Viola odorata
Plant · Violaceae
Suited to dark-complexioned people of the Ferrum picricum type; also to tall, thin, nervous girls; to mild, impressive girls of fair complexion; and to tuberculous patients. Teste described the type as having a lymphatico-nervous temperament, a mild disposition, dry and cool skin. Many patients cured were tall and slender.
Key symptoms
- Tension extending from scalp and occiput to upper half of face, nose, and ears; compelling knitting of brows
- Aversion to music, especially the violin
- Ear affections (otorrhœa, deafness) with pain in and around the eyeballs
- Spasmodic dry cough worse in daytime only, with much dyspnœa
- Chronic choroiditis with fearful throbbing headache under right temple and eye
- Rheumatism of right side, especially right carpal and metacarpal joints and deltoid
- Milky urine with strong smell; enuresis in nervous children
- Burning of forehead; headache across forehead above eyebrows
- Worm affections in children
- Hysterical attacks in nervous, thin patients; weeping without knowing why
Worse (aggravation)
- Bending head backward and forward
- By day (cough)
- From music
- Cold room (hoarseness)
- Dull wet days (vision)
- Cool air
- Cloudy weather
- Puberty
- Suppressed discharges
Better (amelioration)
- Bone pains better after rising in the morning
Violet
Has a specific action on the ear. Affects especially dark-haired patients; supra-orbital and orbital regions; rheumatism in upper parts of the body when on the right side. Worm affections in children (Teuc). Locally, for pain due to uterine fibroids. Also against snake-bites, bee-stings. Tension extends to upper half of face and ears.
Head
Burning of the forehead. Vertigo; everything in head seems to whirl around. Heaviness of head, with sensation of weakness in muscles of nape of neck. Scalp tense; must knit the brows. Tendency to pain immediately above eyebrows. Throbbing under eye and temple. Headache across the forehead. Acts upon frontal sinuses. Hysterical attacks in tuberculous patients.
Eyes
Heaviness of lids. Eyeball feels compressed. Flames before eyes. Myopia. Choroiditis. Illusions of vision; fiery, serpentine circles.
Ears
Shooting in ears. Aversion to music. Roaring and tickling. Deep stitches beneath ears. Deafness; otorrhœa. Ear affections with pain in eyeballs.
Respiratory
Torpor in the end of nose, as from a blow. Dry, short, spasmodic cough and dyspnœa; worse in daytime. Oppression of chest. Pertussis, with hoarseness. Dyspnœa during pregnancy. Difficult breathing, anxiety and palpitation, with hysteria.
Extremities
Rheumatism of the deltoid muscle. Trembling of limbs. Pressing pain in right carpal and metacarpal joints. (Ulmus).
Urinary
Milky urine; smells strong. Enuresis in nervous children.
Modalities
Worse, cool air.
Relationship
Compare: Ulmus (formication in feet, numb, creeping pain in legs and feet; rheumatic pains above wrists; numbness, tingling, and full soreness where gastrocnemius gives off its tendon); Chenopodium (ears; serous or bloody effusion in the labyrinth; chronic otitis media; progressive deafness to the voice, but sensitive to sounds of passing vehicles and other sounds; buzzing; absent or deficient bone conduction; a consciousness of the ear; hearing better for shrill, high-pitched sounds than for low ones); Aur; Puls; Sep; Ign; Cina; Cauloph (in rheumatism of small joints).
Dose
First to sixth potency.
Viola odorata. Sweet-scented Violet. N. O. Violaceæ (an order most members of which contain Emetin, and under which Ipec. is sometimes placed: allied to Cinchonaceæ). Tincture of fresh plant in flower.
Clinical
Cancer. Choroiditis Cough, spasmodic; by day. Hoarseness. Hysteria. Neuralgia, supra-orbital. Otorrhœa; suppressed. Rheumatism. Seminal emissions. Styes. Whooping-cough. Wrists, rheumatism of.
Characteristics
The Violet was introduced by Gross and proved by Hahnemann, Gross, and Stapf. Gross says of his symptoms that they recurred equally in all positions, were mild, yet more definitely felt than from other drugs. Hahnemann had bruised pain in all the bones in the morning, in bed after waking, > after rising. Stapf had relaxation of all the muscles. The mind was greatly excited and disturbed, and V. od. found its first uses in hysterical cases. Aversion to music, especially the violin, is one of the peculiar symptoms. There is increased activity and rush of ideas, generally confused: "Can only grasp …
Phatak's chapter on Viola odorata is available in the app.
Read Phatak in the appClassical texts are in the public domain. Educational reference only — not medical advice.
