Sanguinaria canadensis

A perennial plant native to eastern North America, Sanguinaria canadensis exudes a reddish-orange sap from its rhizome, historically used as a dye and emetic. The active alkaloids include sanguinarine, which is irritant and cytotoxic.

Proved by Dr. Jeanes in 1828, further clinical confirmations by Hering, Allen, and Hale.

Sanguinaria canadensis expresses the theme of congestion, periodicity, and burning—especially on the right side. It is the remedy for burning headaches, right-sided neuralgia, and respiratory catarrhs with rawness and dryness. It suits individuals prone to periodic disturbances, such as migraines, menopausal flushes, and bilious vomiting. The body is overheated internally, with dryness, flushing, and inflammation, while the mind withdraws into quiet, restless fatigue. It is especially invaluable in menopausal women, right-sided migraines, and incipient phthisis.

• Right-sided symptoms – strongly right-sided head, throat, chest, and shoulder pains
• Respiratory tract – especially trachea and mucous membranes
• Head and circulation – headaches, flushes of heat
• Liver and digestion – nausea, vomiting, bilious states
• Female reproductive system – menopausal hot flushes and headaches
• Joints and muscles – especially right shoulder
• Skin and mucosa – ulceration, burning, and rawness

Irritability, sadness, and mental restlessness are common. There may be a sense of impending doom or a fear of insanity during intense headaches. The patient can become extremely sensitive to odours, noises, and light, often leading to withdrawal. [Clarke] notes general mental dullness accompanying physical symptoms, particularly with congestive headaches or digestive troubles. Anxiety may arise from palpitations or flushes of heat. Forgetfulness or confusion often follows headaches. Averse to company, wants to lie down undisturbed.

Unrefreshing, restless sleep. Wakes early with headache. Sleep disturbed by heat, especially in palms and soles. Dreams of flying or death.

Dreams of danger, fire, suffocation. Dreams may precede headache attacks. Vivid and disturbing imagery linked with circulatory excitation.

Right-sided remedy par excellence. Symptoms ascend or travel from occiput to forehead. Burning sensations dominate. Periodicity is marked—especially headaches. Worse from light, odours, and motion. Better from vomiting, quiet, and eructation. Suitable for menopausal women, those with periodic headaches, and right-sided inflammatory conditions.

Periodic fevers with chill followed by burning heat. Hot flushes that rise from chest to face. Perspiration often absent during fever. Thirstlessness during heat.

Chill begins in back, worse evening. Heat felt in head and chest. Sweat scanty or absent during fever. Profuse night sweats in phthisical states. Cold hands with hot head.

A keynote remedy for right-sided headaches, especially migraines that begin in the occiput, rise over the head, and settle above the right eye. Pain is throbbing, bursting, or burning in character and often comes on at sunrise and worsens through the day. [Hering] notes the pain is so intense it drives the patient to bed or even induces vomiting, which may relieve the pain. Accompanied by red cheeks, flushed face, heat in head, and coldness in extremities. Headaches may alternate with liver symptoms or follow suppression of menses. The scalp may be sensitive, and the head feels congested, with a sensation as if it would burst.

Congestion of eyes with burning and dryness. Photophobia especially during headaches. The right eye is often affected, with redness and tearing. Pressure behind eyes, worse from light. [Allen] observed burning pain over the right orbit as a constant companion of the headache.

Buzzing, roaring, or ringing in the ears, particularly during flushes of heat or headaches. Right-sided otalgia. Sensation of pressure or fullness. Sound sensitivity during attacks.

Acrid, watery coryza with dryness and scabbing in nostrils. Epistaxis during menses or from congestion. Increased smell sensitivity. Nasal catarrh with frequent sneezing, especially when exposed to cold winds.

Flushed, particularly the cheeks, especially during headaches. Redness often confined to the right cheek. Expression of suffering or confusion. Neuralgia of right side of face or jaw. Warmth or burning of face may accompany menopausal states.

Dryness and burning of tongue and palate. Tongue may feel numb or scalded. Bad taste—bitter or metallic. Offensive breath. Gums swollen and bleed easily. Excess salivation during nausea or vomiting. Burning pain in tongue or roof of mouth.

Toothache in the right upper jaw, often neuralgic. Teeth sensitive to cold air or drinks. Pain may be periodic, worse at night or during headaches.

Raw, burning, or scraped feeling. Often begins on the right side. Worse from cold air, talking, or swallowing. Hawking of thick mucus. Dryness and tickling provoke coughing. [Hale] mentioned chronic pharyngitis and laryngitis with dryness and burning, especially in speakers and singers.

