Sabadilla

- VERMEULEN Frans
Sabad.
Sabadilla
A real hypochondriac is one who wants to be buried next to a doctor. [McKenzie]
Signs
Schoenocaulon officinale. Veratrum sabadilla. Asagraea officinale. Cevadilla. N.O. Liliaceae.
CLASSIFICATION Botanists differ as to the taxonomic composition of this very diverse and large family. Different authorities have recognized between 12 and 28 tribes within the family.
HOMOEOPATHY Some systems include in the Liliaceae the following species used in homoeopathy: Agraphis, Aletris, Aloe, Colchicum, Helonias, Lilium, Ornithogalum, Paris, Phormium, Polygonatum, Smilax [Sarsaparilla], Trillium, Urginea [Squilla], and Xerophyllum. Other taxonomic systems [e.g. the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew] place the above species in nine separate families: Aloaceae [Aloe], Colchicaceae [Colchicum], Convallariaceae [Convallaria and Polygonatum], Hyacinthaceae [Ornithogalum and Squilla], Liliaceae [Lilium and Tulipa], Melanthiaceae [Aletris, Helonias, Sabadilla, Veratrum, and Xerophyllum], Phormiaceae [Phormium], Smilaceae [Sarsaparilla], and Trilliaceae [Paris and Trillium].
FEATURES Comprising some 250-280 genera and about 3,500-4,000 species [depending on the taxonomic system!], the Liliaceae are mostly perennial herbs from starchy rhizomes, corms, or bulbs. The leaves are alternate or less often opposite or whorled. The flowers are often showy; many of the genera are of stately beauty, hence their general use as ornamentals in horticultural display. The flowers are nearly always bisexual and actinomorphic. [Actinomorphy is a characteristic of relatively primitive plant families, such as Ranunculaceae and Liliaceae. It refers to radial symmetry in the flowers: any cut taken through the centre divides the structure in similar halves.] The flowers are all colour with blue being rare. The perianth usually consists of six segments in two whorls of three [three sepals, three petals; sepals and petals are either distinct or adnate to each other]. There are six distinct and free stamens. The ovary, of three fused carpels, has usually three locules [compartments]. The fruit is either dry and cracking at maturity or fleshy in certain species - it is divided into three segments.
SABADILLA Sabadilla is a tropical lily native to the Andes of Mexico, Guatemala, and Venezuela and to the Caribbean. The name is derived from the Spanish cevadilla meaning 'little barley' which the dried seeds of the plant resemble. The toxic properties of the seeds have given rise to the name 'caustic barley'. The rhizome of the plant is much reduced and terminates in a bulb, which is ovoid or oblong and covered by brown or black scarious scales, separating above into fibres. The leaves are basal, simple, linear and grasslike [with parallel venation], and attenuate into a hairlike tip. The single stem bears a spicate or racemose inflorescence of tiny yellowish erect or nodding flowers. [Derived from Gr schoinos, rush-like, and caulos, stem, the name Schoenocaulon refers to the rush-like appearance of the inflorescence. The name Asagraea commemorates the American botanist Asa Gray.]
CONSTITUENTS The seven different alkaloids present in sabadilla [seeds] are known collectively as veratrine; two of these alkaloids, cevadine [crystalline veratrine] and veratridine [amorphous veratrine] are predominant. In addition, the plant [seed] contains sabadillic, veratric and chelidonic acids, fatty oil, tannins, and resin. Sabadilla is in use as a botanical insecticide with a short residual activity and non-toxicity to natural enemies [of the offending insects]. Sabadilla is primarily a broad-spectrum contact poison, registered for use on cucumbers, melons and other vine crops; on cabbage, broccoli and related crops; on potatoes, peanuts and citrus fruits. It is best used to control harlequin bugs, squash bugs, stink bugs, blister beetles and other insects which, in their adult stage, are hard to control by other means. Sabadilla is extremely toxic to honeybees! The compound breaks down rapidly in sunlight. The seeds look shrivelled yet tenaciously retain water and are strongly hygroscopic [which is due to the alkaloid veratridine]. [Hygroscopicity is also a property of honey. Sabadilla powder kills honeybees, while Sabadilla patients love honey.]
TOXICOLOGY The major effects of sabadilla poisoning include muscle rigor in mammals and paralysis and eventual, sometimes immediate, death in insects. In addition, sabadilla strongly irritates mucous membranes in mammals and can cause violent sneezing. Powdered sabadilla seeds have been used to destroy head lice. Applied to unbroken skin it produces tingling and numbness, followed by coldness and anaesthesia. During World War I the Germans used tons of sabadilla powder to blind the English soldiers.
