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.

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

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.

• 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

Mental weakness is a hallmark of Selenium. There is profound exhaustion of mental faculties, with inability to think, concentrate, or connect thoughts. Patient becomes forgetful, especially of names, words, or what was just read. Mental prostration follows sexual excess or loss of fluids. There is depression with indifference and irritability. [Hering] notes slow speech, difficulty answering questions, and sensitivity to noise. The patient may feel weak, slow, and dull—yet oversensitive to contradiction or interruption. Delusions of failure, self-doubt, and lowered confidence often appear, particularly in intellectuals.

Sleepiness during the day, sleeplessness at night. Restless from exhaustion. Wakes with dreams of sexual nature. Sleep disturbed by heat or emissions. Dreams vivid, lascivious, or of failure.

Sexual dreams, exhausting. Dreams of weakness, of work undone, or of mental exertion. Sad or confused dreams. Forgetting what one dreamed.

The keynote of Selenium is exhaustion—mental, physical, sexual. Suits lean, prematurely aged men worn out by overwork, indulgence, or loss of vital fluids. Worse from sun, sexual excess, exertion, and stimulants. Debility that is disproportionate to effort. Great sensitivity to environmental heat and light. Every act seems to drain the patient further.

Low-grade intermittent fevers. Flushes of heat with cold extremities. Perspiration with exhaustion. Worse after sun or exertion. Heat during digestion.

Chilliness in back. Heat in face. Sweat oily, especially on scalp. Offensive odour. Sweating aggravates fatigue. Night sweats from exhaustion.

Chronic headaches with great scalp sensitivity. Painful, dull aching worse from heat or sun. Pressive pains in temples and vertex, often right-sided. Scalp covered in dandruff, itchy and scaly. Hair falls out in handfuls, especially after debilitating illness or seminal loss. Early baldness in young men. [Boericke] noted hair loss from malnutrition or chronic illness. Sensation as if head would burst, worse from motion or noise.

Lids feel heavy; vision dim after exertion. Eyes sensitive to light. Twitching and dryness of lids. Heaviness in upper lids in the evening. Flickering before eyes. Burning of edges of eyelids. Black spots dancing before the eyes, worse after reading. Suited to those whose vision declines from sexual exhaustion or loss of sleep.

Lids feel heavy; vision dim after exertion. Eyes sensitive to light. Twitching and dryness of lids. Heaviness in upper lids in the evening. Flickering before eyes. Burning of edges of eyelids. Black spots dancing before the eyes, worse after reading. Suited to those whose vision declines from sexual exhaustion or loss of sleep.

Dryness in nasal passages. Sneezing and thin discharge in morning. Offensive crusts and nasal catarrh. Nosebleeds with heat. Sensitive to strong odours.

Pale, sunken, with oily or greasy sheen. Acne on face and forehead. Crusty eruptions near the nose or mouth. Twitching of facial muscles. Hair loss from eyebrows or beard. Complaints worsen from sun exposure.

Tongue coated white or yellow, especially at root. Taste is bitter in the morning. Dryness of mouth with thirst. Ulcers on tongue or gums. Increased salivation. Lips dry and cracked. Offensive breath, especially in the morning. Speech slow, difficult from mental fogginess.

Toothache worse from cold drinks and at night. Gums recede and bleed easily. Teeth feel elongated and loose. Caries in young men from debility. Teeth ache after coition or seminal loss.

Hoarseness, especially in the morning, worse after talking. Burning and dryness in throat. Rawness with pain on swallowing. Sensation of a plug in throat. Larynx sore, particularly on right side. Voice fails when speaking too long. Useful for speakers or singers exhausted from performance [Clarke].

Oppression with fatigue on speaking or walking. Weakness in chest after sexual excess. Tickling cough with dryness. Expectoration difficult. Pain in right chest. Lungs feel exhausted. Suits singers with exhausted respiratory muscles.

Palpitation on exertion. Irregular pulse with fatigue. Heart feels heavy and slow. Pulse weak after sexual indulgence. Faintness from mental excitement or sun exposure.

Shortness of breath on exertion. Oppression, worse lying on left side. Asthmatic sensation from warm air or sun. Breathing shallow. Weak voice, fatigued from talking.

Loss of appetite with constant thirst. Aversion to meat, desire for stimulants. Weak digestion; food feels heavy. Nausea after eating or from warm food. Belching relieves pressure. Burning in epigastrium. [Hering] described dyspepsia from alcohol or tea.

Fullness and distension. Pain in liver region, worse pressure or lying on left side. Colic alternating with constipation. Flatulence that aggravates fatigue. Liver sluggish, with right-sided dragging sensation.

Constipation with sluggish peristalsis. Stools hard, dry, expelled with difficulty. Frequent urging with little result. Ineffectual desire. Haemorrhoids protrude with sharp sticking pains. Itching anus. Diarrhoea after debility or sexual exhaustion.

Increased frequency, especially at night. Urine scanty, dark, with strong odour. Cloudy or oily surface on standing. Burning during urination. Sensation of incomplete emptying. Incontinence after sexual excess.

Craving for alcohol, tea, coffee. Aversion to meat. Worse from warm food. Better from cold drinks (but may aggravate if overheated). Appetite diminished.

Profound action on male reproductive system. Debility after coition, seminal emissions during sleep, and impotence with coldness of genitals. Erections weak or absent. Emissions without dreams. Sexual thoughts increase weakness. [Kent] said Selenium was suited to “thin, debilitated men broken by vice.” Prostate complaints, weak stream, dribbling of semen or urine.

Rarely used in female complaints, but may have dryness of vagina, weakness after menses, or nervous prostration post-coition. Occasional mention in ovarian tenderness or acne in young women.

Pain in lumbar region, especially after urination or emission. Weakness and stiffness in sacrum. Worse from rising or standing long. Burning along spine. Weakness in cervical region after writing or reading.

Trembling of hands and limbs. Weakness in knees, especially after coition. Fingers numb in morning. Heaviness in legs. Cracking in joints. Arms feel powerless. Better from short rest, worse from walking. Nails brittle.

Dry, scaly, and unhealthy. Acne in young men. Oiliness of face and scalp. Hair falls out from scalp, beard, eyebrows. Itching worse from warmth. Ulcers slow to heal. Sensitive to sunlight. Dandruff profuse, dry or oily.

• 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
• Staphisagria – 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: Staphisagria, China (after loss of fluids)
• Precedes well: Phosphorus, Nux vomica
• Inimical: Silicea (in some cases of hair loss)

• 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