Mirza Tahir Ahmad James Tyler Kent
Mercury in general is an important deep-acting remedy. It affects each and every part and cell of the body. Once Mercury has settled in the body it is extremely difficult, if not impossible to eradicate its ill effects. Like Arsenic, it too produces deep and permanent ill effects, however, Arsenic does not get carried into the next generation. Its ill effects remain confined to the person poisoned, though they last throughout his life. Arsenic embedded in the body gets buried with the person. Mercury however, is extremely dangerous because its ill effects pass on from generation to generation.
Syphilis also behaves the same way. That is why Mercury happens to be a top class treatment for syphilis. Syphilinum too, given in very high potency, is very useful in the treatment of syphilis; it is prepared from the syphilis lesions. However in case it does not benefit, it will at least enhance the action of other remedies, especially the Mercury compounds. The above basic feature of Mercury must be well remembered that its poisonous effects last throughout one’s life as well as getting passed onto the next generation. In an ironic sense, Mercury is a dangerous poison with ever-lasting effects. In fact, it tops the list of dangerous poisons. It affects the bones as well as the nerve cells. It percolates through the blood, skin, heart, inner linings and nerve fibres and then settles in the bone and brain tissue. In olden days, the doctors used to treat syphilis with Mercury. It offered temporary relief but resulted in long-lasting deleterious effects on the body. The syphilis simply got suppressed and transmitted through reproduction to future generations. Besides this, past physicians used Mercury fearlessly for other conditions as well. Excessive, unnecessary use of mercury produces syphilis like symptoms. Mercury kills the nerve cells and causes decay of the nasal bones and fingers, like leprosy. The homoeopathic use of Mercury, on the other hand, has the capability to cure these symptoms.
Excessive salivation, profuse sweating, sore throat and pungent smell are the common symptoms of Mercury, well known to doctors. A Mercury patient always smells putrid, unbearable to others. It is difficult to explain the nature of this smell. One has to personally experience it. Proper use of Mercury will surface the illness to the skin. Sometimes a severe itch, discharging sinuses and ulcers covered with whitish matter develop. White spots appear on the skin. Once I saw a patient who had widespread painful whitish ulcers on and around the thighs that were intractable. With the use of Mercury, he was, by the grace of God, completely cured within a month.
When the sores developing on the skin turn into ulcers with raised edges, and there is a fear of gangrene formation, then Merc Cor instead of Merc Sol is a better remedy. The difference between the two, it that Merc Sol is relatively mild but long acting compared to Merc Cor. The ailments of Merc Cor happen to be severe and of acute nature. Merc Cor is distinctively a fast-acting remedy in acute as well as chronic conditions. Chronic dysentery associated with passage of mucus and blood should be treated with Merc Sol. If, however, the dysentery is of acute onset and is associated with severe gripes (tenesmus) and continuous bleeding, then Merc Cor will be found more effective.
In Mercury ailments, the gangrenous process involves the lips, the inside of the cheeks and the gums (cancrum oris). The overlying skin becomes dark and looks horrible. In syphilis, a similar affliction is noted on these areas. The nose may also be affected with the resultant decay of the nasal bones. Chronic ulcers of the mouth are also suggestive of Mercury ailments.
One sign of Mercury is the formation of white specks on the skin resembling leucoderma. This condition is neither leucoderma, nor do the spots spread and coalesce like leucoderma. But, if the constitutional symptoms of Mercury are also present, then Mercury can effectively cure even leucoderma. Another tine, a patient had widespread leucoderma affecting the entire body and also had the general symptoms of Mercury. A single dose of Mercury 1000 resulted in the disappearance of his white patches for good, within the week. When Mercury benefits skin conditions, it does not afflict any damage to deeper glands, but, while it primarily works on the deep glands and organs, it may surface some kind of skin condition. This shows that the Mercury has rendered the glands healthy by pushing the disease from the inside, out to the skin.
The Founder of the Ahmadiyya Community is believed to be the Second Coming of the first Messiah by the Ahmadiyya Community. He put forth a unique discovery, to enhance the faith of homoeopathic physicians in homoeopathy. He claimed that it was revealed to him that if the diseases of the glands can be expressed to the exterior of the body i.e. in the skin, then the deep glands are spared from some grave conditions. He mentioned Mercury and Sulphur in this respect. In homoeopathy also, these are the two remedies, which are commonly used for this purpose. He further said that he had a strong desire to proclaim the extreme usefulness of these two potentially curative medicines.
Mercury is useful in the treatment of chronic bone pains, especially of the superficial bones that are devoid of any muscle padding under the skin. Mercury should not be forgotten while considering the treatment of chronic sinuses connected to the bones or glands. A peculiar symptom of Mercury is that joint pains tend to be associated with pus formation. The constitution of a Mercury patient is like that of syphilis. Therefore the bones, when inflamed, develop sinuses and produce pus. Conventional therapy consists of aspirating the pus with a syringe. On the other hand, Mercury when started in a low potency and then gradually increased, can in fact produce better results. However, a high potency, right at the onset of the disease, can prove dangerous. In chronic diseases, the potency should be increased gradually. The safest way is that the treatment should be initiated in a low potency and then gradually increased.
