Gelsemium Sempervirens

by C.M. Boger — A Synoptic Key of the Materia Medica

REGION

CIRCULATION.
BRAIN CORD: OCCIPUT. Base. Neck.
MOTOR NERVES: MUSCLES. Knees. EYES (LIDS. VISION.)
MUCOUS MEMBRANES: Nose. Gall-ducts.
Right side.

WORSE

EMOTIONS; DREAD.
Surprise.
Shock.
Ordeals.
Motion.
Weather: SPRING. Foggy. HUMID. Muggy.
Heat of summer.
Periodically.
Dentition.
Tobacco.
Gas.

BETTER

Profuse urination.
Sweating.
Shaking.
Alcoholic drinks.
Mental effort.

ACHING, TIRED, HEAVY, WEAK AND SORE; < limbs. Grippe. Overpowering aching. Heavy single parts, heart, liver, etc. Lies quietly, half reclining. Nerve exhaustion. Dull, drowsy and dizzy. TREMOR; or twitches of single muscles, face, chin, tongue, etc.; wants to be held. Chorea, of pregnancy. Paretic effects; eyes, throat, anus, bladder, etc. Inco-ordination. Fulness. Passive congestion. Symptoms accompanied by vertigo, eye or visual effects, drowsiness or polyuria. .................... CONFUSED, dazed, apathetic, torpid, dull, drowsy and dizzy, or indifferent; answers slowly. DREAD of falling; of ordeals, death, pains, etc. VERTIGO; drunken; in occiput. Headache; dull, HEAVY, band-like, occipital, to over eyes; < tight hat; swelled feeling; basilar. Meningitis. Apoplexy. Suffused, sore, aching eyes. HEAVY, DROOPING EYELIDS. VISION; double; swimming; blind spells; affected, then migraine. Face full, dusky - red; heavy, expressionless; besotted. Ciliary neuralgia; pains into ears on swallowing. Pains to occiput. Nose stuffed. Sneezing; thin, acrid coryza. Sensation as of hot water flowing from the nostrils. Heavy tongue; thick speech. THIRSTLESS. Griping in gall-bladder. Copious, yellow stools. Painless, nervous diarrhœa. Rectal pains after labor. Clear, watery urine, > headache. Alternate pelvic and head symptoms. Atonic seminal losses. Heavy, sore uterus; it feels grasped. Dysmenorrhœa. Labor pains go up, backward or down thighs. Rigid os. Deep yellow leucorrhœa. Hoarse, during menses. Tiresome breathing. Chest; as of a lump behind sternum; congestion. Heart sore; threatens to stop, must move. Spine, dull pains up and down, > walking; with occipital pain. Pains under scapulæ. Hard ache in r. humerus. Wants hands in cool water. Heavy lower limbs. Weak knees, < descending. Tottering gait; can't direct his legs. Moist, yellow skin. DROWSINESS; starts on dropping to sleep. Heavy, stupid sleep. Full, round, soft pulse. Blood rushes from occiput to forehead. Visual disturbances, then chill. Chilly and achy; with languor (Sil.); mingled or alternating with heat; up and down back. Cold hands and feet. Heat with sopor. ABSENCE OF THIRST, or trembling. Cold sweat on genitals. Fevers; bilious-remittent; malarial; cerebro-spinal. Measles. Ebullitions and heats. Sluggish fever. Shuddering chill.

Complementary: Arg-n. Sep.

Related: Con. Ign. Mur-ac. Nat-m. Sep. Ver-v.

Gelsemium Sempervirens across the other classic books

Gelsemium Sempervirens appears in 11 of the 13 classic books on Similia. Each was written to do a different job — here is what each adds on this remedy, with the opening of its entry.

