Oxydendron arboreum
Oxydendrum arboreum · Plant · Ericaceae
Oxydendron arboreum is indicated in severe dropsy with suppressed urine and extreme dyspnoea where the patient cannot lie down. It suits patients with deranged portal circulation and suppression of urinary function following acute illness, based on a single dramatic clinical observation.
Key symptoms
- General dropsy with ascites and anasarca
- Urine nearly suppressed
- Great difficulty of breathing even when sitting; lying down impossible
- Deranged portal circulation
- Prostatic enlargement
- Vesical calculi and irritation of neck of bladder
Sorrel-tree (OXYDENDRON - ANDROMEDA ARBOREA)
A remedy for dropsy-ascites and anasarca. Urine suppressed. Deranged portal circulation. Prostatic enlargement. Vesical calculi. Irritation of neck of bladder. Great difficulty of breathing. Tincture. Compare: Cerefolius (dropsy, Bright's disease, cystitis).
Oxydendron arboreum. Sorrel-tree. Sour-wood. Elk-tree. (Rich woods of the Alleghenies.) N. O. Ericaceæ (tribe Andromedeæ). Tincture of leaves.
Clinical
Dropsy.
Characteristics
Oxydend. arbor. is the only species of its genus. It is an unproved remedy, and there is only one observation with it that I know of. M. E. Douglass (quoted H. W., xxxii. 547, from S. J. of H.) treated Mrs. H. for general dropsy─ascites and anasarca─which dated from an attack of measles treated with ice-drinks and ice-applications seven months before. When Douglass saw her the urine was nearly suppressed, but contained very little albumen. Menses suppressed. Great difficulty of breathing even when sitting, lying down impossible. Had to sit in one chair with feet in another. After the failure of Apocy. and several carefully chosen medicines, the legs having burst in several places, Douglass was about to tap the abdomen, but before doing so put Oxydend. Ø one drachm in a tumbler of water and gave three teaspoonfuls every three …
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