Another characteristic of Mercury is that arthritis and rheumatism are associated with swelling and inflammation. Suffering increases with the warmth of the bed and on sweating. The patient sweats profusely yet gets no relief. His restlessness continues in spite of frequent sweating. In acute tonsillitis, when the fever subsides on sweating, the patient’s condition further deteriorates. In this condition, two to three doses of Mercury will first bring back the fever and then make it subside gradually. The patient sweats profusely once instead of sweating repeatedly. In this fever, susceptible to Mercury, one sign is that the child’s eyes appear glossy as if painted with varnish. In measles and chicken pox too, the eyes have a similar appearance for as long as the rash has not appeared. Their breath has a foetid odour. The child may develop meningitis and have visual delusions. In this condition, if Mercury becomes ineffective, Hepar Sulph should be used. If this also fails, then Silicea will be found effective by God’s grace. Usually this condition is within the range of these three remedies. I also use a biochemic prescription for such conditions and that is Natrum Phos, Ferrum Phos, Silicea, Kali Mur and Calcarea Phos in 6X. For inflamed tonsils, Calcarea Fluor should also be added and the mixture administered repeatedly. This prescription has often proved very useful. If the illness is still not controlled and the patient has the symptoms of Mercury, then Mercury must be used, after Hepar Sulph of course.
Mercury has a fluctuating nature. Its ailments show ups and downs in their severity. Blood pressure and fever can also behave the same way. In other words, Merc Sol should be used for the treatment of any inconsistent type of condition.
When the symptoms of Mercury become severe, the hands tremble and become weak. One becomes incapable of even holding a cup of tea.
Mercury may possibly be of benefit in the treatment of epilepsy-like conditions in children as well as neurological diseases associated with spontaneous involuntary movements of the limbs (chorea, athetosis).
A Mercury patient has an impulsive nature, speaks rather fast and is impatient. He wants to do things at the spur of the moment. His anger knows no bounds. The tendency towards insanity may be very strong. When emotionally excited, he is very dangerous. He may commit a serious crime or kill himself. He remains tense and is extremely restless. He is fearful of becoming insane and of death. He becomes a coward and possesses a suspicious mind. He loses hope in life. When questioned, he replies carefully and slowly. Memory and the mind become weak. The headache in a Mercury patient is connected to the suppression of body discharges. For example, the suppression of sweating of feet or the sudden stoppage of nasal secretions will precipitate the headache. A sudden cessation of menses will also provoke the headache. The head feels tied up with a bandage. On lying flat on the back, the patient feels dizzy. The Skull feels tightly squeezed and under pressure. Burning and itching are also common.
Mercury ailments intensify in the cold as well as hot weather. Gusty wind is unbearable. If after measles etc., the head seems expanding, then Mercury can put a stop to this tendency immediately.
The skin of Mercury patients has a clay-like appearance. Secretions from the itchy and eczematous skin are offensive and start bleeding. The edges of the ulcers are rounded in shape and covered with white exudates. Skin conditions aggravate at night. The warmth of the bed aggravates symptoms.
The eyes become inflamed and red along with a burning sensation. There is a lot of watery discharge from the eyes. Black dots appear before the eyes. On looking towards the fire, the eyes become red and swollen. There is pain around the eyes and at the temples. The vision becomes blurred. The cornea becomes inflamed. Eyes become hypersensitive to light. All the eye symptoms of ‘pink eye’ at the onset of summer are also found in Mercury. If the eye symptoms are not clearly identified, then Merc Sol should be used. Seeing the sun during its eclipse can seriously damage the retina of the eye. The effect may not become apparent right away. Damage shows up years after the incident. Black dots appear in the visual field. Sometimes the right eye gets blinded and at other times, the left eye. The patient then gradually becomes totally blind. This blindness is not amenable to any kind of conventional therapy so far. However, two to three doses of Merc Cor CM given monthly seem to be of benefit, by the grace of God. The process of being blinded stops there and then. It is not possible to repair the detached retina that definitely needs to be treated with laser surgery. Some doctors are of the opinion that Merc Sol, in a low potency, may benefit many retinal conditions. I have no such experience. I suggest more research should be carried out.
Stinky, white or dark green pus discharging from the ears is a typical sign of Mercury. The inner as well as the outer ear become infected. The ear-drum (tympanic membrane) may perforate causing deafness.
Sometimes, Merc Sol can quickly control the common cold, although this is only a superficial treatment. Since Merc Sol is not a long acting remedy, one should not depend on it. Instead, for a persistent common cold, one should use Kali Iodide. Kali Iodide is intimately related to the conditions affecting the mucous membranes. Nevertheless, Kali Iodide alone may not be sufficient for catarrhal conditions. Several other remedies can also be used.
Dr. Kent has warned against the repeated use of Mercury for skin diseases, lest it causes permanently serious ill effects. It is possible that Mercury may only be related to certain skin diseases and may not have any similarity to the overall constitution of the patient. The result would be that some diseases might get better while the majority would merely be suppressed or rendered latent.
Mercury is very useful in the treatment of diseases of the teeth, especially when they become brittle and the gums recede, along with the formation and collection of offensive discharge (pyorrhoea). Teeth turning black and decaying at their root can be treated with Kreosotum as well as Merc Sol. If the roots of the teeth have become black, then Staphysagria works better than Merc Sol. In congenital syphilis, the teeth of the children decay at an early age and become black. The tongue appears to be thick and expanded with teeth markings on its margins. Deep ulcers form inside the mouth. The gums hurt on eating or on touch. Extremely foetid odour from the mouth fills the entire room. In Mercury, the taste of the mouth becomes metallic. The throat is red and swollen. Due to excessive salivation, the patient needs to constantly swallow it. Any change of weather results in inflammation of the throat. A worsening of the discomfort on drinking hot fluids, the difficulty in swallowing liquids and the persistent feeling of something being stuck in the throat (as in Hepar Sulph), need to be treated with Mercury.
