- Brunton noted that Lact has a soporific action and is used “instead of Opium to allay cough, quiet nervous ness and induce sleep in cases where from idiosyncrasy, Opium is not borne.” This use of lettuces has been known from very remote times and has not been added to by old -school observers.
- The COMMENTS - There are several recorded instances of poisoning.
- A man, 25, ate Lact in a salad, 7 p.m and went to bed at 9.
- He woke at 11 with sharp, colicky pains, soon followed by nausea and vomiting that lasted all night.
- He fell asleep at 5 a.m., but in the morning was astonished to find himself unable to distinguish objects clearly.
- A boy of 10 who ate the same meal became affected with lively deliriumAcute state of confusion and disorientationA sudden, severe state of mental confusion, anxiety, and disorientation, often accompanied by hallucinations. at midnight that lasted until morning.
- He jumped about on the bed, played all sorts of pranks and nobody could quiet him.
- He had no colicSevere fluctuating pain in the abdomenSevere, often fluctuating pain in the abdomen caused by gas, spasm, or obstruction in the intestines, common in infants. or vomiting.
- His pupils were di lated until the iris was a mere rim.
- Trying to read he mistook M for P and O for V.
- In his delirium, he had hallucinations, saw on his bed a soldier, an inkstand, etc.
- Both these patients as well as another had liquid stools.
- The dilated pupils persisted some time.
- Keynote indescribable sensation of tight ness, affecting the whole body, but especially the chest.
- Intolerance to touch and pressure.
- Pain in spinal marrow even to cauda equina, streaming along coccyx.
- Right arm is much affected.
- Much yawning and stretching to relieve the squeezing of the lower chest.
- Squeezing in left breast.
- Feeling as if a hundredweight on chest.
- Feeling of relaxation in the chest.
- AnginaChest pain from reduced heart blood flowA condition marked by severe pain in the chest, often also spreading to the shoulders, arms, and neck, caused by an inadequate blood supply to the heart. pectoris.
- AsthmaChronic respiratory disease causing difficulty breathingA condition characterized by spasms in the bronchi of the lungs, causing difficulty in breathing, typically from an allergic reaction or hypersensitivity..
- Spasmodic cough in frequent par oxysms with feeling of suffocation.
- Atta cks come suddenly without any apparent cause, induced by a violent tickling in pharynx and roof of mouth.
- Whooping cough, paroxysms preceded by anxiety.
- Antispasmodic.
- Chest symptoms are better sitting up.
- Lactuca virosa Tightness in the liver region.
- Enlargements of the liver with tightness.
- Stomach pain, better bending.
- Pinching in umbilical region, better crossing the legs.
- ConstipationInfrequent or difficult bowel movementsA condition where stool is dry, hard, and difficult or painful to pass. and diarrheaFrequent, loose, and watery stoolsA state of having three or more loose or liquid bowel movements per day. with many concomitant anal symptoms.
- Sensation as of a drop continually passing along the urethra when seated.
- Urine smells like violets.
- Hering noted “painful gonorrhea in females.” Used as a galactagogue (Aven..
- Alf.).
- Extraordinary lightness of body, more pronounced in open air.
- Feels as if swimming in bed.
- Dreams of swimming in the air or of walking above the ground.
- The head feels light, empty.
- Sensation as if head too large, as if brain loose.
- Sensation as if looking through gauze.
- Mild sedative.
- Cured a case of hypertrophyAbnormal enlargement of an organThe increase in the volume of an organ or tissue due to the enlargement of its component cells. of the ovaries in a woman of fifty as a consequence of a miscarriage twenty -five years before.
- The tumor was excessively large and the patient could get no rest because of the pain from the pressure.
- The rectum was contracted and feces evacuated with great pain.
- “Fatigue during stool,” and also “sleepi ness during stool” were pecu liar and may prove characteristic.
- Ebullitions rising up from abdomen suggest globus hystericus.
- Temperature - Slight shivering chill.
- Frequent coldness over back and head, with heat in face.
- Chilliness in a warm room with coldness of hands and feet.
- Dry heat of upper part of body, with icy coldness of feet.
- Sensation of weight, fullness.
- Movements in abdomen.
- BorborygmiStomach gurgling or rumbling soundsGurgling, rumbling, or splashing noises heard from the abdomen, caused by gas moving through the intestines., abundant emission of wind.
- Colic i n early morning, tense abdomen, relieved somewhat by evacuation and passing of wind.
- Cramping pain, better passing flatus.
- Dull shocks or else lancinations in right hypochondrium.
- Contusive pain in liver region, in morning.
- Want of appetite, food is repugnant, no appetite for bread and meat.
- Food tastes sickly, bitter.
- Appetite and thirst increased.
- Desires milk, pickles, sour.
- Aversion to bread, meat, wine.
- Better from bread, cof fee, vegetable acids, worse from milk
