Cachexia, cachectic

[Krishna]

Diseases, more particularly acute, that are long standing and not cured in spite of best treatment, and where patient is affected much and disturbing his daily routine: We may call these by the term `Cachexia.'

Acute diseases such cough, cold, diarrhoea, skin rash etc. normally do not last long. When you find a patient with these complaints standing long for years and bothering him much, you may use the term `Cachexia.' We may otherwise call this as weakness of the system or of a part of body.

Analogous to the above is another term. It is called `lack of reaction' about which we would study in the next bulletin.
Remedies containing the symptom cachexia among other symptoms are given below:

Weakly, cachectic individuals: 1, arn., calc., chin., natr. m., nux v., phos. ac., sulph., veratr.; 2, ars., carb. v., lach., merc., phos., sec., sep., etc.
Arg-nit - cachectic states, with loss of strength.

Arsenic alb - man, aged 40, lean, cachectic; drinking spirituous liquors. ---quotidian for a week.

Badiaga. - general cachectic appearance.

Baryta carb - (bar. a) old cachectic people of scrofulous habit, especially when they suffer with gouty complaints.

Capsicum. - seasickness; cholera; cachexia africana; yellow fever; typhus ictorodes.

Carbo veg - gangrene: humid; senile; in cachectic persons; when vital powers have become weakened; great foulness of secretions; great prostration.

Chimaphila umb. - cachectic and scrofulous individuals.

Chimaphila umb. - woman, aged 26; in a cachectic condition, menses always scant; scirrhous tumor of breast; the mother of patient had also had scirrhous tumor of breast, necessitating extirpation of gland.

China-off. - young man, pale, cachectic appearance, suffered for ten weeks from quartan ague; enlarged spleen.

China-sulph. - intermittent fever in cachectic persons by loss of blood or from continued and long prostration.

China-sulph. - cachectic persons weakened by loss of blood.

Cina. - cachexia of helminthiasis.

Cinnamomum. - lymphatic, feeble, cachectic women, with lax tissues and languid circulation.

Clematis. - torpid, cachectic conditions; swelling and induration of glandular system; syphilitic taint.

Cocculus - man, aged 30, cachectic appearance; colic.

Colchicum - cachectic appearance. ---dysentery. ---gout.

Condurango. - cachectic state of system, ordinary wounds and ulcers tend to take on a bad appearance.

Eucalyptus. - quinine cachexia.

Eupatorium perf. - cachectic condition of system from long continued or frequent attacks of bilious and intermittent fevers.

Ferrum met. - a cachectic state from faulty nutrition and assimilation.

Ferrum iod. - mercurial cachexia.

Formica. - watery swellings; dropsy; cachexies.

Hydrastis. - catarrhal affections: in patients of a cachectic habit.

Hydrastis. - marasmus; scrofula; cancer cachexia.

Hydrastis. - cachectic persons, with marked disturbance of gastric and hepatic functions.

Hydrastis. - man, aged 18, cachectic, consumptive appearance; scrofulous ulcers on leg.

Iodum. - low cachectic state of the system, with feeble pulse.

Iodum. - syphilis: mercurial cachexia; salivation; ulcers in throat; skin and muscles lax; nightly bone pain; very hard chronic buboes.

Iodum. - low cachectic condition with profound debility and great emaciation.

Kali-bich. - emaciation; anemia; general cachexia.

Kali-iod. - condylomata of long standing in cachectic subjects.

Lachesis. - lady, aged 43, slim, large, cachectic, scrofulous; intestinal croup.

Lachesis. - elderly woman, thin and cachectic; phthisis pulmonalis.

Lycopodium. - man, aged 50, thin, cachectic, musician; cramps in stomach.

Lycopodium. - woman, aged 50, weak, cachectic, formerly troubled with abdominal complaints and itch, has not menstruated for five years; impairment of hearing.