The appetite of a Mercury patient is either markedly increased or it is totally lost. There is aversion to meat, coffee and fatty food. There is an intense feeling of weakness along with increased appetite. Milk and sweets produce hyperacidity in the stomach. The patient has a strong desire to drink cold liquids. The stomach feels inflamed, burns inside and is tender to the touch. The patient experiences hiccups as well as belching. The stomach becomes tense. There is a feeling of a pin pricking over the area of the liver. The patient feels uncomfortable while lying on the right side. Dysentery and a stinging type of abdominal pain are also the symptoms of Mercury. In Merc Cor, there is irritation and inflammation of the bladder also. Urination becomes frequent and interrupted, associated with scalding. Dysentery also sets in. In the presence of all these symptoms, Merc Cor proves to be almost a sure shot remedy. Acute summer dysentery can also be effectively treated with Aconite and Ipecac.
One symptom of Mercury is that the heart starts beating fast on the slightest physical exertion. There is a feeling of weakness over the heart. The symptoms become worse at night. The limbs tremble, but especially the hands and the feet. There may also be sudden jolting of the muscles (tonic convulsions). The body feels unusually heavy, weak and tired. The stiffness becomes worse at night in the warmth of the bed.
Regarding the diseases of women, such as stinging and burning the ovaries, excessive menstrual bleeding, abdominal pain, the abrasive type of leucorrhoea getting worse at night, morning sickness and scalding urination, followed by itching which gets relieved on washing with cold water; are all the signs of, and effectively treatable with, Merc Sol. Abortion, in the early months of pregnancy, resulting from weakness can be treated with Merc Sol. Merc Sol removes the weakness and provides the strength to carry the pregnancy through.
Mercury cannot cure the cancer of the uterus or the breast, but definitely ameliorates the pain and relieves the suffering. Noncancerous lumps can however be cured with Mercury. One Mercury compound called Proto Iodide has proved to be very useful in the treatment of breast cancer. Dr. Kent used to prescribe Proto Iodide 100 for the treatment of pain due to cancer of the breast. It helped every time it was used. Dr. Kent had noted an egg-sized cancerous lump of the breast was resolved or dissolved completely with the use of Proto Iodide of Mercury. It benefits more on the right-sided tumour, while another compound of Mercury-bin-Iodide, works better on the left-sided tumour.
Merc Sol is very useful in the treatment of spasmodic stiffness of the neck, on exposure to the cold. If the suffering is noted as first thing in the morning, then Belladonna should be used first. If it fails, then use Merc Sol.
In certain paralytic conditions, there can be spontaneous jerky movements of the limbs, bending them. These too may possibly be treated with Merc Sol. Its Eczema and the ulcers are associated with a burning and piercing sensation. The exudating smells are extremely foul and nauseating. In this type of symptom complex, any homoeopathic remedy of which the main constituent is Mercury will be found useful with rare exceptions.
The symptoms of a patient of Mercury aggravate at night, like Syphilinum and Sulphur. In Sulphur, the aggravation is due to the warmth of the bed, while in Mercury it is the time of the night, that aggravates whether the patient is asleep in bed or not.
Antidotes: Hepar Sulph, Aurum, Mezerium
Potency: 30 up to CM
by Mirza Tahir Ahmad
MERCURIUS
General features: The pathogenesis of Mercury is found in the provings of Merc. viv. and Merc. sol., two slightly different preparations, but not different enough to make any distinction in practice.
Mercury is used in testing the temperature, and a Merc. constitution is just as changeable and sensitive to heat and cold. The patient is worse from the extremes of temperature, worse from both heat and cold. Both the symptoms and the patient are worse in a warm atmosphere, worse in the open air, and worse in the cold.
The complaints of Mercury when sufficiently acute to send him to bed are worse from the warmth of the bed, so that he is forced to uncover; but after he uncovers and cools off he gets worse again, so that he has difficulty in keeping comfortable. This applies to the pains, the fever, ulcers and eruptions and the patient himself.
He is an offensive patient. We speak of mercurial odors. The breath especially is very foetid, and it can be detected on entering the room; it permeates the whole room. The perspiration is offensive; it has a strong, sweetish, penetrating odor. Offensiveness runs all through; offensive urine, stool and sweat; the odors from the nose and mouth are offensive. When Merc. is used in large doses and the patient is salivated he gives off these odors.
One who has once smelt a salivated patient will remember the mercurial odor. I remember when I was a student, almost every room had the mercurial odor. Mercury was given till the gums were touched and salivation was produced. That odor is often an index to the use of Merc.
He is worse at night. The bone pains, joint affections and inflammatory conditions are all worse at night and somewhat relieved during the day. Bone pains are universal, but especially where the flesh is thin over the bones. Periosteal pains, boring pains, worse at night and from warmth of the bed.
The glands are inflamed, and swollen; the parotids, sub-linguals, lymphatic glands of the neck, groin and axilla are all affected; the mammae swell and there is inflammation and swelling of the liver. It is pre-eminently a glandular remedy. Induration is also a general; inflamed parts indurate. If the skin is inflamed it is hard. Inflamed glands are hard.
