Rheum Materia Medica
Prepared from powdered root of Rhubarb
Affects the liver, duodenum, bile ducts and intestines
SOURNESS
Leading symptom that pervades the whole system
Sour temper
Sour discharges
Sour stools
Sour taste
Children’s nappies sour
Milk sour
Whole child smells sour even if washed or bathed every day
SWEAT
A characteristic symptom – whether child is awake or asleep
Sweat constant and profuse on the scalp, forehead, face, mouth, nose
Head can be sopping wet
Sweat along upper lip
Perspiration upper part of body
Can collect a great deal of offensive mucus in the mouth
G.I.T.
Diarrhoea from eating unripe fruit
Diarrhoea of varying colour and consistency usually frothy and of sour odour
Stools are sour smelling and corrode the anus
Yellow stool turning green on standing
Stool turning green on diaper on exposure to air
Thin pasty sour smelling stools and straining before and colicky constrictive
Cutting in abdomen after and shivering during stool
Frequent ineffectual urging to stool < motion and walking
Colic > doubling up and < uncovering any part of the body
Colic < before stool and still have it after stool
Colicky children who are always screaming and crying
Desire various kinds of food which become unwanted as soon as a little is eaten
Desire various foods, but feels disgusted or nauseated at the first mouthful or soon after
MENTALS
Sourness
Impatient – desire many things but dislikes even the favourite
Difficult to satisfy
Screams
Cries
Kicks
Restless all night, tosses and turns
Does not like to play with other children
Can cry all night for no apparent reason
Indolent
Weeping in children
Asks for things vehemently, shrieks and shrieks till gets what is wanted Asks for nothing
Not inclined to talk much
Anxiety from motion and stooping
Walking in sleep
Puts hands over head when falling asleep and in sleep
Convulsive twitch of eyelids Swimming eyes full of water especially in open air GENERAL
< uncovering, cold, dentition, eating prunes, summer, motion, before, during and after stool
> wrapping up, warmth, in the open air, eyes full of water, takes oddest position in order to rest awhile
PQRS
Require very little sleep
Does not eat much food
CONDITIONS
Suckling and children especially during dentition. Pregnant and nursing women
CAUSATION
Prunes, unripe fruit, dentition, spasms, dislocations
DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS
Chamomilla - capricious
Cina - touchy
Rheum - sour by nature
Rheum state in Materia Medica falls between Chamomilla and Magnesium carbonica, and alternates between the states of being an orphan who demands nothing and can survive with very little sleep and food (MC) and that of Chamomila who wants immediate attention and can be extremely demanding, irritable and violent
RUBRICS
Asks for nothing
Aversion, everything, to
Capriciousness
Desires impatiently many things, dislikes its favourite playthings, child
Impetuous
Play, aversion to play in children
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