Oxalicum Acidum
By Constantine Hering — The Guiding Symptoms of our Materia Medica
Sorrel Acid. H 2 C 2 O 4 , 2 H 2 O.
Introduced by Neidhard in 1844 ; by Reil in 1851.
Provings by Koch, Neidhard, Dubbs, Smith, Floto, Williamson, Kitching, Hering, Reil, Honigberger, Pehrson and Gosewich. See Hering's Amerikanische Arznei Prüfungen. Toxicological reports are numerous.
CLINICAL AUTHORITIES.
- Pain in umbilical region , Moore, Organon, vol. 3, p. 269 ; Burning in abdomen , Okie, Amer. Arznei Prüf., p. 552 ; Colic , Briry, Organon, vol. 3, p. 362 ; Inflammation of bowels , Neidhard, Amer. Arnzei Prüf., p. 522 ; Ineffectual urging to stool, Diarrhœa , Farrington, Organon, vol. 3, p. 99 ; Incontinence of urine , W. M. J., Hom. Phys., vol. 6, p. 232 ; Disorders of pregnancy , Williamson, Amer. Arznei Prüf., p. 548 ; Congestion of left lung, Pneumonia , Burnett, B. J. H., vol. 35, p. 321 ; Irregular action of heart , C. Hg., Amer. Arnzei Prüf., p. 561 ; Analyt. Therap., vol. 1, p. 222 ; Palpitation of heart , Hale, Organon, vol. 2, p. 222 ; Angina pectoris , Dudley, Hah. Mo., vol. 6, p. 70 ; Cerebro-spinal pains (2 cases), Burnett, B. J. H., vol. 35, p. 519.
MIND [1]
Diminished power to concentrate ideas.
Very much exhilarated ; quicker thought and action.
As soon as he thinks about the pains they return.
Mania.
Aversion to talk ; with headache, fulness in face.
SENSORIUM [2]
Vertigo : with darkness before eyes and sweat ; weakness and thirst ; anxiety, headache and sweat ; when looking out of window ; when rising from a seat ; a swimming sensation, when lying down.
Sensation of emptiness in head, faint feeling, as if all blood had left brain.
Upper part of body, particularly head, feels as if blood were coursing upward and outward.
INNER HEAD [3]
Dulness in forehead in morning.
Dull headache of vertex and forehead, heaviness.
Burning sensation at forehead.
Headache in spots ; pressing pain on small spots.
Compression in head, as from a screw behind each ear.
Pain at a spot between vertex and occiput, pressing inwardly.
Headache < after wine, lying down, after sleep and on rising ; > after stool.
OUTER HEAD [4]
Small spots on head painful to touch.
SIGHT AND EYES [5]
Type blurs when reading.
Vanishing of sight, with giddiness and sweat ; with nosebleed.
Small, especially linear objects appear larger and more distant.
Pain in both orbits, < in left.
Bleared eyes.
SMELL AND NOSE [7]
Sneezing, with chilliness ; with watery coryza.
Red, shining swelling of right side of nose, beginning at tip and spreading.
Stitches in right nostril on taking a long inspiration.
Pimples in right side of nose ; wing of nose swollen.
Epistaxis, with vanishing of sight.
UPPER FACE [8]
Face pale and livid.
Pale color with sunken eyes.
Feeling of heat in face.
Feeling of fulness in face ; face redder.
Face covered with cold sweat.
LOWER FACE [9]
Drawing pain, with rigidity near angle of lower jaw, first and longest in left then in right side.
TEETH AND GUMS [10]
Pain in decayed molar.
Gums bleed, are painful in spots.
Small ulcers on gums.
TASTE, SPEECH, TONGUE [11]
Sour taste.
Tongue : swollen, sensitive ; red, dry, burning ; swollen, with a thick, white coating ; coated white, with nausea, thirst and loss of taste.
INNER MOUTH [12]
Watery saliva or mucus in mouth.
Aphthæ.
PALATE AND THROAT [13]
Dryness in throat (morning) after diarrhœa.
Scraping in throat, thick mucus accumulates.
Deglutition : especially painful mornings ; difficult, with sour eructations.
Mucous secretion in throat increased.
Chronic sore throat.
Angina.
APPETITE, THIRST. DESIRES, AVERSIONS [14]
Appetite : increased ; wanting, with loss of taste.
Thirst, with vertigo, loss of appetite, nausea, colic.
EATING AND DRINKING [15]
Pain in stomach, > after eating ; soup relieves gnawing at stomach.