Sanguinaria is known for dry, hacking cough, worse from talking, laughing, or lying down. Tickling behind sternum. Burning or rawness in trachea. Cough followed by belching. Pneumonic involvement in right lung, with stitching pain. Useful in incipient phthisis with haemoptysis, emaciation, and night sweats. [Hering] records burning sensations in chest and breathlessness on ascending stairs.

Palpitations with heat in chest and face. Pulsations felt throughout body. Sensation as if heart would stop, then suddenly beats violently. Flushes of heat from chest upward. Pulse rapid and full during headache.

Oppression with wheezing or shortness of breath. Cough with stitching in right chest. Must sit up to breathe. Worse from exertion, ascending stairs, or talking. Dyspnoea with burning sensation inside lungs.

Nausea with or without vomiting, worse from smells, motion, or light. Vomiting of bile, sour fluids, or food. Sensation of pressure or weight in the epigastrium. Craving for spicy foods or stimulants. Belching brings temporary relief. Heartburn with acrid rising.

Fullness and distension with flatulence, especially after eating. Painful right hypochondrium, as in liver congestion. Pain radiates to the shoulder. Cutting, cramping, or twisting pain, worse from motion. Diarrhoea or constipation may alternate.

Constipation alternating with diarrhoea. Stools hard, dry, and offensive. Burning in anus after stool. Ineffectual urging. Proctitis and haemorrhoids with sharp sticking pains. [Boericke] noted fissures and ulcers of the anus.

Increased urination during headache episodes. Burning before or after urination. Sediment in urine, with offensive odour. Involuntary urination in the aged or children.

Craves spicy food, stimulants. Aversion to meat. Nausea from smell of food. Aggravation from tea, cold drinks. Thirst for small quantities, often absent in fever.

Sexual desire diminished. Pain or aching in right testicle. Genital weakness or neuralgia after suppression of discharge. Prostate irritation with burning urethra.

Menses early, profuse, or painful. Hot flushes with red face and palpitations during menopause. Right ovarian pain. Acrid leucorrhoea. Headaches linked to menstrual cycle. Uterine congestion with dragging pain. [Clarke] highlights Sanguinaria in menopausal women with burning palms and soles, hot flashes, and migraine.

Stiffness in cervical spine. Aching between scapulae, worse from motion. Right scapular pain, especially with hepatic congestion. Burning along spine. Weakness in lumbar region.

Rheumatic pain in shoulders and limbs, particularly right shoulder—cannot raise the arm. Burning of hands and soles. Cold feet with flushed face. Trembling of limbs. Weakness after vomiting or headache.

Burning, itching, or dry eruptions. Redness with heat or dryness. Urticaria-like rash in allergic states. Ulceration, especially in mucous membranes. Skin sensitive to sun. Tendency toward skin cancerous changes or precancerous lesions.

• Belladonna – Sudden, violent headaches with red face; more acute, delirious states
• Spigelia – Left-sided headaches, more cardiac involvement
• Lachesis – Left-sided hot flushes, loquacious, and worse after sleep
• Bryonia – Right-sided headaches and chest symptoms, but with dryness and great thirst
• Glonoinum – Congestive, pulsating headaches with sensitivity to heat, but lacks right-sided focus

• Complementary: Bryonia, Sepia
• Antidotes: Camphora, Nux vomica
• Follows well: Belladonna, Pulsatilla
• Precedes well: Lycopodium
• Inimical: None recorded

• Use in right-sided migraines, especially rising from occiput to forehead
• Excellent for menopausal hot flushes, especially with headache and red cheeks
• Consider in dry bronchitis or tracheitis with rawness and burning
• Useful in incipient tuberculosis with night sweats and haemoptysis
• Valuable for right-sided frozen shoulder or deltoid rheumatism

Head

• Headache, right side
• Pain from occiput to forehead
• Better from vomiting
• Headaches during menopause

Chest

• Cough, dry, tickling
• Burning in chest
• Pain in right lung
• Haemoptysis

Female

• Hot flushes during menopause
• Pain in right ovary
• Menses profuse, early

Extremities

• Pain, right shoulder
• Burning in palms and soles
• Weakness of limbs

Generalities

• Right-sided
• Periodicity
• Better lying on back
• Worse from light, odours, motion

• T.F. Allen – Encyclopaedia of Pure Materia Medica: Provided full proving data and modalities
• C. Hering – Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica: Detailed right-sided symptom patterns and chest involvement
• John Henry Clarke – Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica: Emphasised headache, respiratory, and menopausal uses
• William Boericke – Pocket Manual of Materia Medica: Clinical indications and keynotes for cough, migraine, and menopause
• E.M. Hale – New Remedies: Observations on mucous membrane irritation and phthisis