by Matthew Wood
Bedwetting, Incontinence, Enuresis: • Achillea (insensitive nerve) • Agrimonia (children stressed about toilet training; after passage of stone; chronic nephritis; acute urinary tract infection) • Arctostaphylos (stress) • Aquilegia (insensitive nerve; flowers and leaves—Native American) • Asafoetida (not sure whether they need to go or not—needs confirmation) • Avena (nutritive) • Equisetum (poor bladder control) • Eryngium spp. (menstrual; menopausal; aggravated by movement; after recent sexual activity; in sedentary, previously sexually inactive males—M. Moore) • Eschscholzia (also probably for paralysis) • Eupatorium purpureum (children hold their urine too long; bedwetting in children with bad dreams) • Galium • Gentiana (20 drops, midday and evening—Weiss) • HYPERICUM (insensitive nerve; children afraid of the dark, spirit phenomena) • Lentinula • Polygala (involuntary urination in sleep) • Polygonum aviculare (knotgrass tea) • Polygonum bistorta (stimulating astringent) • Pulsatilla (chronic inflammation or catarrh of bladder “with incontinence in bed at night”—Clarke; homeopathic low potency) • RHUS SPP. (children, elderly, nervous people; light, clear urination) • Rubia • Schisandra (combines well with Agrimonia) • TARAXACUM (root) • Thuja (elderly males; with enlarged prostate, poor bladder control) • VERBASCUM (insensitive nerve signal; poor bladder tone and enervation; root—M. Moore) • Vinca major • Zea.
Dysuria (painful urination): • Achillea (great pain) • Agropyron (pain in back, difficult urination) • Althaea (strangury) • Arctostaphylos (muco-purulent, scanty urine; strangury) • Barosma (chronic acidic urine and pain) • Cannabis (great pain) • Erigeron • Eryngium spp. (in women during menses, after coitus, in menopause; worse from movement) • Eschscholzia (strangury) • Eupatorium purpureum (dark or milky urine) • Fouquieria (congestive prostatic enlargement in sedentary men—M. Moore) • Hydrangea (alkaline urine; great pain) • Mitchella (with painful menstruation; congestive prostatic enlargement in sedentary men—M. Moore) • Piper methysticum (spasmodic) • Serenoa (with partial impotence) • Smilax (pain after) • Tribulus (partial impotence) • Verbascum (chronic acidic) • Zea (strangury).
Calculi: See “Kidney Stones,” in previous section.
Paralysis: • Eschscholzia (needs confirmation).
FORMULARY
Agrimonia (neutral) with Chimaphila umbellata (eliminating) and Zea (nourishing); this is William LeSassier’s basic triune formula for the bladder.
Barosma—with Achillea, Arctostaphylos, Foeniculum (bacterial cystitis) modified from BHP 1983, 93.
Barosma—with Althaea, Arctostaphylos, Agropyron, Zea (cystitis). BHP 1983, 30.
Barosma—with Capsella, Equisetum, Agropyron, Rosmarinus, in tea. This has been my basic general recommendation for cystitis for twenty-five years; it can be tweaked to fit the case.
Barosma—with Petroselinum, Agropyron, Hydrangea (acute cystitis). BHP 1983, 155.
Rhus aromatica, Rhus spp.—with Agrimonia, Equisetum, Gentiana, Verbascum (nocturnal enuresis). Modified from BHP 1983, 179.
Rhus aromatica—with Cucurbita pepo (oil), Piper methysticum, Sabal, Humulus (weak, nervous bladder).
Rhus aromatica—with Equisetum, Viburnum opulus (urinary incontinence). BHP 1983, 179.
Rhus aromatica—can substitute Rhus typhina or R. coriaria in these last two formulas.
HOMEOPATHIC STAPHYSAGRIA (DELPHINIUM STAPHISAGRIA)
My cousin, the late Julian Winston, a well-known lecturer and author in the homeopathic field, told a story that perfectly illustrated the chagrin and feeling of violation that leads to the typical Staphysagria bladder infection. He needed a plumber, and called ahead in good time to get one. He was given a day when the plumber would come, and waited at home, missing work, for the fellow to arrive. At a quarter to six, the plumber finally showed up. By this time, Julian was seething in anger for being made to wait all day, but he knew he couldn’t complain, because he didn’t want the guy to leave. The plumbing was fixed, but that evening Julian came down with a bladder infection—quickly cleared with Staphysagria.