After eating, eructations, nausea, pains at navel, colic, rumbling in abdomen, urging to stool, weakness.
Sugar aggravates pain in stomach ; and wine headache.
Sugar, coffee and wine disagree.
HICCOUGH, BELCHING, NAUSEA AND VOMITING [16]
Sudden hiccough, with eructations.
Heartburn < in evening.
Eructations : empty or sour ; of tasteless wind after each meal.
Nausea : and frequent vomiting ; during pregnancy ; thirst and colic after diarrhœa.
SCROBICULUM AND STOMACH [17]
Empty feeling, compelling one to eat.
Burning pain in stomach and throat.
Awakens at night with violent pressive pain, like a heavy weight, coming and going at intervals ; flatulent discharge relieves.
Stomach sensitive ; slightest touch causes excruciating pain.
Gastritis ; gastro-enteritis.
HYPOCHONDRIA [18]
Stitches in liver relieved by a deep breath.
Continuous pain in left hypochondrium, as if bruised ; stitches ; incarcerated flatus.
ABDOMEN AND LOINS [19]
Colic : cutting in abdomen ; rumbling (evening and night) ; with tenesmus ; < at night, accompanied by vomiting ; pains seem to occupy a small spot and radiate therefrom ; < from motion ; from eating sugar.
Burning and pain in abdomen ; in umbilical region.
Burning in small spots in abdomen, return when thinking of them.
Frequent pain and soreness about navel.
Colic about navel, as if bruised, with stitches and difficult emissions of flatus ; < on moving, > when at rest ; < evening and night.
Man suffering for a long time from indigestion, was operated on for strangulated hernia two years ago ; ever since subject to pain in umbilical region, coming on two hours after food, accompanied by much flatus and bitter, sour eructations ; pain < at night, is roused by it about 3 A. M. and kept awake by it ; burning sensation from throat downward to region of pain.
Enteritis ; chronic inflammation of bowels.
STOOLS AND RECTUM [20]
Difficult discharge of flatus.
Frequent ineffectual urging to stool, preceded by a sick, distressed feeling from navel downward ; < when thinking of it ; at times profuse watery, gushing diarrhœa.
Suddenly seized with distressing feeling in whole abdomen, twisting around navel, bearing down ; dark, muddy, copious evacuations, 6 A. M.
Morning diarrhœa ; stools soft or watery, with colic around navel and pressing in rectum ; returning as soon as one lies down again. θ Phthisis.
Stool : of mucus and blood ; involuntary.
Diarrhœa : as soon as one drinks coffee ; lying down causes return.
Before stool : headache ; twisting colic around navel.
During stool : micturition ; (fainting, vomiting) ; colic about navel ; violent urging-griping pains in anus, so severe as to cause headache and heat in head.
After stool : nausea and cramp in calves ; dryness in throat ; relief of pain in small of back.
Constipation.
Pressing and straining in rectum ; tenesmus.
URINARY ORGANS [21]
Pain in region of kidneys.
Irritation of genito-urinary tract with diuresis.
Frequent and copius urination, which is profuse, clear, straw-colored.
Burning in urethra, as from acrid drops.
When urinating, pain in glans penis.
Thinking of urinating causes necessity to urinate.
Nocturnal incontinence of urine ; sharp, shooting pain in left chest, close to sternum and parallel to it.
MALE SEXUAL ORGANS [22]
Great increase of sexual desire.
On lying down, erections without any cause, afterwards testicles and cords pain.
Sexual debility ; spermatorrhœa.
Terrible neuralgic pains in spermatic cords, < from slightest motion.
Testicles feel contused and heavy ; bruised pain in small of back.
During a walk, pain and heaviness in testicles, shooting along cords.
PREGNANCY. PARTURITION. LACTATION [24]
Nausea and painful vomiting ; a tormenting, cramplike feeling between pit of stomach and navel ; sour taste, heartburn and waterbrash.
VOICE AND LARYNX. TRACHEA AND BRONCHIA [25]
Nervous aphonia, with cardiac derangement, violent palpitation and irregular action ; change of voice, which becomes weak and hoarse ; no soreness.
Hoarseness ; larynx feels swollen, contracted, raw, with tickling in it.
Hoarseness and sensation of mucus in larynx during talking.
Alteration of voice.
RESPIRATION [26]
Great oppression of breath ; slightly spasmodic.
Difficulty of breathing, with constrictive pain in larynx and wheezing ; oppression more towards right side. θ Angina pectoris.
Jerking inspiration and sudden, forced expiration, as though he made a sudden effort to relieve intense pain by expelling air from lungs. θ Angina pectoris.