There is induration with ulceration. A tendency to ulcerate runs through the remedy. Ulcers are found everywhere, in the throat, nose, mouth, and on the lower limbs. Ulcers sting and burn and have a lardaceous base, an ashy-white appearance looking as if spread over with a coating of lard. It looks like a diphtheritic exudate, and Merc. has diphtheritic exudations on inflamed surfaces.
Ulcers in the throat have this appearance. The mucous membrane sometimes inflames without ulceration, but with exudation, and hence it is useful in diphtheria. It has the same condition in ulcers; when the system is run down they exude a grey lardy or ashy deposit. Chancres take on that form, a whitish cheesy deposit on the base. When you realize that the complaints of Merc. are worse at night, and think of the bone pains, periosteal inflammations, etc., it is not surprising that Merc. sometimes cures syphilis. It is wonderful that the allopath hit upon it for this disease, and he cures or suppresses enough cases by similarity to justify its continued use. When given suitably it cures.
Another marked feature is the tendency to the formation of pus. With inflammation there is burning and stinging and the rapid formation of pus and the part is aggravated by both warmth and cold. Abscesses burn and sting; inflammation of joints is attended with pus formation; in inflammation of the pleura the cavity fills up with pus. The discharges of pus are yellow-green. The Merc. gonorrheal discharge is thick greenish-yellow, with stinging and burning in the urethra.
Rheumatic inflammation of joints and catarrhal inflammation of mucous membrane are features running through the remedy, and these are attended with sweat, and an astonishing feature is that the sweat does not relieve, and there is even an aggravation while sweating.
Rheumatism in old syphilitic, gonorrhoeal and gouty patients. It is similar enough to relate to some cases of psora, syphilis and sycosis. It partakes of the nature of all three miasms.
After a prover has taken Merc. a long time he emaciates. This is seen in old mercury takers and in syphilitics who have been mercurialized. It is a great remedy in this condition-steady emaciation with trembling, worse at night and from the warmth of the bed, great restlessness, can't find peace in any position. These miserable wretches, who are breaking down, are great sufferers, whether psoric, syphilitic or sycotic.
A strange feature is repeated swelling and abscess formation without any heat. An abscess or swelling in a joint forms, and he sweats from head to foot, is worse at night, loses flesh, trembles and is weak, but there is no heat while the abscess goes on. Abscesses form when the life force is so low that there is no tendency to repair; a slow and prolonged pus formation, no irritability in the abscess, no tendency to granulate, it opens and keeps on discharging and seems dead. Merc. will warm it up, stop the sweat and favor granulation.
The superficial ulceration is inclined to spread and become phagedenic; it is not deep but grows larger. These open ulcers are especially seen in old syphilitics; lardaceous base; not much irritability, they are even numb, and if pus is discharged it is greenish-yellow; false granulations appear. Merc. cor. is a greater remedy for the superficial, eating, phagedenic ulcer.
At times Merc. takes on a gangrenous condition. This may be seen anywhere, but especially on the lips, cheeks and gums. Cancrum oris. Gangrenous chancre, foetid and black; a sphacelus forms in the chancre and the part sloughs off. All these conditions are aggravated by beat.
A patient with a typical Merc. abscess rebels at times against the poultice, for it makes the trouble worse.
Trembling runs through the remedy, quivering all over. It has been used with benefit in paralysis agitans. Tremor of the hands so that he cannot lift anything or eat or write. Merc. is a great remedy in children with epileptiform fits, twitching and disorderly motions. It will help children to grow out of these in coordinate angular movements of the hands and feet.
Jerking, twitching and trembling. The motions of the tongue are disorderly and the child cannot talk. Convulsions. Involuntary motions which can be momentarily controlled by volition. The restlessness is extreme.
The trembling, weakness, sweat, foetor, suppuration and ulceration, the aggravation at night and from heat and cold, give the earlier impressions of the remedy.
Mind: The mental symptoms, which still more deeply show the nature of the medicine, are rich.
A marked feature running all through is hastiness; a hurried, restless, anxious, impulsive disposition. Coming in spells, in cold cloudy weather, or damp weather, the mind will not work, it is slow and sluggish and he is forgetful. This is noticed in persons who are tending toward imbecility. He cannot answer questions right off, looks and thinks, and finally grasps it. Imbecility and softening of the brain are strong features.
He becomes foolish. Delirium in acute complaints. From his feelings he thinks he must be losing his reason. Desire to kill persons contradicting her. Impulse to kill or commit suicide; sudden anger with impulse to do violence. She has the impulse to commit suicide or violent things, and she is fearful that she will lose her reason and carry the impulses out. Impulsive insanity, then, is a feature, but imbecility is more common than insanity.
These impulses are leading features. The patient will not tell you about his impulses, but they relate to deep evils of the will, they fairly drive him to do something. Given a Merc. patient, and he has impulses that he tries to control, no matter what, Merc. will do something for him. During menses, great anxiety, great sadness. Anxious and restless as if some evil impended, worse at night, with sweat.
Al these symptoms are common in old syphilitics, broken down after mercurial treatment and sulphur baths, at the springs, with their bone pains, glandular troubles, sweating, catarrhs and ulcerations everywhere.
