Alumina

ALUMINA

Source: Aluminum Oxide

Introduction: Dr. Margery Blackie, MD,F.F.HOM, who had been the  HomeopathicPhysician to H.M. The Queen since 1968 -1981, writes her experiences about Aluminium Oxide: She writes, in her book CLASSICAL HOMEOPATHY, Repertory Edition, "As a student she once visited a laboratory in Harley Street, and the demonstrators showed all sorts of experiments which were carried out for Aluminium poisioning.  One of the experiments was when they cooked an egg for four minutes in an aluminium saucepan and traced aluminium inside the egg. She was impressed with that result. She thought if in four minutes aluminium is inside the shell of the egg, what effect does it have on a patient? Many years ago there was a doctor at the London Homeopathic Hospital who was very keen on aluminium poisoning, and who put all the young doctors off by attributing every possible disease to aluminium.  He managed to get the Navy to ban cooking in aluminium at one time and the consequence was that the gastric and duodenal ulcers in the Navy went down fifty per cent. It is not known that everybody is sensitive to aluminium, but there is a proportion of people who are.

  The chief action of this drug is on the mucous membranes & skin causing dryness and also causing tendency to paretic muscular states:-

The main three  guiding symptoms for which this drug is employed in Homeopathy are as follows:-

1.      CONSTIPATION:-  Inactivity of the rectum; even the soft stool requires great straining.

2.   DERMATITIS: Itching of the skin(without eruption)[(Mez.Dolichos,Ars.]-with     thickening     of skin(dry)Itching until it bleeds < warmth. The striking  feature of this r                                                                               remedy is the chronic dryness of the skin with fissures.. Sweat is rare and scanty.

3.    ANAEMIA: In women, who are hungry for starch, chalk, rags, charcoal, cloves and other ridiculous unnatural things; pototoes disagree; profuse leucorrhoea.

 Constitution: The Alumina constitution corresponds to a constitution that may be called PSORIC- old, broken-down, feeble constitutions, scrofulous constitution, such as are inclined to tubercles and catarrhal affections.

 Mental Symptoms:  Mentally Aluminium patients vary a lot.  They may be contented, very much on the spot, competent, with intellectual powers alert, or else there is the type who is timid, not bright in the mornings and on the top of their form later in the day.  So the best time for Aluminium patients is usually later in the day.  On the other hand they may be very contrary, take

everything  the wrong way and weep a lot.  This second type gets easily confused-they take things in slowly and answer questions slowly.  You feel tht they are mentally rather slow and apt to be bored. Aluminium children are also peevish, whiny and rather obstinate.

 "Like Argentum Nitricum, they are hasty, hurried. Times passes slowly." Suicidal tendency when seeing knife or blood.

Head:- They are many headaches with nausea and vomiting. The headaches come whenever he takes cold.  This probably is due to the catarrhal state. Throbbing headache with constipation. This medicine is full of vertigo; he quivers, reels and "objects go round" almost constantly.  It corresponds to the vertigo of tired-out people, old broken down ptients, men worn out from old age. Vertigo also that comes on when closing the eye, as is found in spinal affections,in sclerosis of posterior lateral columns.  Alumina has produced affections analogous to locomotor ataxia.There is inability to walk except with eyes open.  It produces numbness of the soles of the feet, the fulgurating pains, the vertigo when closing the eyes, and produces staggering and

disturbances of co-ordintion. Dr. Kent says that " it is true tht in an early stage of locomotor ataxia, Alumina will check the disease process by bring into order the internal state of economy".

 Face: The patient is usually pale, although the colour can vary.  There is a greyish tint. Feels as if albuminous substance had dried on it. Rush of blood to face after eating.

 Eyes: Objects look yellow. Lids dry, burn smart, thickened, aggravated in morning, Ptosis, Stabismus. There is much disturbance of vision belong to the catarrhal condition of the eyes. Dimness of the visionas if looking through a fog, sometimes described as through a veil. A misty dimness of vision. There is also disturbances of the muscles of the eyes.

 Nose:-Due to the dryness of the mucous membranes, the nose is dry, stuffed up, especially on one side, commonly the left. Nose feels full of sticks, dry membrane or crusts, old atrophic catarrh, crusts in the posterior nares. Large green, offensive crusts all through the nose.

