Dulcamara

Dulcamara is a climbing shrub in the nightshade family, bearing purple flowers and red berries. It contains solanine alkaloids, making it toxic in crude form. Used in homeopathy from the fresh stems and leaves before flowering.

Proved by Samuel Hahnemann; symptoms recorded in Materia Medica Pura and expanded in Allen and Hering.

Dulcamara is the remedy of damp chill—both environmental and emotional. Its patient is thrown off balance by nature, especially when the weather shifts from warm to cold, or sweat is suppressed. It represents a state where discharges, skin eruptions, and glandular activity are blocked, causing eruptions to be driven inward. Children and rheumatic patients particularly benefit from its sensitive response to weather and stagnation of secretions.

• Mucous membranes – respiratory and urinary tracts
• Skin – especially in cases of eruptions suppressed by cold or damp
• Muscles and joints, especially after cold, damp exposure
• Bladder – cystitis, urinary retention from cold
• Eyes and face – particularly when affected by suppressed eruptions
• Glands, especially salivary, parotid, and cervical

The Dulcamara mental picture revolves around dullness, slowness, and mental confusion, especially when brought on or worsened by cold, damp weather. The patient may feel apathetic, with slow comprehension and forgetfulness. [Kent] notes a tendency to inertia of both mind and body. Mood swings are common, often linked to the weather or menstrual cycles. There can be irritability, peevishness, and restlessness. Children may seem weepy, clingy, or whiny during damp, cold seasons. The patient tends to obey rigidly, suppressing their own desires. Occasionally useful in dementia or mental dullness after illness and chill.

Sleep disturbed by coughing, stiffness, or itching. Restless sleep with frequent waking. Children may cry out or toss in sleep after getting wet. Drowsiness during the day after colds.

Dreams of water, storms, or being lost in fog. Children may dream of falling into ponds or being drenched. Dreams often anxious and linked to exposure.

Dulcamara is a remedy for ailments caused or aggravated by cold damp weather, suppressed eruptions, or checked perspiration. It suits those who suffer most in autumn, after wet clothes, or sudden chill. Rheumatism, catarrh, skin eruptions, and urinary issues all point to this state. Better for warmth and motion; worse for cold damp rest.

Fever with chill from getting wet or cold nights. External coldness with internal heat. Heat with thirst and restlessness. Sweat suppressed, or profuse with coldness.

Chill comes on after exposure or in damp rooms. Alternates with burning heat. Perspiration may be suppressed, leading to internal complaints. Sweat mostly at night, sometimes offensive.

Headaches associated with exposure to cold damp air, or after hair gets wet. Pain typically located in the forehead or occiput, pressing or stupefying in character. Vertigo when rising or turning quickly. The scalp may itch, feel sore, or erupt with crusts or eczema, especially at the nape or crown. [Clarke] noted headaches that come on before menses or with suppressed eruptions.

Red, inflamed eyes, often with thick yellow discharge, especially after chill or dampness. Lids may stick together, with itching and burning. Lachrymation on exposure to cold air. Vision blurred by mucus or discharge. Conjunctivitis after exposure to wind and wet, or after suppressed skin eruptions.

Earache from cold damp weather. Stiffness or blockage in the Eustachian tubes. Hearing impaired after bathing or during colds. Parotid and cervical glands swollen, tender, or inflamed after chill.

Coryza with thick, yellow-green mucus, worse from cold or damp exposure. Nose feels obstructed, with dryness or scabbing inside. Frequent sneezing, especially on entering a warm room from the cold. Tip of the nose may become red or ulcerated. Catarrh travels down into chest or bladder if suppressed.

Pale or yellowish complexion, sometimes with red blotches or eruptions. Facial neuralgia from cold wind, especially in the right cheek. Lips may be dry, cracked, or swollen. Pimples or eczema around mouth and chin after exposure to cold.

Dryness of mouth and tongue, with sticky or bitter taste. Tongue coated white or yellowish. Aphthae or ulceration after suppressed salivation. Salivary glands swollen and painful, particularly parotid. Speech may be thick or slow due to stiffness of the jaw muscles.

Toothache worse from cold air, dampness, or drinking cold fluids. Pain may radiate into cheeks or ears. Gums pale or swollen, with sensitivity to pressure.

Sore throat from exposure to damp weather. Sensation of swelling or tightness. Tonsils enlarged, red, and painful, especially after being chilled. Hoarseness or loss of voice from damp exposure. Mucus thick and difficult to expectorate.

Hoarseness, bronchial catarrh, and dry cough after exposure to cold damp air. Cough worse at night or after exertion. Mucus thick and difficult to raise. Oppression of chest with tickling sensation. Suited to asthmatic or bronchitic patients worsened by wet seasons.