MEDICINE "Sabadilla, or cevadilla, is an acrid, drastic emeto-cathartic, in overdoses capable of producing fatal results. Cevine was found to be less poisonous than cevadine, though producing similar symptoms. The powdered seeds have been used as a vermifuge, and to destroy vermin in the hair, being the principal ingredient of the pulvis capucinorum used in Europe. Cevadilla was formerly used internally as an anthelmintic, and in rheumatic and neuralgic affections. The highly poisonous veratria, which is derived from it, has been given in minute doses internally in acute rheumatism and gout, and in some inflammatory diseases, but it must be used with caution. Veratria is useful as an ointment in rheumatism and neuralgia, but is regarded as being less valuable than aconite. The ointment is also employed for the destruction of pedicule. Applied to unbroken skin it produces tingling and numbness, followed by coldness and anaesthesia. Given subcutaneously, it causes violent pain and irritation, in addition to the symptoms following an internal dose. The principal reason against its internal use is its powerful action on the heart, the contractions of the organ becoming fewer and longer until the heart stops in systole."1
PROVINGS •• [1] Stapf [collection of provings] - 13 provers; method: tincture prepared from 1 part of the powdered seeds and 20 parts of alcohol, manner unknown.
[1] Grieve, A Modern Herbal.
Affinity
MUCOUS MEMBRANES [NOSE; ANUS; digestive tract]. NERVES. Lachrymal glands. Throat. * Right side. Left side. Left then right [1]; RIGHT then LEFT.
Modalities
Worse: COLD; air; drinks. PERIODICALLY [same hour; forenoon; new and full moon]. Odours. Undeveloped exanthema. Before midnight. When resting.
Better: Open air. Heat. Eating. Swallowing. Warm food and drinks. Wrapping up.
Main symptoms
M Strangely unbalanced mind; strange IMAGINATIONS; very imaginative.
• "He imagines all sorts of strange things about his own body, for instance, that it had shrunk like that of dead persons, that his stomach was corroded, that the scrotum was swollen, etc.; he knows that it is all fancy, yet seems to perceive it actually; he continues to imagine it." [proving symptom produced by Hering]
•"Feeble children, who have to be taken from school because of headache, come home with strange IMAGINATIONS concerning school and themselves." [Kent]
• "There is an intense degree of imagination about himself, about the state of his body. Parts of the body seem thin and shrunken, he looks at them and remarks about them. Imagines he is seriously sick, and the element of fatality enters in all imagined. Despair and hopelessness bring to mind such remedies as Arsenicum, Aurum, Calcarea carb. and Psorinum. In fact the leading clue to the remedy may be the reference to some part of the body being out of proportion."1
Strange thoughts.
• "In the evening, when half dreaming in bed, he has strange thoughts, as if they were separate from him, and more important than he, and as if he could not drive them away." [Allen] [my italics]
M CONFUSION as to one's [physical] identity.
ERRONEOUS impressions as to the state of the body.
Revulsion.
• "Sabadilla is a remedy capable of taking a person from self hate and revulsion of their own body to self love; from a sense of being diminished, shrunken and withered to dignity, self containment and inner beauty. ... The abdomen is the seat of feeling and action. We use expressions such as: 'I have a gut feeling.': intuition. 'She has a lot of guts.': courage. 'Give me the guts of the subject.': most important part. The Buddha is always represented with a very large abdomen. In Chi Gung and Tai Chi practise, the student is taught to store energy in the abdomen. The Middle Eastern art of belly dancing displays the sensuality and sexuality of the abdomen. A baby grows in a women's belly, the culmination of her love and sexuality. In Sabadilla, all of these functions related to the abdomen, intuition, courage, strength to achieve important goals, sensuality and sexuality, are disturbed. More specifically there is a feeling of perversion about the sexual organs, of not being attractive, a mentalisation and an inability to achieve. ... Secrecy and silence predominate. There is fear of what the neighbours will think. The more she thinks about it the worse it becomes. A Sabadilla state develops where all the intensity is turned inward and projected onto the self as negativity. Now she feels very negative about her body. No one will feel attracted to me. There is a feeling of perversion about the genital area. It looks weird. This now is a Sabadilla state."2
Decay.
• "Sabadilla is decaying. Everything swells up and shrinks like with a dead body a few days after burial. It has delusion of fatal diseases. Soul leaves the body, like an apple falling from the tree. A fallen apple shrinks, swells, decays, and then come the worms. The food desires are remarkable: flour and sausage. Both are dead matter. Worms live on dead matter. They purify. Furthermore Sabadilla craves underground-food: onions. Sabadilla is made from seed. Seeds arise when the flowering plant dies and at the same time they are the beginning of new life. They may lie in the soil for years, as if dead, awaiting favourable circumstances to germinate. To germinate they need moisture and warmth, and this completes the circle of life." [Sherr]
M Guilt.
