Prunus Virginiana

Cerasus virginiana. Choke-cherry. N. O. Rosaceæ. Cold infusion or tincture of inner bark. Solution of concentrated resinous extract, Prunin.

Clinical

Acidity / Anorexia / Dyspepsia / Heart, weakness of; hypertrophy of; irritable / Pyrosis

Characteristics

Hale says the cold infusion of Prun. virg. has been used from time immemorial for irregular, intermittent action of the heart with deficient impulse. Hale adds cough, sympathetic with heart troubles; dyspepsia with tendency to acidity; slow digestion; loss of appetite and pyrosis. Excessive doses have caused "dull, heavy feeling in head" like that of the other Pruneæ. Seymour Tayler (H. W., xxx. 80) says it is especially useful in dilatation of right heart, whether as a result of chronic bronchitis or of mitral stenosis. Laidlaw (N. Y. Med. Times, xxiv. 290) gives as a particular indication: Persistent coughs acquired in winter, < at night on lying down. Also: Spasmodic and asthmatic coughs, attacks of wheezing and whistling in trachea and large bronchi; and cough left behind after an attack of influenza. Laidlaw's first case was this: A delicate girl, 20, took cold, which began with coryza and in a few days passed into a cough with scanty expectoration and soreness under sternum. Cough was persistent and annoying at all times, but < at night. After many other remedies had failed Prunin (the preparation Laidlaw uses), one grain every two hours, relieved in two days and cured in a week. A recurrence some months later was rapidly cured by the same remedy. Burnett used it for weak digestion especially of elderly people. He regarded it as a mild form of Hcy. ac. The Ø tincture, in 5- or 10-drop doses, has been most commonly used.