Q. : What is the grand characteristic of the Bryonia constipation ?
A. : When it is due to dryness of the intestinal tract and the stools are large, dry and brown, as if burnt, and are passed with a great deal of difficulty, owing to an atony of the intestines.
Q. : How does it differ from Nux vomica ?
A. : Nux vom. produces an increased intestinal action, which is irregular, inharmonious and spasmodic, and this hinders rather than favors an evacuation.
Q. : What other drugs besides Bryonia have constipation with atony of the intestines ?
A. : Veratrum album and Opium.
Q. : To what is the constipation of Opium due ?
A. : To complete inactivity of the bowels, owing to a muscular paresis.
Under opium the faces become impacted and are passed in little, hard, dry, black balls, and there is absolutely no urging to stool.
Q. : How does Plumbum compare here ?
A. : Plumbum has stools consisting of hard, black balls, but there is some constriction of the rectum, showing that there is some activity of the muscles present.
Q. : What is the constipation of Alumina ?
A. : There is complete inertia of the rectum, so that the stool is expelled with great difficulty, no matter what the consistency of it is ; there is little or no urging to stool ; the stools may be dry, hard and knotty, like sheep dung, or soft ; constipation of children where the rectum is dry, hard, inflamed and bleeding.
Q. : To what is the constipation of Alumina due ?
A. : Both to dryness and inactivity of the rectum, producing the symptom that soft stools are expelled with difficulty.
Q. : What is the stool of Anacardium ?
A. : There is a sensation of a plug in the rectum, it seems powerless to expel the stool ; even a soft stool is expelled with difficulty.
Q. : What are the characteristic symptoms of Nux vomica in constipation ?
A. : Inactivity, with constant, ineffectual urging to stool.
The passages are incomplete and unsatisfactory, as if part remained behind.
Q. : How does Lycopodium compare here ?
A. : Lycopodium has ineffectual urging to stool, but under Lycopodium it is not due to irregular intestinal action, but to a constriction of the rectum.
Q. : How does Carbo vegetabilis compare here ?
A. : Carbo veg. also has ineffectual urging to stool, but here it is due to flatulence.
Q. : How is Nux vomica distinguished from Opium, Bryonia and Alumina ?
A. : These drugs have no urging at all.
Q. : What are the symptoms of Lycopodium in constipation ?
A. : Sensation as if something remained behind ; constipation due to constriction of the rectum.
It is a useful remedy in the constipation of young children ; it is apt to be associated with hemorrhoids.
There is a constricted feeling about the rectum, as in Silicea.
Q. : What is the remedy for constipation due to abuse of purgative medicines ?
A. : Nux vomica.
Q. : What is the constipation of Sulphur ?
A. : Ineffectual urging to stool with a sensation of heat, fulness and discomfort in the rectum.
It is a useful remedy with which to commence the treatment of constipation.
Uneasy feeling all through intestinal tract ; constipation alternating with diarrhoea ; abdominal plethora or passive portal congestion.
Q. : What is the characteristic indication for Graphites in constipation ?
A. : It is where the stools are covered with mucus and there is no urging.
The patient sometimes goes days without a stool, and when it does come it is composed of little round balls knotted together, with shreds of mucus and accompanied with great pain when passing, owing to fissure.
Q. : What is the constipation of Platina ?
A. : Torpor of the whole intestinal tract ; unsuccessful urging to stool and great dryness of the rectum.
The stools adhere to the rectum like putty or glue.
There is great weakness in the abdomen and a sensation as if there was a load in the rectum which could not be expelled.
It is a remedy for the constipation of travelers and emigrants.
Q. : What is the constipation of Natrum muriaticum ?
A. : The stools are hard and difficult to expel, causing bleeding and smarting and soreness in the rectum.
There is dryness of the rectum and the stools are crumbly in character ; great weakness of the intestine.
Q. : What is the characteristic constipation of Phosphorus ?
A. : Where the stools are grayish, showing lack of bile.
They are long, slender and tough, resembling a dog's stool, and voided with the utmost difficulty.
Q. : What is the great characteristic of Silicea in constipation ?
A. : It is due to the deficient expulsive power of the rectum and spasmodic condition of the sphincter, which gives rise to the symptom that the stool slips back when partially expelled.
Q. : What symptoms has Ammonium muriaticum ?
A. : The stools are hard and crumbly, crumble as they pass the anus.
All Muriates have crumbly stools.
Q. : Give the constipation of Sepia.
A. : No desire or urging for days and days ; the stools are hard and large ; inactivity of the rectum, and a sensation of a ball in it ; patient cannot strain and consequently cannot expel stool.
Q. : What are the indications for Hydrastis in constipation ?
A. : After the use of purgatives, when there is present the sinking, gone feeling at the epigastrium, and symptoms of gastro-duodenal catarrh, such as torpidity of the liver, yellow skin and tenderness in the hepatic region and light colored stools.
Q. : What is the constipation of Veratrum ?
A. : Large, hard black stools with faintness ; patient strains until covered with cold sweat and then gives it up, and faeces accumulate in large masses in the rectum.
Q. : What are the characteristics of the Plumbum constipation ?
A. : There is a marked retraction of the abdomen, and a spasm or contraction of the sphincter ani ; there is urging to stool, and the stool is passed in little, round balls, which are black and hard ; they are passed with great difficulty, and are often accompanied by colic or a sensation of a string pulling the anus up into the rectum.
Q. : What is peculiar about the stool of Causticum ?
A. : Owing to a paralytic condition of the rectum the patient is unable to evacuate the stool when sitting, he is obliged almost to stand.
Q. : When is Magnesia muriatica indicated in constipation ?
A. : Stools are passed with great difficulty, being composed of hard lumps, which are so dry that they crumble as they pass the anus.
Q. : What symptom has Selenium in common with Alumina, Opium, Plumbum and Bryonia ?
A. : The faeces are hard and dry and require artificial means for their removal.
Peristaltic action is nil with this remedy.