Merc-sol. - woman, aged 36, no children, two years ago had inflammatory affection of chest, after nursing a cachectic husband; phthisis.

Mezereum. - man, aged 43, nervo-bilious constitution, cachectic habit, leaden colored face, had lived the life of a tramp and had been several times syphilitic; pain and swelling in tibiae.

Muriatic-acid. - woman, aged 60, unmarried, cachectic, has an eruption on lower limbs; typhoid fever.

Natrum-mur. - cachexia from ague plus quinine.

Natrum-mur. - adapted to cachectic persons and to those who have lost animal fluids; quinine cachexia.

Natrum-sulph. - man, aged 43, middle height, father of two healthy children, blonde hair, grey eyes, gonorrhoeal cachexy, hydrogenoid constitution; diabetes.

Nitric-acid. - diseases depending upon presence of syphilitic, scrofulous or mercurial poison; broken down, cachectic constitutions.

Nux-vom. - mania puerperalis from excitement, sleeplessness and prostration; had menorrhagia, and for the subsequent weakness drank much whisky and strong coffee; cachectic appearance; large, dim, languid eyes; lies in bed half uncovered, sits up and then lies down again; constantly complaining, criticizing or explaining, at times words are well chosen, at others uses high-sounding phrases; as soon as she recognized physician she spoke of the imperfection of medical knowledge and declared it an error that one could not live without a heart, inasmuch as she felt very well without one, it having come away with the afterbirth to which it had grown fast, the nurse having separated the two before her eyes; complains of her husband, says he wishes to convince her she is sick, although she is able to dance and sing; makes grotesque motions and wild leaps, but soon sinks down breathless; nymphomania; often enraged; frequently sips at a bowl of warm sugar-water, declaring it will form her a new heart; bloating of abdomen; epigastric, hepatic and uterine regions sensitive to pressure; stool absent five to six days; very frequent and profuse discharge of pale, watery urine; white mucous discharge from vagina.

Nux-vom. - man, aged 48, yellow skin, cachectic appearance, small stature, suffering three years; cardialgia.

Nux-vom. - man, aged 75; sickly, cachectic; extravasation of blood into conjunctiva.

Oleum-jec. - rheumatism of long standing; patient confined to bed or room, and only in warm summer months experienced a slight alleviation of her sufferings; nearly whole body was attacked, but principally inferior extremities, sacrum, back and shoulders; walking was entirely prevented by the insupportable pains, stiffness and swelling of joints; a kind of hectic fever and constant nightly exacerbations destroyed all repose; patient was wasted, of a bleachy whiteness, of a cachetic appearance and habit, and had lost all hope of relief.

Oleum-jec. - scrofulosis: diseases of joints; in pale, thin cachectic subjects.

Phosphorus. - suitable to young people with blonde hair, blue eyes, delicate skin, slender stature, with cachectic cough, diarrhoea, frequent exhausting sweats, great debility, with orgasm of blood; palpitation of heart or oppression of chest after exercise; copious stools, pouring away like water from a hydrant, with great exhaustion; glandular swellings, suppuration; appetite good; craves cold food, ice cream, etc.

Phosphorus. - glands enlarged, especially after contusions; glandular affections in weak cachectic individuals suffering from diarrhoea and colliquative sweats.

Platin. - woman, aged 38, cachectic appearance, suffering two years; dysmenorrhoea.

Plumb-met. - deep melancholy, with timidity and restlessness; anxiety at heart, with sighing and trembling; dislikes to talk or work; maniacal rage, with cries and convulsions; absence of mind; stupidity; pale, miserable, cachectic appearance; somnolency; colic.

Podophyllum - man, aged 33, cachectic appearance, liver or spleen or both disordered; asthma.

Prunus-sp. - dropsy caused by defective heart; abdominal dropsy; anasarca after any debilitating, chronic diseases, and particularly in those connected with cachectic affections.

Pulsatilla - woman, aged 26, yellow, cachectic appearance, suffering six months; vertigo.

