It would seem rather strange that the two remedies to which Hahnemann gave such a good start by proving and use should be so neglected and forgotten as MAGNESIA CARB. and Magnesia mur. have been. These two, if used, would cure many of the liver troubles that are not now cured. Magnesia mur. could cure many conditions in nervous, excitable women that now go uncured. These remedies are neglected, while PHOSPHORUS and SULPHUR are prescribed for almost everything.
Magnesia mur. is a deep-acting antipsoric suited to nervous patients with stomach and liver troubles. It has enlarged glands and irritation of the nerve centres and brain. This patient is often sensitive to cold, chilly, but he desires fresh air and open air. Many of the complaints are ameliorated by the open, fresh air, but some head symptoms are an exception. The head must be covered, as it is so sensitive to the open air. He is extremely restless; only with great difficulty can he keep still, and if forced to keep still he becomes anxious. Anxiety is the marked feature. Restlessness, fidgetiness throughout the body, coupled with anxiety. This comes on at any time, but it is worse at night in bed and still worse on closing the eyes to go to sleep. When he closes the eyes he becomes so anxious, restless and fidgety that he must throw the covers off, take a long breath or do something. He is kept awake at night by the anxious feeling. It was described originally by the prover as an uneasiness, but in the Guiding Symptoms it is spoken of as a restlessness in bed. If you study the hysterical nature, the anxiety and restlessness, you will see it is throughout the whole economy and should be classed under mind and nerves. Some remedies have vertigo on closing the eyes, some have anxiety on closing the eyes. CONIUM has sweat on closing the eyes. These were the points used by keynote prescribers and some times good results were obtained. I remember once curing an organic stricture, which had been dilated but was no better. The patient described his symptoms and the stricture was all he could think of. I did not see his remedy and gave everything without relief. One day, however, he told me he could not close his eyes to go to sleep without having a profuse sweat. I gave him CONIUM on that keynote alone, but it cured him of the sweat and the stricture, brought back an old gonorrhoeal discharge and resorption of the inflammatory material took place. A scientific prescriber would not do that; but when he heard that symptom he would not know it was in the nature of CONIUM to have the stricture, and in another case he would see that CONIUM did not suit, and he would know when and when not to give it.
Anxious in the room, ameliorated in the open air. Anxiety at night in bed on closing the eyes. While reading she felt as if some one were reading after her and she must read faster and faster. That occurs in patients who are tired from being worked up to the highest pitch and it seems as if they would fly to pieces. Any thought that comes into the mind tends to repeat itself.
Vertigo, ameliorated walking in the open air. Vertigo in the morning on rising. The head symptoms are troublesome. SILICEA will be given in cases where this remedy should be given, because the SILICEA headache is ameliorated from wrapping up the head. This remedy has it also. Soreness of the hair follicles. Sensation as if the hair were pulled. Headache ameliorated from tying a bandage tight around the head or wrapping up the head.
Yellowness all over the body. Yellow eye in jaundice and liver troubles. Eyes inflamed. Margins of lids and eyelashes crusty; fine pimples and eruptions. After leaving the head symptoms, which are relieved by warmth, we find many symptoms worse in the warm room.
Pulsation in the ears. Ulceration of the edges of the nostrils. Tongue has the appearance as if it had been burnt, excoriated and cracked in various directions. Fissures burn like fire. Hunger but knows not for what. Ravenous hunger followed by nausea. Aggravation from salt things, from eating salt food, from salt baths, from sea bathing, and at the seashore from inhaling sea air. Chest complaints, liver complaints and constipation at sea. BROMINE has complaints of sailors when they come on shore. Magnesia mur. has complaints from going to sea. When a patient has urticaria at the seashore, ARSENIC will cure in ARSENIC cases and will often mitigate when it is the only symptom.
Foul eructations tasting like rotten eggs. Disordered stomach. Stomach easily disordered. Waterbrash, vomiting. Like MAGNESIA CARB., it has inability to digest milk. Milk causes pain, and it is passed undigested—lienteric stools. Fainting at the dinner table in hysterical women.
It has many liver troubles. Enlargement and induration of the liver, with jaundiced skin. Right lobe of liver sore, painful while lying on it, and when he turns over to the left he is uncomfortable, as it feels as if the liver dragged over to the left. NATRUM SULPH. often cures that symptom, and PTELEA has a somewhat similar condition. These two symptoms, aggravation from lying on the right, that is, the soreness, and aggravation from lying on the left, that is, the dragging, come separately or together. It has much liver trouble from lying on the liver.
