Dulcamara – Bittersweet

The mother tincture is prepared from the fresh young shoots and leaves, gathered before flowering, of the plant, Solanum dulcamara L., which grows by streams and riverbanks and in damp thickets and areas liable to flooding in Europe, North Africa, Northern India and China. N.O. Solanaceae.

Dulcamara, or Bittersweet, is indicated in a typical situation which to some extent reflects the areas where the plant grows. Dulcamara, one of the Solanaceae distin- guished by its shiny blue and yellow flowers and red berries arranged like grapes, is found in flood-areas which are at times completely under water. As Dulcamara berries may be mistaken for red currants, cases of poisoning sometimes occur, par- ticularly in children. The symptoms of poisoning are diarrhoea, vomiting, colics, sweating, skin-rash, convulsions, paralysis and possible death. The complaints of Dulcamara are aggravated by cold, damp weather and when the weather changes, especially in rainy weather. Also, when cool nights follow hot days, then Dulcamara complaints usually occur, especially in the form of neuralgias and rheumatism. The same is true of complaints which occur after becoming chilled when hot and per- spiring, e.g. in footballers. Thus Dulcamara acts in a hydrogenoid constitution. All complaints tend to be ameliorated by warmth. Increased mucosal secretions are also typical of Dulcamara.

Other symptoms which point to Dulcamara as the remedy are difficulty in think- ing, linked with certain states of confusion. The patients cannot find the words they want, and can only pronounce them with difficulty. There is also often a dull headache, coupled with hardness of hearing and a sensation of coldness in the oc- ciput. The nose is usually blocked as well (sinusitis), the discharge being more copi- ous in the warmth. The saliva is tough and soap-like.

Acute gastritis and enteritis, dysentery, cystitis and acute nephritis may also be found as consequences of chill and getting thoroughly wet. These are associated with violent stomach pains, colic, mucous, sour or dysenteric watery stools, pains persisting even after the stool, associated with colic and rheumatic complaints.

Cystitis with mucous, offensive urine and continual strangury is likewise typical of Dulcamara, especially when the onset coincides with a sudden spell of cold, wet weather, or occurs after getting thoroughly wet. The same holds for coughs which occur after a thorough soaking. Dulcamara can be beneficial in acute nephritis, with violent pains in the renal area and with mucous, albuminous, offensive urine. Like- wise in influenza with coryza, cough, haemoptysis, and tonsillitis with muscular pains and fever, various pareses (e.g. Bell’s palsy) often also occurring as a conse- quence of getting wet.

Also typical of Dulcamara are urticarial symptoms as a consequence of gastric disturbances, with large, burning itching, swollen patches, often along with diar- rhoea; similarly these symptoms are typically aggravated by warmth and ameliorat- ed by cold. Dulcamara is also a remedy for cradle-cap, when the scales are dry and bran-like.

The typical aggravation of all symptoms when the weather changes, and especial- ly in cold, wet weather, is always characteristic of Dulcamara. Thus the remedy has proved its worth in chronic sore throats, when these always occur or are worse in wet weather. This is often the case with suppurating tonsils, thus Dulcamara is one of the best remedies for suppurating tonsils. Also spinal inflammation after lying on damp grass demands Dulcamara.

Dulcamara is also beneficial in asthma which comes on in wet weather, likewise in ear-aches which occur with every chill, and conjunctivitis with a thick, purulent discharge.

Dulcamara also has progressive vicariations after suppression of discharges by chilling, e.g. menstruation (with vicarious epistaxis), lochia, milk and nasal catarrhs, followed by onset of fever and headaches in vicariation; these will be cured by Dul- camara, particularly if the cause was a chill in cold, damp weather. Dulcamara is also required in influenza-like states, when the whole body feels battered and there is a dull, swimming feeling in the head, possibly associated with hardness of hear- ing; also in herpetic eruptions on the genitalia, breasts and lips, and herpes which erupts before each monthly period, possibly with formation of crusts and easy bleed- ing.

There is usually a characteristic activity of the mucosa with marked secretions, whilst the skin may be comparatively inactive. However, rheumatic conditions such as torticollis, stiffness and weakness in the back, sensation of coldness in the sacrum, rheumatic pains in the limbs and joints, associated with stiffness and deaf- ness, are particularly characteristic of Dulcamara. The cough which requires Dulca- mara is hoarse and dry, loose later with copious expectoration. The diarrhoea which is relieved by Dulcamara is accompanied by a cutting pain around the umbilicus. With catarrhs which require Dulcamara, the nose is usually blocked. In warmth, co- pious discharge begins.

Dulcamara can also be useful in warts, where these are large and fleshy.

If we sum up the main symptoms of Dulcamara once again, we have the following characteristic remedy-picture:

1. Symptoms occur or are aggravated when weather turns cold and wet. (Hy- drogenoid constitution.)
2. Rheumatism of muscles and joints, and lumbago, following chill and getting wet, with twitching of muscles, eyelids and mouth. Stiffness of the neck and violent muscular pains in the loins, possibly associated with diarrhoea and cystitis, (di- version into excretory processes). Amelioration from dry warmth and movement. Typical intercostal neuralgias and neuralgic pains in the left neck/shoulder area; also intercostal neuralgias (cf. Ranunculus, Colocynthis), with sensation of pres- sure and heaviness on the shoulders.
3. Pareses of various kinds following thorough wetting, or worse in wet, cold weath- er.
4. Acute gastritis with violent pains, vomiting, colics and mucous, sour stools. Um- bilical colics.
5. Cystitis and nephritis following chill and thorough wetting, with mucous, offen- sive urine and continuous strangury. Also paralysis of the bladder, aggravated in cold, damp weather.
6. Influenzal colds with coryza, coughing, haematemesis. Catarrhal bronchitis, laryngitis, tracheitis with hoarseness and copious expectoration. Acute and chron- ic tonsillitis. Suppurating tonsils, also of a chronic kind, linked with muscular pain, diarrhoea, colic and fever.
7. Urticaria with large, burning and itching swollen patches, often associated with diarrhoea, worse for warmth, better for cold. Cradle-cap with dry, bran-like desquamation. Large, fleshy warts. Herpetic eruptions on the genitalia, breasts, lips, especially before each menstrual period. Swelling of the breasts.
8. Nosebleeds in vicariation with the menses.
9. Thinking more difficult. Words cannot be found or can only be pronounced with difficulty. Along with this, certain states of confusion.

The German Monograph-Preparation Commission for the Homoeopathic Field of Therapy has, under the Preparation Monograph for Solanum dulcamara, published the following indication(s) in the German Bundesanzeiger (German Federal Gazette) for dulcamara: feverish infections; inflammations of the respiratory or- gans, the gastrointestinal tract, the urinary tract, the joints, and the skin, as elicited by exposure to cold and wet.