REMEDY INDICATIONS AFTER VACCINATION.
As stated in last months Recorder, the most frequently indicated remedies for the bad effects of vaccination are: Apis, Ars., Echi., Hep., Kali carb., Lach., Maland., Med., Psor., Pyrog., Sil., Sulph., Thuja and Tub, bov. One more nosode should be added to the list, namely, Syphilinum.
APIS.
(a) EARLY SYMPTOMS.
Rather sudden, violent onset of local inflammation. Stinging, oedematous appearance of lesion. Marked swelling of limb with rosy color. Sensation of tightness in affected limb. Aggravation from warmth, both locally and generally. Amelioration from cold bath locally in general. Aggravation of all symptoms 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. Marked absence of thirst usually but not always.
(b) CONSTITUTIONAL EFFECTS.
Throat infections following vaccination with burning, stinging pains, oedematous uvula and thirstlessness. Worse from hot drinks and hot applications. Better from cold drinks and cold compresses.
Erysipelas following vaccination with marked puffiness and oedema. Sensation of extreme tightness in affected parts. Eruption of rosy color. Worse from warmth, better from cold. General aggravation around 5:00 p.m. Stinging, nettle-like sensations in the involved area. Thirstlessness. Inclined to apathy and indifference. Seldom restless.
Urticaria following vaccination. Worse from warmth, better from cold. Eruption of a stinging, pricking, jabbing character with red and white areolae.
Headaches at intervals ever since vaccination. Worse from motion, better from pressure, worse in warm room and relieved by cold applications.
MENTAL AND NERVOUS SYMPTOMS.
Increasing clumsiness and awkwardness. Increasing suspicion and jealousy. Increasing apathy and indifference. Loss of interest in things and people. Drowsiness and sleepiness. Aggravation in general around 5:00 p.m.
Desire for cool room and cold to affected parts with above symptoms. Tendency to oedematous swellings with pitting on pressure.
ARSENICUM ALBUM.
(a) EARLY SYMPTOMS.
Sloughing, foul smelling local lesion with burning sensation in limb relieved by hot applications on radiant heat.
Prostration out of proportion to severity of local symptoms.
Restlessness of patient in general and of affected part in particular.
Coldness. Better from warm room. Heat in general ameliorates. Cold aggravates.
General state of nervous apprehension and fear.
Midnight and after-midnight aggravation.
Violence and malignancy are characteristic.
(b) CHRONIC EFFECTS.
Anaemic conditions with increasing cachexia and emaciation.
Sometimes a bilious sallow appearance. Again a bleached-out white color.
Progressive loss of strength with apprehension, restlessness, coldness and after midnight aggravation of symptoms.
Heart conditions with oedema of extremities associated with extreme restlessness and fear, and the nightly aggravation.
Lung affections with burning pain in upper right chest and the characteristic arsenical modalities.
Headache relieved by cold applications to the head and with desire for warmth to the rest of the body. Headaches which make one unduly restless and apprehensive.
Digestive disorders with desire for frequent sips of cold water, with relief from hot drinks and external heat. Sensation of burning in stomach. General coldness, restlessness and apprehension help to complete the picture.
Diarrhoea and dysentery with extremely offensive “cadaveric” stools. Burning in rectum, tenesmus, prostration, coldness, restlessness and fear. Relief from hot drinks, heat to abdomen and to the feet.
Chronic, ambulatory arsenical patients often have a characteristic expression of fear or apprehension deeply written in the face. This is a strong objective keynote for the remedy.
ECHINACEA.
This remedy profoundly affects the lymphatic system as well as the blood. It is related to septic conditions in general.
When boils, abscesses and carbuncles follow vaccination, this remedy may be indicated. The patient suffers from irregular chills, fever and sweat and is weak, achy and easily fatigued. Sensation of weakness in the stomach and around the heart. Desire to lie down, and better in general from resting. The mind is confused and depressed. Often there is a marked irritability. Headache with periodic flushing of face, sometimes a purple or bluish discoloration of the face.
In its rapid onset, violence and septic aspects, Echinacea somewhat resembles Pyrogen. It also bears a resemblance to Arnica, Baptisia, Arsenicum, Lachesis and Rhus tox.
A peculiar fever concomitant is that of chilliness with nausea. Also with the fever there is throbbing in the temples and a hot burning sensation in the forehead.
