Senecio jacoboea
Jacobaea vulgaris · Plant · Asteraceae
Senecio jacobaea suits patients with cerebro-spinal irritation and nerve exhaustion manifesting as episodic depression so severe that the brain appears not to function and the patient talks incoherently. Bladder weakness with enuresis and bowel disturbance accompany the neurological symptoms. A single dose has produced dramatic and prolonged results in susceptible patients.
Key symptoms
- Depression of mind and body; brain will not work, talks incoherently
- Bowels acting in gushes
- Enuresis night and day for days after a single dose
- Exhaustion in the back of the head
- Constant rigidity of muscles chiefly of neck and shoulders, worse at night
- Memory failure; cannot talk coherently
- Depression coming in fits with complete mental and physical prostration
Worse (aggravation)
- Night (muscle rigidity)
Senecio jacobœa. St. James' Wort. Staggerwort. Ragwort. N. O. Compositæ. Tincture of fresh plant.
Clinical
Brain, affections of. Cerebro-spinal irritation. Depression. Enuresis. Headache. Twitchings.
Characteristics
Cooper has published (H. W., xxxv. 154) observations with Sen. jac., the common Ragwort, which, with its yellow flowers, is such a conspicuous feature of English roadsides and commons throughout the summer months. Cooper (1) gave a lady, 57 (who had slight otorrhœa of left ear with deafness on that side), a single dose of Sen. jac. Ø. Immediately after, she began to feel depressed in mind and body; it seemed as if her brain would not work, for she talked incoherently. The bowels began acting in gushes, and a bladder weakness was aggravated, so that there was enuresis night and day for three days. (2) Another woman from a single dose of the same had "exhaustion in the back of the head." (3) A lady, 51, had had depression all her life, coming in fits. "Memory and everything goes," cannot …
Classical texts are in the public domain. Educational reference only — not medical advice.