 Mouth: Dry mouth. The tongue cleaves to the roof of the mouth.Tensive pain in articulation of jaw when opening mouth or chewing.

 Throat:- Clergyman's sorethroat in thin subjects. Tickling sensation in the throat which may occur due to   from elongated uvula- causing cough. Constant inclination to clear the throat.  The throat is Dry, sore. There is a sensation of constriction in the throat and oesophagus. It hurts to swallow.  Food cannnot pass, oesophagus contracted.Swallows with great difficulty. The bolus goes down with an effort and he feels it all the way down. There is soreness and clumsiness, paresis and difficulty  of swallowing due to dryness of the mucous membranes or paresis of Oesophagus. This paralytic weakness reminds the patient that he must put on a little force in order to swallow and this swallowing is felt while the substance goes down as if the oesophgus was sensitive.

 Stomach: Abnormal cravings- Especially anaemic  patients are often hungry for starch, chalk, rags, charcoal, cloves and other ridiculous and unnatural things. Alumina is great remedy in such case. The Natrum Mur patient couldn't eat bread, or had an aversion to it.  The Alumina patient can't eat potatoes, they disagree. Pulsatilla can't eat fat food, pastries, etc. No desire to eat. Can swallow but small morsels at a time- due to constriction of oesophagus.

 Abdomen:- Colic, like painter's colic. Pressing in both loins towards sexual organs. Left-sided abdominal complaints.

 Stools: Hard, dry, knotty; no desire. Like Bryonia, there is no desire for stool and the constipation seems to depend upon the dryiness of mucous membranes.  Again it is adapted to dry, spare subjects. There  are other points of resemblance between these two remedies and they complement each other.  They are both excellent in infantile constipation, which is often a very obstinate affection to treat. Anacardium, Sepia, Silicea and Veratrum album are nearest of kin in this lack of expulsive power in the rectum. Rectum is sore, dry, even a softstool is passed with difficulty- with great straining. Constipation of infants (Collins.Psor.Paraf.,) and old people from inactive recturm, and in women of very sedentary habits. Evacuation preceded by painful urging long before stool, and then straining at stool.

 Urine: "Frequent Micturition"  especially in old people.  "Urine voided while straining at stool, or cannot pas urine without such straining." These are the high grade symptoms, it is a peculiar symptom, and may be called a particular of first grade. He must strain at stool in order to empty the contents of the bladder.  "Urine smarting, corroding."  "Feeling of weakness in the bladder

and genitals". "Swelling and discharge of light yellow pus from urethra."  "Burning with dischrage of urine."

 Male:- The symptoms of the male sexual organs are characterized by weakness , impotency and nightly emissions; suitable when the sexual organs are worn out from abuse or over use. Involuntary emission when straining at stool. Prostatic discharge. Paralytic weakness or paraesis of the sexual organs , a state that is in keeping with the whle remedy.

 Female: Menses too early, short, scanty, pale, followed by great exhaustion (Carbo an.; Coccul.). .After menses, it takes the woman nearly until the next period to get straightened. Up.  All the muscles are weak; there seems to be no tonicity about her. It is highly suitable to women drawing near the end of the menses, about forty years of age; the menses period prostrates, the flow is scanty, yet prostrating, the sufferings are terrible and the patient is miserable at the menstrual. After menses , exhasted in body and mind, is a strong feature of Alumina. Leucorrhoea is acrid profuse, transparent, ropy with burning;running down to the heals(Syph.) worse during daytime, and after menses.

Respiratory:  The other most striking features of Alumina are the cough and chest troubles. There is expectoration in some of the coughs, but the cough is usually a constant, dry, hacking cough, one of those throublesome lingering coughs that has existed for years. It competes with Argenticum Mett. In its character of the dry, hacking cough, especially associated with weakness but Arg. Met, has the cough in the daytime, which is not so in Alumina. The Alumina cough is in the morning. Here is a symptom that about covers the Alumina Cough: "Cough soon after waking in the morning.:. Every morning, a long attack of dry cough.  The cough is hard, a continued dry hacking, and she coughs until she loses her breath and vomits, and loses the urine. This symptoms commonly occurs in the woman,  "Dry, hacking cough with frequent sneezing."  Cough with tickling in larynx; as from enlarged uvula or with a sensation as of loose skin hanging in throat.  wheezing, rattling respiration. Chest feels constricted. Talking aggravates soreness of chest.

