: Now we will take
up the mental symptoms. All the mind symptoms represent Calcarea as in a state of
great weakness; in ability to prolong mental operation.
Becomes very tired from mental work. Full of anxiety. He is tired
mentally, and tired physically, from mental work and breaks down in a sweat, and becomes
excited and irritable and disturbed. Great disturbance of the emotions; complaints lasting
for days and weeks from excitement of the emotions; from worrying, from vexation, or a
general emotional disturbance is prostrated.
"Inability to apply himself."
Inability to do good thinking for some time after such excitement,
disturbance or worry. It is very useful in complaints from prolonged worry, from prolonged
application to business, from excitement.
It is full of a peculiar kind of mental feeling, differing quite
considerably from most remedies; he feels his exhaustion of mind, and it seems to him that
this weakness, and this inability to do and to think connectedly, must be going towards
insanity, he broods over it, he is convinced that he is insane, or about to become insane,
that he is getting weak-minded, and he looks it, too, because what he has in his mind is
this: that he is becoming insane or weak-minded and he thinks people will observe it.
He thinks people look at him suspiciously, and he looks at them
suspiciously, and he wonders why they do not say something to him about it.
He thinks he is going insane, and that other people are observing his
state of mind, and he keeps that in his mind most of the time. He thinks of it day-times,
and he gets greatly roused up over it; he thinks of it nights, and it keeps him awake.
He lies awake late at night thinking. Calcarea leads to little
ideas, that is, it compels the mind to littleness, to little ideas, or to dwell on little
things, but his mind, as it were, is forced to dwell upon things that he cannot put aside.
When the Calcarea patient begins to relate to his friends how he feels
they all naturally say to him,
'Why don't you put that aside; that doesn't amount to anything,"
but to him it is a big thing, and he cannot put it aside; all these
little things combine to convince him that he is going crazy. he cannot calculate, he cannot
do deep thinking, he cannot dwell upon deep things; he may have been a philosopher, and he
has lost his ability to think out things in philosophy.
He has lost his mental depth. he forms conclusions out of his emotions
rather than from his intelligence. He forms conclusions about things as he wants them to be.
You would almost think he wants to grow crazy, he keeps talking about it so much.
He is unable to accept any sort of argument, and this grows worse and
worse. He is unable to accept the assurance of his physician, in whom he has always had
confidence. It is no use, it seems, to try to reason with him; yet he is not so far gone but
he can reason about other things except his own mental state.
He imagines things; and the things he imagines you will really wonder at
his dwelling upon them so, because they are such little things. And so it is when he goes
into insanity, or imbecility, or a general breakdown.
It is a passive state, in which he sits and thinks about his little
affairs, and his little things that amount to nothing at all, and he sits and sits, the text
says,
"Sits and breaks sticks, or bends pins all day long with his
fingers."
Does little things, and in this way he keeps himself busy, wears himself
out more and more. Any amount of thinking be comes impossible. It is almost impossible for
him to come to a conclusion, for he never figures it twice alike.
He cannot add and subtract even in the simplest forms. Now, he thinks
about this matter so much and thinks everybody else is watching him, until finally the
instant he closes his eyes he has visions, just as soon as he gets down quiet and thinks
"Now I will go to sleep, I will get rid of all this,"
and he closes his eyes to sleep, then he must get them open as quick as
possible, he is in a state of excitement, for he sees horrid little spooks; he cannot keep
his mind clear.
He cannot go to sleep because his thoughts trouble him, and he sees all
sorts of things. There is no congruity in his mind. We know that strong intelligence puts
aside such follies, but these are just the things that Calcarea patients dwell
upon.
Talking to himself. He lies in bed, or sits, when be is alone, and
carries on a general conversation with every conceivable individual he has had to do with,
on every conceivable subject; and it multiplies and it grows, and he imagines it is all
real.
We see how far that is removed from the healthy mind, and yet he is not
fit for the insane asylum, with all of these strange things, for when he is roused he does
carry on a conversation, and he does as ordinary people do.