• "The Sabadilla patient is not only distressed by his imaginary diseases and bodily ailments but his mind is in a tempestuous state because of imaginary moral delinquencies. He imagines that he has committed a great crime; that he has been unfaithful to his marriage vows or that he has deserted the true religious faith and is destined to be lost. With this there is an anxious restlessness that drives him from place to place precluding the possibility of tranquility either mental or physical, nervous and anxious, startled from the least noise. The sleep is restless and unrefreshing and in the morning he wakes suddenly with a start as if greatly frightened; easily frightened and startled by noises."3
[compare the symptoms 'Conflict between sexuality and religious ideals' and 'Penance' of Lil-t.]
M Overwhelming fears.
• My use has proven it to be a deep and long acting remedy. The symptom grouping is psoric and sycotic. Particularly the mental sphere is affected. There is no apparent pathological basis to account for the indescribable anguish. Paroxysms of great fear overwhelm, ameliorated from motion, the open air and change of environment. Fear of death, of disease, of the future, of closed places, of people, that he will lose his business [with great sense of responsibility], that he is gradually growing worse. Weeping and lamenting. The anxiety becomes intense and the restlessness exhausting, and one would be directed to Arsenicum, but it does not have the burning or the physical suffering. Early in the condition there is taciturnity with difficulty to secure a symptom picture of the remedy. Loquacity, repeated inquiries about his condition, the thought fixation, and the agonizing fear of impending misfortune and evil, direct attention to the vermifuge from our southern neighbour. ... It has the psoric disturbance of the psyche. There is no loss of identity or function of the ego, rather the intense fear brings out in abnormal display the consciousness of the ego. Relatively there is no corresponding physical suffering, and if so it is overshadowed to such a degree that it seems a measure of relief would ensure if a balance were established. Upon entering the life history of the patient there may be traced the sycotic symptom of concentration upon some definite part, in the head, throat, chest or any other part of the body. It shows in the persistent thoughts during successive stages of the life experience. Sabadilla gives us a beautiful picture of a twilight miasmatic zone, in which the mental condition holds in abeyance the physical virility of the disease process."4
M Focusing >.
• "Headache and vertigo better while eyes are steadily fixed upon an object and while patient is thinking of one subject. One thing at a time seems to be the motto of this modality."5
M Rage > cold applications to head.
M Thinking of complaints <. [e.g. thinking of flowers = sneezing]. M Intellect - emotions. • "She has a strong inclination to laugh at everything, but afterwards feels indifferent, almost apathetic; intellect seems greatly stimulated, even strained, but emotions are dull and cold, - after a few days opposite condition supervenes; continued attention causes headache." [Hughes] G Craving for HOT things. Great thirst for hot drinks. G Appetite. • "The appetite is singular; it is commonly seen in pregnant women. She says she is never hungry; never wants anything to eat, and often there is an aversion to food; but when, from a matter of reason, she concludes to eat, and she takes a mouthful, it tastes good, it recalls the appetite, and she makes a good meal. At other times not only a loss of appetite, but a disgust and loathing of food." [Kent] G Very CHILLY. Susceptibility to OPEN AIR. • "The Sabadilla patient is a shivering patient, sensitive to the cold air, a cold room, cold food. He wants to be well wrapped up; wants hot drinks to warm up his stomach. He is subject to catarrhal conditions, and in these he wants hot air. The catarrhal conditions of the throat require hot drinks and food. Warm things are grateful to him. It is difficult to swallow cold things; they increase the pain and difficulty in swallowing." [Kent] Cold all over except the head and face. • "The Sabadilla patient is a cold patient, many complaints are worse from cold, sensitive to cold which aggravates. The aches and pains are worse from cold, but with all the chilliness and sensitiveness to cold the face is hot and he wants a cool place for it, which ameliorates. I have used it in acute colds, influenza, etc., where the patient was chilly, wanted much cover, whole body cold, but wanted a cool place to lay the head. The face was hot and patient would frequently turn the pillow to find a cool place for his head; cold all over except the head and face. With this there is a desire to stretch the legs which relieves the aching pain in them."6 [compare: Rage > cold applications to head.]
G > Motion. > Walking.
G CHANGING SIDES.
[left to right: sore throat, tonsillitis; right to left: frontal headache, jerking].
• "A sort of slight jerking, once only, in upper lip, then in hands, fingers, or thighs, esp. of l. side, and always from right to left." [Hughes]
P Headache [fullness, bursting pain above the eyes].
< Jarring, sneezing, walking, mental exertion. And Sinusitis. Patient often gets up with it in the morning. And Cold sweat on forehead. [Kent] P c HAY FEVER. Spasmodic sneezing, and running nose. Copious watery nasal discharge. Itching and tingling in nose and soft palate. Redness, burning in eyes with lachrymation. Severe frontal pains. > WARM ROOM.
c Coryza > inhaling hot air, WARM DRINKS, warm food.
c Coryza, HAY FEVER, from odour of flowers, newly mown grass, fruit.