Palpitations during damp chill or suppressed eruptions. Pulse may be slow and soft. Heaviness or dull ache in cardiac region. Heart symptoms often appear during colds or fevers.

Breathing oppressed in damp weather. Sensation of chest tightness with catarrhal affections. Wheezing or rattling in chest. Used in bronchial asthma worsened in autumn or rainy seasons.

Loss of appetite in cold, damp conditions. Nausea and vomiting from cold drinks or food. Cramping pain in the epigastrium after exposure or damp clothing. Sometimes used for gastric catarrh following wet weather.

Colicky pains, flatulence, and bloating in damp environments. Pain worse at rest, better from motion and warmth. Useful in enteritis or colitis caused by suppressed eruptions or damp chill. Abdominal muscles may feel sore, especially after strain or exposure.

Diarrhoea following cold bathing, exposure to wet clothes, or autumn chill. Stools are green, slimy, or watery, sometimes with mucus. May be accompanied by tenesmus. Better for warmth. Diarrhoea alternates with skin eruptions.

Frequent urging, with scanty or painful urination, especially after getting wet while sweating. Urine may be dark, turbid, or with thick sediment. Cystitis and urinary retention after damp chill. In children, involuntary urination at night from cold. Useful in bladder paralysis post-chill.

Aversion to: cold drinks, milk
Craving for: warm soups, easily digestible foods
Worse from: cold food or drink
Better from: warm, bland diet

Gonorrhoea or urethritis after cold damp exposure. Genitals may feel cold, numb, or sore. Occasional orchitis with swollen testes. Impotence after exposure to cold damp weather or suppressed skin symptoms.

Menses suppressed from cold bathing or chill. Before menses: restlessness, headache, nasal catarrh, or skin eruptions. Useful in dysmenorrhoea from exposure. Breasts may be swollen or hard before menses. Leucorrhoea thick, yellow, and profuse, often after wet chill.

Stiffness and aching, especially in neck and shoulders, after sleeping on damp ground or getting wet. Lumbago from chill after sweating. Dorsal muscles feel bruised, worse on rising. Sciatica worse in cold, damp weather.

Stiffness, numbness, and aching in joints, especially hips, knees, and wrists, after cold, wet exposure. Rheumatic complaints worse in damp weather, rest, and night. Better from motion and warm wraps. Extremities may feel cold, swollen, or “dead.” Chilblains red, itchy, and aggravated by cold.

Key remedy for eczema, urticaria, and moist eruptions that appear or relapse in cold, damp weather. Suppressed eruptions lead to internal ailments. Skin may itch violently in warmth. Warts, especially flat and smooth types, respond well. Vesicular eruptions weep or crust over. Glandular swellings often accompany skin complaints.

• Rhus tox. – Also rheumatic and better from motion, but more restless and hot
• Bryonia – Dryness and stitching pains, but worse from motion and lacks damp aggravation
• Calcarea carb. – Chilliness, glandular swellings, and damp aggravation, but more passive and sluggish
• Natrum sulph. – Ill effects of damp, especially asthma or head injuries
• Sulphur – Eruptions with burning and itching, but more psoric, messy, and reactive

• Complementary: Natrum sulph., Pulsatilla
• Antidotes: Camphor, Cuprum
• Follows well: Aconite (in acute cold exposure), Rhus tox
• Precedes well: Calcarea carb., Sulphur

• Excellent for eczema, warts, or urticaria that flare in cold damp weather
• Use in rheumatic pains from sleeping on damp ground or wet clothes
• Key for cystitis or urinary retention after getting chilled
• Consider in autumn catarrhs, especially when discharges are thick and yellow
• Useful in chilblains, especially when red, itchy, or ulcerated

Mind

• Dullness, from cold
• Irritability in damp weather
• Obedient, overly submissive

Skin

• Eruptions, suppressed, leading to internal complaints
• Warts, smooth, flat
• Itching, worse warmth

Urinary

• Retention, after chill
• Involuntary urination in children
• Burning urination, scanty

Extremities

• Rheumatism, worse damp
• Stiffness, from cold
• Sciatica, damp aggravates

Generalities

• Damp weather, aggravates
• Motion, ameliorates
• Rest, aggravates
• Cold bathing, after, complaints from

Samuel Hahnemann – Materia Medica Pura: Original proving on chill, dampness, and eruptions

James Tyler Kent – Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica: Provided key modalities and dull mental state

C. Hering – Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica: Deepened understanding of glandular and urinary action

John Henry Clarke – Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica: Clarified skin, catarrhal, and damp-induced symptoms

William Boericke – Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica: Clinical applications in skin, joints, and bladder