When he is alone, when he has nobody to talk with him, he does these
strange things. He is controlled and dominated when he is in company, to a great extent, and
hence these things are not brought out.
He carries out that same idea when he becomes delirious or insane. Picks
his fingers, and does all sorts of peculiar little things. Sees visions and faces of persons
when eyes are closed.
"Imagines some one is walking beside her."
In the proving of Sil. that was observed very strongly. It has been
observed in Petroleum, and in Calcarea. In a perfect state of health, with a strong,
vigorous intelligence, it is not likely to be felt, but in nervous people, and especially in
women, it is common.
"Mental aberration with horrid visions. Sees dogs crowding around
him, fights them off."
Here is a sensation, occurring in nervous women,
"Feels as if she would like to run up and down, and scream."
Feels as if she could not help it, she must scream. That occurs in
persons overwrought, dreadfully excited from a loss in the household by death. The mother
loses her child, or husband; or a young girl loses her intended. She is broken-hearted, and
greatly excited. It is a hysterical state. And yet I have seen the same in men.
I remember one. It came upon him from business cares. He had that same
feeling; he would walk up and down the house, he said he felt as if he must fly or jump out
of a window, or do some thing. That is analogous to the mental state found in hysteria, or a
great state of nervous excitement.
"She thinks and talks of nothing but murder, fire, rats, etc."
That is that same idea of talking about little things and foolish things.
Things that are not interesting to anybody, And yet I have seen these things in patients and
I would ask them why they did it. It is generally said,
"I tried a good while to stop it, and when I could not I just kept
right on at it, for it seemed to do me good."
"She thinks and talks of murder, fire, rats, etc."
Your patient may talk about other foolish things, but it is only to il
lustrate the idea that she sits and talks about foolish things, and can not control herself;
thinking, thinking, or expressing it, talking, talking, talking.
Violent screaming spells. And then the Calcarea patient will
refuse to talk, will say nothing. She may talk to herself when alone, but will decline to
enter into conversation, and will sit perfectly silent.
A Calcarea patient sometimes takes an aversion to work, and
quits work. He will quit a most thriving business, and go home and do nothing, after being
fatigued in carrying on the business until it- reaches a most thriving condition. He says
business is not good for him.
He is tired of business, and when he goes to his business again it seems
as if it would drive him crazy. He does not want to see it, he does not want to know
anything about it.
Of course, you can readily see that it is not so much in the Calcarea patient that he is driven to, weakness and fatigue from distress in
business, although it has that, but that which I am speaking about is that he has overworked
until he has given out, and right in the midst of his success he quits his business and goes
home, and leaves all-it looks just as if he were lazy.
If you look at him you come to the conclusion that he is lazy. Yet it is
an insanity; not the laziness that belongs to tramp nature, though that also might be cured
many times. He has been industrious, and all at once takes a turn. A great change occurs in
the mind, and he takes on symptoms. It is not such persons as were born that way, born lazy,
never would work; but those that become lazy.
It is like the symptom in a pious upright man, whose walk and
conversation has been upright but all at once he turns and commences to swear. Of course we
know that individual is insane. On the other hand, we have patients that have been only
ordinarily industrious that develop an insanity for work, and it seems they have ability in
that insane industry to work almost night and day; they are up early and late.
It is a sick state. So when we see in the Repertory "Industry" it does not mean an ordinarily industrious state but one that is
exaggerated into a symptom. He has become so industrious that he has a mania for work.
"Whimpering. Low-spirited and melancholy."
It is a strange thing to see a bright little girl of 8 or 9 years old
taking on sadness, melancholy, and commencing to talk about the future world, and the
angels, and that she wants to die and go there, and she is sad, and wants to read the Bible
all day.
That is a strange thing; and yet Calcarea has cured that. Ars.
has cured that state, and also Lach. They are a little inclined to be precocious, and they have attended the
Sunday-school, and they have taken too seriously the things they have learned.
