Æsculus Hippocastanum

Hippocastanum vulgaris. Horse-chestnut. (Northern India and North America.) N. O. Sapindaceæ. Tincture of ripe kernel; trituration of dry kernel. Tincture of fruit with capsule (according to Hering, this is the best).

Clinical

Anus, affections of / Back, affections of / Constipation / Cough / Hæmorrhoids / Headache / Hernia / Intermittents / Jaundice / Liver, affections of / Lumbago / Prostate gland, affections of / Sacrum, pain in / Taste, altered / Throat, affections of / Tongue, affections of / Uterus, prolapse of

Characteristics

Æscul. hip. is a great pile remedy. In some districts it is a popular custom to carry a chestnut in the pocket as a preventive. It produces many symptoms of disordered liver: Malaise; dulness of head and mind; fulness at root of nose. Follicular pharyngitis with dryness; burning; roughness; contraction in throat, as in follicular pharyngitis. There is soreness and fulness in liver region; the abdomen is sore to touch. There is jaundice with bileless stools. Throbbing in abdomen, especially hypogastrium.

The most intense action is on the lower bowel and pelvic organs. There are hæmorrhoids, blind or bleeding; if they bleed it gives relief. Feeling of dryness in rectum as if little sticks or splinters were pricking the folds of mucous membrane; with weak feeling in sacro-iliac joints, as if legs would give way. (Arg. n. has also pain in sacro-iliac joints and sensation as if the bones were loose.) Constipation, stools large, hard, followed by feeling of prolapse of rectum. General aching in lumbar and sacral regions, with stiffness in the back, almost impossible to walk. Tearing in the small of the back and hips.

Poisoning with the green rind of horse-chestnut has produced the following symptoms in a boy: Pupils widely dilated in bright light. Face flushed; pulse full. Drowsy and apparently slept, but the sleep was interrupted at short intervals by sudden awakenings and screams. Great terror as from a dreadful dream, or apparition on opening his eyes. Questioning failed to elicit the cause of his terror.

Æsc. h. patients are, as a rule, despondent and irritable. Walking greatly < all symptoms. Cold air and cold seasons <; nose and throat very sensitive when inhaling; < after washing. > Summer; < winter (hæmorrhoids).

Relations

Compare: Æsc. gl., Alo., Collins., Merc., Nux v., Pod., Sul. Nux v. antidotes the pile symptoms. It follows well: Collins, Nux v., Sul. Compare also: Kali bi. (throat; but Æsc. h. has not the stringy mucus); Phytolacca (follicular pharyngitis).

1. Mind

Depressed; gloomy; low-spirited; irritable. Loses temper easily, regains it slowly. Unable to fix his attention.

2. Head

Dull pressure in forehead; slight nausea in stomach, followed at once by stitches in right hypochondrium. Severe lancinating headache at base of brain, as if too full; tympany; tongue white. Confused feeling, with giddiness; < rising from a seat. Frequent flying pains through the temples. Flushes of heat over the occiput, neck, and shoulders. Head too heavy to hold up without balancing; all head symptoms accompanied by hæmorrhoidal, rectal, or sacral symptoms.

3. Eyes

Weight in the eyes; they feel heavy and dull. Eyes feel heavy and hot; balls sore. Painful aching over l. eye. Flickering before the eyes.

5. Nose

Stinging and burning in posterior nares and soft palate. Dryness of posterior nares and throat; sneezing, followed by severe coryza. Pain in r. nasal bone; soreness in l.

6. Face

Pale, miserable appearance. Flying heat and redness of l. side of face. Face swells enormously after washing in water.

8. Mouth

Tongue coated white or yellow. Thick yellow phlegm in the mouth. Taste sweet; bitter; metallic (coppery, with salivation). Tongue feels as if it had been scalded.

9. Throat

Pricking, formication, burning and stinging in fauces; shooting in l. side. Feeling as if something had lodged in fauces causing constant inclination to swallow. Feeling of dryness and roughness (or rawness and burning) in throat, as from taking cold. Constrictive feeling in fauces. Neuralgic pains in fauces. Dark congested fauces with a full feeling and irritation. Sore throat, chronic, with hæmorrhoidal difficulty.