Allen HC — The keynotes that separate this remedy from its nearest neighbours.
“Yellow Jasmine. (Loganiaceae) For children, young people, especially women of a nervous, hysterical temperament (Croc., Ign.). Complete relaxation and prostration of whole muscular system with entire motor paralysis. Excitable, irritable, sensitive; for the nervous affections of onanists of both sexes (Kali p.). Bad…”
Allen TF — The raw proving record — symptoms as the provers reported them, unedited.
“[Not Gelseminum.] Gelsemium sempervirens, Ait. (Gelsemium lucidem, Poir.; G. nitidum, Michx.; Bignonia sempervirens, Linn; Lisianthus sempervirens. Mill.). Natural order , Loganiaceæ. Common name , Yellow Jessamine. Preparation , Tincture of the bark of the root. Authorities.”
Boericke — The quick clinical read — keynotes, modalities and the conditions it is actually prescribed in.
“Yellow Jasmine (GELSEMIUM) Centers its action upon the nervous system, causing various degrees of motor paralysis . General prostration. Dizziness , drowsiness, dullness, and trembling . Slow pulse, tired feeling, mental apathy. Paralysis of various groups of muscles about the eyes, throat, chest, larynx, sphincter…”
Boger (GA) — Which general headings this remedy belongs under — the analytical scaffolding.
“ACHING BALL. BLACK, dark, etc. BLOOD VESSELS. CHANGE OF TEMPERATURE, weather, seasons, oncoming storms, etc. Agg. CHILLY, cold COMPANY, crowds, etc. Agg., Craves solitude, etc. CONGESTION COORDINATION, disturbed DIRECTION of sensations, Ascending. DIRECTION of sensations, Backward DIRECTION of sensations, Forward…”
Clarke — The widest entry — sources, provings, clinical uses, relationships and antidotes in one place.
“sempervirens. G. Lucidum. G. Nitidum. Bignonia sempervirens. Yellow jessamine. N. O. Loganiaceæ. Tincture of the bark of the root. Amaurosis / Anterior crural neuralgia / Aphonia / Astigmatism / Bilious fever / Brain, affections of / Cerebro-spinal meningitis / Choroiditis / Colds / Constipation / Convulsions /…”
Hering — Graded symptoms, each weighted by how often provers and practice confirmed it.
“Yellow Jasmine. Loganiaceæ. A climbing plant native to the Southern States ; flowers in early Spring. Tincture prepared from the root. Introduced by John H. Henry, in 1852, proved by Douglas, Payne, Hering, Kemper, Morgan, Hare and others. See Allen's Encyclopædia, vol. 4, p. 385 . CLINICAL AUTHORITIES. Acute mania …”
Kent — The mental and general picture — who the patient is, before what the remedy cures.
“Weather: If you will observe the weather conditions in sharp climates, such as Minnesota, Massachusetts and Canada, you will find that the cold spells are very intense and that people when exposed, come down with complaints very rapidly and violently. That is the way the Bell . and Acon . cases come on, but Gelsemium…”
Lippe (MM) — The strict Hahnemannian reading — the symptom picture without clinical interpretation.
“Great irritability, does not wish to be spoken to. Vivacity, carelessness, followed by depression of spirits. Unconnected ideas; cannot follow an idea for any length of time; if he attempts to think consecutively he is attacked by a painful vacant feeling of the mind. Stupor, cannot open the eyes. Sensation of…”
Lippe (Red) — Keynotes with the most-trusted ones marked as red-line symptoms.
“Common name: yellow jasmine. Adapted for children and young people, especially women of a nervous, hysterical temperament (Croc., Ign., Lyc., Nat-M.) (A.). CONFUSION OF THE MIND (Calc., Cann-I., Carb-V., Glon., Lach., Merc., Nat-M., Nux-M., Op., Petr., Rhus-T., Sep., Strych.) (Bt.). Mental faculties dull, cannot…”
Nash — The comparisons — the remedy set beside the ones it is most often confused with.
“Complete relaxation and prostration of the whole muscular system, with almost or entire motor paralysis. Eyelids droop; muscles refuse to obey the will. Trembling of hands or lower extremities if he attempts to move; must lie still. Mental faculties dull, cannot think; drowsy, with dull red face. Susceptibility to…”

Gelsemium Sempervirens in Kent's Repertory

Kent's Repertory lists Gelsemium Sempervirens in 1,833 rubrics. These are the ones where it carries the highest grade — the symptoms Kent treated as most characteristic. Most of them sit in HEAD (259), EXTREMITIES (257), GENERALITIES (147), MIND (142), EYE (75).

CHEST - CEASE, - fears unless constantly on the move the heart will cease
EXPECTORATION - HAWKED up,mucus - bloody - water
FEMALE GENITALIA - ABORTION - excitement
RECTUM - DIARRHOEA - battle,on going into
RECTUM - DIARRHOEA - exciting news,from
BACK - PAIN - ascends - labor - during
EXTREMITIES - HEAVINESS, - Leg - exertion agg.
FEMALE GENITALIA - PAIN - labor-like - extending to - back and hips
HEAD - HEAVINESS - urine,profuse discharge,amel.
PERSPIRATION - COLD - afternoon
EXTREMITIES - WEAKNESS - Lower Limbs - exertion,after
FEVER - CHILL absent,fever without chill - forenoon - 10 a.m.
HEAD - CONGESTION,hyperaemia etc., - convulsions, - during
MIND - FEAR - crowd,in a - public places,of
MIND - TIMIDITY - appearing in public
BACK - CONGESTION - Cervical region
BACK - PAIN - Cervical region - extending - head - to - all over
BLADDER - URINATION - frequent - headache,with
CHILL - EXCITEMENT,after
EXTREMITIES - HEAVINESS, - Lower Limbs - exertion,after

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