy after Gelseminum.

(Bale.)

Ears.

Sharp pain in both ears, especially in left ear, when riding in

a sharp cold wind. 0 Chronic otorrhoea, with corrosive sanious discharge. (Ih.)

Mouth, Tongue. Intermittent pain in front right upper molar tooth. White tongue, with edges and tip of a florid, red hue. Salivation, with acrid saliva. 0 Diphtheria maligna.

0 Phagadenic ulceration of the fauces and tonsils.

Stomach and Abdomen.

Severe, burning, lancinating pains in the stomach, with heat of mouth and fauces.

The abdomen is hard and distended with flatus, which is constantly discharged.

Severe, cutting pains in the abdomen, as if he would have a stool; he had no stool, but large quantities of wind escaped; then pains are partially relieved by an escape of flatus, and by the application of warmth to the abdomen. (8 A. M.)

Sharp, cutting pains in the abdomen (at 9 a. m.) which warned him to go to stool; the pains became excruciating, embracing the entire abdomen, and obliging him to bend almost double; after a great deal of straining he passed a large, soft stool, which afforded him some relief. (Br. Blakeley.) [This is the kind of colic cured by Dioscorea. (Hale.)]

° " The most serviceable remedy we have in the diarrhoea of

phthisis.*' (Watson.) ° Chronic diarrhoea, with intestinal ulceration — in cases of

soldiers returned from the army. (Hale.)

Back.

Stiffness and soreness of left side of neck; worse when moving. Soreness of the back, especially of back of neck, as if beaten. ° Burning heat in the back (lumbar region), as if the clothes

were on fire. Itching, especially on the back.

Extremities.

Itching of back of left hand, followed by stinging-itching of back of right hand.

Peculiar chilliness of left thigh, followed by formication and weight in left foot; the clothes when extending the left limb, feel cold; the formication and weight extended to right foot— was partially relieved by walking; the chilliness disappeared from warmth.

Formication on exterior border of left foot, followed by burning in left instep.

Formicating prickling on left ankle, also on right ankle.

Tired, weary feeling in calves of both legs, while kneeling.

Dull, heavy soreness of calf of left leg, afterwards embracing the entire leg; disappearing during active motion, returning when at rest.

Heaviness of the legs, with general weariness.

Chest and Heart.

• Tightness of the chest, with short dry cough. 0 Asthmatic complaints; cardiac asthma. Anxiety in the region of the praecordia. ( Wilson.)

0 Palpitations; in hypertrophy of the heart. (Rale.)

Skin.

Persistent itching all over the body— especially the back h ormicating, prickling i tching on skin of body and extremities. -Erythema— especially in the face.

• Dry, scaly, burning, itching eruptions on various parts of

the body. (Hale) 0 Lepra, impetigo; diseases resembling cancer. (Thompson.)

furans; pityriasis. In the 3d trit. will often give better results than any other preparation of Arsenicum. (Ib.) Fever.

*Hard, full pulse, with puffiness of the lower lids and face;

thick, white tongue, with red tip and edges. 0 Febrile movements attending chronic, irritable eruptions.

Volume II — Special Therapeutics

This preparation of Arsenic has been a favorite remedy in my practice for many years. Its sphere of action is quite decided. I know of no medicine which is so certain in its curative action when prescribed according to its characteristic indication. That indication is sharp and well defined. It is the peculiar and persistently irritating , corrosive character of all the discharges. No matter what the disease is; no matter from what source the discharge arises ; if the discharge irritates the membrane from which it flows, and over which it flows, this medicine is fully indicated. In this respect it resembles Nitric acid , Ailanthus, Arum, Arsenic, and a few others ; but none possess the symptoms as prominently as th is. The discharge is often fetid, not always; it is generally watery, not always ; the mucous membrane, where it has its origin, is always red, angry, and sometimes swollen.

When the discharges (especially in catarrh or influenza) are attended with alternate chills and heat,, I give it alone. When there is heat alone, or chills alone, especially if the chills run up the back, I alternate it with Gelseminum. (Gelseminum has a discharge thin, watery, and profuse, but not corrosive and irritating.)

