Gelsemium – Yellow Jasmine

The mother tincture is prepared from the fresh rootstock of the plant, Gelsemium sempervirens [L.] Jaume St.-Hil., which grows on river banks in the West of North and Central America. N.O. Loganiaceae.

The tincture obtained from wild jasmine (Gelsemium sempervirens) is also used in general medicine as a nerve remedy. In addition the symptoms obtained from the homoeopathic proving on healthy people give us a typical remedy picture, with ref- erence to numerous diseases, particularly diseases of the nervous system, or in which it is involved, so that Gelsemium occupies a position of the first rank in ho- moeopathic prescribing.

Nash picks out as the most prominent symptom the complete relaxation and ex- haustion of the entire muscular system, with partial or complete paralysis of the motor nerves, as though the muscles would no longer obey the will. The first symp- tom to occur in this is a feeling of relaxation and general fatigue, with the desire to lie down. The pulse is quickened by the slightest movement. The legs tremble when walking. The hands and tongue also tremble with weakness, so that Gelsemium has also been called the “trembling remedy”. The weakness is further characterised by ptosis of the eyelids, disturbances in speech and difficulty in swallowing, as may occur in bulbar palsy. Violent congestions of the head frequently occur, associated with headaches and neuralgias, possibly of the migraine variety, in which the pains may be dull or sudden or shooting, possibly linked with convulsions. The face may be dark red. In many cases the pains rise from the nape of the neck up over the head, with the sensation of a band around the head.

Gelsemium patients are generally sluggish, sleepy and avoid movement. There is also an inability to concentrate. The patients can neither think clearly nor focus their attention on a particular point. The sleep is restless and full of dreams, as if in a stu- por. However, there may also be sleeplessness on account of the lively flow of thoughts, with a compensating sleepiness by day and long, deep sleep in the morn- ing. (cf. Nux Vomica).

Nervous, feverish illnesses are brought about by sudden excitement, bad news, fright and forebodings, and in such cases sudden diarrhoea may occur as a natural regressive vicariation. Stage-fright is also an indication for Gelsemium. Vertigo is in- fluenced by Gelsemium if it is accompanied by dimness of sight, double vision and a sensation of intoxication. Headaches are often relieved by copious urination. Nau- sea may also be linked with the headache.

Gelsemium is often indicated as a fever remedy, a certain exhaustion being pres- ent, with drowsiness and congestion of the brain as in typhoid fevers, but without the intensity of Belladonna. A shivering sensation, with the shivers running up and down the spine, is also an indication for Gelsemium, (otherwise principally for Natrum Muriaticum).

Gelsemium is quite particularly indicated in states of paralysis, e.g. after apoplexy or also in weakness of the bladder and urinary incontinence; also in post-diphtherit- ic paralysis. The stools are copious and yellow, often associated with cramp in the anal sphincter and with haemorrhoidal pains. Gelsemium is also indicated in dys- menorrhoea and in violent migraines which set in one day before the menses begin, accompanied by vomiting.

Dahlke recommends Gelsemium in any kind of paralysis, also in influenzal ca- tarrhs and when complaints are aggravated in warm, humid weather and in the heat of summer. Gelsemium is also recommended in typhoid or bilious fevers preceded by disturbances of vision, in migraines preceded by blindness, in convulsions of children and during the puerperium and when there is a hysterical tendency to swings of mood, in functional heart problems (fear, as if something were about to happen), in diarrhoea (resulting from stage-fright, exam-failure etc.), in nervous sleeplessness and in glaucoma.

Gelsemium is indicated in colds when there is thin, fluent nasal discharge and bloody mucus is blown out.

The following is a summary of the symptoms occuring frequently in practice, which Gelsemium has proved effective in helping:

1. Swimming in the head and vertigo with a drunken feeling.
2. Typhoid fever with shivering, relaxation and exhaustion.
3. Migraines and headaches, as if there were a band around the forehead, relieved by copious urination. Inability to concentrate. Numbed state.
4. Nervous paralysis after diphtheria, apoplexy, etc. Speech impaired, with trem- bling, heavy tongue. Swallowing difficult, may be tried in bulbar palsy.
5. Trembling and states of anxiety in the heart, as if it would stop beating.
6. Incontinence of urine. Dysmenorrhoea. Diarrhoea after excitement. Stage-fright.
7. Colds with bloodstained mucus blown from the nose.

The German Monograph-Preparation Commission for the Homoeopathic Field of Therapy has, under the Preparation Monograph for Gelsemium sempervirens, pub- lished the following indication(s) in the German Bundesanzeiger (German Federal Gazette) for gelsemium: headaches; nervous disorders; infectious diseases; paraly- sis; spasmodic conditions.