Sabadilla

Schoenocaulon officinale is a plant of the Melanthiaceae family. Its seeds contain the potent alkaloid veratrine, known for its severe irritant and emetic properties.

Proved by Hahnemann and described in Materia Medica Pura, with further clinical experience added by Allen, Clarke, and Hering.

Sabadilla’s core theme is illusion and hypersensitivity — to smells, to illness, and to sensation. It is the remedy of the neurotic hypochondriac, convinced of worms, disease, or pregnancy in impossible circumstances. The body reacts with violent sneezing, crawling sensations, and hysterical tremors, while the mind fixates and obsesses. It is invaluable in treating hay fever, worm disorders, and psychosomatic ailments where delusion fuels pathology. Its field is where imagination becomes suffering, and sensitivity borders on torment.

• Mucous membranes – particularly of the nose and throat
• Mind – fears, fixed ideas, delusions
• Stomach – nausea, parasitic sensation
• Nasal passages – spasmodic sneezing, coryza
• Rectum – parasitic, worm-like sensations
• Larynx and respiratory tract – tickling cough
• Skin – crawling, pricking, lice-like sensation

Sabadilla’s mental picture is marked by hypochondriasis, exaggerated fears, and fixed ideas. Patients may believe they have incurable diseases, worms, or foreign bodies inside them. There is great timidity, fear of death, and anxiety about health. [Clarke] highlights the classic delusion of being pregnant in thin, emaciated persons. Mental weakness accompanies physical debility, and the patient is oversensitive to pain and odours. There may be compulsive behaviour, such as repeated counting or ritualistic habits, often accompanied by sadness and indifference. The mind is disturbed by the mere thought of symptoms, which makes them worse.

Sleeplessness from fear, itching, or persistent thoughts. Wakes from dreams of insects or parasites. Restless, tossing, and frequent waking. Sleep unrefreshing.

Dreams of worms, insects, disease, or misfortune. Repetitive, obsessive themes. Frightening or grotesque dreams may provoke screaming or weeping.

Hypersensitivity to odours, cold, and mental exertion. Symptoms appear left-sided, or move from left to right. Weakness with mental overexertion. Aggravation from change of weather, draughts, or thinking of symptoms. Worm affections, hysteria, and seasonal hay fever are key indications.

Alternating chills and flushes. Chill predominates. Sweat cold and clammy. Shivering with sneezing or nervous tension. Heat develops slowly, without thirst.

Coldness predominates. Sensation of internal chill with hot face. Sweat offensive, sour, often only on parts. Sweating aggravates itching and crawling.

Vertigo on rising or when looking up. Headache begins in the forehead and radiates outward, often associated with sneezing or nasal symptoms. The scalp may itch or feel crawling as if insects are on it. Headaches come in waves, often with spasmodic sneezing. A tight, pressing pain is often felt across the temples or root of nose, made worse by thinking, cold, or motion.

Eyes water profusely during sneezing and coryza. Lids are red, burning, and may twitch. Lachrymation is acrid and excoriating. Vision may blur during paroxysms of sneezing or from congestion. Eyelids feel heavy and sore.

Itching and crawling sensation in ears. Feeling of fullness, sometimes with transient hearing loss during coryza. Sounds may be exaggerated or painful to hear. Twitching or fluttering within the ear may be felt, with echo-like sensations.

Key sphere of action. Sabadilla is famous for spasmodic sneezing, often in violent, prolonged paroxysms. The sneezing is exhausting and may come from even imagining an odour. Coryza is fluent, watery, and acrid, especially on the left side. The patient rubs and scratches the nose constantly. The nostrils burn and may bleed. Itching deep inside the nose is unbearable. Symptoms are worse in cold air or from the smell of flowers. A peculiar feature is sneezing induced by mental effort or reading.

Pale, anxious, or sallow complexion. Face often twitches during sneezing. Lips may be dry and cracked. Muscles of the face are tense during headache or cough. Expression suggests fear or weariness. Left-sided facial neuralgia possible with cold exposure.

Tongue coated yellowish-white. Mucous membranes dry or with thickened saliva. Offensive breath, metallic or bitter taste. Burning or tingling of tongue and inner cheeks. Sensation of constriction in the soft palate. Speech may be slow, slurred, or hesitant, particularly during mental fog.

Grinding at night, especially in children with worms. Teeth feel elongated or loose. Pain from cold drinks. Gums pale, swollen, and sensitive to pressure.

Marked sensation of a lump or thread in the throat that provokes swallowing. Throat is dry, burning, and constricted. Constant desire to swallow to relieve the tickling. Pain worse on empty swallowing and better with warm drinks. Tickling in the larynx triggers paroxysmal cough, often followed by sneezing.

