SORE THROATS

Materia Medica

ACONITE (2) Early stages with violent fever, dry heat, burning, burning thirst, dark redness of affected parts, burning, choking, creeping and contraction of throat. croup from cold dry air beginning before midnight, child wakes and grasps throat. Dry cough with barking hoarse croup sound during exhalation from spasm in larynx. Worse < being chilled by cold winds, dry weather, pressure, touch of bed, noise, light, dentition, lying on affected side, inspiration of tobacco smoke, warm rooms, sleeping in the sun, evening and night. Better > rest, from a warm sweat. Great fear, anxiety and restlessness. Fear the future, predicts the time of death, etc.

APIS (3) Edema of mucous membranes of throat and bag-like swelling of uvula, fiery red, shining, glazed and puffy, with blisters in clusters filled with clear lymph on back of throat. Inability to swallow from great swelling of the throat, internally and externally. Stinging, burning, rawness, stitching pain between acts of swallowing. difficult breathing and swallowing, pain in throat extends to the ears. Worse < warm drinks, swallowing solids, sour or hot substances. Better > cold drinks. Rawness and scalding around margin of tongue. Insidious cases coming on without suffering, No thirst, wants to be uncovered, sensitive to clothing about neck, allergenic edema of face and eyelids, rose-colored rash on skin. Worse < heat in any form, touch, pressure, right side, sleeping, in close heated rooms, late afternoon, after 4PM, suppressed eruptions, Better > open air, uncovering, cold bathing, cool air, motion, slight expectoration. Restlessness, fidgety, and anxious.

BELLADONNA (3 *). Violent fever, burning heat, bright-red throat, great dryness of mouth and throat, shooting pains in throat on swallowing, turning the head or breathing. Constriction and oppression impeding swallowing, speech and respiration, spasms of throat when trying to swallow. Enlargement of cervical glands and stiff neck. Inability to swallow liquids, thristlessness or thirst but to pain to drink so drinks in sips. Worse < right side, check sweating, drafts, haircut, washing head, taking cold, lying down, touch, jar, noise. Better > siting semi-erect, light covering, bending backward, bed rest. Delirious, starts at the approach of others, desire to escape, acuteness of all senses.

CANTHARIS (2). Throat feels on fire, inflamed and covered with plastic lymph, with bloody expectoration, symptoms come on with great rapidity. gangrene of the throat, water drunk returns through the nose, shooting pains when swallowing, esp. liquids, from constriction and intense pain at back of throat. Tenacious mucus. Intense thirst but will not drink due to pain. Concomitant painful burning urination and exhaustion. Worse < while urination and after, drinking, cold water, or coffee, touch, esp. larynx, bright objects, sound of water. Better > rest, warmth, rubbing, warm applications. Strong sexual desire, anxious restlessness ending in rage, acute mania.

HEPAR SULPH (2). Pricking sensations, as if from pins, splinters or fish-bone sticking in the throat, extending to the ears when yawning or swallowing. Smarting, roughness and rawness of fauces worse < when swallowing solid food. Heat and scraping in throat, with constant expectoration of yellow, tenacious mucus, impeding suppuration. Vomiting, in morning with dry, deep cough, worse in evening, when it becomes violent and agonizing. Pressure as from a plug, with danger of suffocation. Swelling of tonsil and cervical glands, ulcers in throat cause breath to smell like old cheese. Great sensitivity to atmospheric changes. Worse < cold, slightest drafts, cold dry winds, cool air, drafts, least uncovering. Better > by heat, damp weather, wrapping up head. Irritability, hasty, the slightest cause makes them angry.

KALI BICH (2). Soreness as if something sticking in the throat, accumulation of tenacious mucus that causes gagging, constant hawking, mucus, Discharges of touch stringy mucus which adheres to parts and can be drawn out in long strings. Uvula relaxed, elongated, edematous, bladder like. Ulcers in fauces, discharging cheesy lumps of offensive smell. Pseudo-membranous deposits on tonsil and soft palate. Mapped tongue, red, shining, smooth and dry. Tenacious mucus in pharynx, with tendency to hoarseness and tickling cough, throat pains more when putting out tongue, sharp. shooting pains in left tonsil, extending toward the ear, better > by swallowing. Ropy, stringy, fetid discharge from posterior nares and fauces. Worse < cold, damp, open air, spring, undressing, morning, 2-3 AM, after sleep, hot weather, suppressed catarrh. Better > heat, wrapping up, motion, pressure. Mentally ill-humored and low-spirited, listless, indifferent, and aversion of mental and physical exertion. Anxiety arising from chest. Fear of people, avoids society.

