Cyclamen europaeum

A perennial plant with tuberous roots native to Europe; contains bitter saponins and toxic triterpenes. Used homeopathically from the fresh root.

Proved by Hahnemann and first published in Materia Medica Pura. Additional insights from Hering and Clarke.

Cyclamen represents the person who has lost their inner light—burdened by duty, weighed down by guilt, and withdrawn from joy. It suits those who sacrifice themselves, often without being asked, and develop illnesses after neglecting their own needs. The keynote is guilt with suppression, where the vital energy turns inward, creating vision problems, headaches, and irregular menstruation. Light returns to their system only when they allow themselves air, motion, and grace.

• Nervous system, especially visual disturbances, headaches, and faintness
• Menstrual system – disorders of menstruation and female cycles
• Mind – guilt, gloom, self-deprecation
• Circulation, with sluggish blood flow, coldness, and cyanosis
• Eyes – visual aura, flickering, and black spots

Cyclamen patients present with deep melancholia, guilt, and a sense of moral self-condemnation. They are prone to sadness, weeping, and a brooding silence. Often they withdraw from social contact, burdened by the belief they’ve done something wrong—even when there’s no clear cause. They experience a profound sense of duty that turns into self-reproach. Their guilt manifests physically—especially in women who feel they must sacrifice for others. There is confusion, sluggishness of thought, and aversion to speaking or being spoken to. At times, a dreamy state takes over, as if in a fog. [Kent] describes Cyclamen as lost in thought, staring blankly and unable to respond. This is a remedy for those emotionally paralysed by internalised guilt, often after suppressed anger or neglected personal needs.

Drowsiness all day with difficulty falling asleep at night. Restless sleep filled with anxious or confusing dreams. Wakes with a heavy head and sadness. Sleep disturbed by inner guilt or sadness.

Dreams of being abandoned, punished, or forgotten. Repeated dreams of guilt, loss, or seeking forgiveness. Wakes with lingering sadness or confusion. Some report dreaming of lights or colours.

All complaints are aggravated in warm rooms and ameliorated in open air. Weakness, faintness, and guilt dominate the general state. Head, eyes, and menses are tightly interlinked. Better from motion in open air, worse for rest, warmth, and emotional repression. Coldness, cyanosis, and visual aura are common physical companions to deep mental suppression.

Low-grade fever before or during menses. Chilly sensation internally despite external warmth. Often alternates with facial flushing or head congestion.

Chilliness predominates. Cold extremities, especially hands and feet. Sensitive to cold even in warm room. Sweat on exertion, worse from emotions. Night sweats rare.

Intense headaches that feel as if the brain were being pressed or drawn backward. Often begin in the temples or occiput, radiating forward. Vertigo accompanies the headache, with a sensation of being dizzy while standing or turning. The head may feel hot externally, with internal chilliness. Headaches are often associated with visual aura, such as flickering or blurred sight. Especially indicated in menstrual migraines, which begin before or during menses and may be relieved by flow. Pressure and motion aggravate; open air ameliorates. Some describe a pulling sensation, as if the brain were “sucked backward” into the nape.

A major centre of action. Flickering, dancing spots, blurred vision, and partial blindness mark the remedy. Before headache or menses, patients see coloured lights, zigzag lines, or moving spots. The eyes are sensitive to light and feel strained, especially after reading or exertion. Dim vision, as if a veil were before the eyes. [Clarke] notes Cyclamen’s use in amblyopia and visual disturbances following fatigue or menses. The patient may fear blindness or complain of transient obscuration of sight. A striking modality is better in open air, where vision clears and vertigo lessens.

Roaring, buzzing, or a feeling of occlusion in the ears, often accompanying headache or menses. Sounds may seem far away or muffled. Hearing sensitivity may be reduced temporarily, especially during faintness or aura states. Not a primary ear remedy, but involved through circulatory sluggishness.

Sneezing and clear nasal discharge may accompany menses or headaches. Smell is sometimes impaired. Not a leading feature unless linked to suppressed catarrh or sinus pressure during headache.

Pale, cold, often with bluish or purplish lips. The facial muscles may feel weak or twitch slightly. Expression is sad, sunken, and melancholic. In some cases, the face flushes during headache or dizziness. The skin may be cold and clammy during faintness.

Dryness, with a sticky, bitter taste. Tongue coated white or yellowish, especially in the morning. Saliva thick. Complaints of bad breath during menstruation or after suppressed discharges. Speech may be slow or weak, reflecting overall fatigue.

Toothache from suppressed menses or headache, occasionally pulsating. Cold aggravates; warm applications may relieve. Pain often accompanies general cranial congestion. Gums pale and tender.

Dry, rough, or scratchy. A globus sensation (“lump in the throat”) during emotional states. Throat feels constricted or full, especially in relation to menstrual irregularities. May accompany nausea or headache.

