Hedera Helix – Ivy

The mother tincture is prepared from the fresh wood-free twigs of the plant, Hed- era helix L., gathered before or just at the beginning of flowering period, which climbs on trees and houses in Europe. N.O. Araliaceae.

The main indications are:

Acute and chronic catarrh of nose and sinuses. Icy cold, moist hands (“frog’s hands”) and feet. It has been used in the form of linctus. It has not been shown which of the constituent substances (iodine, saponin, helicin [a glycoside], carubin, resin, formic acid and oxalic acid) is responsible for the action.

According to the author’s experience, Hedera Helix is suitable in the treatment of various dyscrasias, whether rickets (which is hardly seen nowadays) or chronic si- nusitis or a deposition phase at a site of least resistance, e.g. as a hydrocephalus or a cataract.

Hedera Helix, possibly combined with other constitutional remedies, is able to take such fixed deposition phases back by a process of regressive vicariation to the acute stage. It should be possible to work out characteristic symptoms by viewing Hedera Helix from this angle.

The German Monograph-Preparation Commission for the Homoeopathic Field of Therapy has, under the Preparation Monograph for Hedera helix, published the fol- lowing indication(s) in the German Bundesanzeiger (German Federal Gazette) for hedera helix: acute inflammations of the respiratory passages and of the digestive organs; hyperthyroidism; rheumatic diseases.