Gymnema Sylvestre

by John Henry Clarke — A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica

N. O. Asclepiadaceæ. Tincture of leaves.

Clinical

Snake-bite / Taste, altered

Characteristics

This plant, which grows in the Deccan peninsula, Assam, and some parts of Africa, is a woody climber with long, slender branches. The powdered root has a reputation among the natives as a remedy for snake-bite. It is mentioned here an account of a single symptom observed from chewing one or two leaves, which had a bitterish, astringent, and slightly acid taste. Immediately after chewing them the sense of taste for sugar was lost, and also the taste for bitters, the effect lasting some hours. Everything else could be tasted, as the ginger in gingerbread but not the sweet. Quinine tasted like chalk.

Gymnema Sylvestre across the other classic books

Gymnema Sylvestre appears in 2 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 TF — The raw proving record — symptoms as the provers reported them, unedited.
“Gymnema sylvestre. Authority. Dr. Falconer read to the Linnæan Society a communication which he had received from Capt. Edgeworth, Pharm. Journ., vol. vii, 1847-8, p. 351. Captain Edgeworth chewed some of the leaves, and was surprised at not perceiving the acrid taste of the plants of this order; but about two hours…”

Gymnema Sylvestre in Kent's Repertory

Kent's Repertory lists Gymnema Sylvestre in 131 rubrics. These are the ones where it carries the highest grade — the symptoms Kent treated as most characteristic. Most of them sit in HEAD (31), EXTREMITIES (16), STOMACH (14), EYE (9), ABDOMEN (8).

EXTREMITIES - PAIN - Fingers - third
FACE - SWELLING - sensation of
FACE - HEAT
ABDOMEN - PAIN - Umbilicus - forenoon
EXTREMITIES - PAIN - broken,sensation as if - Forearm - radius
HEAD - PAIN, - Forehead,in - eyes, - above - extending to - head
STOMACH - PAIN - burning - circumscribed
EYE - PAIN - burning,smarting,biting - noon
HEAD - HEAVINESS - lean on something,desires to
HEAD - LEAN on something,desire to
HEAD - PAIN, - sore bruised,sensitive to pressure - Temples - left
MOUTH - DISCOLORATION - Tongue - bluish-white
MOUTH - PAIN - drawing
FACE - TINGLING - right
MOUTH - PAIN - scraping
THROAT - PAIN - drawing - Tonsils
HEAD - PAIN, - Forehead,in - eyes, - above - extending to - vertex
HEAD - PAIN, - Temples - extending - backward over ears
EXTREMITIES - PULSATION - Fingers - first
EYE - PAIN - between

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