REMEDIES FOR WHOOPING COUGH

In the First Stage of whooping cough (the Irritative Period), the medicines which most frequently succeed in arresting the progress of the complaint are : Aconitum Is especially indicated when, at the commencement, the cough is dry and sibilant, with fever ; or when the child complains of burning pains in the larynx or bronchia. Dulcamara When, from the first, the cough is loose, with easy expectoration and hoarseness ; and especially when it manifests itself in consequence of a chill. Nux vomica When the cough is dry, and prevailing especially from midnight -until morning, with vomiting, anguish, choking fit, and bluish face, bleeding at the nose and mouth. Ipecacuanha When, from the commencement, the cough is accompanied by great anguish, with danger of suffocation and bluish face ; and especially when Nux has proved insufficient against that state. Pulsatilla — When, from the commencement, there is a loose cough, with vomiting of mucus or food, or else slimy diarrhoea. Carbo vegetabilis. When, notwithstanding the use of the medicines the cough threatens to proceed to the second stage ; or else when from the first it is of a con- vulsive kind, appearing especially in the evening, or before midnight, with redness of the larynx, sore throat when swallowing, lachrymation, or shooting pains in the head, pains in the chest and throat; or else when there is an eruption on the head and body. In the Second Stage of the whooping cough (the Convulsive Period), with vomiting and bleeding at the nose and mouth, the principal remedies are : Cina Is especially indicated when the child suddenly becomes stiff during the paroxysm ; and when, after the paroxysm, a clucking noise is heard, descending from the gullet into the abdomen. This medicine is also almost a specific in children who have verminous symptoms, such as frequent griping, itching in the anus, and disposition to rub the nose frequently, or to poke the fingers into it. In this case Merc will also be found very beneficial. Cuprum When, during the paroxysm, there is rigidity of the body, with suspended respiration and loss of consciousness ; vomiting after the paroxysms, and rattling of mucus in the chest when not coughing. {Verat. will be often found suitable after Cupr.) Drosera When, besides the symptoms peculiar to this stage, the paroxysms are excessively violent, and the sibilant sound of the cough is very marked ; when thero is no fever ; or when, on the contrary, the fever is strongly developed, with shuddering and heat, thirst only after the shivering, perspiration rather hot than cold, or only at night ; aggravation of this state during repose ; amelioration from movement. This medicine is, besides, always preferable when the whooping cough is entirely developed, with vomiting of food or slimy matter, and bleeding at the nose and mouth. {Verat. is some times suitable after Dros.) Veratrum Frequently when Dros. proves insufficient against the symptoms of the convulsive stage ; or else before that medicine, especially when the child is very weak, with a kind of slow fever, cold perspiration, especially on the forehead ; small, quick, and weak pulse ; great thirst ; emission of urine, or pain in the chest and inguina during the paroxysms ; drowsiness between the paroxysms, with repugnance to movement and conversation ; weakness of the nape of the neck, so great as to be unable to hold up the head ; miliary eruption over the whole body, or only on the hands and face. The convulsive form of whooping cough, which is that under consideration, is not, however, always entirely developed ; and it is often found, when this disease prevails as an epidemic, that children are affected by a spasmodic cough, which has not at all the characteristics of whooping cough, or rather the disease itself (according to circumstances) assumes a form more or less different from the ordinary one. The medicines which, in such cases, are most frequently indicated are Belladonna Is especially indicated when there are very marked cerebral affections, or when the cough is preceded by a painful sensation in the region of the stomach, with bleeding at the nose and mouth, or else with ecchymosis in the eye ; or when there are other spasmodic affections, such as eclampsia, convulsive asthma, Also when the paroxysms terminate in sneezing. Bryonia When the paroxysms of suffocating cough take place especially in the evening, or at night, and also invariably after eating or drinking, with want of breath, choking, and vomiting of ingesta. Iodium When the cough is excited by an insupportable tickling in the bronchia, with undulating respiration during the paroxysms, excessive anguish before the fits, great fatigue, and emaciation. Lactuca When the cough is violent, and attended by vomiting after every fit of coughing, without any other symptom characteristic of whooping cough. Mercurius When the cough comes on only at night, or else only by day, and when it manifests itself in two paroxysms which occur in rapid succession ; and which are separated from the two following paroxysms by longer intervals ; or in the true whooping cough, when the child bleeds profusely at the nose and mouth, when vomiting, with copious sweat at night, and great nervous susceptibility ; especially in children subject to verminous affections, or to convulsions. {Carb.-v. is often suitable in this last case after Merc.) Sulphur When the paroxysms of coughing are accompanied by vomiting, and will yield to none of the other medicines cited. When the convulsive period of the whooping cough is passed, and the complaint is on the decline, the medicines most frequently indi-cated against the catarrhal cough which remains are : Arnica Is especially indicated when the child cries much after coughing, or when the paroxysms are preceded or excited by cries and tears. Carbo vegetabilis When the catarrhal cough frequently relapses into a convulsive cough; or when, notwithstanding the cessation of the other symptoms of real whooping cough, the vomiting continues. Dulcamara When the catarrhal cough is accompanied by expectoration of much mucus. Hepar sulphuris When the cough is considerably abated, but hollow, dry, and hoarse, with retching after the paroxysms, and frequent tears. Pulsatilla Loose cough, with easy expectoration of serous mucus. Although the different stages of whooping cough are here enumerated, with the medicines generally applicable to each, the practitioner will of course understand that the choice of a remedy must not be absolutely determined by what is here stated. All these medicines having, in their pathogenesy, many more symptoms than are recapitulated in this place, and the same disease being capable of exhibiting many shades of difference, according to the constitution of the individual who is attacked by it, it is possible that a medicine ' which is here cited only against the precursory symptoms of whooping cough, or against a cough which resembles it, may frequently be found suitable against the true whooping cough. In a word, it cannot too frequently be repeated that the choice of a medicine must never he decided by the Name of the disease, hut by the symptomatic indications presented by each case treated. Reference: Hull's Jahr, A manual of Homeopathic practice