 Back:- The most striking symptoms are , Burning and stitching pains in the back/spine. He expresses it as follows: "Pain the back, as if a hot iron was thrust through lower vertebrae.".  In myelitis this medicine does wonderful work when there is considerable amount of spasmodic condition of the back, as well, showing that the membranes are involved. 

 Extremeties:  Pain in the arms and fingers, as if hot iron penetrated.  Arms feel paralyzed. Legs feel asleep, especially when sitting with legs crossed. Staggers on walking . Heels feel numb. Soles tender; on stepping, feel soft and swollen. Pain in shoulder and upper arm. Gnawing beneath finger nails. Brittle nails. Inabilty to walk, except when eyes are open or in daytime. Spinal degenerations and paralysis of lower limbs, paralysis of one side of the body.

Sleep:- Sleepy in morning( unrefreshed sleep- Nux Vom.). Restless sleep, anxious and confused dreams.

 Skin: The skin is chapped and dry tettery.  Intolerable itching when getting warm in bed. Must scratch until it bleeds; then becomes painful. Brittle skin on fingers.  There is a great lack of animal heat, coldness, and yet the patient wants to be in the open air; must be well clothed and kept warm, but wants to be in the open air.  The patient takes cold continually from every change and draft. Sometimes the patient will go to bed as cold as frog.and when warm in bed is so disturbed by itching and the warmth of the bed that there is no comfort. These are two extremes coming together.  The circulation is so feeble over the extremities and backs of the hands that in

cold weather the hands are constantly cold and covered with cracks and fissures that bleed. A patient comes to you covered with crusts and he says; " When I get warm at night I have to scratch, and I scratch until the skin bleeds.".  now in Alumina it is very important to find out whether  these crusts were produced by the scratching or whether the eruption came out as an itching eruption, for in Alumina in the beginning there is no eruption, but he scratches until the skin is off and then come the cursts. You must here prescribe not for the eruption but for the itching of the skin without eruption.   Now in Mez., Ars. Dolichos and Alumina the skin itches and he scratches until it bleeds, and then he gets relief .Of course after this there is an apparent eruption because crusts form. As soon as the healing begins the itching begins the itching begins, and he is only relieved when the skin is raw.  With the bleeding and moisture of the skin ,there is relief of the itching. The skin thickens and indurates due to dryness of the skin and then ulcerates.

MODALITIES:-

Worse : At new moon and full moon, periodically, in afternoon, from potatoes. Worse in morning on awaking, warm room.

 Better : Mild summer weather. Damp weather.

              From warm drinks. From open air; cold washing, in evening and on alternate days.

 Relationship:

 Complementary: Bryonia. Alumina is the chronic Bryonia alba. The antidote each other as well.

 Antidotes: Ipecac, Chamom. , Camphora, Bryonia.

 SUMMARY OF INDICATIONS:   CONSTIPATION(OBSTINATE) - LEUCORRHOEA.

 Some illustrated cases of Alumina

 (Taken from Dr. Margery Blackie's "CLASSICAL HOMEOPATHY:REPRETORY EDITION")

The first Aluminium case I ever say was a man well over seventy with a letter from his doctor to say that for some inexplicable reason he wished to try Homeopathy!  He sent his X-Rays and a report from a specialist which stated that he had an inoperable carcinoma of the gall bladder. The patient was very thin, drawn and lined and had the peculiar greyish tint that I have always since associated with Aluminium.  I took a lot of rather poor symptoms, nothing very definite. He complained of constant abdominal pain and a gripping sensation when he tried, as if food stuck somewhere.  He said he felt awful in the morning but that he might pick up a little later in the day. He though he was probably hopeless, and if I would only keep him from too awful a death he would be grateful.

