Morphinum
Morphine · Plant · Papaveraceae
Morphinum suits patients in a depressed, dream-like, hysterical state with irritability and fault-finding. The remedy picture features profound nervous system depression with visual disturbances, intense pruritus, and hypnotic states. Vertigo is pronounced on the least head movement, and the patient may appear livid or dusky.
Key symptoms
- Profound depression with dream-like state; shock induced by terror
- Vertigo from least movement of the head
- Bursting headache with head drawn back
- Itching of eyes; bluish drooping lids; ptosis
- Dusky red or pallid lividity of face, lips, tongue, and throat
- Sneezing in paroxysms; itching on end of nose
- Very dry mouth; tongue dry and brown-violet in middle
- Left ear throbs painfully; sensation of hearing circulation all over body
Worse (aggravation)
- Least movement of the head (vertigo)
Better (amelioration)
- Heat (ear throbbing relieved)
An Alkaloid of Opium
Morphine bears the same relation to Opium as Atropine to Belladonna-i.e, represents its nervous side. It is less stimulating, less convulsant, and more decidedly hypnotic. Constipates less and affects contractility of the bladder more. It is less diaphoretic and more pruritic.
Mind
Profound depression. Irritable, fault-finding, hysterical. Shock induced by terror. Dream-like state.
Head
Vertigo from the least movement of the head. Headache with sensation of being "wound-up". Bursting pain; head drawn back.
Eyes
Bluish, drooping lids. Itching of eyes. Delusion of vision on closing eyes. Starting, injected; diverging strabismus. Pupils unequally contracted. Look unsteady. Ptosis. Paresis of recti interni.
Ears
Left ear throbs painfully; better, heat. Seems to hear circulation all over body.
Face
Dusky red or pallid lividity of face, lips, tongue, mouth or throat.
Nose
Sneezing in paroxysms. Itching and tingling on end of nose.
Mouth
Very dry. Tongue dry, brown violet in middle. Thirst. Loss of appetite, with aversion to meat.
Throat
Dry and constricted. Pharynx paralyzed, swallowing almost impossible; better hot drinks, worse solids.
Stomach
Nausea incessant and deathly, faintness, constant retching. Vomiting of green fluid. Nausea and vomiting on rising up.
Abdomen
Distended. Acute pain in abdomen and along spinal column. Tympanitis.
Rectum
Diarrhœa watery, brown, or black with horrible tenesmus. Constipation; stools large, dry knotty, with tendency to bruise and fissure.
Urinary
Paresis of bladder. Strangury. Slow and difficult urination. Retention of prostatic hypertrophy. Uræmia, acute and chronic.
Male
Impotency. Pain in right spermatic cord, (Oxal ac).
Heart
Alternation of tachycardia and bradycardia. Cardiac muscular tissue is intact, even if severely exhausted. Pulse small, weak, dicrotic.
Respiratory
Faint and struggling for breath diaphragmatic paralysis; hiccough; dyspnœa, paroxysmal, on first falling asleep (Lach; Grindel). Cheyne-Stokes respiration. Chest tight. Pain in middle of sternum. Dry, hard, teasing, exhausting cough, worse at night. Strangling cough, with viscid mucus sputum; thin, scanty, but sounds loose and abundant.
Back
Pain along spine. Weakness of loins. Aching across lumbo-sacral region; cannot walk erect (Cimicif).
Extremities
Staggering gait. Numbness.
Skin
Livid; purple spots; zoster-like herpes. Itching. Skin lost its elasticity. Urticaria appearing at climaxis.
Nervous
Restlessness and hyperethesia; trembling, twitching, jerking, convulsions. Extremely susceptible to pain. Pain causes twitching and jerking of limbs. Violent and sudden neuralgic pains and sudden fainting. Delirium, melancholic in character. Neuralgias intensely painful, left supraorbital; right intercostal, better from heat; multiple neuritis. Sore feeling all over. Bed feels too hard. Aggravation after sleep (Lach). Neuralgia after zoster (Mezer).
Sleep
Yawning, drowsy; prolonged, deep sleep, Sleepless; restless sleep, with frequent startings. Sleepy, but cannot sleep.
Fever
Chills. Icy coldness. Burning heat; profuse sweat.
Dose
Third to sixth trituration.
MORPHINUM. Morphia. An alkaloid of Opium. C17H19HO3. Trituration. Solution.
Clinical
Chorea. Constipation. Convulsions. Eyes, affections of. Headache. Irritation. Jaws, clenched. Lightning-stroke. Neuralgia. Palpitation. Sleep, disordered. Strabismus, divergent. Trismus. Tympany. Vertigo. Vision, illusions of.
Characteristics
Morphia is the alkaloid of Opium, which contains the most characteristic properties of the drug. The alkaloid itself, the Acetate, the Muriate, and the Sulphate have all been used as pain-deadeners and sleep producers, but I do not find it practicable to attempt to distinguish between them, since the particular salt given has not always been mentioned. Alkaloids do not act in the same way as ordinary bases in their union with acids; the alkaloid does not displace any of the molecules of the acid; a molecule of acid is simply added to a molecule of alkaloid and not integrated with it. The distinction therefore between salts of alkaloids is less than between salts of metals, …
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