Head: Merc. is suitable to rheumatic troubles of the scalp, and neuralgias and brain trouble when there are burning, stinging pains and pains affected by the weather, and when there are head troubles that have come on from suppressed discharges, such as suppressed otorrhoea after scarlet fever, or when there are head troubles in scarlet fever.
Think of Merc. if you are called to a child with sweating of the head, dilated pupils, rolling of the head, and aggravation at night, who has had scarlet fever or a suppressed ear discharge. Merc. cures lingering febrile conditions analogous to the typhoid state, but caused by suppressed ear discharge. I have cured cases that were due to packing the ear with borax, iodoform, etc., the patient having first a remittent and later a continued fever.
This would go on for five or six weeks and be relieved only when the discharge returned after a dose of Merc. I remember a case of this type. It was called cerebro-spinal meningitis; the head was drawn back and twisted and held to one side.
It began as an otitis media with discharge which was suppressed. Two or three doctors were called and could do nothing. In the night I went to the bedside and got the history and symptoms of Merc. Merc. re-established the discharge in twenty-four hours, the torticolis passed away, the fever subsided and the child made an excellent recovery. I can recall many such cases.
There is a tension about the scalp as if it were bandaged. Nervous girls have headache over the nose and around the eyes as if tied with a tape, or as if a tight hat were pressing on the head. Pressing, tearing pain in the eyes. Burning pains in the temples ameliorated by sitting up and moving about, worse at night.
Periosteal pains worse in cold, damp weather, in rheumatic and gouty constitutions, with sensitiveness in the eyes and ears, sore throat and glandular swellings. Headaches in old mercurialized syphilitics; they become barometers; sensitive to the weather. The catarrhal headaches are very troublesome; headache in those suffering from chronic catarrh with thick discharge.
The thick discharge becomes watery and the pain in the forehead, face and ears very distressing. These headaches are violent. Chronic rheumatic headache from the suppression of a discharge from any part, or from foot sweat suppressed; alternation of foot sweat and headache. When the foot sweat is gone he has pain and stiffness in the joints.
Silicea has that also. Sil. and Merc. do not follow each other well, when well selected; but if crude Mercury has been taken for a long time, Silica, like Nitric acid, is a good remedy to eliminate it when the symptoms agree.
With all headaches there is much heat in the head. Bursting headaches, fullness of the brain, and. constriction like a band. Vise-like pressure. He is sensitive to the air when he has headache. This is true of Merc. all through. He is relieved in the room, but worse in a warm or cold room, and violently worse from a draught. He wants to be covered but is worse from heat. The hoop-like sensation is worse at night.
Merc. is a wonderful remedy to ward off acute hydrocephalus after measles and scarlatina; the child rolls the head and moans, and the head sweats. It is closely related to Apis, which is also a great remedy after scarlet fever to ward off or cure hydrocephalus. Exostoses in old syphilitics.
Lacerating, tearing pains in the pericranium.
The whole external head is painful to touch. The scalp is tense and sore. Foetid, oily sweat on the head. Children have moist eczema, an excoriating, offensive eruption.
Eyes: Merc. is a wonderful eye remedy, especially for "colds."
Every cold settles in the eye in gouty and rheumatic patients. Catarrh of the eyes worse from looking into the fire or rather from sitting close to the fire; the radiated heat causes smarting. Eyelids forcibly drawn together as if long deprived of sleep. Fog or mist before the eye. Merc. cures iritis in syphilitics.
The rule now-a-days is to use a mydriatic in iritis to prevent adhesions. I have treated many cases and I have no desire to dilate the pupil. I believe it is unnecessary. The homoeopathic remedy will stop the iritis speedily so that no adhesions will form, and if they have begun the remedy will remove them. Pains tearing and burning around the eyes, in temples, etc. Tension of the scalp as if it were a tight fitting cap, or tension as from a tape.
Ulceration and inflammation of the cornea. Vascular appearance of the cornea; inflammation, especially confined to the cornea, sometimes pustular, sometimes diffused. There is copious lachrymation with all eye symptoms, and the tears excoriate, causing a red line down the cheeks. Greenish yellow, or a green discharge. Lids spasmodically closed. Great photophobia. In inflammatory conditions of all the tissues of the eye lids, conjunctiva and deeper structures. Colds settle in the eye like Dulc.
Sometimes you will see a little fine growth on the iris, growing across the pupil and attached by a pedicle. It is really a syphilitic condylomata. Merc. cures it in a few days. Inflammation of the retina and choroid and of the optic nerve. All sorts of disturbed vision. It is useful in purulent ophthalmia, with swollen lids. Two kinds of constitution need it, the syphilitic and the rheumatic or gouty. He can not open the eyes; they are spasmodically closed, and there is great tumefaction.
Ears: Ear troubles. Horribly stinking greenish discharge. Green, thick, acrid pus from the ears like the discharge from the nose and other parts. Stinking otorrhoea. In otitis media with ruptured drum, Merc. is a frequently required remedy. In Spring after a long, cold Winter, the cold, damp weather causes many cases of otorrhoea; it is almost endemic in large cities. The ear drum heals like any other place if the patient is put in good condition by the remedy. It not well treated a hole will be left. Ears inflamed, with cramp-like pains.
Merc has stinging pain like Apis. All routinists will give Apis for stinging pains, and yet it often is Merc. that the patient needs. Purulent, offensive otorrhoea. Enlargement of the parotids and cervical glands with all inflammations of the ears. Parotids sore and enlarged, neck stiff, and head sometimes drawn back., Furuncles in external canal. Fungous excrescences and polypi.