Paroxysms of short, hurried breathing, with intervals of ease.
COUGH [27]
Cough : from tickling in larynx while walking in open air ; larynx feels swollen ; dry, on taking violent exercise ; with soreness, stinging, tearing pain in sternum.
Mucus hawked up, thick, yellow white, with central black lump of size of pea.
INNER CHEST AND LUNGS [28]
Sharp shooting pain in left lung and hepatic region.
Sudden lancinating in left lung, depriving him of breath.
Rheumatic pains in left lung ; > lying down.
When breathing, stitches in chest and above hip.
Dull, heavy, sore pain in chest.
Pain in middle of chest, through to back.
Congestion or inflammation, localized at base of left lung.
Phthisis pulmonalis.
HEART, PULSE AND CIRCULATION [29]
Pain in heart ; soreness, stitches from behind forward, or from above downward.
Sharp darting in heart and left lung, extending to epigastrium. θ Angina pectoris.
Pain commencing in precordial region, extending up sternum and darting out across chest, particularly towards left side ; sharp stitches or lancinating pains through chest, compelling him to keep perfectly quiet in one position, arms folded across chest ; face haggard ; trunk bolt upright in chair, and whole manner and appearance indicative of intense suffering ; cramps in muscles of extremities ; short, sharp cutting pains in extremities, especially arms and deltoid portion of shoulders ; sense of suffocation ; dyspnœa manifested in short, jerking inspirations, quantity of air inspired being less and less at each successive effort, until at greatest intensity of paroxysm function seemed to be entirely suspended ; paroxysms lasted about one minute, with intervals of about two minutes, during which there was almost perfect relief from pain ; pulse accelerated, somewhat irregular in rhythm ; strong conviction that he will die in next paroxysm ; makes feeble effort to rise from chair, saying, "now I must go ;" this expression being repeated twice or thrice during each paroxysm ; has been troubled with ascarides nearly all his life, now more than usual ; paralysis of lower extremities, lasting throughout attack ; sharp, stitching pain in deltoid confined to a small space ; costiveness ; great prostration ; pains mostly on right side ; pains excited or < by motion ; jerking pains like short stitches, confined to a small space and lasting but a few seconds ; jerking inspiration and forced expiration, as though he made a sudden effort to relieve himself of intense pain by expelling air from lungs. θ Angina pectoris.
Heart in a continual flutter.
Palpitation : with action of heart irregular in force and rhythm, alternating with aphonia ; for half an hour after lying down in bed at night ; when thinking of it ; from rheumatic affection.
Occasional omission of one beat of heart, felt as "a stopping," causing patient to fear heart disease and sudden death ; after an attack of cholera, cured by Quinine, this omission appeared as soon as he was talking or thinking of it.
Endocarditis ; pericarditis ; valvular insufficiency.
Pulse : increased in frequency, almost imperceptible, coldness, clammy sweats, livid nails ; more rapid in morning, slower, irregular, weak.
NECK AND BACK [31]
Pain under point of scapula, between shoulders, extending to loins.
Stitches from chest into scapulæ.
Acute pain in back gradually extending down thighs, with great torture ; seeks relief in change of posture.
Pain in small of back, sensation of numbness, or as if broken or bruised.
Numbness, pricking, causing a cold sensation ; back feels too weak to support body. θ Angina pectoris.
Weakness in loins and hips, extending to lower extremities.
Tongue and mouth sore ; at times pain in right side of head, occiput, small of back and calves ; what distresses him most are cold chills across lower part of back and in calves of legs, beginning in spine just above sacrum ; the chills are diurnal, being supplanted at night by heat as if there were warm water between flesh and bones ; pains shoot up to occiput and head.
Aching pain in low part of back for three months ; pain between shoulders ; pain and tenderness along cervical vertebræ ; pain in occiput, vertex and forehead off and on for weeks ; all these pains are brought on or made < by any kind of movement or exertion. θ Cerebrospinal pains.
Intense inflammatory pains all through back ; meningitis.
Paralysis from inflammation of spinal cord, limbs stiff ; paroxysms of dyspnœa.
UPPER LIMBS [32]
Twitch first in left, later in right deltoid, with inclination to move.
Numbness from shoulders to tips of fingers.
Sharp lancinating pains in arms. θ Angina pectoris.
Right wrist constantly painful, as if sprained or dislocated.
Right wrist feels sprained, wants to stretch it ; cannot hold anything.
Pain in (r.) metacarpus and fleshy part of right thumb, with sensation of fulness, heat and numbness.
