Oenanthe crocata
Plant · Apiaceae
Oenanthe Crocata suits patients with a tendency to epileptiform seizures, especially those triggered or worsened by menstruation or pregnancy. The picture is one of violent convulsions with sudden loss of consciousness, livid countenance, locked jaws, and opisthotonos. It is also used in chronic skin disorders such as lepra and ichthyosis.
Key symptoms
- Epileptiform convulsions worse during menstruation and pregnancy; puerperal eclampsia
- Sudden complete unconsciousness with furious delirium and fixed, dilated pupils
- Convulsive twitching of facial muscles; trismus, foaming at mouth, and locked jaws
- Opisthotonos; cold hands and feet; numbness of hands and feet
- Burning in throat and stomach with nausea and vomiting
- Skin affections especially lepra and ichthyosis
- Tickling cough with thick frothy expectoration; heavy stertorous breathing
Worse (aggravation)
- During menstruation
- During pregnancy
Water Dropwart
Epileptiform convulsions; worse, during menstruation and pregnancy. Puerperal eclampsia; uræmic convulsions. Burning in throat and stomach, nausea and vomiting. Red spots in face. Convulsive facial twitching. Skin affections, especially lepra and ichthyosis.
Head
Pains all over head, dizzy. Sudden and complete unconsciousness. Furious delirium, giddiness. Countenance livid, eyes fixed, pupils dilated, convulsive twitching of facial muscles, trismus, foaming at mouth, locked jaws. Much yawning. Tendency to cry over little things.
Respiratory
Tickling cough, with rattling in the lower part of the chest, and thick, frothy expectoration. Heavy, spasmodic, stertorous breathing.
Extremities
Convulsions; opisthotonos. Pain along crural and sciatic nerves, commencing in back. Cold hands and feet. Numbness of hand and foot.
Relationship
Compare: Cicuta; Kali brom.
Dose
First to sixth potency.
Œnanthe crocata. Hemlock Drop-wort. (Marshy places.) N. O. Umbelliferæ. Tincture of fresh root, at time of flowering.
Clinical
Albuminuria. Apoplexy. Breast, pain in. Convulsions. Cough. Diaphragm, spasm of. Epilepsy. Hystero-epilepsy. Œsophagus, inflammation of; stricture, of. Priapism. Puerperal convulsions. Sciatica. Speech, lost. Status epilepticus. Stomatitis. Tetanus. Tongue, swollen; ulcerated.
Characteristics
Œnanthe crocata is one of the most poisonous of the Umbelliferæ, and many accidents have happened from the use of the root in mistake for parsnips, and of the leaves in salads and soups. These have furnished the symptoms of the pathogenesis. Some of them are given in C. D. P. A man, 40, when fasting, ate the root. He soon complained of great heat in throat; half an hour after became speechless, fell down unconscious, and was seized with terrible convulsions, which lasted three-quarters of an hour and ended in death. It was impossible to give medicine on account of the jaws being closed by …
Phatak's chapter on Oenanthe crocata is available in the app.
Read Phatak in the appClassical texts are in the public domain. Educational reference only — not medical advice.
