Ammonium bromatum

Volume I — Special Symptomatology

{Ammonium. Bromidum.) Pharmacology. — This salt may be prepared by dissolving Bromine in water of Ammonia. The liquid becomes heated, Nitrogen escapes with effervescence, and the solution assumes a slight yellowish color, in consequence of an excess of Bromine after saturation. After evaporation the Bromide is obtained in four sided prisms, sometimes crossing each other at right angles.

A better method than this is by adding to Bromine and water a sufficient solution of hydrosulphate of Ammonia to discharge the color, filtering to separate the sulphur, and then evaporating to dryness.

Soluble in 1.5 parts water, and in 13 parts alcohol.

It is incompatible with acids and acid salts.

Officinal Preparations. — Mother-tincture ; (prepared by dissolving one part in nine parts distilled water). Dilutions in water up to the 3x, afterwards with alcohol.

Analogues. — Bromides of Potassium, Sodium, Lithium, ( Brosera, Spongia, Secale, U stilago. ( ?)

Head.

• Sensation as if a band were tied around the head, pressing

the hardest just above the ears.

• Pain in right side of head, near the eye, as if a nail were

driven in. ° Sharp pain in left side of head.

In cases where there is suspicion of the existence of congestion of the base of the brain, and still more of congestion of the spinal cord, or its meninges, the Bromide of Ammonia is preferable to the Bromide of Potassa. {Brown fiequard.)

• Headache from congestion of the brain.

0 Epilepsy, when the predominant symptom is intense congestion of the brain. {Brown Sequard.) 0 Cerebro- spinal meningitis; in the congestive stage. (Hale.)

Eyes.

0 Pain around both eyes, into the head. ° Right eye full of white, stringy mucus. Looks as if a membrane were growing over the eye, like a pterygium.

Both eyes very sore and red; lids stuck together in the morning.

Eyeballs unnaturally full, large.

Every evening eyelids droop, and it is painful and difficult to raise them.

° Strumous opthalmia, conjunctivitis, corneitis, leucoma.

Nose.

Discharge of stringy mucus from the nose. ° Catarrh of the anterior and posterior nares, of thick, stringy mucus.

Mouth and Throat.

White, stringy, tasteless mucus in the mouth. Accumulation of mucus in the throat.

Fauces, and top of tongue for half its length, feel as if scalded. Stinging in fauces, inclination to cough, relieved by sneezing. Tongue very sore, as if burnt; cannot talk or read without pain.

Throat looks mottled, as if diphtheric deposit were commencing. (See Brom. Pot.)

Larynx and Trachea.

Cough caused by a secretion of mucus in the throat.

Tickling in the throat in the morning, with inclination to cough.

Irritation of the throat, with inclination to cough.

0 Sudden, deep cough, spasmodic, causing a pain in the stomach. *

• Irritation of the organs of respiration and stomach, accompanied with spasmodic cough, and even a distinct whoop, simulating whooping-cough. (Okie.)

Ill

° "Whooping cough, many cases. {Drs. Harley, Gibbs.)

• Cough deep, spasmodic, and very severe, and at times an interval of only a few moments, almost continuous for hours, especially when lying down at night, with a sensation of tickling irritation, with heat and burning. {Hale.)

° Cough distressing, hoarse, dry, spasmodic, asthmatic and exhausting, without expectoration. {Talbot. Cushing.) Chest.

Tightness across the chest, with pain in the chest; inclination

to take a long, deep breath. Swallowing anything cold causes a feeling of distress the

whole length of the oesophagus. Sensation on top of right shoulder as if a heavy load were

upon it.

Stomach.

Something seems to issue from the stomach, as if it would stop my breath, causing a faint and disagreeable sensation, and belching of wind, which relieves me.

Sensation as of hot air passing up the throat on the right side, though the stomach feels cold.

Back.

Feeling as though something were pressed hard against the right kidney; relieved by pressure, but leaving a pulling sensation.

Uterus.

0 In all forms of uterine hemorrhage, whether from lesions of the uterus itself, from ovarian irritation, excitation, inflammation, or any of the various diseased or deranged actions peculiar to the ovaries or adjoining parts and viscera. {Griffith.)

0 Amenorrhoea, dysmenorrhoea. I have used it with great alleviation of suffering. {Griffith.)

° Premature and profuse menses.

Superior Extremities.

Great lameness, with sharp pains in back of left leg, midway from the hip to the knee.

Pains leave the right leg, and are felt in the left in same place.

Pains leave above the knee, and are felt below the knee, then in the ankle, then in the foot.

Volume II — Special Therapeutics

This is the only one of the Bromides which has been subjected to a physiological proving by a member of our school. Dr. Cushing has published an excellent pathogenesis, made up chiefly from provings upon his own person.

Its action appears to be principally upon the brain , the cervical and dorsal portion of the spinal cord , the eyes and nose.

