Valeriana officinalis

Valeriana officinalis is a perennial flowering plant native to Europe and Asia. Its dried roots, known for their strong, musky odour, have been used for centuries as a sedative and anxiolytic. In homeopathy, the tincture is prepared from the dried root and is chiefly employed for nervous affections, hysteria, sensory disturbances, and nerve pains with paradoxical symptoms.

Proved by Hahnemann and expanded in Allen’s Encyclopedia. Known for its peculiar symptoms in hysteria and nervous excitement.

Valeriana officinalis embodies nervous overactivity, hysteria, and sensitive response to emotional triggers. It suits individuals who are full of strange sensations—floating, flying, reversed gravity, or disconnection from reality. The remedy is apt for hysterical women, nervous children, and those whose minds and bodies respond in unpredictable, excessive ways. At its core, it reflects functional disorder without pathology, where sensation overpowers structure.

• Nervous system – especially functional disturbances and hysterical states
• Sensory system – sensations of floating, lightness, inversion
• Spine and extremities – neuralgias, twitching, cramps
• Gastrointestinal tract – nausea, bloating, cramping from nervous origin
• Women’s reproductive system – hysteria, emotional instability during menses
• Muscles and joints – shifting pains, neuralgic and rheumatic

Highly nervous, excitable, and changeable temperament. A remedy often associated with hysteria, showing exaggerated expressions of grief, mirth, or anxiety. There is a tendency to laugh and cry in quick succession, or for little reason. The patient is full of fears, particularly fear of disease and death. Hypochondriasis, especially in women, with a tendency to magnify their complaints [Clarke]. Delusions of floating or of the body being lighter than air. In some, a feeling of being separated from the environment or of watching oneself from above. Mental restlessness with physical inactivity. Oversensitivity to stimuli.

Light and unrefreshing sleep, disturbed by jerks or nightmares. Insomnia from racing thoughts. Drowsy during day, sleepless at night. Sleeps best in early morning hours. Talks or moans in sleep.

Vivid, anxious, and disturbing dreams. Falling, flying, being chased. Dreams of death, drowning, or unexplainable fears. Wake with a start and trembling.

Marked nervous excitability. Trembling, twitching, and restlessness dominate. Sudden changes of symptoms. Oversensitive to pain, emotions, light, touch, and noise. Complaints come on after emotional upset or sensory overstimulation. Better in open air, worse in closed rooms or emotional confinement. Feels as if floating, inverted, or detached. One of the top hysterical remedies.

Febrile episodes of nervous origin. Heat flushes in face, alternating with chills. Fever with great sensitivity and aversion to touch or noise. No thirst. Fever worse in evening.

Flushes of heat, especially face and chest. Chills up the back during emotional events. Sweating mostly on face and extremities. Sudden cold sweats in anxiety attacks.

Headache with nervous excitability or after emotional disturbances. Sensation as if the scalp were tight or drawn. Vertigo, especially on rising or turning the head quickly. Periodic migraines associated with spinal irritation or menses. Bursting headache relieved by motion or open air. Twitching of facial muscles during headache episodes.

Dryness and pressure in the eyeballs. Disturbed accommodation and light sensitivity during nervous crises. Eyelids twitch or flutter involuntarily. Visual illusions with mental excitement—colours appear too bright or movement exaggerated.

Noises in the ears—ringing, buzzing, or crackling. Heightened sensitivity to sound (hyperacusis). Earache from nerve irritation or spinal misalignment. Sensation of fullness or pressure during hysterical states.

Sneezing and nasal dryness with neuralgic facial pains. Twitching of nose muscles, especially in children. Smell oversensitive, particularly to unpleasant odours. Catarrh worse from emotions or fatigue.

Pale, expressive, or flushed by turns. Twitching of facial muscles—keynote in nervous or hysterical states [Allen]. Neuralgic pain radiates from temples to jaw. Lips dry or trembling. Face may look distorted during attacks of pain or nervousness.

Dryness of mouth and tongue with bad taste. Salivation increased during attacks of hysteria or nausea. Tongue trembles on protrusion. Speech hurried or stammering when agitated.

Pain in upper molars with facial neuralgia. Grinding of teeth at night in anxious individuals. Teeth feel loose or elongated. Sensitive to cold air and touch.

Constriction in throat from mental causes—feeling of a lump or tightness. Hysterical choking. Voice trembles or fails during emotional upset. Dryness and nervous cough worse when attention is drawn to it.

