Kent's - Classical Homeopathy Online

that I have described runs through the patient. The pains cease suddenly. The blood seems to mount tothe head. The face becomes red.Congestions come on suddenly. Convulsions epileptiform in character. Bell. is not suitable forthose numerous recurrent complaints, even though the single attack should be mitigated with Bell. Takeany of these attacks; whether they are convulsions or headaches, or congestion of the brain, they arerunning down and become excitable, take on congestive attacks of the head, go right to bed, and rollthe head. You treat those with Bell.; the attack is relieved. Take notice, I start out by saying this is onlyone of a series. You may not know it. This may be the first one. You reduce that one, and when thatsame exposure comes again, that same attack comes back; but Bell. does less this time than it didbefore. After two or three attacks Bell. will do no more and you are worse off this time than you werebefore. When it has broken the first one the physician should see that this is one of a series, and thatBell. is not suitable. Often it is a case that needs Calc., I say often, not always. All the symptoms shouldbe examined between the attacks, so that the child may be elevated above these attacks because theacute remedy will do no more than suit the first, or second, or third at most. It has not the depth ofaction. It has not the length of action. It does not affect the economy profoundly enough. It passes awayafter a few days; has to be frequently repeated. The patient should be followed up and watched in allthese recurrent spasmodic and periodical complaints. Bell. is not a good remedy for recurrentcomplaints for it lacks periodicity, just as it lacks continuance of complaints. Even if the first attacklooked like Bell. the next attack would come back just the same. Belladonna is suitable in thosecomplaining that if conquered have no tendency to recur; those complaints that end in death orrecovery. It will only mitigate those complaints that are periodical.Its sleep is a congestive sleep, a stupor; full of dreams; full of violence. Wakes with fright froma horrible dream, a nightmare. Jerks and twitches in sleep. "Restless sleep". Moaning and groaning insleep. Doing all sorts of violence. Delirium in sleep. "Starts in sleep as if frightened". In sleepsometimes the patient will commence to talk, will talk faster and louder, the head becomes hot, and thefeet cold, and he ends with a shriek."Restless tossing in sleep. Feet becoming icy cold in sleep. Head getting hot in sleep. Wakes upin a fever, and excitement".It has symptoms so much like a typical old-fashioned Sydenham- scarlet fever that it has beenuseful in scarlet fever, Perhaps it is one of the most frequently indicated medicines in that disease. Insome seasons, at least, it will run all through, and the majority of cases will be Bell. cases, with thebright red face and glossy appearance of the skin. Bright red, intense heat, great congestion; after ashort time if Bell. is not administered it will grow darker. But running through all this are those threewords, heat, redness and burning. Burning everywhere. The temperature I described among thegenerals as being so marked, so intense that you will carry it with you on the ends of your fingers forhours after you have touched a Bell. scarlet fever.It differs wholly from the Apis case, which has a rough rash.Bell, is smooth and shining. Apis wants to be cool, wants to be uncovered; Bell, wants to bewarm, wants a warm room; Apis has no thirst, to speak of; in Bell. it is the exception to have no thirst,generally very thirsty for water, little and often. The intense dryness of the mucous membranes andskin. Coldness of the extremities with hot head. In Arum triphyllum there is a constant picking of themouth, with suppressed or scanty urine; pale surface, only here and there a little rash; the itching of thefingers, toes, nose and lips will lead you to prescribe Arum. You remember the Baptisia case, with thatmental state where he is feeling all over the bed "to get the pieces together". On the other hand, wherethere is no rash to speak of, now and then a patch enough to make a diagnosis, or the diagnosis is madefrom the fact of some one else having the disease in the family, the child is swallowing ice water, butvomiting it up when it gets warm in the stomach, who would not give Phos ? So it is at the bedside wepick out the distinguishing things and see that these remedies are not at all alike. Bell. stands out withits heat, its redness, its turmoil. Remember it has not continued fever; it is not suitable in typhoid. Bell.in a night will bring down the fever, will allay the delirium; but how is it the next night? On comes thefever, and the patient is worse than he was before.Simply because Bell. cannot hold what it starts with. It is not suitable. It has not that continuedfeature in it. We are led to a medicine that corresponds to continuous fevers, and such must be selectedwhen we go into the typhoid state. Our earlier practitioners often only thought of what they saw at thetime. It was only after our school had considerable experience that it was found that periodicityconstitutes a symptom. Every remedy has its pace, its times of aggravation and its times ofamelioration.So it is with Bell. Its time is 3 o'clock in the afternoon, commonly. Its complaints are generallyworse in the night. Its complaints commonly start about three o'clock in the afternoon, and run till three