KALI MUR (1). Sore throats with swollen glands, grayish white exudate, grayish of white patches on the tonsils, gray or white coating on the base of tongue. Follicular tonsillitis, loss of voice, hoarseness. Dryness and redness, burning, stinging pains, after abuse of mercury (from filling of volcanic smog). Tough, white mucus with similar secretion from posterior nares, great efforts to dislodge it by snuffing and hawking. Worse < open air, cold drink, drafts, lying, night dampness, fatty rich foods, during menses. Better > cold drinks, rubbing, letting hair down. Thinks they must stave, discontented, discouraged, sits in silence, irritable and angry at trifles.

LACHESIS (3). Throat mottled, bluish, bluish-red, livid purple. Dryness of mouth and throat with no thirst or with aversion to water, pain extend to ear, cervical glands swollen and suppurating. Much saliva and stringy mucus, tongue swollen, stiff, trembles and catches on teeth when protruded. Pains begin or are worse < left side or begin on the left and go to the right (opposite Lyc.). Patches and membranes go from the left to right and down larynx. Much choking and swallowing, esp. during sleep. Constriction and difficult breathing, worse < arousing form sleep or after sleep. Pains worse < by warm drinks better > by cold drinks (opposite Lyc.). and empty swallowing, pains travel to the ears. Better > swallowing solids rather than liquids. Throat worse < from slightest external pressure, heat, empty swallowing, left side, warm bath, retarded discharges. Better > appearance of discharges, open air, cold drinks. Great loquacity, jealous and suspicious, feels they are under super human control, fears going to sleep.

LYCOPODIUM (3). Swelling, pain, and suppuration of throat and tonsils starting on the right and going from the right to the left (opposite Lach). Chronic enlargement or ulceration tonsils, fauces brownish-red, hawking of bloody mucus or hard, greenish-yellow phlegm, feeling as if a ball rose form below into the throat, feeling as a hard body in esophagi. No thirst or thirst with disgust for drinks or better > from hot drinks and worse from cold drinks (opposite Lach). One side of neck stiff and swollen, glandular swellings, throat feels constricted, nothing can be swallowed. Worse < eating to satiety, cold drinks, awaking, right side, right to left, 4 to 8 PM, hot air, bed, warm applications, pressure of clothes, wet stormy weather, wind. Better > hot drinks, warm food and drinks, erucations, after midnight, cold applications. Headstrong and haughty when sick, averse to company yet wants someone in the next room. Angry when arising.

MERCURIUS (3*). Great soreness, dryness, rawness, and burning, stitches into ear on swallowing. Obliged to swallow constantly because of profuse salivation yet throat feels dry. Swelling of the parotid and cervical glands. Tongue moist coating, yellow, flabby, teeth indented, feels as if burnt with ulcers, lengthwise furrows, putrid breath. Lancinating pains in neck and tonsils, extending to the ears, esp. right side, pressure in esophagi and larynx, worse < when eating, drinks can't pass epiglottis and are forced back through nose. Great thirst for cold drinks with moist tongue. Sneezing, coryza, violent cough, tonsil dark-red or greenish-red, studded with ulcers. Chilliness toward evening or alternating chill and heat, sweating without relief. (Suitable for volcanic smog). Worse < night, wet, damp, lying on right side, wet feet, perspiring, heated, warm room, bed, sensitive to drafts to head, changes of weather, cold, damp weather, heat and cold. Better > moderate temperament. Slow in thought and speech yet some can be hasty. Irresolution, constantly changes their minds, weak memory, lose of self confidence.

MERCURIUS COR. (2).Throat intensely inflamed, red, painful, preventing swallowing and causing suffocation, uvula swollen, elongated, dark-red, tonsil swollen and covered with ulcers. Prickly in throat as from needles, cutting in the throat as from a knife, retching and vomiting on attempting to swallow, worse < when depressing the tongue. Cervical glands hard and swollen. Pain in post-nasal area with sharp pains to ear. Worse < after urination and stool, swallowing, night, cold, fall, hot days, cool nights. Better > rest. Can not sleep because of anxiety and restlessness. Stares at the person who talk to him and does not understand them. Difficult thinking, disturb speech, stupid.