Tightness in chest from anxiety. Palpitation from slight excitement or fright. Chest trembles internally. Shortness of breath from nervous causes. Left-sided neuralgia with trembling.

Fluttering, palpitations, and irregular beats. Pulse quick, weak, or full—varies with emotion. Sensation of heart turning or rotating. Cardiac neuralgia with hysterical features.

Sighing respiration with anxiety. Choking from nervous tightness in throat. Hysterical dyspnoea worse when lying down. Suffocative attacks without physical pathology.

Nervous dyspepsia with flatulence, bloating, and pressure. Appetite capricious, often increased after emotional events. Belching with relief. Nausea from excitement or overstimulation. Craving for sweets but they aggravate symptoms. Epigastric tension or weight, worse from lying down.

Bloating and wind. Crampy, colicky pains that shift location rapidly. Pain better from bending double or applying pressure. Sensation of motion in abdomen. Discomfort linked to nervous excitement or suppression of menses.

Sudden urging for stool, often nervous in origin. Flatulence with noisy expulsion. Pruritus ani or formication sensation in rectum. Constipation alternating with diarrhoea depending on mood or stress.

Frequent urging with scanty flow during excitement. Urine clear but passed in small amounts. Burning in urethra during menses. Enuresis in nervous children.

Desire for sweets and warm drinks. Aversion to meat. Appetite variable—sometimes ravenous, sometimes lost. Worse after rich foods. Heartburn from emotional triggers.

Sexual desire increased but followed by weakness. Erections involuntary or easily provoked by mental images. Neuralgia of spermatic cord. Hypersensitivity of genital organs.

Marked action in hysteria, PMS, and irregular menses. Menses early, profuse, or delayed with mood swings. Sexual excitement with restlessness. Leucorrhoea before or after menses, acrid and irritating. Spasmodic uterine pain better from walking.

Great sensitivity along the spine—particularly dorsal and lumbar regions [Hering]. Pain along the spine worse from touch, emotional stress, or fatigue. Crawling sensations. Feeling of a ball moving along the spine.

Twitching, jerking, or trembling of limbs—especially when resting. Cramping in calves, toes, or fingers. Sensation of floating or lightness in limbs. Weakness worse in lower limbs. Restlessness at night—constantly moves legs or arms. Neuralgia of upper limbs better by motion.

Crawling, itching, or formication during nervous states. Oversensitivity to touch. Skin pale, cold, and sweaty during emotional crises. Hysterical eruptions or flushes.

• Ignatia amara – Similar emotional instability, but Ignatia has more grief and contradiction of symptoms
• Crocus sativus – Hysteria with alternation between mirth and sadness, but more haemorrhagic tendencies
• Zincum metallicum – Restlessness and twitching, but more focused on reflexes and spinal debility
• Moschus – Hysteria with fainting and great air hunger, but more dramatics and offensive discharges
• Cimicifuga – Hysterical states with rheumatic and uterine symptoms, but more mental gloom
• Asafoetida – Hysteria and globus with flatulence and contradiction of symptoms

• Complementary: Ignatia, Moschus, Zincum
• Antidotes: Camphora, Nux vomica
• Follows well: Belladonna, Pulsatilla
• Inimical: Strong mental suppressors or sedatives

• Indicated in functional nervous complaints with no pathology
• Valuable in hysteria, irritable bowel, spinal neuralgia, and cramps
• Helps children with twitching, hypersensitivity, or erratic behaviour
• Useful in post-menopausal hot flushes with nervousness
• Best suited to low to moderate potencies (6C to 200C), depending on acuteness

Mind

• Hysteria
• Oversensitive to pain
• Delusions of floating
• Anxiety, nervous

Extremities

• Twitching, jerking
• Cramping, calves
• Restlessness at night

Sleep

• Insomnia, from excitement
• Dreams, anxious
• Starts from sleep

Spine

• Pain, sensitive to touch
• Crawling sensation
• Pain worse emotional excitement

Generalities

• Better open air
• Worse mental exertion
• Worse emotions

• Samuel Hahnemann – Materia Medica Pura: Original proving notes and early hysterical symptoms
• T.F. Allen – Encyclopedia of Pure Materia Medica: Comprehensive proving, especially sensory and spinal symptoms
• John Henry Clarke – Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica: Nervous system detail, mental symptoms
• William Boericke – Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica: Clinical indications and modalities
• C. Hering – Guiding Symptoms: Focused on neuralgia, floating sensations, and emotional states