Children sad and unhappy, and old people who take on a loathing of life,
become weary of life. That is a good deal like Aurum. In going over Aurum I explained that, and dwelt upon it, that the highest love is the love of
life; and when an individual ceases to love his own life, and is weary of it, and loathes
it, and wants to die, he is on the border line of insanity.
In fact, that is an insanity of the will. You have only to look with an
observing eye to see that one may be insane in the affections, or insane in the
intelligence. One may remain quite intact, and the other one be destroyed.
We find in Calcarea both equally disturbed. One patient may be insane in
his voluntary system, so that all of his loves are perverted; he has no affection that is
like what it used to be, like it was when be was well.
Antipathy to his family or some member of his family.
Or, he may have the affection fairly intact, but no intelligence, and
does all sorts of strange things.
He is full of fear.
Weary of life; hopelessness, anxiety. The world is black.
"Fear that something sad or terrible will happen. Fears that she
will. lose her reason, or that people will observe her confusion of mind."
"Fear of death; of consumption; of misfortune; of being alone."
Fear abounds, especially when the voluntary system is disturbed. She is
startled at every noise. He can't sleep sq that the body rests or the mind rests. He is
disturbed in his sleep with horrible dreams. His sleep is a restless one.
"Great anxiety and oppression. Restlessness and palpitation.
Despairing; hopeless."
These symptoms have to be coupled and connected with that
leucophlegmatic, pale, flabby, sickly individual.
"Child cross and fretful. Easily frightened."
Many complaints after exertion of the mind. Many complaint after
excitement, chagrin or fright.
He is so weak in his circulation, so much disturbed in the heart, it
palpitates from every excitement. He is out of breath from every physical exertion; and
these take part so much in the circulation of blood in the body, have so much to do with
circulation of blood in the brain, have so much to do with the intellect, with the
sensorium, that we see at once vertigo on almost all occasions, intermingled with all sorts
of symptoms.
Fear, anxiety, and vertigo. If his. emotions stir him up he becomes
dizzy. From going upstairs the blood mounts to the head, and he becomes dizzy. Confusion of
mind and vertigo from mental exertion. If he becomes shocked, or has bad news, or has any
mental excitement or chagrin, this vertigo will come out.
Confusion of mind, determination of blood to the head, cold extremities,
covered with sweat, with vertigo.
"Vertigo, when climbing into high places;"
that is the effort of going up. The blood rushes to the head and he
becomes dizzy.
"On going upstairs or up a hill. On suddenly rising, or turning the
head, even when at rest."
Head: One of the most
striking symptoms of the head of the
Calcarea patient is the sweat, the
sweat of the head upon the slightest exertion. He will sweat on the face when he sweats
nowhere else, and his head is covered with cold sweat when he is comfortable in other places
about the body.
The same thing is true about the feet. When his feet become very cold
they will sweat. When they are warm they will sweat. You would naturally think that a person
going into a cold room would stop his sweating. But sometimes the Calcarea patient
will break out in a sweat, upon the head, and upon the feet, in a cold room,
He sweats upon the forehead, so that every draft of air makes him chilly,
and this brings on headache. Coldness of the whole scalp, so he has to wrap up the head. Yet
during congestions, the head is hot.
So it has at times great heat in the head. The Calcarea
headaches are stupefying, they are benumbing; they bring on confusion of mind.
The Calcarea patient has a catarrh in the nose, with more or less
discharge; at his best he has considerable discharge. But he goes into a cold place, the
discharge is slacked up, and he gets a headache. Headache over the eyes. Congestion of the
head; back of the head.
"Tearing headache above the eyes down to nose," is a strong
symptom of Calcarea.
It seems sometimes as if a great wedge were lip in there. This is
relieved by very hot applications. It is relieved in the dark; it is aggravated in the
daylight. He must go into dark room and lie down for relief.