Rhus-tox. - woman, aged 36, poorly nourished, cachectic, six months pregnant; urinary difficulty.

Secale - passive hemorrhage; blood dark and red, in feeble and cachectic persons, accompanied by tingling in limbs and prostration; desire for air; does not like to be covered; wishes to have limbs extended; skin cold.

Secale - rheumatism (peliosis rheumatica of schoenlein) generally is found in cachectic individuals, with purpura; affects joints, especially of lower extremities; thrombosis of abdominal vessels.

Secale - feeble, cachectic women; thin, scrawny.

Secale - woman, aged 40, mother of seven children, weak, cachecticlooking, suffering from prolapsus uteri; hysteria.

Senega. - subacute or chronic exudations of pleura, catarrhal pleuropneumonia (after bry.) in cachectic pleuritis, in hydrothorax, oedema pulmonum, in diseases of heart, primary and secondary anasarca; in dropsies after albuminuria; hydrophthalmia with intraocular compression; in ascites accompanying hepatic diseases, peritonitis and abdominal tumors; in lymphatic constitutions with tendency to mucous and serous exudations.

Silicea - n., aged 12, cachectic and anemic; fistulae of thigh.

Spongia - boy, aged 4, scrofulous, cachectic-looking; croup.

Sulphur. - girl, aged 8, cachectic-looking; coxalgia of spine.

Sulphur. - girl, aged 12, delicate, cachectic; vaginitis.
Corydalis - cancer cachexia pronounced.

Eupatorium perf. - cachexia from old chronic, bilious intermittents.

Hydrastis - hydrastis is especially active in old, easily-tired people, cachectic individuals with great debility.

DISEASES IN WHICH CACHEXIA WASFOUND,THIER SYMPTOMS AND THE RESPECTIVE RE3MEDIES, ARE GIVEN BELOW;

[The disease or pathology is arranged in alphabetical order.]

(Amenorrhoea.) for debilitated or cachectic individuals: alet., ars., chin., cyprip., con., graph., helon., iod., natr. m., puls., polyg., sep., sulph.

(Anaemia.) Natrum mur - blood impoverished; anaemia from loss of fluids; malarious cachexia; emaciation; skin harsh, dry, yellow; great exhaustion from any little exertion of mind or body; palpitation, with sensation as if a bird's wing were fluttering in left chest; pressure and distension of stomach; constipation, with contraction of anus; terrible sadness.

(Asthma) Carduus mar - nervous asthma of miners; cachexia of tunnel laborers; frequent urging to deep breathing, followed by painful sensations in abdomen; great debility; loss of appetite; empty eructations; restless, dreamy sleep; fulness of hypochondria which are painful to pressure.

(Asthma) Silicea - asthma on a cachectic base, after its removal gummatous nodes on skull, clavicles and ribs; shortness of breath and panting from walking fast and from manual labor; dyspnoea when at rest or when lying on back; oppression of chest, cannot take a long breath, cannot bear the slightest draught on the back of his neck, spasmodic cough, with spasm of larynx; catarrh of aged people

(Atrophy of children) Phosphorus - emaciation combined with nervous debility; brain and spine suffered severely; child overtall, but slender, emaciated but big-bellied; face pale, almost waxen. delicate eyelashes, soft hair, rapid breathing hint to sequelae; even thus early diarrhoea associated with dry cough, hence suitable to young girls with blonde hair, blue eyes, delicate skin, slender stature, with cachectic cough, diarrhoea; frequent exhausting sweats; great debility, with orgasm of the blood; palpitation of the heart or oppression of the chest after exercise. copious stools, pouring away like water from a hydrant, with great exhaustion; glandular swellings, suppuration and caries (sil.) ; appetite good; he craves cold food, ice cream; often awakens at night, hot and restless, and will drop off to sleep if fed; child irascible, vehement, susceptible to external impressions and to electric changes in atmosphere.