Hands feel heavy, can move fingers but slowly.
Hands cold, as if dead.
Arthritic pains in fingers, which are flexed.
Twitching of fingers.
Fingers and nails livid ; dark nails.
LOWER LIMBS [33]
Restlessness in legs.
Lameness and stiffness in lower extremities.
Legs stiff, numb, weak.
Legs cold, powerless. θ Angina pectoris.
Blueness, coldness and almost complete immobility of lower extremities.
Knees feel tired.
Very violent ; contracting pain in external tendon of l. knee.
LIMBS IN GENERAL [34]
Extremities heavy, powerless, numb, weak. θ Myelitis acuta.
Burning in hands and feet.
Articular rheumatism.
REST. POSITION. MOTION [35]
Motion and exercise increase the pains.
Rest : colic <.
Lying down : swimming sensations ; < headache ; colic and diarrhœa return ; erections ; pain in left lung > ; palpitation.
Arms folded across chest, trunk bolt upright in a chair ; angina pectoris.
Wants to stretch wrist.
Change of position ; pains in back >.
Motion : colic ; terrible pains in spermatic cords < ; pains <.
Inclination to move : with twitches in deltoid.
Rising from a seat : vertigo ; headache <.
Can move fingers but slowly : heaviness.
Slightest exertion : heat.
NERVES [36]
Muscular twitchings. θ Myelitis acuta.
Trembling convulsions.
Numbness of whole body ; crawling.
Peculiar numbness approaching to palsy. θ Angina pectoris.
Loss of motory power.
Paralysis of left side.
Paralysis from inflammation of spinal cord ; limbs stiff ; paroxysms of dyspnœa.
SLEEP [37]
Yawning ; sleepy during day.
Awakens at night : with palpitation ; with a violent pressing pain, like a heavy weight, coming and going at intervals ; > from emission of flatus.
Dreams, with fright and fear ; sits up and looks around.
TIME [38]
Morning : dulness in forehead ; dryness in throat ; deglutition painful ; diarrhœa ; pulse more rapid ; flying heat and sweat.
At 3 A. M. : roused by pain in bowels.
At 6 A. M. : evacuations.
Forenoon : heat in face.
During day : sleepy ; chill.
Afternoon : diarrhœa.
Evening : heartburn < ; rumbling in abdomen ; colic < ; sneezing ; shaking chill with red face.
Night : violent pain in stomach ; rumbling in abdomen ; colic < ; palpitation ; heat ; sweat clammy and cold.
TEMPERATURE AND WEATHER [39]
Open air : while walking tickling in larynx.
FEVER [40]
Extremities cold, nails livid.
Chilliness : with sneezing (evening) ; after diarrhœa (afternoon).
Shaking chill, with red face (evening).
Creeping chill up spine.
Chill all day long, but heat from even slightest exertion.
Shaking chill in evening, with small contracted pulse, red face and a feeling of heat without external warmth, hands cold, as if dead.
Heat : from every exertion ; especially in face and on hands ; first in face, afterwards in left leg.
Flushes of heat, with sweat.
Sensation of an inward heat, most in face, forenoon.
Flying heat and sweat in morning, with pain in forehead and vertex.
Sweat : clammy, with weakness ; with giddiness ; at night, clammy and cold.
Cold sweat covers face, hands and feet, tongue cool.
Typhoid fever, with delirium and involuntary diarrheic stools.
ATTACKS, PERIODICITY [41]
Symptoms recur in paroxysms ; intermit for hours or a day.
Alternately : palpitation and aphonia.
Last about one minute, with intervals of about two minutes.
Paroxysms of pain in angina pectoris.
For half an hour after lying down at night : palpitation.
Two hours after food : pain in umbilical region.
For three months : pain in back.
LOCALITY AND DIRECTION [42]
Pains appear in small longitudinal spots, or occupy a spot an inch or less in circumference.
Right : swelling of side of nose ; stitches in nostrils ; pimples in side of nose ; oppression < on side ; pains < on side ; pain on side of head ; wrist feels sprained ; sprain in thumb.
Left : pain in orbit ; pain in hypochondrium ; sharp shooting pain in chest ; lancinating in lung ; rheumatic pain in lung ; inflammation at base of lung ; very violent pain in tendon of knee ; paralysis of side ; heat in leg.
First left then right : drawing pain in jaw ; twitch in deltoid.
From behind forward : stitches in heart.
From above downward : stitches in heart.
Inwardly : pains in head.