MERCURIUS CYN. (1). Necrotic destruction of soft parts of palate and fauces. Diphtheria of larynx and nose, septic diphtheria membrane is thick and gray. Throat feels raw, sore, cutting pains on swallowing, redness of fauces. Mucous membranes broken down, ulcerated. Worse < on swallowing, speaking, after eating. Great excitement, fits of passion, fury, talkativeness.

MERCURIUS IOD. FLAV (2). Sore throat, dry, swelling begins on the right side, or goes from the right to the left (Lyc). Easily detached patches on inflamed pharynx and fauces. Constant desire to swallow, tenacious mucus, hawking causes gagging, sensation of a lump. Tongue thickly coated yellow at base, bright yellow on back part, tip and edges red. Right Tonsil swollen, better > cold drinks. Worse < odors, touch, pressure, raising up, warm room, warm bed, warm drinks, cold and damp weather, night before 1 A.M. on waking, rest. Better > open air.

MERCURIUS IOD. RUB. (2). Sensation as of a lump in throat, with disposition to hawk which brings up hard greenish lumps or tough white phlegm. Sticking in throat, on waking feels sore and scalded, worse < empty swallowing. fauces dark-red, left tonsil swollen, submaxillary glands painfully engorged. Sore through starts on left and goes to the right (Lach). Sensation of lump with disposition to hawk from posterior nares. Stiffness of muscles of the neck and throat. Uvula elongated. Cough with sore throat. Worse < empty swallowing, swallowing food, after sleep, weather changes, getting wet, touch, pressure, after dinner, afternoon evening, touch, pressure.

NITRIC ACID (1). Pricking as form a splinter in throat, worse < swallowing, stitches in throat, pains travel to the ears, tonsil red swollen, uneven small ulcers on the palate, tongue, inside of gums sore, with stinging pains and ulceration of corners of the mouth. White patches with sharp points, as from splinters. Bloody saliva. Worse < fat food, milk, after eating, cold air, dampness, changing weather, heat of bed, mental exertion and shock, evening and nights. Worse < mercury (volcanic smog).

NUX VOMICA (2). Throat is raw, sore, rough, scraped, stinging pains causing hawking. Tickling when wakening in the morning, pharynx constricted, as if a plug were sticking in throat during empty swallowing, swelling of the uvula, stitches into ear when swallowing, small fetid ulcers. Pains worse < while eating and more afterward, dry cough with headache and pains in hypochondria when coughing, constipation. Worse < cold, morning, uncovering, open air, high living, coffee, stimulants, smoking, drugs, over eating, alcohol. Better > after a nap, free discharges, wrapping head, hot drinks. Very irritable and impatient, can't bear noise, odors, light, can't stand the pain it makes him angry. Talks about his condition, so mad he cries,.

PHYTOLACCA (2). Throat dark red or red-blue, pain at root of tongue travels to ear when swallowing, or soreness of posterior fauces, with extension of irritation into Eustachian tubes. Pain on swallowing hot liquids or foods. Sensation as if trachea were being strongly grasped, hawking relieves the choked feeling, dryness of throat at bedtime. Tonsils swollen, esp. right. Great muscular soreness, chilliness, groans when moved, restlessness and prostration. Worse < changes of weather, cold weather, damp, electric charges, rain, exposure to damp, hot drinks, heat. Better > warm dry weather, rest, cold drinks, lying on abdomen. Loss of personal delicacy, complete shamelessness of and indifference to exposure of her person. Indifferent to life. Refuse food in spite of continuous insistence.

RHUS TOX (1). Sticking stinging pains in tonsils, worse < beginning to swallow, throat sore stiff, after straining, sensation of swelling in throat, with contusive pain, even when talking, cellulitis of neck, parotitis. Hoarsness from over straining the voice. Soreness > warm drinks. Esophagitis from swallowing corrosive matter. Worse < midnight, ice cold drinks, uncovering, during rest, exposure to wet, cold air, draught, before storms, after exertion. Better > heat, warm wrapping, warm applications, continued motion. Whining mood, restless with continual change of position, can't remain in bed.

SULPHUR (2). Burning, heat, dryness and redness in the larynx, throat and mouth, suppuration of the uvula and tonsils. Sensation of swelling and pressure in throat, as if from a body lodged in throat, esp. on swallowing or breathing. Dry coryza, persistent hoarseness or lose of voice, breathlessness, contraction of chest, swelling of cervical glands. constant desire to swallow saliva. Whole back posterior of palate arches ulcerated. Worse < rest, warmth of bed, washing, bathing in morning, 11 AM., night, periodically, alcohol, suppressions, standing. Better > open air, motion, sweating, walking.