HEPAR.
(a) EARLY SYMPTOMS.
Profuse suppuration of the vaccination sore. Multiple abscesses in and around the lesion. Sticking, splinter-like pains in the affected part and adjacent lymphatic glands. Extreme sensitiveness of the limb to the slightest touch and the least uncovering. Axillary (or inguinal) glands threaten suppuration.
The patient is irritable, easily angered or offended. Feels best in a warm, moist atmosphere. Is sensitive to any noise, jar or vibration. Chilly and strongly averse to uncovering or exposure of any part of the body. Even if perspiring he still wants to be well covered or wrapped up. Perspiration generally has sour odor.
(b) CONSTITUTIONAL EFFECTS.
Suppurative tendency following vaccination. Festering sores, pimples, boils, abscesses, styes, quinsy. It is not uncommon for appendicitis to follow vaccination and other forms of serum prophylaxis and treatment.
No matter what the pathologic condition, if the patient is oversensitive to a harsh or thoughtless word, to the least noise, or the least draft of air, if he must keep covered and warm at all times and complains of sharp sticking, splinter-like pains, he needs Hepar.
Even so light an exposure as reaching for a glass of water or putting a food out from under the covers will aggravate when this remedy is indicated.
Croup following vaccination is common in children. The type which requires Hepar is apt to come on after midnight or along toward morning and is of the loose and rattling variety. Cases which recur or have a tendency to become chronic in children who are chilly and over-sensitive.
Old mercurial subjects are often badly upset by vaccination and some of the chilly ones will develop Hepar symptoms.
KALI CHLORICUM.
Indicated when the vaccination sore becomes deeply ulcerated or even gangrenous with an easy bleeding tendency and a chilly patient.
This remedy is a violent irritant and the word ulceration often appear in the symptom picture. Just as suppuration is related to Hepar, so is ulceration related to Kali chloricum.
Aphthous and ulcerative stomatitis may follow vaccination. The mouth is very sore, the gums tender, the tongue coated. Fetor oris is marked and there may be numerous ulcers with gray bases. The patient is chilly and cold and apt to be exhausted. The gums bleed easily and may ulcerate.
Nephritis and other kidney disorders with bloody, burning urine and albuminuria. Marked prostration and coldness.
Gastritis after vaccination may present very acute and distressing symptoms. There is a burning sensation and a feeling of weight in the epigastrium. The vomitus may contain blood. Occult blood may be discovered in the stool. This remedy has a strong haemorrhagic tendency including epistaxis, bleeding haemorrhoids, haematuria, menorrhagia and metrorrhagia.
LACHESIS.
Vaccination is usually given on the left arm or leg. If the case should take a Lachesis direction there may be a violent reaction locally with great swelling, rapid spread of the inflammatory process, purple discoloration of the limb or a mottled appearance and sometimes an extension from the left to the right side of the body. There is often the appearance of a severe septic state. The affected limb is very sensitive to the slightest touch and there may be a sensation as if the part were tightly bound up with a bandage, when only the lightest covering is resting on the arm or leg.
The patient will be markedly aggravated after sleep. He may even dread to go to sleep because knowing how he will suffer upon awakening. There may be a sensation of tightness or constriction in the neck or throat and sometimes a band sensation around the waist.
The Lachesis modalities are equally characteristic in both acute and chronic conditions.
MALANDRINUM.
This medicine is used as a prophylactic against small-pox. Boerickes Materia Medica speaks of it as a “very effectual protection” against the disease.
The real effectiveness of any prophylactic measure is something that is very difficult to determine and is generally somewhat less than the enthusiastic claims made for it by its advocates. In any event the administration of a potentized substance per oris is a thousand times safer than the introduction of a biologic concoction directly into the blood or lymphatic circulation as is done in the case of orthodox methods of vaccination and inoculation.
Eugene passed away at his country home on Spring Hill, Tuscarora Township, Bradford County, PA. He had been in ill health for several months. His wife, the former Caroline Davis, whom he had married in Philadelphia in 1910, had passed away in 1961. They spent most of their marriage lives in Swarthmore, PA.
Dr. Underhill was a member of the United Lodge of Theosophy, a member of the Philadelphia County Medical Society, and the Pennsylvania Medical Society. He was also the editor of the Homœopathic Recorder.