Gelsemium

Gelsemium sempervirens is a climbing plant native to the southeastern United States. It contains alkaloids such as gelsemine and sempervirine, which have powerful neurotoxic effects. Ingestion of the plant in crude form can cause paralysis and death.

First proved by Dr. Edwin M. Hale in the United States, mid-19th century (circa 1852), using tincture derived from the fresh root.

Gelsemium sempervirens is the remedy of paralysis through fear. Its central theme is suppression and dullness—of thought, will, emotion, and muscular activity—induced by fright, anticipation, or grief. The patient is tremulous, passive, and weak, marked by heavy limbs, drooping eyelids, and foggy mind. Its sphere lies in nervous weakness, influenza, headaches, and diarrhoea from emotion. It suits the oversensitive but emotionally reserved patient.

Nervous system; motor nerves; eyes; mucous membranes; throat; respiratory tract; occiput; muscles; circulation; bladder.

Gelsemium is a principal remedy for ailments from anticipation and fear. The patient feels paralysed by anxiety, with trembling, weakness, and confusion [Kent]. There is a dullness of mind and difficulty thinking clearly [Boericke]. Speech may be slow and hesitant. Children may stare blankly and show little response to surroundings [Clarke]. Stage fright, exam anxiety, and dread of appearing in public are keynote indications.

Sleepy but cannot sleep. Feels better after long sleep. Dreams anxious, with startle on waking.

Frightening, vague, or of falling. Dreams may cause waking with a jerk or cry.

Trembling, weakness, and heaviness are constant. Complaints often from anticipation, fright, or bad news. Symptoms develop slowly and insidiously. Right-sided complaints more marked.

Chill alternating with heat. No thirst. Prostration with fever. Head, face, and eyes congested. Clarke describes trembling and heaviness with fever.

Chill runs up back. Heat without thirst. Sweat light, not relieving. Sweating mostly on face and neck.

Headache begins in the occiput and spreads to the forehead and eyes, often preceded by blurred vision [Clarke]. Head feels heavy, as if it cannot be held up. Headaches follow emotional excitement or sun exposure [Boericke]. There may be vertigo on attempting to move or stand.

Heavy, drooping eyelids are a hallmark [Kent]. Eyelids feel paralysed; vision is blurred or dim. Pupils dilated. Patient may have diplopia or transient blindness during illness or migraines [Hering]. The gaze is fixed and vacant during fevers or fright.

Humming, buzzing, and sense of fullness. Hearing may be dull. Ears feel blocked during catarrhal conditions.

Watery, non-irritating coryza with sneezing. Coryza alternates with thick post-nasal discharge. Smell diminished during acute illnesses [Boericke].

Expression dull, dazed, and heavy. Facial muscles relaxed. Cheeks flushed or pale. Clarke notes a tremulous or sagging appearance during fever.

Tongue trembles when protruded. Feels dry or coated yellow. Speech slow and hesitating [Kent]. Salivation may be reduced. Breath may be offensive in fever.

No distinct keynote symptoms.

Throat dry, constricted, or paralysed feeling. Difficult swallowing liquids. Tonsils may appear congested. Clarke mentions tickling in larynx causing cough.

Oppression with sighing. Cough dry, tickling in larynx. Sensation of suffocation, especially from excitement. Weakness of voice and chest muscles [Clarke].

Pulse slow, soft, and weak. Palpitation from anticipation. Sense of fluttering or stoppage [Boericke]. Clarke notes anxiety at the heart during fevers.

Slow, oppressed, or shallow. Breathlessness on slightest exertion. Kent notes sighing respiration during emotional stress.

Nausea from emotional causes (fright, anticipation). Appetite poor. Clarke describes sinking feeling at epigastrium. Vomiting rare, unless nervous shock precedes.

Dull pain with heaviness. Diarrhoea from anticipation, fear, or bad news [Kent]. Gurgling and flatulence present. Abdomen distended with mild colic.

Sudden, urgent diarrhoea with little effort. Painless stools, yellow and watery. Often during exams, interviews, or before public performances [Boericke].

Frequent urging with scanty output. Retention of urine from fright. Kent notes copious urination after headache improves. Urination relieves nervous tension.

Aversion to food. Desires cold water in small sips. Appetite vanishes with nervousness.

Impotence from fear or anticipation. Emissions during sleep. Testicular heaviness or neuralgia.

Menses may be delayed from fright or shock. Labour pains weak, patient drowsy or tremulous. Suitable in early miscarriage from emotional stress.

Dull aching in sacrum and lumbar region. Spine feels weak or paralysed. Cannot sit erect for long.

Marked muscular weakness. Trembling, heaviness, especially in legs. Hands tremble when holding objects. Clarke describes lack of coordination and staggering gait.

Warm and dry in fevers. Sometimes clammy. No eruptions typically associated.

• Argentum nitricum – Both remedies address anxiety and anticipatory states, but Arg-n. is hurried, impulsive, and loquacious, while Gelsemium is drowsy, dull, and slow.
• Aconitum napellus – Also covers fear and sudden illness, but Aconite is acute, panicky, with dry heat and strong thirst. Gelsemium is slow, trembling, and thirstless.
• Phosphoric acid – Both may present with apathy and weakness, but Phos-ac. shows deep emotional collapse and indifference. Gelsemium has more fear and paralytic symptoms.
• Ignatia amara – Emotionally reactive like Gelsemium, but more changeable and spasmodic. Ignatia craves solitude and sighs from grief; Gelsemium is sleepy and paralysed.
• Kali phosphoricum – A nerve remedy also used for mental fatigue, but more suited to long-term exhaustion. Gelsemium suits acute, anticipatory trembling and prostration.

• Complementary: Phosphoric acid, Ignatia
• Antidotes: Coffee, Camphora
• Inimical: Belladonna
• Follows Well: Aconitum, Bryonia
• Precedes Well: Baptisia, Phosphorus

Indispensable for stage fright, exam nerves, labour trembling, and acute viral conditions (especially flu with heaviness, no thirst, and prostration). Use 30C for acute emotional states, or 200C–1M for strong anticipatory complaints. Lower potencies like 6X may be used in fatigue or vertigo.

Mind

• Fear, anticipation, from
• Anxiety, examination, before
• Dullness, mental
• Speech, slow, hesitant
• Memory, weakness of

Head

• Pain, occiput, extends to forehead
• Vertigo, lying, while
• Head, heaviness of

Eyes

• Ptosis
• Diplopia
• Dim vision, before headache

Stomach & Abdomen

• Nausea, anticipation, from
• Diarrhoea, fright, from
• Abdomen, heaviness

Extremities

• Weakness, legs
• Trembling, hands
• Paralysis, sudden, from emotion

Fever

• Fever, no thirst
• Fever, with trembling
• Chill, runs up back

James Tyler Kent – Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica
William Boericke – Pocket Manual of Materia Medica
John Henry Clarke – Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica
Constantine Hering – Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica
Allen & Norton – Encyclopaedia of Pure Materia Medica