Dry, tickling cough, especially in evening or from talking. Worse from deep breathing, cold air, or laughing. Shortness of breath with tightness across chest. Cough causes red face and retching. Laryngeal tickling with constant desire to clear throat.

Palpitations during anxiety or after sneezing spells. Sensation of heaviness or tightness over heart. Pulse may be irregular, weak, or accelerated. Faintness from minor exertion.

Dyspnoea worse in cold or dusty air. Spasmodic cough leads to gasping. Must open window despite chilliness. Breathing shallow with frequent sighing. Symptoms worse on lying down.

Ravenous hunger with sensation of emptiness, yet eating may aggravate. Nausea with retching, sometimes as if from worms. Gurgling and sensation of motion in the abdomen after eating. Feeling as if a live animal is in the stomach is a hallmark delusion. Craves sweet or indigestible things. Hypersensitive to odours causing nausea.

Borborygmi (gurgling, rumbling, or growling sounds) with sensation of movement as from worms. Spasmodic colic with anxiety and fear. Abdomen feels bloated and sensitive to touch. Itching inside the abdomen. Better from warmth and lying down. Hysteria or faintness may accompany abdominal discomfort.

Intense itching and crawling, as if worms or insects were present. Sensation of something alive in rectum. Sudden urging for stool, often ineffectual. Stool thin, mucous, or mixed with worms. Worse at night or after fruit. Cold aggravates rectal symptoms.

Frequent urging with small, scanty flow. Burning during urination. Involuntary dribbling from cold or fright. Urine may be offensive, foamy, or contain sediment. Bladder feels constricted.

Craves sweets, cold food, or indigestible items. Aversion to meat or cooked food. Symptoms worsened by fruit, cold drinks, and after eating. Nausea from odours.

Sexual desire diminished. Crawling and itching of scrotum or glans. Nocturnal emissions with anxiety. Genitalia may feel retracted. Cold and dampness aggravate scrotal discomfort.

Menses too early, too profuse, or with fainting. Intense itching of vulva. Leucorrhoea acrid and excoriating. Delusion of being pregnant even in emaciated women. Uterine heaviness with hysteria-like symptoms. Hypersensitivity during intercourse.

Chilliness along spine. Twitching of back muscles. Dull ache between scapulae. Pain worse from motion or stooping. Cold wind aggravates. Crawling sensation in sacrum.

Trembling and weakness, especially after sneezing or coughing. Cold hands and feet. Neuralgic pain in limbs worse from cold air. Cramping in calves at night. Crawling or numbness as if insects were on the skin.

Itching, crawling, and formication — especially on hairy parts. Sensation as though lice were crawling. Worse at night and from undressing. Red spots or wheals appear after scratching. Parasitic skin states in children or hysterical women.

• Arsenicum album – Also anxious, chilly, and itchy, but more restlessness and burning pains
• Ignatia – Nervous system remedy with hysterical traits but more contradictory symptoms
• Cina – Worm remedy like Sabadilla, but more irritable and violent in children
• Lachesis – Left-sided, hypersensitive, but with loquacity and aggravation after sleep
• Natrum muriaticum – Sneezing and sadness, but more reserved, refined, and craving salt

• Complementary: Calcarea carbonica, Sepia
• Antidotes: Camphora, Pulsatilla
• Follows well: Cina, Spigelia
• Precedes well: Natrum muriaticum, Lycopodium
• Inimical: None noted

• A leading remedy in hay fever with violent sneezing and left-sided coryza
• Effective in hypochondriacal states with fixed delusions
• Consider for worms, especially with rectal itching and grinding teeth
• Useful in nervous coughs triggered by tickling or odours
• May prevent recurrence of seasonal allergic rhinitis

Mind

• Delusion: pregnant, when emaciated
• Fear of illness, death
• Sadness with indifference
• Ritualistic, compulsive thinking

Nose

• Sneezing, violent, paroxysmal
• Coryza, left-sided
• Itching deep in nose
• Worse from odours

Skin

• Crawling, formication
• Itching, worse at night
• Sensation of insects

Rectum

• Worms, sensation of
• Itching, crawling
• Ineffectual urging

Generalities

• Left-sided
• Worse from cold, odours
• Hypersensitive

Samuel Hahnemann – Materia Medica Pura: Primary proving, including mental delusions and sneezing

T.F. Allen – Encyclopaedia: Comprehensive coverage of nervous, gastric, and parasitic symptoms

John Henry Clarke – Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica: Vivid accounts of mental and parasitic themes

William Boericke – Pocket Manual: Clinical focus on hay fever, worms, and nervous system

C. Hering – Guiding Symptoms: Confirmed characteristic modalities and delusions