Dulcemara Anhängsel

Solanine = a steroid alkaloid/close to the steroid alkaloids of Verat. and Sabad. (more toxic than solanine).

The similarity between Dulc. and Sabad. will be seen acting on the mucosa.

Saponines: many are steroid glycosides, so that solanine differs from this group of Solanaceae solely by having the alkaloid component in addition. It is a likely assumption that through an antagonism to cholesterol solanine, like the actual saponines, unfolds an irritant or toxic action on the cell surfaces. Cholesterol has an important function in the cell membranes. When a foreign steroid alkaloid takes its place this protection may be lost to the cell. The entering of allergens or even microorganisms is facilitated. This would explain the allergy-like syndromes we meet with Dulc. and Sabad. Extensive painful and itching edemata have been observed also from the handling of tomato leaves (containing the glyco-alkaloid tomatine) and Sol-n. Besides solanine (or rather the very similar solaceine) Dulc. contains a mixture of saponines, called dulcamarine.

The centuries-old history of the medicinal use of Dulc. In old herbals Dulc. was recommended as a remedy suitable only for persons of a cold and humid nature, and particular effectiveness of Dulc. in patients who were exposed to cold and wet.

In Hahnemann's proving of Dulc., the action of solanine on the central nervous system appears insignificant compared with that on the skin and mucosa and on peripheral muscle and nerve. The main actions may be summarized as of the allergy type; but that is not to say that Dulc. itself contains an allergen, like for instance Rhus-t. the actions of which resemble those of Dulc. in many respects.

Dulc.'s affinity to the skin had a new light thrown upon it by the provings: 1. burning and itching < at night. 2. eruptions a urticaria-like, 'like flea bites or nettle rash", or in the form of red pimples and vesicles which later on may become purulent. In some cases sudden swellings "similar to acute articular rheumatism" have been observed (by Rockwith) in the region of the wrist, with pain along the ulnar nerve. Moreover, severe inflammatory edemata have been seen in cattle who had eaten Dulc.

The skin symptoms of an allergic type must be seen in connection with the catarrhal and rheumatic symptoms. Indeed, the alternation of syndromes, now from mucous membranes, be it of the respiratory or the gastro-intestinal tracts, now from the skin or as "rheumatic" from the neuro-muscular system, has become one of the main indications for Dulc. The basic observation was: aggravation of skin eruptions or their reappearance when Dulc. had been given for rheumatism or diarrhea. This alternation of syndromes is not of the type to qualify Dulc. for inclusion among the constitutional remedies in the narrower sense of the word, the so-called anti-psoric remedies. The symptomatology of Dulc. points rather to acute reactions to environmental agents and influences.

Mucous membranes all secretions increased acutely. The catarrhs of the ocular conjunctiva, of the nose, and upper respiratory passages are similar to those of Sabad., and as with the latter have led to the use in hay fever. In the lower respiratory passages fewer signs of increased secretion are found in the provings than one might have expected from what animal experiments with solanine have shown. Pain in the chest and oppression were more conspicuous in the proving of Dulc. This may be due to action on centers controlling respiration which is more evident from the reports of Dulc. and solanine poisoning. Allergic asthma is frequently taken as an indication for Dulc., but apart asthma # skin eruptions and rheumatic complaints there are no other more definite characteristics. The long-established and proved modality that cold and wet < and causal is accepted. But for asthma this modality applies just as well to Nat-s. which in my experience at least has shown itself superior to Dulc. With Nat-s. this 2nd modality is somewhat better substantiated, for there a regular < asthma in the early hours of the morning and a recurrence of the skin eruptions every spring. But then the aggravation from cold and wet in the case of Dulc. should not be presented simply as proneness to colds, as may equally apply to dozens of other drugs. What is meant rather is that the catarrhal and rheumatic syndromes are of the type which is produced particularly by cold and wet, through sudden cooling after being heated, and suppression of sweat. Dulc. acts "as if" there had been a "cold".

Earaches and noises in the ears appear so frequently in the provings that one would assume that Dulc. should be useful for catarrhs ascending along the Eustachian tubes to the middle ear. But there seem to be no records of clinical experience in this condition.

Symptoms of irritation from the gastro-intestinal mucosa do not come out very clearly in the provings, merely as pain and rumbling in the stomach. It was known from Dulc. poisonings already before Hahnemann that vomiting and diarrhea may occur. Carrere had described the diarrhea as slimy and yellow or greenish and this statement has been borne out. From clinical observation comes the indication of Dulc. for autumnal diarrhea, partially also due to sudden changes of weather such as from hot days to cold nights, or moving from the heat of the sun into chilly rooms; a variation of the "catching cold" motif. A better indication: diarrheas vikarieren for other syndromes (# asthma or moist eczema).

