Lobelia.

Related entry: Lobelia under emetics

Preparation.—A tincture of Lobelia seed.

Dose.— From the fraction of a drop to ten drops.

Specific Indications.—The pulse is full and oppressed, and the patient complains of a sensation of fullness and oppression in chest and praecordia.

Therapeutic Action.—As has already been remarked (see emetics), Lobelia is a stimulant to the sympathetic nervous system, and especially to the cardiac and respiratory nerves. When the blood-vessels are full, and the blood moves with difficulty—full and oppressed pulse—this remedy should be selected. The labored action of the heart, the cavities being dilated with blood, calls for Lobelia. Impaired respiration, tendency to pulmonary congestion, and inability to free the bronchial tubes from the secretions, are met by this agent.

The American Eclectic Materia Medica and Therapeutics, 1898, was written by John M. Scudder, M.D.