Tenderness in the region of the stomach and over the bowels. Attacks of gastralgia in the evening. A strong feature in this remedy is indigestion. The stomach becomes less and less able to digest and finally he cannot take a mouthful of food without distress. Abdominal dropsies. Colic, cramps, tearing pains. Great flatulence. With this kind of digestive disturbance we have a good home for tapeworm, it hatches out easily in this patient. The most troublesome patients I have are those who come after having had a, tapeworm removed by violent drugs. It takes a long time to restore them. If a patient will come with his worm and all his symptoms, I will give him relief, and he will soon be turned into order and the tapeworm will cause no trouble.
Constipation of infants, as in MAGNESIA CARB. Chalky stools like MAGNESIA CARB. When the patient is an adult and yellow with jaundice, the stools are light colored, bileless and there is no expulsive power.
No power to expel the contents of the bladder, so he presses with the abdominal muscles on the full bladder and passes a little. Lack of sensation in the bladder, so that sometimes he cannot tell whether he has to urinate or not until the bladder is so full that it causes pressure. The inability to feel extends to the urethra, and he cannot tell in the dark whether he is passing urine or not.
Metrorrhagia, with backache which is ameliorated by pressing hard back in the chair or lying on a hard pillow. Bearing down pains in the pelvis, especially in hysterical women and girls.
Congestion of chest from sea bathing. Chest troubles and colds on the chest at the seashore and from salt baths. Palpitation of the heart, with anxiety Anxiety and restlessness come on at rest; he must do something, must hurry. These symptoms are likely to come on again in the evening when he tries to go to sleep.
Shocks through the body, like electric shocks, when wide awake, jerking the whole frame; twitching and jerking. Numbness in the extremities. Tearing pains in the upper limbs and marked restlessness in lower limbs. Cramps in calves at night. Paralytic drawing and tearing in all the limbs. Burning of the soles at night in bed. Foot-sweat is another symptom like SILICEA. Numbness of the arms in the morning on waking.
Hysterical and spasmodic complaints. Weakness from sea bathing or salt baths. It is the aggravation from salt. Sleep unrefreshing, anxious dreams. Bodily state sensitive to cold, and great disposition to take cold. Some complaints are ameliorated by FRESH air, if not too cold.
The next remedy of which I shall speak is the Chloride of Magnesia or Magnesia mur. This remedy acts particularly on women and children, especially in hysterical women and in scrofulous children.
It is indicated in women who suffer from hysterical paroxysms, with the following symptoms: After dinner the patient is seized with nausea, trembling and fainting spells. These occur after dinner because that is the principal meal, and more is eaten then than at other times. The patient is anxious and restless, and is always made worse from mental exertion. The headaches are described as congestive, with sensation as of boiling water in the cranium. The pains are referred to the temples and seem to be relieved by firm pressure with the hands. They are also better from wrapping the head up warmly. The patient also complains of a sensation as of a ball rising from the stomach into the throat. This is relieved by eructation. This shows that the accumulation of gas in the stomach is the cause of this reflex symptom. She also has bearing down in the uterine region and uterine spasms. The menses are black and pitch-like, and are accompanied by pain in the back when walking, and in the thighs when sitting. She also has leucorrhoea after every stool, or following the uterine spasms. In nearly all these cases in which Magnesia mur. is indicated, you will find characteristic constipation, in which the stools are passed with great difficulty, being composed of hard lumps, or they are so dry that they crumble as they pass the anus. If you find that symptom present with the uterine symptoms, you may be sure that Magnesia mur. will help the patient.
In other cases we find the liver affected. Magnesia mur. is one of our best remedies for liver disease. The liver is enlarged and the abdomen bloated. There are pains in the liver, which are worse from touch or from lying on the right side. The tongue is large, coated yellow, and takes the imprint of the teeth. You will see at once how this resembles MERCURIUS. The feet are often oedematous from interference with the portal circulation, and there are palpitation of the heart and dyspnoea, both of these last-named symptoms being reflex symptoms from the hepatic disorder. You will also find this crumbling stool. Frequently we find Magnesia mur. indicated in the enlarged liver of children who are puny in their growth and rachitic. They suffer too from skin affections. They have what is known as tinea ciliaris, an eruption which occurs at the roots of the hairs, particularly of the eyelids. The hairs drop out. A scaly eruption appears around the hairs, the skin ulcerates, and the hairs drop out. With this tinea there are pimples on the face, and acrid ozaena, with redness and swelling and scaliness of the nose. With these symptoms there is sweat of the feet.
