• Vertigo when looking downwards
• Pains shoot downwards and are accompanied with numbness
• Pain in the pit of the stomach
• Impaired vision, rheumatic iritis

Source: Vegetable kingdom
Synonyms: Mountain laurel, Ledum floribus bullatis, Americal laurel, Calico bush
Family: Ericaceae
Prover: Dr C. Hering
Duration of Action: Short acting
Diathesis: Rheumatic and gouty

Introduction and History: Kalmia is the name of genus worts, native of North America. Kalmia latifolia, which is large and has showy flowers is found in the northern parts of United States. Its flowers yield a honey said to be deleterious and its leaves and shoot certainly are so to cattle. Meadows says cattle eat Kalmia in the latter part of winter when they are in want of something green. Kalmia angustifolia, probably for the same reason, has the name of Lamb kill. The powdered leaves of some are used as a local remedy in some skin diseases. The hard wood of Kalmia latifolia is used in the manufacture of various useful articles. The Canadian partridge is said to become poisonous as human food after feeding on Kalmia berries (Treasury of Botany).

Dr C. Hering introduced Kalmia into homeopathic practice himself, his friends being the first provers. The head including eyes and face, show the chief intensity of its action and scarcely less so, the heart. A number of skin symptoms confirm the popular use of the leaves and among them ‘stiffness’ of the skin (especially of the eyelids) is most remarkable.

Habit and Habitat: It is found in rocky sterile hills, near water in New England states. Flowers appear from May to June.

Preparation and Parts Used: It is prepared from the tincture of fresh leaves when the plant is in flower.

Constitution and Physiognomy: It is adapted to people suffering from rheumatism; gouty complaints especially when the heart is involved as a sequel of rheumatism or gout.

Ailments From: Tobacco chewing, sun heat, exertion.

Seat of Action (Pharmacodynamics): It mainly acts on nerves, heart and circulation.

Physio-pathological Changes (Pathology)

1. It mainly affects the nerves, heart and circulation causing neuralgic pain with tingling, numbness, trembling or paralytic weakness.
2. It also has a prominent action on the heart. In small doses it accelerates the heart’s action; in larger doses, it moderates it greatly.
3. It acts on the heart causing rapid, tumultous, visible heart action.
4. Acts on circulation causing palpitations, tachycardia and a frequent pulse.

Characteristic Mental Symptoms (Psychology)

1. Confusion of brain.
2. Memory and mental faculties are perfect in recumbent position. But on attempting to move, vertigo.
3. Anxiety and palpitations.
4. Patient is irritable and cross.

Characteristic Physical Guiding Symptoms

Pains: Pains are sticking, darting, pressing, shooting in a downward direction, attended or succeeded by numbness of the affected parts.

Vertigo: Vertigo when stooping or looking down; worse slightest effort or exertion.

Eyes: Stitching pains in the right eye and orbit, stiffness in muscles, worse when turning the eyes; begins at sunrise, at noon; leaves at sunset.

Heart disease: It develops from rheumatism or rheumatism alternates with heart disease or vice versa.

Pulse: Pulse is slow, scarcely perceptible that is, 30 to 40 beats per minute with a pale face and cold extremities.

Rheumatism: Pains are intense, change place suddenly, going from joint to joint. Joint is hot, red, swollen; worse from least movement.

Important Characteristic Features

Heart affections: A very useful remedy for cardiac trouble of rheumatic origin. Indicated in hypertrophy of heart and valves. Useful in rheumatic patients when syphilis is at the bottom. Syphilitic rheumatism with thickening of valves. Shooting pains through the heart, pains in the chest, intermittent pulse, pulse skipping a beat now and then; either the arterial or the venous system is affected or valves of the heart or both may be affected.

Palpitation worse by lying on left side, when bending forward and better by sitting erect and lying on the back. Cardiac dyspnoea worse from any kind of exercise. Pains wander from place to place, from above downwards, from shoulder down towards the fingers, from hips towards the feet or down the spine. Also suitable for old cases of gonorrhoeal rheumatism.

General Modalities

Aggravation: From motion, open air, lying on the left side, bending forward, looking down, from heat of the Sun, from becoming cold, from sunset to sunrise, from stooping, during leucorrhoea, from leaning forward.

Amelioration: From eating, cloudy weather, continued motion, recumbent
posture.

Remedy Relationships

Antidoted by: Acon, Bell.

Antidotal to: Tab.

Follows well: Nux-v.

Complementary: Benz-ac.

Comparison

Rheumatism descends from above downwards: Kalm, Cact.

Severe stitching pain in right eye and orbit: Kalm (left eye: Spig).

Rheumatism ascends from below up: Led.

Vertigo from looking downwards: Kalm, Spong.

Vertigo from looking up: Phos, Sil.

Dosage: Tincture to sixth potency.

Repetition: Bears repetition well.

Therapeutic Value: Angina pectoris, Blindness, Bright’s disease, Dropsy, Dysmenorrhoea, Gastralgia, Globus hystericus, Gout, Headache, Heart disease, Lumbago, Neuralgia, Pregnancy, Ptosis, Retinitis, Rheumatic fever; Rheumatism, Sun headaches, Syphilitic sore throat, Tinnitus, Vertigo, Vomiting.