Veratrum album
van Henry N. Guernsey — Key-Notes to the Materia Medica
Historical reference for practitioners and students. The statements below reflect the named author’s homeopathic teaching and do not establish treatment effectiveness. This text is not medical advice and must not replace appropriate diagnosis or care.
We may think of this remedy where there is a marked debility or exhaustion from functional or physical disturbance--as e.g., in whooping cough, patient will cough until completely exhausted and then have a cold perspiration on the forehead, or there may be a great exhaustion obliging one to lie down after the passage of stool, even though it be soft, with cold sweat on the forehead.
Mental.--Affections of the mind in general; tired of life, but fear to die; amativeness; haughtiness; delirium; madness; sensitiveness; memory weak, or entirely lost.
Chest.--Respiration oppressed; voice hollow; weak.
Gastric.--Extreme hunger; longing for acids; craving for refreshing things, as juicy fruits, etc., and very cold; water tastes bitter; extreme nausea, causing one to retch and strain with great violence, sometimes with vomiting, sometimes not; vomiting of bile; of bitter substances; greenish.
Stool and Anus.--Diarrhœa watery, particularly with exhaustion after every stool, worse from motion, cold sweat on the forehead, desire for very cold drinks; stool involuntary; complaints before stool, during, and after.
Sexual.--Female: Sexual desire too strong, particularly in childbed; worse at night; nymphomania; complaints during menstruation, as e.g., vomiting and diarrhœa which may occur at those times.
Fever.--External coldness of the skin even when covered up warmly; chilliness and coldness in general; coldness of single parts. Perspiration in general; complaints concomitant with; pulse very weak or imperceptible.
Generalities.--Affections in general of the sexual organs, principally on right side; on crown of the head, especially for sensations felt there; appearing in the rear of the navel; small of the back.
Countenance is almost always changed, presenting an unnatural appearance. Dry mouth. Inguinal hernia. Flatus in general; flatulent colic. Urine very dark; blackness of outer parts; staggering when walking, from debility; drowsiness; dry exanthema.
Worse.--After drinking; before and during menstruation; before and during stool (feel very weak and turn pale during stool); often after stool; during perspiration.
Remedies following:--Acon., Bellad., Chamom., Pulsat., Rhus tox., Sepia, Sulphur.
Antidotes:--Camphor, best; Acon., China, Coffea.