The nose troubles would take a long time to describe.
Old syphilitics, with nasal bones affected, thick, greenish, yellow, acrid, stinking discharge. Nosebleed and bloody discharge from the nose. Coryza acrid, watery, with pressure through the bones of the face, worse from heat or cold, worse at night; sensitive to every draught; must get up and walk the floor. It has coryza with much sneezing with an opposite state, ameliorated lying, not at all during the night while lying in bed, only in the daytime while up and about.
The inhalation of hot air feels good to the nose, but the heat aggravates the body. Incessant sneezing. Bleeding, scurfy, red nostrils. Old catarrhal smell in the nose. Rawness, burning and swelling. Inside of the nostrils smarting and burning. Aching, tearing and pressure in the bones. Bones of the face painful, feel as if pressed outward, and be wants to press, but it is painful.
Merc. is not deep enough to cure the whole constitution in psoric cases that are constantly taking cold. It cures the cold at once, but implants its own nature and the patient catches cold oftener. It should not be given often, not oftener than twice in a winter. Kali iod, is better for the same burning in the face, running coryza, and aggravation from heat and warmth of the bed, and it will cure the coryza in a night when apparently Merc. is indicated. it is also an antidote to Merc. Don't give many doses of Merc. in psoric cases; look for a deeper medicine.
Face: It has syphilitic eruptions and neuralgias of the face with or without catarrh. It is a great medicine for mumps; it is a routine remedy for this condition, which shows that it must be frequently indicated. It cures where the symptoms agree.
Scorbutic gums in those who have been salivated. Rigg's disease; purulent discharge from around the teeth. Toothache; every tooth aches, especially in old gouty and mercurialized patients. Looseness of the teeth. Red, soft gums. Teeth black and dirty. Black teeth and early decay of the teeth in syphilitic children, like Staph. Copious salivation.
Gums painful to touch. Pulsation in the gums and roots. Gums have a blue red margin, or purple color, and are spongy and, bleed easily. Gums settle away, and the teeth feel long, and are elongated. Teeth sore and painful so that he cannot masticate. Abscesses of the gums and roots of the teeth.
The taste, tongue and mouth furnish important and distinctive symptoms. As the tongue is projected it is seen to be flabby, has a mealy surface, and is often pale. The imprint of the teeth is observed all round the edge of the tongue. The tongue is swollen as if spongy, and presses in around the teeth and thus gets the imprint of the teeth. Inflammation, ulceration and swelling of the tongue are strong features.
Old gouty constitutions have swollen tongue; the tongue will swell in the night and he will waken up with a mouthful. The taste is perverted, nothing tastes right. The tongue is coated yellow or white as chalk in a layer. Offensive mouth; putrid odors from the mouth especially the mercurial odor of the salivated patient. The tongue becomes clumsy; difficulty in talking; his speech is hardly intelligible. Awkwardness of the tongue as in persons intoxicated. Ulcers flat; eating ulcers; holes are eaten through the cheek. Eating away of the soft palate and the bone of the bard palate is often eaten away.
Purulent formation in the antrum of Highmore and fistulae from the mouth to the antrum. Fluoric acid and Silicea are more frequently indicated in these fistulae, especially if the bone is involved. Copious flow of foetid saliva. Sore mouth of children and nursing mothers; little aphthous patches with the mercurial odor and flabby, spongy appearance of the mucous membrane and tongue. General diffused inflammation of the mouth. The whole mucous membrane is sensitive and painful, burning, stinging and smarting; dryness with or without aphthous patches. Thrush of children. Scorbutic gums.
Throat: Sore throat. It is a remedy for inflammation of the throat, with spongy appearance, general diffused tumefaction swelling of the parotids, fullness and stiffness of the neck. Lardaceous base in ulcers; flat ulcers, spreading ulcers. Great dryness in the throat. The swelling impairs the motion of all the ' muscles that take part in swallowing.
Swallowing is attended with difficulty, pain and paralytic weakness, and the effort to swallow forces the bolus up into the nose, and liquids come out through the nostrils. The mercurial odor is a strong feature, but Merc. often cures when that odor is not perceptible; it has such an affinity for the throat. it has chronic throat troubles and syphilitic ulcers and patches.
The inflammation extends upwards and downwards, red and pale patches, the red looking as if they would suppurate or ulcerate. The red spots become quite purple, but the more purple they are the more they are like Lach. Tonsils dark red with stinging pains. Quinsy, after pus has formed. It is useful in diphtheria, and most cases are diffused, extensive patches or patches here and there, with spongy appearance, but no ulceration. Tumefaction; and the exudations are upon a tumefied base. Stiff neck. Erysipelatous inflammation of the throat. Dark, sloughing, eating, corroding ulcers in the throat.
Stomach: He has aversion to meat, wine, brandy, coffee, greasy food, butter.
Milk disagrees, and comes up sour. Sweets disagree. He is turned against his beer. The stomach is chronically disordered; eructations, regurgitations, heartburn, etc. Sour stomach; it is foul. He has nausea with vomiting and regurgitation of food. In such a stomach food is like a load. Bad taste; bitter mouth; be tastes the food; it comes up sour.
With all this the saliva constantly runs from the mouth. It does not improve as digestion goes on. The half-digested substances are vomited. It is like the state in persons who have destroyed their stomach from crossing liquors, beer, wine and whisky.
