American Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacognosy

the anemia.
Ergot acts upon the heart muscle in much the same manner as upon the
muscular structure of the womb, although much less violently. It will
surely reduce the size of a hypertrophied or dilated heart.
Because of the profound irritation of muscular fibrillae and consequent
almost immediate contraction induced by Ergot, it is a most active agent
in inducing expulsive pains in labor, in overcoming uterine inertia and
in controlling uterine hemorrhage.
Specific Symptomatology—Extreme fullness of the circulation of the
brain, flushed face, headache, bright, sharp eyes, great restlessness.
The indications for its safe use in labor are: first, uterine inertia;
muscular relaxation with a more or less general weakness; second, the
first stage of labor must be completed, and the ostium vaginae must be fully
dilated.
There must be no obstacle to the free expulsion of the child.
The contractions induced by this agent are not smooth, spontaneous,
natural, rhythmical contractions, but are irregular and extreme, and if an
overdose be given it may induce a tetanic contraction and a single, most
violent, continuous expulsive effort which does not cease until the entire
contents of the womb are expelled.
With such an influence, if there be a rigid, undilated os or perineum, or
malposition of the child, or extreme dryness of the parts, serious results,
as rupture of the womb or extreme laceration of the perineum, are almost
unavoidable.
This profound and continuous pressure on the child and placenta arrests
haematosis, greatly paralyzes the heart's action, and thus impairs the
circulation, inducing cyanosis and often death of the infant before its
expulsion is complete.
Again, such pronounced action upon the womb structure may result in
subsequent muscular paralysis, with great impairment of its contractile
power, and if there be no post-partum hemorrhage there may be
subinvolution more or less persistent. It will be seen, therefore, that this
remedy in parturition is a dangerous one, and if used at all it should be
Ellingwood’s American Materia Medica, Therapeutics and Pharmacognosy - Page 198