(Blepharophthalmia, blepharitis) Ars-alb. - burning in the oedematous swollen lids; lachrymation profuse, hot and acrid, excoriating the lids and cheek; cachexia, with great restlessness, aggravation after midnight; thirst, etc.

(Bronchitis chronica) Hydrastis - bronchitis of old people, with great debility, loss of appetite, cachectic state, great weakness; chronic cough, accompanied by febrile paroxysms evenings and night, and excessive prostration; sputa thick, yellowish, very tenacious, stringy and profuse; dry, hard cough with much laryngeal irritation, or loose but hard cough with much nasopharyngeal catarrh and marked prostration.

(Bronchitis chronica) Lycopodium - distressing, fatiguing, tickling cough, in open air; nostrils raw and bleeding; profuse, foetid, yellow-green discharge.

(Bedwetting in children) Squilla - especially for strumous or cachectic children who are troubled with worms; inability to retain the urine on account of abnormal irritation of the lining membrane of the bladder, often of rheumatic origin.

(Dentition, morbid) Kreosotum - suitable to delicate, cachectic children; very painful, difficult dentition, after a good sleep.

(Chlorosis) Natrum mur - chronic malaria in cachectic persons with dead, dirty, withered skin; palpitation and fluttering of heart; dyspnoea; splenitic stitches; suppressed menses, leucorrhoea; diminished sexual desire; sadness; gets easily tired, > towards evening; sad and tearful disposition.

(phlegmasia dolens, obstruction of venous and lymphatic systems after childbirth) Calc-carb - white swelling of foot and leg, with sensation of coldness as though covered with a cold damp cloth; suppression of milk, with sensation of coldness all through the body; strumous cachexia.

(Constitution) for weakly, cachectic individuals: 1, arn., calc., chin., natr. m., nux v., phos. ac., sulph., veratr.; 2, ars., carb. v., lach., merc., phos., sec., sep., etc.

(Cornea, diseases of) Calc-carb - particularly valuable for corneal ulceration in fat, unhealthy children with a large abdomen who sweat much, especially about the head, and are very susceptible to cold air, also in deep, sloughing ulcers, found in weak, cachectic persons. pains, redness, photophobia, lachrymation are variable with no characteristic eye symptoms; pus is mostly bland and the opacity of cornea milky white or bluish. calc. ars. ought to be remembered.

(Cornea, diseases of) Merc-dulcis - deep or superficial ulcers or abscesses in pale, flabby, strumous children, with enlarged glands and general scrofulous cachexia.

(Cough) Borax - dry, cachectic cough, especially mornings when rising and in the evening when lying down; with stitching pain in upper part of right chest and right flank, > by pressure; washing the chest with cold water affords most relief; pains in cold weather.

(Eczema) Cundurango - chiefly when rhagades are present, oozing out a foetid fluid; cachectic or syphilitic dyscrasia.

(Febris intermittens) Amm-picr - fevers maltreated with quinine or having a quinine cachexia engrafted upon a malarial one. periodical headaches, nervous, bilious, gastric, recurring every four, seven, fourteen days or once a month, in women just before or after menses.

(Febris intermittens) Causticum - chill without thirst, lessened in bed and by drinking, of whole left side, beginning in face and moving downward, at about 4 p. m.; shivering and coldness of single parts; he is always chilly or in sweat. heat without thirst, alternating with chilliness, towards morning. sweat without thirst, often immediately after chill, without intervening heat; profuse sweat from motion, in open air, at 4 a. m.; viscid sweat of strong urinous odor. apyrexia: chronic constitutional cachexia, desire for smoked meat, for beer, aversion to sweet things; paralysis of single parts.

