Selenium metallicum

A non-metallic trace element, atomic number 34, selenium exists in several allotropic forms and resembles sulphur chemically. It was discovered in 1817 by Jöns Jakob Berzelius.

Used in electronics (photocells, semiconductors), glass production, dietary supplements, and as an antioxidant trace mineral in human nutrition.

Proved by Hering and colleagues in the 19th century. Symptoms drawn from both proving and clinical experience.

• Male sexual organs – profound debility, emissions, impotence
• Nervous system – fatigue, forgetfulness, mental prostration
• Liver and digestion – sluggish digestion, constipation
• Scalp and hair – alopecia, dandruff
• Throat and larynx – hoarseness, weakness of voice
• Eyes – fatigue, heaviness
• Right side – many symptoms right-sided, particularly liver and throat

• Sleep
• Warm weather
• After eating (temporarily)
• Cold applications (for skin symptoms)
• Lying on right side (some head and chest complaints)

• Heat, especially sun or summer
• Mental exertion
• Sexual excess or seminal emissions
• Alcohol, tea, or stimulants
• Cold drinks (especially when overheated)
• Physical exertion, especially walking

• Phosphoric acid – Profound debility, but more emotional indifference and thirst
• Lycopodium – Intellectual weakness and sexual complaints, but more dominance and digestive issues
• Nux vomica – Overwork and exhaustion, but more irritable and reactive
• Staphysagria – Sexual weakness from suppressed emotion or shame; more refined and reserved
• Picric acid – Brain fag with spinal exhaustion, but more explosive weakness and eye strain

• Complementary: Lycopodium, Phosphoric acid, Calcarea phos
• Antidotes: Camphora, Coffea
• Follows well: Staphysagria, China (after loss of fluids)
• Precedes well: Phosphorus, Nux vomica
• Inimical: Silicea (in some cases of hair loss)

Selenium is the portrait of collapse through depletion—a person drained of vitality through overwork, overindulgence, or overstimulation. It is a remedy of fragile energy reserves, where the slightest activity—mental, physical, or sexual—provokes profound weakness. The mind is slow, the body is sluggish, and the spirit is dulled, yet there remains a subtle sensitivity beneath the weariness. Selenium excels when there is a mismatch between external demands and internal resources. Suited to intellectuals, artists, and youth who have aged prematurely through ambition, desire, or vice.

• One of the main remedies for alopecia, especially in young men with oily scalp
• Excellent in sexual neurasthenia, especially after masturbation or emissions
• Useful in hoarseness in singers or speakers after long use of voice
• Debility after sun exposure, especially in lean, anæmic constitutions
• Indicated when mental fog and fatigue follow sexual or intellectual excess

Mind

• Forgetful, names
• Slowness, mental
• Indifference, after emissions
• Weakness, from mental exertion

Male Sexual

• Emissions, without dreams
• Impotence after masturbation
• Prostate, enlarged
• Weakness after coition

Hair / Skin

• Hair falling, eyebrows
• Baldness, premature
• Dandruff, oily
• Skin, oily face

Generalities

• Weakness, from heat
• Debility after emissions
• Worse sun exposure
• Profuse scalp sweat

• C. Hering – Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica: Extensive symptom list, especially male sexual system, mental fog, and digestive collapse
• William Boericke – Pocket Manual of Homeopathic Materia Medica: Practical indications, alopecia, laryngeal weakness
• John Henry Clarke – Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica: Confirmed sexual neurasthenia, liver symptoms, debility from sun
• T.F. Allen – Encyclopedia of Pure Materia Medica: Proving data, debility, skin, and hair symptoms
• J.T. Kent – Lectures on Homeopathic Materia Medica: Deepened understanding of selenium’s emotional collapse and post-excess weakness