Cicuta Virosa – Water Hemlock

The mother tincture is prepared from the fresh rootstock with attached roots of Ci- cuta virosa L., gathered as it is coming into flower. The plant is a native of Europe, growing by ponds, streams and rivers. N.O. Umbelliferae.

The main indications are:

Sycosis barbae with purulent, crusty discharge. Craving for charcoal and other in- digestible things. Convulsions with worm-infestation. Epileptiform attacks. Menin- gitis with hypersensitivity and attacks. Complementary remedy in tuberculous meningitis. Eczema of the scalp.

Cicuta Virosa is suggested by a creeping sensation in the limbs, by burning, press- ing and tearing sensations in various parts of the body, and sensations of pushing, jerking and twitching through the whole body, with stiffness and coldness and a numbness of arms and hands with distended veins. The remedy may also be sug- gested by problems of deglutition and violent thirst with lack of appetite, and abnor- mal food-cravings such as “hunger for coal”. Cicuta is indicated in a wide variety of psychoses and conditions of the brain and spinal cord, with cramps, including teething cramps of small children and infants, possibly caused by worms; there may also be stomach cramps with haematemesis, paralysis of the bladder and skin dis- eases with simultaneous disturbances of the peripheral nervous system. (Try it in sy- ringomyelia.)

The German Monograph-Preparation Commission for the Homoeopathic Field of Therapy has, under the Preparation Monograph for Cicuta virosa, published the following indication(s) in the German Bundesanzeiger (German Federal Gazette) for cicuta virosa: pustular dermatitis of the skin and mucosae; spasmodic conditions; cerebral seizure disorders.