(Febris intermittens) China - paludal fevers anteponing fevers of any type; paroxysms tertian, quartan or every seventh day (amm. m.) . before great attack thirst, canine hunger, anguish, headache, restless sleep. chill without thirst; thirst ceases as soon as chill begins, by heat of stove. heat with thirst, flushes of heat in face, burning heat of palms and soles, > by putting them out of bed, ending in moisture and faintness; alternate heat with chilliness. sweat profuse at night all over and restless sleep; sweat on slightest motion or manual labor; morning sweat, setting in after waking; sour sweat. apyrexia: great prostration after every paroxysm, with thirst for beer, burning heat on vertex, early morning diarrhoea.

(Fever, relapsing) China - anaemic and cachectic persons; great malaise from mere weakness; severe, pulsating headache, dizziness, heat in face, exhausting sweats; enlarged liver and spleen, jaundice.

(Gangrene) Carbo veg - senile gangrene humid gangrene in cachectic persons whose vital powers are exhausted; great foulness of the secretions; great prostration; sepsis; indifference; fainting after sleep, while yet in bed, morning; no restlessness.

(Haemorrhage from uterus) For active haemorrhage in plethoric persons give: 1, Acon., Bell., Bry., Calc., Cham., Fer., Nux v., Plat., Sab., Sulph.; 2, Arn., Croc., Hyosc., Ign., Ipec., Phos., Sil., Veratr.; 3, Trill. - for passive haemorrhage in debilitated cachectic subjects: 1, chin., croc., puls., sec., sep., sulph.; 2, capsella bursa pastoris, carb. v., nux v., ipec., phos., ruta, veratr.; 3, alet., cauloph., cimicif., trill., ust.

(Haemorrhage from uterus) Ars-alb. - tedious, long-continued flooding in feeble cachectic women afflicted with rheumatism, disorganization of uterus or ovaries, with great debility, restlessness and lancinating burning pains; uterus larger and softer than usual, with dilated capillaries; aphthae in mouth indicate the low state of the system, the least effort exhausts her; chronic endometritis and passive hyperaemia, based on atony.

(Haemorrhage from uterus ) Carbo an - menses too early, not too profuse, but last too long; great weakness of the thighs. after the appearance of the menses she feels so tired she is scarcely able to speak; menorrhagia from chronic induration of uterus, also in cachectic women with glandular affections, cancer, etc.; blood black, clotted, putrid.

(Haemorrhage from uterus) Nitric acid - uterine haemorrhage from overexertion of body; long-lasting cases; absence of pain, copious flooding kept up by ulcers on os uteri, especially in cachectic women; blood rather fluid from loss of plasticity; asthenia. after miscarriage or confinement, with violent pressure, as if everything would come out of the vulva, with pain in small of back and down through the hips to thighs.

(Haemorrhage from uterus) Secale - painless flooding in feeble, cachectic, dyscratic women, or who have long resided in tropical climates; general coldness, while the patient feels too warm and does not wish to be covered; feverish pulse; haemorrhage passive, dark-colored and continuous, seldom clotted, sometimes offensive, and the slightest motion aggravates the flow, particularly where the weakness is not caused by loss of blood. haemorrhage, with strong and spasmodic contraction of the uterus, every flow preceded by strong, bearing-down pains; haemorrhage from atony of the uterus, especially after protracted labor or miscarriage, aggravated by the slightest motion; menses usually too profuse and too long-lasting, with spasms and mental depression or melancholy.

(Heart, diseases of) Ars-alb. - cardiac cachexia irritable heart, trembling, irregular action of the heart, intermitting; palpitations with anguish, as digestion advances; stitches and tension in liver, skin yellow, earthy; obstinate constipation; short breathing, palpitations; stitches in spleen, in damp weather, frequent dull stitches in both lungs; thin, scrawny, cachectic persons.

(Pleurisy) - in neglected cases, or where the disease developed itself in cachectic constitutions, study: ars., ars. iod., calc., camph., canth., carb. v., chin., fer., hep., iod., lach., lyc., seneg., sep., sil., and others; for pleuritic exudations: apis, ars., dig., when serous; alum., bry., hep., sulph., when plastic.