Tightness and dull pain in the chest before menses. Oppression of breath from slight exertion. Cold sensation internally. Palpitation with anxiety or sadness. Cough rare, but when present, dry and spasmodic, worse at night or in warm room.

Palpitations with faintness, sadness, and vertigo. Feels as if circulation were sluggish. Pulse soft, slow, or irregular. Heart symptoms often accompany hormonal imbalance or mental suppression.

Shortness of breath on exertion. Better in open air. Breathing feels tight or restricted in warm rooms or during headache. Occasionally sighing or gasping due to emotional heaviness.

Marked aversion to rich, fatty foods, especially cake or pastries, which cause nausea, bloating, and headache. Hunger alternates with aversion to food. Bitter eructations, nausea, and occasional vomiting. Stomach feels sour or overloaded. May feel better for eating light food or drinking warm water. Heartburn possible after rich meals.

Bloating, flatulence, and dragging pains before menses. The abdomen feels heavy and sore. Pain worse from standing or motion, better from gentle walking or warm applications. A sense of emptiness despite fullness. Discomfort localised to lower abdomen and associated with weakness or faintness.

Constipation alternating with diarrhoea. Inactivity of the rectum, as if the impulse to evacuate were paralysed. Stools dry, hard, and passed with effort. Diarrhoea may follow rich food or menstruation. In some cases, discharge relieves headaches or vertigo.

Increased frequency during menses or headache. Scanty, pale urine. Sometimes burning in the urethra. Suppression of urine possible in nervous states. Not a prominent remedy for urinary complaints except through general debility.

Craves: None typically, occasional desire for sour things
Aversion: Fat, cake, pastries, rich foods
Worse from: Rich, fatty meals
Better from: Light, simple meals; warm drinks

Sexual desire reduced during general weakness or emotional suppression. Occasional neuralgic testicular pain during weather changes or suppressed anger. No marked indications in sexual function unless linked to depression or circulatory sluggishness.

One of the most important female remedies for irregular, scanty, or suppressed menses, especially after emotional suppression or grief. Menses too early, dark, clotted, or suppressed entirely. Headache and visual disturbances often accompany menstrual irregularities. Before menses, there is melancholy, weeping, dizziness, and aversion to food. During flow, weakness and faintness predominate. Leucorrhoea acrid, milky, worse at night. Bearing-down pains, especially in the morning. Uterine cramps may extend to thighs. Sensitive to cold; prefers warmth and solitude.

Backache before and during menses, especially in the lumbar region. Dull, aching pains that extend to hips or sacrum. Spine feels weak or bruised. Worse for standing, better lying on a firm surface.

Weakness in arms and legs. Numbness or heaviness in limbs, especially in the morning. Cold hands and feet, with cyanotic appearance. Twitching of single muscles. Legs feel unstable; trembling on standing. Worse from standing still; better from gentle walking.

Pale, cold, sometimes blue-tinted in extremities. Occasional eruptions during menses. Dryness and flakiness in patches. Hypersensitive skin during emotional crises.

• Sepia – Also melancholic with menstrual disturbance, but more detached, irritable, and indifferent
• Pulsatilla – Soft, yielding, tearful; also affected by menses, but less guilt-driven and more reactive to consolation
• Ignatia – Acute grief, sighing, and contradictory states, but more dynamic; Cyclamen is more subdued and slow
• Natrum mur. – Guilt and sadness with reserved disposition; but more structured, prideful, and dignified
• Lachesis – Suppressed emotion and menstrual disturbance, but more expressive, loquacious, and intense

• Complementary: Pulsatilla, Sepia
• Antidotes: Camphor, Coffea
• Inimical: Ferrum
• Follows well: Natrum mur., Ignatia
• Precedes well: Sepia, Lycopodium

• Indispensable for menstrual migraines with visual aura
• Use for menstrual suppression after grief or guilt
• Suits quiet, melancholic women who reproach themselves for imagined faults
• Excellent in visual disturbances before menses
• Often helps headaches with flickering vision, especially if worse in warm rooms

Mind

• Guilt, exaggerated sense of
• Sadness, weeping, silent
• Aversion to company
• Desire for solitude
• Thoughts, wandering

Head / Eyes

• Headache, before menses
• Flickering before eyes
• Dim vision, aura
• Head, drawing backward sensation

Stomach

• Aversion to fat
• Nausea, before menses
• Hunger, with aversion to food

Female Genitalia

• Menses, suppressed
• Dysmenorrhoea with headache
• Leucorrhoea, acrid, milky

Generalities

• Warm room aggravates
• Open air ameliorates
• Weakness, faintness before menses

Samuel Hahnemann – Materia Medica Pura: Original proving symptoms, especially on head and visual field

James Tyler Kent – Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica: Emotional themes of guilt and menstrual pathology

John Henry Clarke – Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica: Vision disturbances, menses, and cyclic nature of symptoms

William Boericke – Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica: Clinical uses in migraine, amenorrhoea, and eye complaints

C. Hering – Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica: Expanded sensory and emotional symptoms