Berberis vulgaris

A deciduous shrub native to Europe, North Africa, and parts of Asia. In herbal medicine, the bark and berries contain the alkaloid berberine, well known for its bitter taste and tonic properties. In crude doses, it stimulates digestion and liver function but can be purgative. In homoeopathy, the tincture is prepared from the bark of the root [Clarke].

Fully proved by Dr. C. Hering and others; numerous symptoms recorded in Allen, Hering, and Clarke.

A great remedy for radiating pains, especially from kidneys or liver, with shifting, shooting character. The systemic picture combines venous congestion, sluggish elimination, and irritability of mucous membranes. It is as much a remedy for the constitution prone to stone, gravel, and jaundice as for the acute attack itself.

• Kidneys and Urinary Tract: Especially renal pelvis, ureters, bladder; acts strongly on mucous membranes lining these organs [Hering].
• Liver and Gall Bladder: Congestion, jaundice, sluggish bile flow.
• Digestive Tract: Stomach, intestines; secondary effects from biliary and portal stasis.
• Joints: Metabolic and gouty affections with renal element.
• Skin: Eruptions associated with metabolic disturbance.

Irritable, dissatisfied, easily angered, especially when suffering from urinary or hepatic pain [Clarke]. Mental dullness from constant discomfort; restlessness when pain is severe, yet movement aggravates. Depression may be present in chronic sufferers, often with fatigue and hopelessness about recurring attacks.

Disturbed by colic or need to urinate.

No characteristic proving themes beyond anxiety dreams during illness.

Radiating pains a keynote. Pain often extends in unexpected directions, shifting rapidly. Acts especially on venous system, producing congestion in portal circulation.

Chilliness alternating with heat during urinary or hepatic inflammation.

Sweats during colic; may be cold sweats on forehead in severe pain.

Fullness and heaviness of head, often secondary to hepatic or renal congestion. Vertigo on rising, with pale face. Periodic headaches, worse from exertion, linked to digestive and biliary disturbance.

Yellowish conjunctiva in jaundice. Deep-seated aching behind eyes in hepatic disorders. Lids may be heavy, drooping.

Sensation of stoppage or dull hearing in chronic metabolic states.

Paleness; in some cases dryness of nasal mucosa from dehydration in renal disease.

Pale, earthy, or sallow complexion, especially in chronic biliary or renal states [Boericke]. Hollow cheeks during acute urinary colic.

Bitter taste, especially in morning. Tongue coated yellow or white; tip and edges red. Dryness of mouth, or stringy mucus in mouth during attacks.

No proving-specific symptoms except occasional toothache in gouty subjects.

Dry, with rawness extending from stomach in dyspeptic cases.

Tightness, oppression during biliary attacks.

Palpitation from pain or congestion in abdominal viscera.

Shortness of breath during colic, from pain radiating upward.

Loss of appetite; nausea especially after rich food. Sensation of weight and pressure in epigastrium from sluggish liver. Heartburn and sour eructations possible.

Keynote sphere with Berberis vulgaris.
Sharp, stitching, radiating pains from kidneys to abdomen, bladder, groin, hips, and thighs [Hering]. Biliary colic with radiation to the stomach and chest. Fullness, soreness, and stitching in the right hypochondrium. Tenderness over the liver; sense of tension and dragging in the loins and lower abdomen.

Constipation from portal stasis; piles with burning and fullness.

One of the foremost urinary remedies in the Materia Medica.
Constant desire to urinate, with scanty output. Burning, smarting, or cutting pains before, during, and after urination. Urine yellow, turbid, with mucus or reddish sediment. Severe stitching pains in renal pelvis radiating to bladder, groins, hips, and thighs [Allen]. Gravel and small calculi passed with pain. Pain often not confined to one point, but shifting and radiating in all directions.

Aggravation from rich food, fats. Desire for simple diet.

Dragging pain in testicles during renal colic. Sexual weakness in chronic renal sufferers.

Renal pains extending to labia. Dysmenorrhoea with urinary irritation.

Severe, deep aching in lumbar region—”as if bruised”—extending to hips and thighs [Kent]. Pains change location suddenly.

Tearing or stitching pains in joints, especially knees, ankles, toes, often in gouty subjects. Weakness in limbs after urinary colic.

Eruptions from metabolic toxins: rough, dry skin, sometimes with itching. Yellowish tinge in jaundice.

• Lycopodium – More right-sided liver symptoms, strong craving for sweets; Berb. more renal colic with radiations.
• Colocynthis – Abdominal colic better by bending double; Berb. pain radiates widely from kidneys.
• Cantharis – Burning pain with tenesmus; Berb. has radiating stitching pains without such intense burning.
• Sarsaparilla – Urinary pain at close of urination; Berb. has pain before, during, and after.

• Complementary: Lycopodium, Nux vomica in hepatic disorders; Sarsaparilla in urinary conditions.
• Antidotes: Opium (toxic suppression of elimination).
• Follows well: After Lycopodium in gallstone colic; after Cantharis in urinary inflammation.

• For renal colic with pain shooting to bladder, thighs, and groins, few remedies act so rapidly as Berberis vulgaris.
• Chronic gout with alternating urinary and hepatic symptoms responds well in low to medium potencies.
• In gallstone colic, give during and after attacks to improve biliary drainage.

Mind:

• Irritability during pain.
• Aversion to work.
• Dullness of mind.

Head:

• Fullness from hepatic congestion.
• Vertigo on rising.

Abdomen:

• Pain in hypochondria.
• Colic from gallstones.
• Stitching in liver region.

Urinary:

• Pain in kidneys, radiating.
• Gravel, passing.
• Burning urination.
• Frequent urging, scanty urine.

Back:

• Pain in lumbar region, radiating.
• Bruised pain in small of back.

Extremities:

• Tearing pains in joints.
• Gouty nodosities.

Generalities:

• Pains radiating from one point.
• Aggravation from motion, jarring.
• Better from rest.

Hering C. – Guiding Symptoms: Renal and biliary pain descriptions.

Allen T.F. – Encyclopedia of Pure Materia Medica: Full proving records.

Clarke J.H. – Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica: Clinical indications and modalities.

Boericke W. – Pocket Manual: Concise summary and organ affinities.

Hughes R. – Manual of Pharmacodynamics: Notes on berberine’s physiological action.

Kent J.T. – Lectures on Materia Medica: Radiating pain keynote.

Lippe A. von – Keynotes and Red Line Symptoms: Pain modalities.

Nash E.B. – Leaders in Therapeutics: Gallstone and urinary colic notes.

Farrington E.A. – Clinical Materia Medica: Urinary sphere detail.

Dewey W.A. – Practical Homœopathic Therapeutics: Grouping with urinary remedies.