A general characteristic of Magnesia mur. belonging to either men or women, is palpitation of the heart, which is worse when the patient is quiet, and better from moving about. That symptom has been confirmed many times. Then there is another symptom which occurs frequently in women, and that is inability to pass urine without pressing on the abdominal walls.
The analogues of Magnesia mur. must be studied here, or else you will not be able to separate it from similarly acting drugs. We find that in uterine spasms, CAULOPHYLLUM and ACTEA RACEMOSA act like Magnesia mur. I must say that I believe Caulophyllum leads the list. I know of no other drug which produces such continued spasmodic condition of the uterus unless it be Secale.
SILICEA ought to be mentioned as similar to Magnesia mur. in the treatment of scrofulous children. Both remedies have sweating of the feet, enlarged liver, rachitis, and ozsena. The difference lies in this: The Silicea patient has offensive smelling sweat, both of the feet and of the head. That is one good distinction. There are many others. There is a resemblance between the headaches of the two remedies. Silicea and Magnesia mur. both have headache, relieved by wrapping the head up warmly.
MERCURIUS is similar to Magnesia mur. in liver affections. It is distinguished from the latter by its diarrhoea, with tenesmus, or, more exceptionally, with gray or ashy stool.
Also similar to Magnesia mur. is PTELEA, which is useful in congestion of the liver when there is a feeling as of weight and pressure in the right hypochondrium. The liver is found to be enlarged. The patient finds relief by lying on the right side. I may say that the Magnesia salts have been placed with Zinc as remedies acting on the nervous system. This fact led Schussler to Magnesia phos. as a nerve tonic.
CHLORIDE OF MAGNESIA MG.CL
Especially adapted to diseases of women; spasmodic and hysterical complaints, complicated with uterine diseases ; who have suffered for years from attacks of indigestion or biliousness.
Children: during difficult dentition are unable to digest milk; it causes pain in stomach and passes undigested; puny, rachitic, who crave sweets.
Great sensitiveness to noise (Ign., Nux, Ther.).
Headache: every six weeks, in forehead and around the eyes; as if it would burst; < from motion and in open air; > from lying down, STRONG PRESSURE (Puls.), and wrapping up warmly (Sil., Stron.).
Great tendency of head to sweat (Cal., Sanic, Sil.).
Continual rising of white froth into the mouth.
Eructations, tasting like rotten eggs, like onions (breath smells of onions, Sinap.).
Toothache; unbearable when food touches the teeth.
Pressing pain in liver, when walking and touching it, liver hard, enlarged, < lying on right side (Mer., Kali a).
Constipation: stool hard, scanty, large, knotty, like sheep's dung; difficult to pass; crumbling at verge of anus (Am. m., Nat. m.) ; OF INFANTS DURING DENTITION.
Urine: pale, yellow, can only be passed by bearing down with abdominal muscles; weakness of bladder.
Menses with great excitement at every period; flow black, clotted; spasms and pains < in back when walking, extend into thighs; metrorrhagia, < at night in bed, causing hysteria (Act., Caul.).
Leucorrhoea: after exercise; with every stool; with uterine spasm; followed by metrorrhagia; two weeks after menses for three or four days (Bar., Bov., Con.).
Palpitation and cardiac pains while sitting, < by moving about (compare, Gels.).
Relations
Compare: Cham, in the diseases of children.
Constipation; stools knotty or lumpy, like sheep dung; crumbling at the verge of the anus.
Nervous headache, > from pressure (PULS.); on wrapping the head up warmly (SIL).
Palpitation of heart when the patient is quiet, > when moving about.
Urine; pale yellow; can only be passed by bearing down with abdominal muscles; weakness of bladder.
Adapted to nervous, hysterical women inclined to spasms.
