Drosera rotundifolia

LARYNGITIS.

Drosera. Hoarseness with very deep bass voice. Much cough especially after midnight; especially if it becomes spasmodic like whooping cough. The cough, also like the voice, has a deep trumpet tone, something like that of Verbascum, but the latter goes lower down than the larynx.

PERTUSSIS (Whooping Cough).

If, instead of becoming loose and wheezing, it continues dry and hard, and hurts the head and stomach or abdomen, is < in the morning or after eating, Nux vomica is better. Belladonna and Nux vomica given early in the case will sometimes so modify it as to need very little medicine afterwards. If the case does not come to us until after the whooping stage is already on, there are a large number of remedies which will have to be chosen from. If the case is in a young child, the cough is violent and the child becomes stiff during the paroxysm, it chokes and swallows as if trying to swallow something down; it looks pale with pale streaks around mouth and nose rubs its nose, urine profuse or milky after standing awhile, we have a case for Cina, which will often do wonders. With Drosera the paroxysms are very violent, drawing the whole abdomen spasmodically inward, vomiting of food or mucus, and bleeding from the nose, and sometimes the mouth.

PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS.

Drosera and Spongia are especially to be remembered in laryngeal cases. They with Hepar sulph. and Causticum (already considered) form a quartette of which the homœopathist may well be proud. The old school do not know their great value. With Drosera there is hoarseness, voice hoarse, deep, requires exertion to speak, only able to speak in a deep bass voice. Tickling in the larynx causing cough, hurts so that the patient supports the larynx on coughing or swallowing. Soft, hard or green expectoration. Laryngeal phthisis, with hoarseness and emaciation. Deep sounding, trumpet-toned cough (Verbascum). Sometimes spasmodic with retraction of the muscles of the abdomen; must hold on with the hands. The cough is < by lying down, laughing, singing, talking and after midnight. There may be stitching in the chest when sneezing or coughing, like Bryonia. The most characteristic symptoms are the deep bass sound of voice and cough, and the constriction of the muscles of the chest and abdomen. Drosera is particularly useful in those cases of consumption, which come on after measles.

COUGH.

Character—Deep sounding (Verbasc.) hoarse cough; spasmodic cough, with great constriction in chest and hypochondria, so that the patient has to support these parts with his hands; spasmodic cough with retching and vomiting.

Aggravated—< by warmth; drinking, tobacco, smoke; laughing; singing; weeping after lying down, after midnight or in the morning.

Concomitants—Low, hoarse, deep bass voice; constriction of the larynx; sensation as of a feather in larynx, constant tickling, preventing sleep.

This remedy with Ipecac and Cuprum form a trio of remedies for spasmodic coughs similar to whooping cough, which is very valuable, and we might add Cina to make a quartette. Drosera and Cuprum are equally spasmodic, Ipecac has more mucus and asthmatic wheezing, and Cina the so-called worm symptoms. I do not find great difficulty in choosing between them.

But Drosera is also a great remedy for chronic or acute laryngeal troubles, and the choice may here be between it and Hepar sulph. and Causticum. All have great hoarseness, but the deep bass voice stands strongest under Drosera. Laryngeal or even pulmonary phthisis may be warded off or cured by these remedies if not too far along.