Fevers

Categories: ADMINISTRATION OF REMEDIES.
Sources: An Epitome Of Homeopathic Healing Art

Intermittent Fever, Ague or Chill Fever.



This comes on with pains in the head and back, aching in the joints,

yawning, followed by coldness of the hands and feet, blueness of the

nails and skin of the hands, general chilliness, sometimes "shaking."

This lasts from a few minutes in some cases, to several hours in others.

The chill is followed by a fever, which is generally severe and long

continued, in pro ortion to the length and severity of the chill. The

fever is followed by free perspiration, when it subsides and leaves the

patient in a comfortable condition. This state is called the

_Intermission_. This continues from a few hours to twenty-four, or

longer, when another chill comes on followed by fever and sweats as

before. During the chill and fever, the patient often suffers great

pain, and is sometimes delirious. Young children frequently have

convulsions when the chill sets in. _These_ convulsions of children,

though alarming, are not often dangerous.





TREATMENT.



As soon as the first symptoms of the chills appear, such as the

headache, pain in the back and bones, coldness of the hands, nose and

ears, give _Aconite_ and _Baptisia_ alternately, giving the first three

doses every ten minutes, the next three doses every fifteen minutes, and

then once in half an hour until the patient begins to sweat freely, when

the medicines should be discontinued. If there is nausea or vomiting

present, let the patient have lukewarm water freely in large draughts,

until he vomits it up several times. As soon as the sweating commences,

give _Arsenicum_ and _Macrotin_ alternately every hour during the

intermission, except during sleeping time. On return of the chill,

should it appear a second time, use the _Aconite_ and _Baptisia_ as

before, and follow them with _Arsenicum_ and _Nux Vom._ every two hours.

This course of treatment will cure a majority of cases, but some require

_Cinchonia_. That Cinchonia is a specific for intermittent fevers in

many of their forms, no one will deny. It is the Homoeopathic remedy

for many cases, and should be prescribed. The injurious effects that are

often attributed to Quinine, are, I have no doubt, attributable not to

that remedy, but to the _drugs_ that are used prior to giving the

_Chinium Sul_. I have used it in more than two thousand cases, and have

never been able to see any evil consequences follow its _proper_ use. It

should be given _from the beginning of the chill to the end_ of the

paroxysm, and continued during the whole time of the intermission: _i.

e._ until the time arrives for the next chill, _time_ being important in

the use of this remedy. Use the first decimal trituration, and give

grain doses (equal to 1-10th of a grain of the drug) every half hour

till the time the next chill would occur, if it pursued its regular

course, allowing the patient six or seven hours time in each

twenty-four, for sleep.[1] Though from two to four grains of the pure

_Chinium Sulphuricum_ is all the patient would get, very few cases that

do not yield to a course of the former treatment here recommended, will

have the third paroxysm after this _China_ treatment is commenced and

pursued as here directed. For children the dose may be one-half or

one-fourth that of the adults. If a trituration of the medicine cannot

be got conveniently, four grains of the _Quinine_ may be put into a four

ounce vial of water, shaken well every time, and a teaspoonful taken at

a dose. Abstinence from food as far as practicable, and quiet is of much

importance in this disease, but the patient may use water freely.



[1] NOTE.--The Eclectic Physicians use equal parts of Quinine and

Prussiate of Iron, with marked success in agues, giving from one to

three grains of the mixture at a dose, every two hours, or oftener, for

ten or twelve hours, and some times more, during the intermission. An

intelligent Homoeopathic Physician informs me that he has used with

_uniform_ success, a _trituration_ of this mixture of Quinine and

Prussiate of Iron, in proportion of ten grains of the Sugar of Milk to

one of the Mixture, giving the trituration in doses of about one grain

every hour through the chill, fever and intermission. Very few cases had

a second chill after taking the prescription. I have used this

trituration successfully in a few cases.



In some cases, the chill is irregular and indistinct, the patient is

thirsty during the chill, and the cold stage is long in proportion to

the length of the fever, the surface pale and more or less bloated.

_Arsenicum_ is the remedy, and should be given from the commencement of

the chill, and every hour until the fever subsides, then every three

hours during the intermission. In chronic cases, where the patient has

been drugged with mercurials and cathartics, together with larger doses

of Quinine, and is still suffering under the disease, _Pulsatilla_ and

_Macrotin_ in alternation, will, in nearly every case, effect a cure.