 I asked if he had his food cooked in aluminium and he said that he did, but was sure that his wife would change if I thought it advisable.  I talked to her and suggested she should change.  So conscientious was she that she would not even have an aluminium spoon to stir anything. He had an aluminium beaker in which he put his teeth at night, and this was changed to something else.  I

gave him Sac. Lac. For a fortnight and at the end of that time he was a little better, which made me feel there might possibly be something in it, and then gave him a 200c of Aluminium. I did not see him for two months and then he had put on half a stone. He was eating moderately well, but carefully, and hardly any discomfort.  He lived from another twelve years and finally died from an influenzal bronchitis.  He has always stuck in my mind as the colour of aluminium and one of the true cases of aluminium poisoning.

SECOND CASE:  The next case was a man of thirty-three.  He worked for the BBC and was getting on well.  He said he had constant indigestion and that he was fortunate because his work was always an evening stint and that this was the best time of the day for him. He felt much better in the evenings, although he would have fits of apprehension and worry that everything would go wrong. When he had had a bad  day he would go to work thinking,'I shall never get through tonight,'but he did.  He said the indigestion was such that when eating he got quite painful constriction of his oesophgus and had difficulty in swallowing, as if there was an obstruction.  Otherwise he had vague indigestion.

 Then he suddenly broke off his history and said, ' You know, I have a little boy of seven and he has a lot of the same symptoms.  At the weekend my wife was away and I saw much more him than usual. In two of the meals he clutched his stomach and said wh a pain he had in the middle of his food.  He was really very unwell for about half an hour and then when it had gone off he was all right again.'  He said the child had told him his stomach ache was much worse if he took potatoes. This was interesting because it was the first time I had ever met that symptom.  He also used to eat strange things like Calcarea Carb. child. He was very constipated and so was the father.  The boy had no desire for his bowels to act and often passed a lot of small ball-like faeces only.   He seldom had a really good action. The patient said he had the greatest difficulty over his bowels too, and seemed unable to strain or expel the stool even when it was quite soft. He also had frequent headache, more like a pressure in the forehead, as a rule sometimes very severe on the top of the head.   I thinkt this is where your Aluminium headache is if you have one. It is more often on the vertex. His whole head often irritated him if he had a headache, and he would sit pressing his hand on top of his head to ease it off a bit.

 I had great difficulty with his wife because when she came back on Monday she had a new lot of aluminium saucepans and was very unwilling to get rid of them.  Finally her sister lent her three stainless steel ones and I made her buy a different kettle.  I saw the wife some months later and was rather pleased when she said, 'My family's health is entirely different.  They are all so much better, I can't believe it.  you don't think it would really be the aluminium, do you?'  I said I was sure it was and that I though they were all sensitive to aluminium,  It is likely to happen in one family rather than in individuals.  They have not used aluminium for the last twenty years not even to stir anything, and have been quite well.

 THIRD CASE:

 The third case was a man who had not been at all well, with great many abdominal symptoms. He had had four biopsies of his liver and all sorts of other tests.  He had had X-rays which had not shown anything definite, although various specialists thought he had a carcinoma of the stomach and his doctor had been very serious about it. He was a nervous person and his wife had managed to ask the doctor not to tell him what he thought, but only tell her.  The doctor had told her that he gave the patient another year and  that he though he had probably got a stomach cancer.

 At this point I was called in. the lived in a flat on the ground floor in one of London's squares, and when I went into the room and saw him in the half light he looked absolutely greyish. He told me he had a very great deal of trouble and that he did not think I would be able to do anything about it.

 I went to see his general practitioner, who was a very nice man, who told me what had been done.  He said,'You can feel how tender and how thickened he is overf his upper abdomen' and I said, 'I quite agree with you , he is very thick there but I doubt whether it is malignant.  You have not foundanything in all your X Rays and biopsies and therefore I am hoping that it is not acually malignant. I agree with you that it will be if we leave it, but I don't think it is at present. I think he is aluminium sensitive.'

 The first thing I did was to take him off aluminium utensils and I left him without any other medicines except Sac lac for a month.  I then gave a 30c, 200c and 1M of Aluminium, night morning and night, and Sac lac to follow. Four years later I examined him again and he told me he could not be better.  He still had a slight thickening in the epigastrium, but less than it was, and said he could eat anything.