Sometimes this headache is ameliorated by lying down in the dark. This
headache continues to grow worse during the day, until in the evening it becomes so severe
that it is at tended with nausea and vomiting.
It is one of the forms of constitutional headache, is a headache that
sometimes occurs once in two weeks. Headache every seven days, or headache once in two
weeks. Periodical headaches. Sick headache, the old-fashioned American sick-headache.
There is commonly a periodicity belonging to it, of seven to fourteen
days, but again, it comes on whenever he is exposed, by riding in the wind, for he is a very
chilly patient, if he becomes really chilled or very cold, he gets a headache, a
sick-headache.
Then, again, it has pain in the left side of the head. One-sided
headache. Headache worse from noise, from talking, but ameliorated in the evening, from
lying in the dark. It has headache in the temples, and this headache seems to draw through
to the root of the nose.
The headaches from the supraorbital region draw through to the nose.
Headaches in the temples seem to produce a feeling of tightness, a feeling of great tension
in the forehead. Headaches worse from motion, from walking, from talking.
Most of the Calcarea headaches, as soon as they become severe, are
attended with pulsation. The pulsation is so strong that the patient is not satisfied by
merely saying it is a pulsation, he describes it as hammering. Most of the pains are
pressive or tearing.
"Concussive headaches."
Stitching, pulsating pains in the head, as if it would split. Headaches
worse from walking, and from a jar. Sometimes he feels a coldness in the head, it seems as
if the cold head is numb, cold as if made of wood. He sometimes feels this numbness, and
describes it as if he had a cap, sometimes as if there were a helmet, on the head.
Now, all of these sensations are difficult to describe, but sometimes
they are one and the same thing. All the headaches of Calcarea, are more or
less congestive. It is a peculiar feature of Calcarea, that the more
marked the congestion of internal parts, the colder the surface becomes.
With chest troubles, and stomach troubles, and bowel troubles, the feet
and hands become like ice, W covered with sweat; and he lies in bed sometimes with a fever
in the rest of his body, and the scalp covered with cold sweat.
That is strange. You cannot account for that by any process of reasoning
in pathology, and when a thing is so strange that it cannot be accounted, for, it become
very valuable as descriptive of the remedy, and is one that cannot generally be left out
when prescribing for a patient.
That is almost a general state, it is so marked. It has burning in the
vertex, and this is often present coldness of the forehead, or the whole head may feel cold
except a burning spot on the vertex. Calcarea will again have cold head and icy cold feet when
walking in cold air or in very cold weather; but as soon as the feet get warm, they go to
the other extreme, and burn so that he puts them out of bed.
This has often led inexperienced prescribers to prescribe Sulph., because that is a
keynote of Sulph. All keynote prescribers give Sulph. whenever the patient puts the
feet out of bed, but a number of remedies have burning feet, hot feet, so we are not limited
to Sulph. Calcarea has affections of the bones of the skull, the outer
part of the head.
Slow formation of bone. The fontanelles remain open a long time. It has
hydrocephalic conditions, effusion in the membranes, and the bones do not grow and keep pace
with the growth of the head, and hence the sutures commence to separate and the head grows
wider, and larger all the time, with hydrocephalus.
In hydrocephalic children this sweating head is a common feature. The
child lies at night upon the pillow, and the sweat pours from the head and wets the pillow
all around; especially sweating at night.
In persons suffering from softening of the brain, the pillow is wet all
around the head. Children going through difficult dentition have dreadful times in their
dreams, they screech out in the night, and the pillow is wet all around their head.
Old plethoric patients, broken down constitutions, fat, flabby, lymphatic
patients, with enlarged glands, with sweating of the head, cold sweating of the head. The
hair falls out, not in the regular way such as occurs in old ago bit in patches here and
there.
You see a bald spot on the side of the head, or the back of the head; a
tuft of hair has come out, or in two or three places. Then it has eruptions upon the head
and face; eczema that we find in children and infants.
"Thick scabs on the head, with yellow pus."
