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Trychosanthes Dioica


NAT. ORD., Cucurbitaceae.



COMMON NAME, Patal.



PREPARATION.--One part of the entire fresh plant is macerated in two

parts by weight of alcohol.



(In 1893 H. L. Saha, homoeopathic practitioner, Pabna,

Bengal, sent the following to Hom. Recorder:)



Trychosanthes dioica (Bengali name, Patal). It belongs to the order of

Cucurbitaeae, is a creeper,
lowering in all seasons, but chiefly in

spring. It is a native of Bengal. Its fruit is called Patal, and is used

by the natives as one of their chief curry.



The plant and its root are used by the native physicians in various

maladies. Its action is mainly upon the liver and intestines. The

decoction of the root is generally used by the mother physicians for

removing costiveness, especially where there is a derangement of the

functions of the liver.



A boy of fourteen years of age, who had habitual constipation, took, at

the advice of a quack native physician, about three or four ounces of

the decoction of its root, which produced profuse diarrhoea. After

four or five stools I was called. I saw him weak and dejected, using

abusive language to his native physician. His face was very pale. Stools

were profuse, frequent, gushing, yellowish, watery. Much pain and

cutting about the umbilicus during and before stool. After every stool

he felt dizziness of the brain. This case struck me that Trychosanthes

dioica will prove a grand remedy for diarrhoea. I prepared its

tincture from the root and used it in 3x potency, in some cases with

great satisfaction. The following cases will show its curative power:



1. A girl, aged 6 years, was attacked with diarrhoea; stools were

profuse, thin, yellowish, watery, mixed with little white mucous; very

offensive smell; cutting pain about umbilicus during and after stool.

Pain in liver and eyes; jaundice; face yellowish; very weak; did not

wish to answer questions: sad and peevish. On the fifth day I was

called. I prescribed Trychosanthes dioica 3x every three hours. I saw

the patient much better next day. Within a day or two the patient was

all right.



2. A boy, aged 16 years, suffering from chronic diarrhoea; passed from

four to five stools in a day. The character of the stool was yellowish,

watery, mixed with a little white and greenish mucus. Smell offensive;

dull, aching pain in the region of the liver. Face very pale; eyes

jaundiced. He was very sad and dejected. His appetite little; taste

bitter. He had been at first treated by an allopath, then, afterwards,

by a homoeopath. The latter showed some improvement. I was called on

the thirteenth day, when I noticed the above symptoms. I prescribed

Trychosanthes 3x every four hours. The patient was completely cured

within four days.



I cured some cases of choleric diarrhoea by this medicine, but those

cases were vaguely reported to me.



I hope that, when proven, Trychosanthes dioica will show its large

sphere of action and give our Materia Medica a new remedy for looseness

of bowels.



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