Chelidonium – Greater Celandine

The mother tincture is prepared from the fresh rootstock, including roots, of Cheli- donium majus L. N.O. Papaveraceae.

The plant Chelidonium majus, the greater celandine, a member of the papaver- aceae family, grows in Europe, Southern Asia and Africa as a weed in hedgerows, at the edges of fields and on rubbish tips. If one breaks off the light yellow petals, the leaves, the stems or the cylindrical, multi-headed root with numerous long threads attached, a yellowish milky sap runs out, which accounts for the popular belief that the celandine has a healing action in liver and biliary conditions. The yellowish milky sap looks similar to bile, which results in certain relationships between Cheli- donium and diseases of the biliary system in the context of the doctrine of signa- tures.

One of the main symptoms of Celandine, as established in the homoeopathic prov- ings, is in fact a liver/bile symptom, namely a violent, sharp or dull persistent pain at the lower inner angle of the right shoulder-blade. The pains extend possibly as far as the area of the right side of the rib-arch, or may extend on from there. In Chelido- nium we find particularly right-sided complaints, which seem to have some connec- tion with the liver. A rheumatic pain in the right shoulder-joint also often responds well to Chelidonium, just as in many cases a right-sided supra-orbital neuralgia de- mands Chelidonium as its remedy. Chelidonium is also helpful in right-sided pneu- monia, which may occur as a consequence of liver disturbance or be complicated by it. It will also help in rheumatic complaints which extend to the hips, thighs and feet and occur in particular on the right-hand side, the right foot often being icy-cold while the left, on the contrary, has its natural warmth.

As a further symptom of Chelidonium we must mention the bitter taste, likewise a symptom of liver-involvement, when the tongue frequently has a thick yellow coat- ing with red edges, showing the imprint of teeth, similar to Mercurius.

Icterus, associated with violent itching of the skin, and other evidence of biliary colouring (in the urine etc.), is likewise an indication for Chelidonium. Thus Cheli- donium is also indicated when the stools are clay-coloured or golden yellow, or when the urine is lemon-yellow or dark brown, because of the presence of biliary colouring. This is often accompanied by loss of appetite, linked with disgust for food, nausea and vomiting of bile. The patient vomits everything except hot drinks. Chelidonium is also a characteristic liver-gall remedy, with a typical therapeutic range, indicated as a basic medicament in cholangitis, cholecystitis and cholelithia- sis, with the higher potencies having often done better work than the more usual low

ones, especially also in painful crises and colics. If we outline the symptom-picture of Chelidonium, the following table is the result:

1. Liver and bile remedy. Cholelithiasis. Cholecystitis. Cholangitis. Mucous icterus and icterus in biliary obstruction.
2. Pains below the angle of the right shoulder-blade and below the right side of the rib arch, possibly moving about and extending. Biliary colic. Pains are ameliorat- ed by hot drinks.
3. Bitter taste. Vomiting of bitter quantities of bile. All food is vomited; hot drinks are kept down.
4. Rheumatic complaints in the right shoulder-blade and neuralgic pains above the right eye and in the right temple.
5. Migraine on the right side occuring after dietary indiscretion, vexation, etc.
6. Right-sided pneumonia and other right-sided complaints, e.g. of a rheumatic kind in the hip and right leg.
7. The right foot is cold, the left is warm with normal circulation.

In liver and biliary illnesses of the kind described, which pathologically may be at- tributed in almost every case to ingestion of sutoxin and which are maintained by continuing consumption of sutoxin, Chelidonium is one of the most important reme- dies, bearing in mind the pattern of food-consumption in the widest sections of today’s population. Certainly Chelidonium can do good work in the low potencies,

e.g. 2X to 4X, but especially in the chronic cases which we encounter in large num- bers, and also in colics, a better action is obtained from the use of higher potencies. Good complementary and following remedies for Chelidonium are Lycopodium and Belladonna. Both remedies are mainly right-sided, Lycopodium improving the liver- function and Belladonna combatting spastic and inflammatory symptoms. Thus it is recommended in many cases to use these two remedies in alternation with Chelido- nium, possibly also in combination, thus reinforcing the effect.

The German Monograph-Preparation Commission for the Homoeopathic Field of Therapy has, under the Preparation Monograph for Chelidonium majus, published the following indication(s) in the German Bundesanzeiger (German Federal Gazette) for chelidonium: inflammations, lithiasis, and chronic affections of the hepatobiliary system; inflammation of the respiratory organs; pleurisy; rheumatism.