• "Many hay fever patients are sensitive to the odour of flowers, to the, odour of the hay field, to dying vegetable matter; so oversensitive to the odour of fruit are some that apples have to be removed from the house. Inhalation of odours that are beautiful, as that of the lavender, some hay fever patients cannot tolerate; such things may bring on an attack out of the season. Now Sabadilla is of this sort oversensitive to surroundings, to odours; these increase the catarrhal state of the throat and posterior nares." [Kent]
P LACHRYMATION.
When going into open air.
When looking at bright light.
When coughing or yawning.
At least pain elsewhere.
P Inflammation of throat.
Commencing on the left side and spreading to the right.
[Or the reverse, according to Lippe: sore throat goes from right to left.]
> Warm drinks.
< Cold things [opposite of Lach.]. And Constant inclination to swallow. • "Sabadilla is one of our greatest throat remedies. No remedy has a more painful sore throat than this one. It is so extremely painful that the whole body writhes when he attempts to swallow. So intensely painful is it that he cannot swallow saliva but must spit it out. Excruciating though the pain is, yet there is continual desire to swallow and whenever he attempts it he distorts his face, writhes in pain and says 'It feels like it would take the skin off,' meaning the mucous membrane. Ask him to open his mouth and he makes a wry face for it is painful to comply with your request. Tell him to put out his tongue and the protest is more pronounced for the pain is greater. Ask him how his throat feels and he says 'It feels like he had swallowed a pint of vinegar.' There is a sense of painful constriction as after swallowing an acid drink, but with all the discomfort there is a constant desire to swallow and each time he says 'It feels like it would take the skin off.' The mouth and throat feel extremely dry, a sense of great dryness in the throat prompt his constant desire to swallow, yet there is no thirst. 'How does your throat as regards dryness or moisture,' you ask. 'It is as dry as a powder house,' he answers. If there is any thirst it will be for hot drinks, but frequently there is no thirst."7 [1] Waffensmith, Sabadilla; Hom. Rec., 2nd Qtr. 1935. [2] Linda Beaver, Sabadilla, pregnant with meaning; HL 3/96. [3] Taylor, Sabadilla; Intern. Hahn. Ass., 1916-18. [4] Waffensmith, ibid. [6-7] Taylor, ibid. Rubrics Mind Delusions, abdomen is fallen in [3/1], some part of body is deformed [1], body is shrunken like the dead [2/1], he has deserted the true religious faith [1T], he has an incurable disease [2], house is coming down on her [1/1], she is pregnant [2], body is separated from soul [1], strange thoughts are separated from him [1; Anac.], thoughts are outside his body [1/1], having been unfaithful to his marriage vows [1T]. Fear, > open air [1W], > change of environment [1W], of impending disease, of being incurable [1], > motion [1W], in narrow places [1W], from noise [1], of losing his position [1W], restlessness from fear [1W]. Feigning to be sick [1]. Insanity alternating with physical symptoms [2]. Laughing at everything, followed by indifference [1H]. Anxious talking about his condition, wakes wife and child, in hypochondriasis [1]. Feels unfortunate [1].
Vertigo
When looking either way, right or left [1]; looking steadily > [1; Dig.].
Eye
Lachrymation, from pain in other parts of body [2].
Ear
Noises, clashing, as if something heavy had fallen on the floor and burst, followed by prolonged ringing in ears [1H]; snapping, like electric sparks [1].
Nose
Smell acute, sensitive to odour of garlic [1/1], to odour of mice [1/1].
Face
Heat, with headache [1H], when stooping [1H].
Mouth
Taste, sweetish, when smoking [1H].
Throat
Pain, sore, right extending to left [1T]. Constant disposition to swallow with sore throat [1T].
External throat
Constriction, as if tied round with a string [1H].
Stomach
Nausea, from amorous caresses [1], on closing eyes [1], during coition [1; Sil.].
Respiration
Difficult, > lying [1].
Back
Pain, lumbar region, > heat [1T], > pressure [1].
Limbs
Pain, in soles of feet, when walking [1H], would like to walk on soft ground only [1H], feels every little stone [1H].
Dreams
Excelling in mental work [1]. Helping people [1/1].
* Repertory additions: [H] = Hughes; [T] = Taylor; [W] = Waffensmith.
Food
Aversion: [3]: Cold water; wine. [2]: Garlic; meat; onions; sour. [1]: Coffee.
Desire: [2]: Beer; buttermilk; cold drinks; delicacies; hot food; lemons; milk; raw onions; sour; sweets; warm drinks; warm food. [1]: Cold milk; farinaceous; flour; honey; juicy things; lemonade; meat; pastry; puddings; radishes; spicy [H].
Worse: [2]: Wine. [1]: Cold food; food, sight of; tobacco.

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