11. Stomach

Belching, nausea, vomiting. Violent vomiting; great burning distress in the stomach. Heartburn and gulping up of food after eating. Pressure as from a stone in pit of stomach. Eructations of wind; empty.

12. Abdomen

Tenderness in the right hypochondrium. Much distress in liver and epigastrium. Fulness in liver and abdomen. Constant severe aching from pit of stomach to r. lobe of liver. Abdomen and liver region tender to touch. Sensation of fulness, flatulency, and colicky pains; hæmorrhoidal colic. Emission of fetid flatus; rumbling in bowels. Cutting in r. inguinal region (hernia).

13. Stool and Anus

Dry, uncomfortable feeling in rectum as if it were filled with small sticks. Soreness, burning, itching, raw feeling, and fulness at anus. Pain like a knife sawing backwards and forwards through anus. Hæmorrhoids like ground nuts, purple; painful sensation of burning; generally blind; aching and lameness or shooting in the back. Hæmorrhoids blind and painful; rarely bleeding; < standing or walking. Stool hard, dry, and passed with difficulty. Sensation of rigid hardness before stool. Stools hard and black; natural consistence and white. Backache after a difficult, large, and hard stool. Prolapsus ani after stool. Several large piles which seem to block up the rectum, little or no bleeding, great suffering, constipation. Chronic diarrhœa, with characteristic backache or hæmorrhoids. Piles develop and become particularly troublesome in climacteric years.

14. Urinary Organs

Pain in region of l. kidney. Frequent scanty urination. Urine dark and muddy; dark-brown sediment; yellow, with thick mucous sediment. Urine hot.

15. Male Sexual Organs

Discharge of prostatic fluid at every stool, and at micturition; seminal loss during sleep. A variety of suffering about the generative organs.

16. Female Sexual Organs

Inflamed cervix uteri, retroversion, prolapsus, enlargement and induration, when characterised by great tenderness heat and throbbing. Old cases of leucorrhœa, of a dark yellow colour, thick and sticky, worse after menstrual period, increased by walking, corrodes the labia, with aching in the sacrum and knees. Uterine soreness with throbbing in hypogastrium. During pregnancy sacro-iliac symphysis gives out while she walks; must sit down; feels best lying.

17. Respiratory Organs

Short cough, increased by swallowing and breathing deeply. Hoarseness. Raw feeling in chest. Tightness in chest. Abundant raising of mucus in morning. Cough, with sensation of stiffness in the throat and suffocation in the upper chest. Oppression, stitches, soreness and other troubles of chest. Catarrhal affections causing hoarseness and cough.

19. Heart

Twitching over region of heart. Stitches and neuralgic pains in region of heart, esp. apex; and forehead. Functional disturbances of the heart from hæmorrhoidal complaints.

20. Back

Constant backache affecting the sacrum and hips, very much aggravated by walking and stooping forward; almost impossible to rise after sitting down. Back gives out when walking. Aching between the shoulders. Spine feels weak. The sacrum, back, neck, head, chest, heart, and abdomen, all seem in remarkable sympathy with the rectum and its vessels.

22. Upper Limbs

Rheumatic pains in r. scapula and r. side of chest; worse during inspiration. Shooting, drawing, and tearing pains in shoulders, arms, hands, and fingers. Paralytic feeling in arms, legs, and spine.

23. Lower Limbs

Legs so weak she can hardly walk. L. knee swollen, painful, stiff; cannot bear slightest pressure. Tendo Achillis sore.

24. Generalities

Paralytic feeling in arms, legs, and spine. Feels faint, weak, and weary. Disposition to stretch and yawn. Fulness in various organs, as if they contained too much blood. Mucous dry, swollen; burn and feel raw.

27. Fever

Chill at 4 p.m.; fever from 7 to 12 p.m. During fever no thirst, bursting headache, photophobia, profuse hot sweat, heart beats violently.