Its action upon the brain is similar to that of all the Bromides.

According to Brown-Sequard it is preferable to Bromide of ammonia “ when there is a suspicion of the existence of congestion of the base of the brain or of the spinal cord and its meninges.”

In accordance with this view of its special action I have usually selected this salt in the treatment of the first stages of cerebrospinal meningitis , basilar meningitis, and certain severe occipital headaches.

It is well know7n that certain cerebro-spinal congestions are attended by a peculiar spasmodic cough. In such cases I consider this salt specifically indicated. It has not been as much used in

i

epilepsy as the potash salt, but in those cases where the predominant symptom is basilar congestion, I give it the precedence.

In the above affections the dose must be graduated to suit the age and idiosyncrasies of the patient. My experience leads me to the belief that the maximum dose is one grain for each year up to twenty years. For instance, a child of three years requires in severe cases three grains, repeated every two or three hours. A strong man of twenty or thirty requires twenty grains every three or six hours, until improvement sets in. In cases of less severity half or one-fourth the quantity may cure. Cases may occur where we may select this remedy from the symptoms of its primary action, namely, in conditions of ancemia of the base of the brain and upper portion of the cord, when such anaemia is due to a diminished calibre of its bloodvessels.

It is evident that it would not be indicated in cerebral anaemia due to feebleness of the heart’s action, or a deficiency in the amount of blood. Such cases must be met by other remedies, as China, Ferrum, etc., aided by Digitalis and a bloodmaking diet.

Hammond (“Diseases of Nervous System”) says: “It cannot be doubted that spasm of the bloodvessels, produced through the sympathetic and vasomotor nerves, explains the origin and continuance of many cases of cerebral anaemia. It is in this way that mental emotions act, and sometimes with such rapidity as to cause instant death. This spasm may be kept up for a considerable time, with the effect of developing the ordinary symptoms of cerebral anaemia even after the emotion which originated it has long disappeared.”

It is in just such cases that the Bromides are primarily homoeopathic. If the reader will consult the symptoms of these salts, he will find a perfect picture of brain anaemia. Especially do the mental symptoms point to that condition.

The dose in such cases must be very minute. I have seen prompt curative action from the 3X and 6* dilution, frequently repeated until improvement sets in.

The eyes are specially affected by the Bromide of ammonium. Dr. Cushing experienced “ redness and soreness of both eyes, with sticking together of the lids in the morning ; the eyes were full of stringy mucus, the eyeballs felt unnaturally large, and pain around

both eyes into the head ; in the evening the eyelids droop, and it is painful and difficult to raise them.”

Dr. Gibbs, an English surgeon, recommends it very highly in “strumous ophthalmia, conjunctivitis, corneitis, and leucoma.” Dr. Woodyatt, of Chicago, an oculist (homoeopathic), esteems it very highly in similar affections, and also in swelling of the edges of the lids and inflammation of the Meibomian glands.

I know of no more efficient remedy in that common affection, catarrh of the posterior nares and fauces , especially when the discharge is a thick, stringy mucus. A few grains of the lx trituration, three times a day, used persistently for a few weeks, will effectually remove that condition.

It was once lauded very highly by allopathic physicians in the treatment of whooping-cough. It was used successfully in many cases, but did not cure all, and as a consequence of its failure it has fallen into disuse. Too much was expected of it, but to the homoeopathists it will prove a valuable aid in the treatment of that malady and many other coughs of a spasmodic character.

The characteristic indications are :

“Sudden, deep, spasmodic cough, causing a pain in the stomach.

“ Cough, deep, spasmodic, severe, at intervals of a few moments, almost continuous for hours, especially when lying down at night, with sensations of tickling irritation in the larynx, sometimes with a distinct whoop.”

The expectoration, if any, consists of a stringy, tough mucus.

The provings of Cushing and Okie demonstrate that this Bromide is capable of causing a spasmodic cough resembling whooping cough. Another proof that all drugs capable of curing a disease are capable of causing a similar one. The curative dose I have found to lie between the lx and 8X dilutions.

Dr. Griffiths considers that it acts upon the uterine bloodvessels as does Ergot, namely, causing contraction. He claims to have used it successfully in uterine haemorrhage from any cause ; also in amenorrhoea and dysmenorrhoea from congestion (?). I have had no experience with it in this direction, except in dysmenorrhoea; in a few cases, obstinate and obscure, it seemed to alleviate the suffering.

In the treatment of epilepsy , convulsions, and sleeplessness, this

salt is not as useful as some other Bromide. But it may be substituted if necessary. To ward off a threatened attack of epilepsy or convulsions from congestion of the brain 20 grains is as small a dose as will prove effectual in an adult. In children the dose has been stated. In the obstinate sleeplessness preceding an attack of cerebro-spinal meningitis the dose (20 grains) must be given at bedtime, and when the house and street are quiet.