Liver: The liver furnishes much trouble.
Our forefathers for years took blue mass every Spring to regulate the liver. They physicked themselves with it and tapped their liver every Spring with it, and as a result they had worse livers than they would have had if the doctors had stayed at home. Constipation, bilious habits and disordered stomach.
The fullness in the region of the stomach, coming in spells, worse in cold, damp weather and warm, damp weather, worse in the Spring, jaundiced condition, disordered stomach, the aggravation at night and from the warmth of the bed, nightly feverishness and foul mouth, will give you the Merc. state.
Stitches in the liver. Liver symptoms worse lying on the right side. Many complaints of Merc. are aggravated by lying on the right side. The lung symptoms and cough, liver, stomach and bowel symptoms are all worse while lying on the right side.
Abdomen: In the abdomen we find colic, rumbling, distension, aches and pains, stinging and burning.
It has a great variety of stools, of diarrhoea and constipation. It has a well-defined dysenteric condition. Slimy, bloody stools with much straining, he feels as if he could never finish, even when no more is passing, a "never-get-done" feeling.
This is the very opposite of Nux and Rhus in dysentery. These are relieved if a little stool is passed, but Merc. and Sulph. will sit and strain, and all the salts of Merc. have the same state. Merc. cor. has a more violent attack, with violent urging to stool and to urinate, and intense suffering, with burning in the parts and the passage of pure blood.
Merc., Ipec. and Acon. are frequently indicated in epidemic dysentery that comes in hot weather, and Ipec., Dulc. and Merc. are frequently indicated in the dysentery of cold weather.
You should go to the bedside of a case of dysentery with the repertory or go home and send medicine. Your first prescription should cure in epidemic dysentery, and if you work cautiously you will cure every case. It is a very simple condition to cure, but a very bad thing to get mixed up. Do not give Arsenic just because it conforms to the dysenteric condition, for if it does not cure it will mix up the case. Hesitate about giving Ars. in dysentery until you are perfectly sure it is indicated.
A few days ago I saw a patient who could not lie down because, of pain in both hypochondria; he had incessant vomiting, inflammatory rheumatism of the ankles, hands, arms and shoulders, he had purpuric spots on the arms and legs, he had inflammation of the stomach, and was a perfect museum of diseases. He had had Phos. and Ars. and many remedies very high, all supposed to be well selected but Cadmium sulph. put him to sleep in fifteen minutes.
The point was that he wanted to keep perfectly still, and hence it was unlike Ars., although all the other symptoms were like Ars.
That is a strong feature of Cadmium sulph; he wants to keep as still as Colch. and Bry. For many years I have used it for such cases. I saw another case of cancer with coffee-ground vomit, and Cadmium sulph. stopped her vomiting, and she ate quite well until she died six weeks later. The doctor in charge had given her Ars. and Phos. and Morphine till she could take no more.
Urines: The urine burns and smarts.
Frequent urging to urinate, dribbling a little; bloody urine, great burning. Haemorrhage from the urethra. Itching worse from the presence of urine. Gonorrhoea which has existed for some time; discharge thick, greenish-yellow, and offensive. Smarting and burning in the urethra when urinating. Loss of sexual power.
Genitals: Lascivious excitement with painful erections.
Ulcers on the prepuce and glans, making it suitable in chancre and chancroid. Flat ulcers; ulcers with lardaceous base. Inflammation of the inner surface of the prepuce. Balanitis, offensive pus. In chronic balanitis when pus forms behind the glans and under the foreskin, gonorrheal or psoric, consult jacaranda caroba.
The woman has much tribulation. Burning, stinging in ovaries. Screaming from pain. Stinging, tearing, cutting pains in the ovaries, patient covered with sweat. Copious, excoriating leucorrhoea, parts raw, sore, inflamed and itching.
Stinging, itching and boring pains in the uterus. Pains in the uterus and ovaries at the menstrual period. Milk in the breast of the non-pregnant woman at the menstrual period. Milk in the breasts instead of the menstrual flow. I once had a freak in a sixteen-year-old boy, who had milk in his breasts. I cured him with Merc.
Menstrual flow light red, pale, acrid, clotted, and profuse or scanty. The menses are sometimes suppressed. Women who have been in the habit of taking mercury for biliousness remain sterile. (Coffee drinkers often remain sterile also and you must stop their coffee.)
Amenorrhoea with ebullitions. Chancres on the female genitals. Aged women have denuded genitals, rawness, soreness and false granulations, which are always bleeding. Burning, throbbing and itching in the vagina. Itching of the genitals from the contact of the urine; it must be washed off.
In children, boys or girls, the urine burns after urinating and they are always carrying the hands to the genitals. Little girls have acrid leucorrhoea causing burning and itching and much trouble. Phlegmonous inflammation of the genitals. Boils and abscesses at the menstrual period; little elongated abscesses along tho margin of the mucous membrane and skin, painful, aggravated by walking, forming during the flow and breaking after the period. This with itching, causes great suffering.
Morning sickness. A woman, while pregnant, has oedematous swelling of the genitals. Diffused inflammation, soreness and fullness of the genitals and pelvis, causing difficulty in walking, and she must take to bed.
In pelvic cellulitis in the early months of pregnancy Merc. is an important remedy. Repeated miscarriages from sheer weakness Merc. is a wonderful strengthener when properly used. Prolonged lochia. Milk scanty and spoiled.
