Belladonna. [Bell]
Belladonna is the first remedy that comes to mind in headache; its symptoms are clear and sharply defined. Throbbing is the great keynote, but violent shooting pains in the head, driving the patient almost wild, are scarcely less characteristic. The patient cannot lie down, must sit up, nor can he bear light, a draft of air, noise or jarring; this last is most characteristic. The location of the ache is mostly in the frontal region or right side, flushed face, dilated pupils accompany. Glonoine is the only remedy having throbbing as characteristic as Belladonna. Glonoine, however, does not have such a lasting effect as Belladonna; it is more relieved by motion, the face is not so deeply flushed, and there is aggravation from bending the head backwards, and it has the explosive bursting characteristic of nitro-glycerine; all of which will serve to distinguish the two remedies; it has the feeling of a tight band across the forehead. Its curative action is rapid. Cinchona also has throbbing, but here it is due to anaemia. Belladonna has also a symptom common to Nux vomica and Bryonia, namely, a feeling as if the head would burst. The headaches of Belladonna are usually worse in the afternoon, the whites of eyes are red, and the cornea is glassy, and moving eyes aggravates. The face is puffed and red.