Contrasting Bronchitis in Three Homeopathic Remedies

In homeopathy, one must find treatment for the sick and not the sickness. Hence an ailment like bronchitis may show up in different shades in different individuals, so a child with bronchitic symptoms may be in need of a remedy that closely matches his peculiar symptoms, and here we discuss three that may be of use during this time.

Coccus Cacti patient produces a thick, tough, ropy, jelly like mucus in the air passages, creating a cough that sounds like the whooping cough, where the mucus is tough to bring up and out of the system. There is a very sensitive condition of the pharynx and inner mouth, so that he retches and gags when anything comes in contact with it, and the tenacious mucus in this condition, being hard to expel from the pharynx in the usual way has to be vomited out. His cough comes on after exposure to the cold weather, but this reverses after the onset of the symptoms so that the warmth of the room and warm drinks will aggravate his cough, while he will generally be better in the cold air and with cold drinks. He will push of his covers at night and will be morose, general hyperaesthesia of the skin and mucus membranes, sensitive to the pressure of clothing. There is burning in the remedy, which is perhaps why warmth aggravates. The mental state isn’t as deep, but a depressed state ensues with anxiety, great sadness; a cloud seems to hang over everything.

The Antimonium Tartaricum patient seems to have a passive state, there is bad humour and an irritability, his face seems to show his inner turmoil, a sickly and sullen countenance whilst he feels feeble within. There is a lack of reaction found in this patient, and his lungs seem to be affected in a manner so that the chest is steadily filling up with the mucus, and at first, he may be able to throw it out; but finally, he is suffocating from the filling up… it is a paralytic condition of the lungs. The child will shriek when touched, talked to, or looked at, when the frequent attacks of bronchitis come on during wet weather, when the chest fills up with mucus, it rattles within, whilst the patient goes into increasing prostration. Breathing is hard because of the mucus in the chest, there is dyspnoea, any disturbance to this patient that increases his breathing will increase suffocation and irritate him, so he wants to be left alone, he is disturbed and shows his annoyance. There is a desire for acids or acid fruits, while milk makes him sick, a general loathing of food, indigestion. Warmth and layering up generally aggravates, he suffocates in a warm room, sitting up erect ameliorates.

Kali Bichromicum is known for its sticky and thick catarrh, and it has seen to be helpful during diphtheria like conditions, when there are exudations found in the larynx and trachea, hoarseness, and a rough voice, as if there was a rag in the larynx. There is thick catarrh in the larynx, causing cough and rattling in the trachea, the tonsils may be swollen, red, and inflamed. A marked feature are rheumatic pains that are better for the warmth of the bed. The catarrhal condition is brought on during the cold and damp weather, copious ropy mucous discharges from all mucous membranes and there is also a characteristic tendency to have severe pain in small spots covered by the end of the thumb. There is lots of catarrh of the nose with thick, viscid, yellow, or white mucus, that is too viscid to be blown out of the nose, the mucus gets plugged up upon exposure to air. The catarrh is so thick it sticks to the throat and the teeth, there is a sensation of hair at the base of the tongue, the fauces, or the nose. The cough is productive with difficult expectoration, causing stitching pains in the chest at the sternum, an inability to breathe deeply, worse from exposure to cold air and undressing, worse upon waking up in mornings, better for lying down, warmth and warm drinks, eating brings on the cough. There aren’t many mentals found in this remedy for children, except that the weakness brought on by the catarrhal symptoms may bring about a tendency to be irritable, peevish, and morose.

Source Material: Lectures on Materia Medica, by J T Kent