Merc. is one of the best palliatives in cancer of the uterus and mammae. It will restrain and sometimes cure epithelioma. I knew one case cured by the Proto-iodide, an ulcerated, indurated lump in the breast, as large as a goose egg with knots in the axilla, blueness of the part, and no hope.
The stooth attenuation, given as often as the pains were very severe, took it away and she remained well. The effect observed on the nose is not all of the Merc. coryza.
Respiratory: Most Merc cases begin in the nose and travel down the throat, creating rawness and scraping of the larynx, and rawness and soreness in the chest; laryngitis, tracheitis and bronchitis.
Loss of voice, complete aphonia. The course of the Merc. cold is downwards, even going on to pneumonia, with sweat, restlessness and aggravation from the warmth of the bed. Of course many of the colds remain in the nose.
There are various conditions in the chest. Coughs; colds that remain in the chest, lack of reaction and tardy recovery. The colds finally settle in the bronchial tubes; the chest feels as if it would burst and the cough is worse lying on the right side. I look back over many cases of patients who took cold from exposure and now look sickly and sallow, with a dreadful cough and rattling on the chest; every change of the weather gives them a new cold, and they cannot lie on the right side; their tendency is to go into mucous phthisis or quick consumption.
The cough is worse in the night air. There are many pains in the chest. He has a rheumatic constitution, is always sweating, worse while sweating and from the extremes of heat and cold. Stitching stabbing, rheumatic pains in the chest with night sweats. Bloody, thick green expectoration. Suppuration of the lung, great quantities of pus form.
Tremendous orgasms, bubbling and flushes of heat in the chest. With many complaints there is sore throat and rheumatism and stiffness of the neck; stiff neck with swollen glands and goitre. Stiff neck with every cold; stiffness of the side and back of the neck. Induration and soreness of the cervical glands along with other complaints.
Limbs: Merc. especially affects the joints; inflammatory rheumatism with much swelling, aggravated from the heat of the bed and from uncovering.
It is difficult to get just the right weight of clothing. Rheumatic affection with sweat, aggravation at night, from the warmth of the bed and while sweating, with sickly countenance. It especially attacks the upper limbs, but is also found in the lower.
Tremulous condition of the extremities, like paralysis agitans. Trembling of the hands with great weakness. Paralysis of the lower limbs, and twitching, jerking and quivering of the paralyzed parts. Arg. n., Phos., Stram., Secale and Merc. have twitching of the muscles of the paralyzed limb.
Soreness between the thighs and genitals. Ulcers on the legs; abscesses. Oedematous swelling of the feet. Cold perspiration. Copious sweat during sleep. Pain and sweat come on when comfortable in bed; bone pains. He covers up because he feels cold, but when he becomes warm the pains are aggravated.
Fever: Merc. is full of fever. Very seldom, however, has it a true, idiopathic, continued fever. It stands very low for continued fever alone, but it is especially indicated in surgical fevers, at first remittent, but later continued, such as come on from the suppression of discharges.
The Merc. patient about to go into a chill is chilly even when the chill has not yet come on; sensitive to the moving air in a warm room; violently sensitive to a draught. Cold hands and feet. The sweat is profuse and offensive.
The complaints in general are worse while he sweats, and the more he sweats the worse he is. He sweats copiously and his greatest sufferings are in the sweat. Merc. does not have a clear intermittent.
Between the paroxysms be has liver disturbances, diarrhoea, fever. In surgical fevers, bilious fevers, worm fever in children, and remittent fevers there is much aching in the bones, great sensitiveness to the air, aggravation at night in bed when the fever runs highest, mercurial breath and sallow skin. The fever does not go so high. and the skin is not so hot as in Bell. The loaded tongue and the bilious fevers fade out after Merc.
It is useful in hectic fever in the last stages of consumption, and in exhausting diseases with hectics, and in cancer when there is the aching, foul sweat, etc. It acts wonderfully in catarrhal fever, grippe, etc., and when colds extend to the chest and there are the copious discharges everywhere. It is suitable in quasi-typhoids that have come out of remittents, symptomatic typhoids, when the patient is icteric, low, prostrated, tremulous, with quivering muscles, great exhaustion and continued fever.
Skin: There are many skin symptoms; scurfy eruptions, vesicular eruptions, eruptions discharging pus.
Vesicles burn and smart, with excoriating discharges, especially on the head. Much itching of the skin, violent, in all parts of the body, as from fleas, especially when warm in bed at night. Copper-colored eruptions as. in syphilis, and mucous patches. The scurfy eruptions are especially marked.
Ulcers on parts where the skin and flesh are thin over the bones. Offensive forms of eczema. Most eruptions are moist with copious oozing. It cures shingles.
The skin is sallow. Excoriating wherever two parts come together. Rawness between the thighs and between the scrotum and thighs. Eruptions in such places. it has fissures at commissures, at the corners of the mouth and eyes; rawness and bleeding of the perineum rendering walking difficult.
This furnishes a basis for the Salts of Mercury.
The salts of mercury: After studying Merc., corrosive mercury, the proto-iodide and the bin-iodide, we may from some specific symptoms in the case say that we prefer one of the salts of Mercury.
When we go to rheumatic and gouty cases with the aggravation from sweat, aggravation from the warmth of the bed, the mercurial odor, etc., we can commonly say that one of the Mercurius will cure this case.
by James Tyler Kent