SENSATIONS [43]
Jerking pains, like short stitches, confined to small spots, lasting only a few seconds.
Pains : greatly aggravated by thinking of them.
As if all blood had left brain ; as if blood in head was coursing upward and outward ; as from a screw behind each ear ; as of a heavy weight in stomach ; hypochondrium as if bruised ; navel as if bruised ; back as if broken or bruised ; wrist as if sprained ; hands as if dead ; during shaving as from chafing.
Pain : between vertex and occiput ; in both orbits ; in decayed molar ; in stomach ; at navel ; in left hypochondrium ; in abdomen about navel ; in region of kidneys ; in glans penis ; in testicles and cords ; in middle of chest ; through to back ; in heart ; in precordial region ; up sternum and out across chest ; under point of scapula, extending to loins ; in small of back ; in right side of head, occiput, small of back and calves ; between shoulders ; along cervical vertebræ ; in right metacarpus and fleshy part of thumb.
Violent contracting pain : in external tendon of left knee.
Intense inflammatory pains : all through back.
Acute pain : in back, then down thighs.
Terrible neuralgic pains : in spermatic cords.
Sharp darting : in heart and left lung.
Lancinating : in left lung ; through chest ; in arms.
Sharp stitching pain : in deltoid.
Cutting : in abdomen ; in extremities.
Tearing pain : in sternum.
Shooting pain : in left chest ; along spermatic cords ; in left lung and hepatic region.
Stitches : in right nostril ; in liver ; in chest and above hip ; in heart ; through chest ; from chest into scapulæ.
Constrictive pain : in larynx.
Twisting colic : around navel.
Griping pains : in anus.
Cramp : in calves ; in muscles of extremities.
Tormenting cramplike feeling : between pit of stomach and navel.
Bruised pain : in small of back.
Rheumatic pain : in left lung.
Arthritic pains : in fingers.
Drawing pain : near angle of lower jaw.
Aching : in vertex and forehead ; in lower part of back.
Pressing pain : on small spots in head ; in stomach.
Dull, heavy, sore pain : in chest.
Stinging : in sternum.
Pricking : in back.
Soreness : in sternum ; in heart ; of tongue and mouth ; about navel.
Burning : in forehead ; in stomach and throat ; in abdomen ; in umbilical region ; from throat to umbilical region ; in urethra ; in hands and feet.
Heat : in face ; in right thumb.
Pressing : in rectum.
Fulness : in face ; in right thumb.
Dulness : in forehead.
Scraping : in throat.
Sick, distressed feeling : from navel downward.
Tickling : in larynx.
Dryness : in throat.
Stiffness : of lower extremities.
Lameness : of lower extremities.
Emptiness : in head.
Numbness : in back from shoulders to tips of fingers ; in r. thumb ; of legs ; of whole body.
Cold sensation : in back.
Coldness : of hands ; of legs.
Itching : on neck and fingers.
TOUCH. PASSIVE MOTION. INJURIES [45]
Touch : small spots on head painful ; slightest, causes excruciating pain.
Shaving : skin sensitive.
SKIN [46]
Sensitive during shaving, as from chafing.
Exceedingly sensitive skin, with vesicular eruption ; < from sweats.
Itching : on neck or fingers ; eruption, with redness.
Smarting and soreness.
Skin mottled in circular patches ; marbled skin.
Warts.
STAGE OF LIFE, CONSTITUTION [47]
Child, æt. 5 ; chronic inflammation of bowels.
Boy, æt. 10, fair complexion, blue eyes, has been under all sorts of treatment and taken much patent medicine for several years ; incontinence of urine.
Ann W., æt. 16, suffering several months ; cerebro-spinal pains.
Man, æt. 36, laborer, three years ago had hygroma of patella, brought on by much kneeling at work, has never felt the "same man" since this was backed by local applications ; cerebro-spinal pains.
Man, æt. 45, carpenter, spare built, nervous bilious temperament, of good health generally, temperate in all his habits ; angina pectoris.
Woman, æt. 50 ; congestion of left lung ; later pneumonia.
Man, æt. 50, fleshy ; irregular action of heart.
Man suffering a long time from indigestion, operated on for strangulated hernia two years ago, since then suffering ; pain in umbilical region.
Mr. F., wealthy man ; omission of heartbeat.
RELATIONS [48]
Antidoted by : Carbonates of Lime and Magnesia.
Compare : Arsen., Ipec . and Veratr . in cholera infantum ; Colchic . in gastralgia ; Kreosot . in gastric symptoms ; Argent. met., Phos. ac . and Picric ac . in spinal disease.