The diseases in which I have found it useful, and in which it generally acts speedily, are

Epidemic influenza, whether a catarrhal fever, a “bad cold,” or the “ epizootic,” so called. When the “ horse disease ” swept over this country I carefully studied the symptoms as narrated by the newspapers, and I resolved, in case it reached Chicago, I would give the Iodide of arsenic to my horses if attacked. I saw many cases in all stages, and was struck with the similarity of all the symptoms, and the general condition of the animals, to the symptoms of Arsenic, particularly the iodide. I publicly advised its use, and gave it to my horses, and to those of my neighbors, as a prophylactic. The result was that in many cases it cut short the disease when well under way, and prevented, almost entirely, its attacks in those horses to whom it had been given as a preventive. The disease afterwards attacked men, women, and children, and this medicine was the specific remedy in nearly every easel treated,

although, as before mentioned, Gelseminum was of great assistance.

It is the nearest to a specific for catarrhus cestivus, or hay-fever, that we now possess. I have cured many cases of years’ standing ; I have modified many habitual attacks so that they became bearable and did not drive the patients to Mackinaw. And in many epidemics similar to hay-fever it acted magically, sometimes arresting the attacks in a few hours.

In old nasal catarrhs, when the discharge becomes bloody and fetid, scabs and pus come from the nose, and the irritation extends to the throat, the Iodide of arsenic, continued for some time, together with the use of a douche of Glycerin and water, effectually cures. In these cases it is superior to Silica, Hepar sulph., or Kali bich., so highly praised in our text-books.

It is equally valuable in chronic scrofulous ophthalmia, with ulceration ; in otorrhoea with fetid, corrosive discharge ; in corrosive leucorrhoea with too frequent and profuse menses (generally with ulceration of the os) ; in diarrhoea (so common in children and in consumptives), when the evacuations “scald,” irritate, and make the parts sore and excoriated.

In malignant diphtheria, scarlet fever, and small-pox, it should never be forgotten, for it will effect an alteration of the malignant processes quicker and surer than any other medicine.

I have found it of great value in hypertrophy of the heart with dilatation, when the patient was troubled with severe and violent palpitations, with great anxiety in the region of the praecordia, asthma and dry cough.

It has been found very beneficial in aphonia when occurring in thin, impoverished persons, in whom some psoric taint manifests itself in the form of a dry, scaly eruption on the skin.

Cough. — It has cured a chronic dry cough in patients resembling those first described.

Marasmus ought to be cured by this preparation more speedily than by Iodine or Arsenic alone.

Tumors of a malignant character. — Dr. L. B. "Wells, of Utica, N. Y., cured a lady, of forty-nine, of a swollen gland in the left axilla, size of a hen’s egg, hard, and exuding a fluid which formed a hard, brown crust. The tumor was very painful and sensitive

to the touch. The breast of the same side was also enlarged, indurated, and very sore. She also had yellow, bloody}", and irritating leucorrhoea, with swelling of the labia. Iod. of Ars. 6th cured the whole in a few weeks.

In Bright's disease with dropsy, it may prove a better remedy than Ars. alb.

In obstinate eruptions of the shin, it has acted better in my practice than Ars. alb., particularly in dry, scaly, burning, and itching eruptions, such as lepra, impetigo, psoriasis, tinea, furfuraceous pityriasis. Also in old, irritable ulcers, with sanious, corrosive discharge and burning pains. When these affections occur in scrofulous subjects, with swollen lymphatic glands, the Iodide of arsenic is specially useful.

In those sudden attacks of erythema, affecting the head, face, neck, and hands, with intolerable itching and burning, and ending in branlike desquamation, and which I believe to be hay-fever under a masked form, this medicine acts better than Rhus.

My two favorite triturations of this medicine (for I never use it in dilution) are the 3X and 6C, the former for adults, the latter for children and delicate patients of any age.