(Pneumonia) Ant-tart - pneumonia biliosa with hepatic congestion; pleuro-pneumonia, when parts of lungs are hepatized and fine rales heard over hepatized part; great oppression of breathing towards morning, must sit up to breathe. broncho-pneumonia, pneumonia catarrhalis: second stage, resolution has set in, but fails, and oppression and prostration prevail, at first we found the sharp, stitching pains of bry., but now the pain ceased, mucous rales are heard distinctly over chest with extreme want of breath; rattling, hollow cough, with heat and moist hands, sweat on forehead; dyspnoea with desire to cough, and, though chest is full of mucus, inability to bring it up; vertigo with dimness of vision and pressing headache; eyes congested, staring, dull, unsteady, half open or one closed; face red, bloated, anxious, or cool, pale and sallow; nostrils dark, sooty, dilated; mouth open, parched; tongue dry and brown; great thirst; tendency to diarrhoea or diarrhoea. pneumonia of drunkards, with bilious complications; even jaundice, meteorism, nausea and vomiting; typhoid complications; oedema pulmonum; impending paralysis of lungs or of heart; suitable especially to infants and old or cachectic people.

(Pneumonia) Nitric acid - pneumonia of old and cachectic people; sputa are raised with difficulty; awakens often all stopped up with mucus and must expectorate before he can breathe more easily; sputa of blood mixed with clots during the day; pulse intermits.

(Prosopalgia) Silicea - dental nerves especially affected, pains more in jawbones than teeth; jaw swollen; toothache, < after being a short time in bed; gums very sore, inflamed; face pale, cachectic; restless and fidgety, starting at least noise; inveterate intermitting neuralgia.

(Pruritus) Iodum - papules that are very apt to run together or around which the skin is brownish and covered with scales; irresistible nocturnal itching, compelling one to scratch and thus causing insomnia, cachectic appearance, emaciation and dyspepsia.

(Scrofulosis) Hydrastis - chronic catarrhs of mucous membranes wherever situated; constipation from weakened and congestive state of the lower bowel; cancerous cachexia; cancers hard, adherent; skin mottled, puckered, with lancinating cutting pains; atony of muscles.

(Scrofulosis) Merc-sol - scrofulosis in children with unusually large heads and open fontanelles, particularly anterior ones; child is slow in learning to walk, teeth form imperfectly and slowly, and a damp, clammy feeling about limbs; offensive, oily perspiration on head; enlarged glands, with or without suppuration; cachexia and emaciation; exostosis, curvature, caries and other affections of bones; eruptions and corrosive herpes with crusts; tinea capitis; crusts in the face; ophthalmia, otitis, otorrhoea, coryza; slimy diarrhoea; suppuration, especially if too profuse; grayish ulcers on mouth and fauces; ulceration of tonsils; false membranes grayish, thick, with shredlike borders, adherent or free, but of marked consistence.

(Syphilis and sycosis) Badiaga - syphilis of infants, whole convolutes of hard, glandular swellings; bubo, left groin, hard, unequal, like scirrhus, violent burning stitches during night; chancres suppressed by cautery or mercurial ointment, leaving elevated, discolored cicatrices; general cachectic appearance and rhagades here and there; indurated, maltreated buboes

(Ulcers) We should use more particularly: - for atonic ulcers, as we find them among old, feeble, and cachectic persons, especially on the legs, ulcera atonica pedum: 1, ars., lach., sil., sulph.; 2, calc., carb. v., graph., ipec., lyc., mur. ac., natr., phos. ac., puls., ruta; 3, amm., amm. m., fluor. ac., nux j.; 4, aral., bapt., lycopus, polyg.

(Urinary difficulties) Squilla - especially for strumous and cachectic children who are troubled with worms; inability to retain the urine on account of an abnormal irritation of the lining membrane of bladder, often of rheumatic origin; frequent urging to urinate, with profuse discharge of pale, limpid urine; continuous painful pressure on bladder.