Veratrinum
Plant · Melanthiaceae
A remedy for those suffering from violent nervous symptoms with characteristic electric-shock-like pains and prominent muscle tremors. Veratrinum suits cases with severe gastro-intestinal disturbance accompanied by systemic collapse and paralysis.
Key symptoms
- Violent sneezing and great gastro-intestinal irritation
- Electric pains and sensations like electric streams in nerves
- Prickling, tingling, burning sensations in skin
- Muscular tremors and twitching in limbs
- Rapid, small, irregular pulse with collapse
- Vomiting and profuse purging
- Spasmodic closure of lower jaw with loud snap
- Paralysis and numbness of limbs
Worse (aggravation)
- Eating, laughing heartily, or talking animatedly
- Inhalation through the nose causes violent sneezing
Veratria. (An alkaloid obtained chiefly from seeds of Sabadilla and roots of Veratrum.) C32H52N2O8. Trituration.
Clinical
Colic. Diarrhœa. Dysentery. Dysuria. Intestines, catarrh of; neuralgia of. Jaw, snapping of. Neuralgia. Œsophagus, stricture of. Paralysis. Spine, neuralgia of. Tetanus.
Characteristics
"Large doses of Veratrinum cause violent sneezing and great gastro-intestinal irritation, vomiting, purging, and symptoms of collapse, the pulse being rapid, small, and irregular; and often involuntary muscular tremors come on. A peculiar creeping and prickling sensation in the skin generally accompanies these symptoms. Externally applied to the unbroken skin it has no marked action, but if rubbed on with some fat, it passes through the epidermis and acts on the true skin, causing first irritation and then paralysis of the ends of the sensory nerves, and producing a prickly and creepy sensation, succeeded by numbness. This effect is produced whether applied locally or taken internally. Its irritating action …
Classical texts are in the public domain. Educational reference only — not medical advice.