Signs of irritation of the urinary passages and the female genital passages with Dulc. poisoning have been reported by Carrere: cystitis, stranguria, pain on micturition, frequency of micturition, slimy cloudy urine; again as the result of cold and wet; symptoms of irritation with eruptions on the external female passages with increased libido, and menstrual disorders of various, in themselves non-characteristic, types. If in addition there is premenstrual urticaria and if secretions or eruptions seem to be suppressed through a chill, the case for Dulc. would be stronger. Hemorrhagic nephritis has been seen as a rare occurrence in Dulc. poisoning, but this has apparently not been taken up as an indication for the use of Dulc. so far. A tendency to hemorrhage may well be due to the action of the saponines. Epistaxis has been reported several times in the provings. Vicarious nose bleeds, in the place of missing menses or after the suppression of other discharges, would be in line with the action of Dulc.; Rheumatic-neuralgic pains, stiffness and lameness are frequent, particularly in the back of the neck and shoulder region. Neuralgias have been described particularly in the face, arms and calves, combined with a feeling of icy coldness, lameness, tension, twitching and trembling. The important factor with these syndromes is > movement; it indicates stagnation in the tissues, an altered turgidity. This modality often brings Dulc. into the final choice with Rhus-t. with a similar affinity to muscles, mucosa and the skin on an allergic basis. Dulc. is often used as a matter of routine when Rhus-t. has failed. The clinical indications for Dulc., "rheumatism # diarrhea" or "rheumatic symptoms following acute skin eruption“.

The character of Dulc. comes out most clearly in the alternation of syndromes of the skin, mucosa, and locomotor system, and in the modalities: causal and aggravating: cold and wet/sudden change from hot to cold; > movement the rheumatic symptoms; the skin symptoms < at night.

Dulc., bitter-sweet, woody nightshade, felonwort

From among the shade-giving herbs by the forest brooks, from the shrubs on the river bank, rises the slim semi-shrub of the bitter-sweet, rapidly striving upwards from a creeping ground axis. It lets itself be borne upwards by stronger shrubs, its own powers of getting upright being rather poor. What it lacks in the vertical it makes up for with increased branching power. With the main axis failing to impose the law of above and below, there results a chaotic confusion of branches growing on and on, developing independently of each other. Each side shoot goes on gaily, as though it were a wholly independent plant. Thus borne up into the light, not rising by its own power, the plant develops a rich foliage, though this, too, very much lacks the proper order which would make it a harmonious whole. The bitter-sweet does not make an ornamental plant, for it holds too much confusion. The same principle which lets the slim branches shoot into length, but not grow upright, also shapes the leaves. Lower down on the shoot, these are still slightly rounded, but higher up they form a narrow triangle on a heart-shaped base, finally sharpening into arrow points as they approach the inflorescence. The leaf form is not rigidly laid down, there is an inward curve here, a rounding-out there, 2 - 3 little ears emerging, or even division into a twin pair of leaves. The foliage is fresh and green, though there is a note of darkness in it; in the autumn it turns a blackish violet. This same color is shown all the time by the young leaf stems, the veins, calyces and flower stems, and indeed flows from the very ground, up into the shoots and branches.

The furled cluster of beautiful flowers develops clearly and distinctly separate from the leaf region (reminding of the spiral of flowers in the henbane, but free from leaves; flowering time is in midsummer). True to the character which has already emerged, the cluster of flowers turns downward and becomes pendant. The flower resembles that of the tomato in form; it is a small work of art in color and shape, and indeed seems wholly made of color. The anthers, an active, bright yellow, thrust forward, while the violet petals are reflexed; between those two colors, green holds the balance, with five small-scale leaves surrounding the corolla. The backward flexion of the petals reminds somewhat of the flower of the cyclamen, and the scent, too, is similar. The interplay between light and dark in the Solanaceae is given a charming variation here, and although it occurs throughout the plant, this interplay is particularly obvious in the flower. In keeping with the elongated twigs, and the narrow shape of the leaf, the scarlet, pendant berry is oval in shape, looking like a tiny tomato that has been greatly elongated. Its taste is watery and sweet, then burning, and it contains many small seeds.

This plant surely cannot be very poisonous, even if it is a nightshade. With its cheerful green, the beautiful harmony of colors in the flower between restless violet and bright yellow, and the strong scarlet of the berry, it appears friendly, and indeed pleasing. Shy and yet importunate, it presents itself ( but still, there is the blackish-violet hue giving a touch of darkness to the plant, though not as threateningly as in the deadly nightshade, the henbane, the thorn-apple, etc. The flowers are open, they do not hide their inner parts the way those relatives we have just mentioned do, they are not deeply invaginated. As in all other species of the genus Solanum (and this is one of the largest in the plant kingdom), the "spastic principle" is relaxed, almost completely cancelled out. The vegetative part of the plant, the green leaf and shoot, is left more free to develop, and the flowers have their own development, clearly separate from the rest. This indicates that the astral lets the etheric have its rights, and does not press into the plant form prematurely or to any excessive degree. It fits in with this that Solanum species do not form alkaloids like hyoscyamine, nicotine, etc., but a peculiar class of substances known as "glyco-alkaloids", compounds somewhere between the glycosides and the alkaloids. The chief among these are solanin-found in the fruit-and solacein and solanein in the stem and leaf.

The high silicic acid content relates the bitter-sweet to the sphere of the senses, the ectoderm and its invaginations. Inflammations of the skin, with itching, heat, urticaria, and weeping eczema are indications on the one hand, catarrhal inflammation of the mucosa of the respiratory passages and bronchi on the other, particularly if linked with a clenching of the astral body in these organic regions. These are the spheres where a plant which combines being a silicic acid plant with the Solanaceae pattern of astralization may be effective. It may also be helpful in cases of whooping cough. On the other hand the action extends to catarrhal conditions of the mucosa of the intestines and bladder. R.S. suggested that the flowers of the, bitter-sweet might be used together with flowering money-wort (= Lysi.) wyw (Creeping Jenny) to treat eczematous conditions. A very subdued Belladonna note is added to those main actions.

Vorwort/Suchen Zeichen/Abkürzungen Impressum