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.