This salt of MAGNESIA seems to act differently from the MAGNESIA CARB., for while the latter most characteristically produces diarrhoea, and we find it oftenest useful there, the former constipates. It has a peculiar form of constipation. The stools are hard, difficult, slow, insufficient, knotty, like sheep's dung, and CRUMBLE AT THE VERGE OF THE ANUS. Sometimes can only be passed by BEARING DOWN WITH THE ABDOMINAL MUSCLES. The remedies most resembling it in this form of constipation are NATRUM MUR. and AMMONIUM MUR. and now that I think of it I might as well mention here another similarity between AMMONIUM MUR. and MAGNESIA CARB. which is characteristic, viz.: The menstrual flow is worse at night. I forgot this when writing of MAGNESIA CARB. Perhaps it will be all the better remembered for this interruption. With the MAGNESIA MUR. menstruation is very painful, accompanied with severe cramps, which may increase to general spasms of a hysterical nature. This nervous condition, if found coupled with the peculiar constipation above described, will be a sure indication for the use of this remedy. Again it has a peculiar nervous headache, which is better from strong pressure (PULSATILLA), or wrapping head up warmly (SILICEA). This headache also is often hysterical. The spasms in connection with uterine troubles may find rival remedies in ACTAEA RACEMOSA and CAULOPHYLLUM, the TOUT ENSEMBLE must decide. MAGNESIA MUR. is a liver remedy, and in some symptoms resembles MERCURIUS, notably, the tongue TAKES IMPRINT OF THE TEETH AND THE AGGRAVATION FROM LYING ON THE RIGHT SIDE. But the stools of these remedies are characteristically very different. Again, while MERCURIUS is best adapted to acute affections of this organ, MAGNESIA MUR. is more so to the chronic. PTELEA, liver troubles are WORSE WHEN LYING ON THE LEFT SIDE. A very peculiar symptom of MAGNESIA MUR., often confirmed is: Palpitation of the heart when the PATIENT IS QUIET, RELIEVED when moving about.
Children CANNOT DIGEST MILK during dentition (SEPIA).
(Muriate of Magnesia)
A liver remedy with pronounced characteristic constipation. Chronic liver affections with tenderness and pain, extending to spine and epigastrium, worse after food. Especially adapted to diseases of women, with a long history of indigestion and uterine disease; children who cannot digest milk. Evil effects of sea bathing.
Head
Sensitive to noise; bursting headache; worse, motion, open air; better, pressure, and wrapping up warmly. (SIL; STRONÔ.) Much sweating of head. (CALC; SIL.) Facial neuralgia pains, dull, aching, worse damp weather, slightest draft, better pressure heat.
Nose
Nostrils ulcerated. Coryza. Nose stopped and fluent. LOSS OF SMELL AND TASTE, following catarrh. Cannot lie down. Must breathe through mouth.
Mouth
Blisters on lips. Gums swollen, bleed easily. Tongue feels burnt and scalded. Throat dry, with hoarseness.
Stomach
Appetite poor, bad taste in mouth. Eructations like rotten eggs. Continued rising of white froth into mouth. CANNOT DIGEST MILK. Urine can be passed only by pressing abdominal muscles.
Abdomen
Pressing pain in liver; worse lying on right side. LIVER ENLARGED WITH BLOATING OF ABDOMEN; yellow tongue. Congenital scrotal hernia. Must use abdominal muscles to enable him to urinate.
Urinary
Urine difficult to void. Bladder can only be emptied by straining and pressure.
Bowels.
Constipation of infants during dentition; only passing small quantity; STOOLS KNOTTY, like sheep's dung, CRUMBLING AT VERGE OF ANUS. Painful smarting haemorrhoids.
Female
Menses black, clotted. Pain in back and thighs. Metrorrhagia; worse at night. Great excitement at every period. Leucorrhoea with every stool and after exercise. Tinea ciliaris, eruptions in face and forehead worse before menses.
Heart
Palpitation and cardiac pain WHILE SITTING; BETTER BY MOVING ABOUT. (GELS.) Functional cardiac affections WITH LIVER ENLARGEMENT.
Respiratory
Spasmodic dry cough; worse forepart of night, with burning and sore chest.
Extremities
Pain in back and hips; in arms and legs. Arms "go to sleep" when waking in morning.
Sleep
Sleep during day; restless at night on account of heat and shock; anxious dreams.
Modalities
WORSE, immediately after eating, lying on right sile; FROM SEA BATHING. BETTER, from pressure, motion; open air, except headache. Relationship.
Antidotes: CAMPH.; CHAM.
Compare: NAT. M.; PULS.; SEP.; AMM. M.; NASTURTIUM AQUATICUM-Water-cress-(useful in scorbutic affections and constipation, related to strictures of urinary apparatus; supposed to be aphrodisiacal in its action. Is also antidotal to TOBACCO narcosis and sedative in neurotic affections, neurasthenia, hysteria. Cirrhosis of liver and dropsy.
Dose
5 drops of tincture. Third to 200th potency.