Nitrogenum oxygenatum
Nitrous oxide (dinitrogen monoxide) · Human-made/chemical
Nitrogenum Oxygenatum suits patients who have experienced ill-effects from nitrous oxide anaesthesia, particularly women, in whom symptoms are more severe. There is a characteristic progression from mental exaltation and involuntary laughter to unconsciousness, with lingering drowsiness and nervous symptoms. Epileptic patients are especially vulnerable to convulsive complications.
Key symptoms
- Unusual exaltation of mind with agreeable fancies and involuntary desire to laugh
- No command over oneself; mental torture beyond endurance
- Rapid rush of thoughts followed by unconsciousness
- Rhythmic involuntary movements of arms or legs
- Congestion of the lungs occurring within hours of anaesthesia
- Drowsiness persisting for weeks after exposure
- Epileptiform convulsions triggered by anaesthesia in susceptible patients
- Enuresis; blisters around the mouth after administration
Nitrous Oxide Gas. Laughing Gas. NO. Solution.
Clinical
Enuresis. Epilepsy. Hysteria. Lungs, congestion of.
Characteristics
This well-known anæsthetic, introduced by Sir Humphrey Davy, has given rise to some pathological symptoms which I have collected in the Schema. Some of them were observed by myself on a girl of twelve who had congestion of the right lung setting in within a few hours of the anæsthesia (H. W., xxv. 64); and on a man, 30, who had blisters round his mouth, inside, on two occasions after being under gas; was troubled with drowsiness for weeks after, and had acneous spots on his face. Others are from the observations of Mr. Silk (H. W., xxv. 462); and the rest are from provings recorded by Allen. Silk observed that females were very much more liable to ill effects than males. One of his patients, an epileptic girl, otherwise healthy, when he removed the face-piece, struggled to get her hands up, and afterwards described her feelings as "pain in the forehead where the aura commenced." In one …
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