Urine
Appearance, Contents, Sensations: • Achillea (bloody; great pain on urination) • Agrimony (foul-smelling, cloudy urine from mucus, calcium, urates, or phosphates; bloody urine) • Agropyron (high solids, low water content; muco-purulence; great pain on urination) • Alnus serrulata • Arctium (strong, dark, gritty) • Arctostaphylos (mucoid discharge) • Barosma (acid and muco-purulent; profuse cystorrhea) • Bidens (essential hematuria) • Cannabis (great pain on urination) • Chamomilla • Chelidonium (loaded with bile; high specific gravity) • Cichorium (sand and gravel) • Chionanthus (presence of sugar; orange urine) • Chimaphila (thick and ropy in the aged; glycosuria) • Epigea (bloody pus in urine) • Equisetum (bloody urine; cystic irritation; vapor bath, compress, or internal use) • Eryngium yuccifolium (sexual desire with urinary desire) • Eupatorium purpureum (acidic, highly colored urine, with blood and solids, voided with pain; chronic, passive bleeding) • Filipendula (asthenic; oily, red, sandy) • Fragaria • Galium aparine (retention) • Gaultheria (purulent, ammoniacal; oil) • Geranium maculatum (bloody) • Geranium robertianum (excessive night urination) • Hydrangea (alkaline; great pain on urination) • Hypericum (blood from kidneys) • Iris (scanty; with clay-like stools; liver and glandular involvement) • Lamium) • Leonurus (blood protein) • Lycopus (bloody) • Mentha spicata (highly colored) • Phytolacca (somewhat opaque) • Plantago (pale or bloody urine; damp constitution) • Pulsatilla (pale urine, nervousness, difficult control of urination; flooding pulse) • Rhus spp. (light, copious, frequent) • Salvia (low specific gravity) • Senecio aureus (bloody) • Solidago (dark, heavy sediment; or light, frequent; with tired feet) • Syzgium (glycosuria) • Thymus • Trillium • Urtica • Vaccinium macrocarpon (simple urinary tract infection) • Vaccinium myrtillus (glycosuria; leaf or fruit) • Xanthium • Zea.
Lithuria: see “Kidney Stones” in the Kidneys section.
Female Sexual System
The modern conceit is that reproductive problems should be treated with hormones, or herbs that contain hormone-like substances. This is only a small part of the picture, however, because the female organs are also subject to tissue imbalances. The uterus can be stretched, atonic, or spastic, and these conditions may reflect the general constitution or simply the overall tone of the pelvic cavity. In fact, in my experience, tissue imbalance is a more important factor than hormonal imbalance. And the hormones must be processed by the liver to complete their journey in the body. If the liver is not up to the job, hormones will linger in the bloodstream after they are supposed to have departed, which will also cause “hormone imbalances.”
Fortunately, the field of gynecology has been reasonably represented in herbal literature, despite the prejudice against female practitioners. In the middle ages, female physicians were an accepted part of the field, and Trota of Salerno was the author of a major text on the subject; her name was attached to several later volumes, together known as the Trotula. The humanist authors of the Renaissance, however, bitterly opposed female involvement in medicine, and reattributed the authorship of the Trotula. Women increasingly practiced only as “nurses” and “midwives.”
Until the nineteenth century, the wives of British country squires were often placed in charge of the medical needs of the community, either undertaking the task themselves or ensuring that a competent practitioner was available (Griggs 1997). Many of these women left logs and journals, a few of which have been published. Many American women were also able herbalists and midwifes, but we lack a good review of their writings, such as Barbara Griggs’s work. A male doctor who was especially able in the field of obstetrics, gynecology, and the sexual-urinary tract was Finley Ellingwood, author of The American Materia Medica (1919). Finally, an extensive treatment of all facets of this field has been rendered in an excellent fashion by Susun Weed; see her works in the bibliography.
Puberty, Menstruation, and Menopause
Puber
ty: • Achillea (increases circulation) • Agrimonia (difficulty establishing flow; relaxant) • Alchemilla (pelvic floor astringent; can use with Achillea) • Angelica sinensis (delayed menarche) • Caulophyllum (delayed menarche; increases pelvic circulation) • Celastrus (blue bands under eyes, general pallor, precarious appetite; nervous, feeble; adrenocortical deficiency, vaginal prolapse) • CIMICIFUGA (delayed menarche; never well since; spasm, brooding) • Cnicus (strengthen liver; female regulator; can use with Mitchella) • Helonias (anemia; delayed menarche) • Lactuca (acne, negative thinking) • Leonurus (menstrual irregularity and nervousness) • Medicago sativa (nutritive, cleansing, blood-thinning; delayed menarche) • Mitchella (with Cnicus) • Panax quinquefolius (delayed menarche after recent growth spurt and increased pubic hair—M. Moore) • PULSATILLA (delayed menarche; never well since; irregular menses, emotional lability, dreamy, nervous) • Rumex crispus (fractious, irritable sleep that does not refresh, especially at puberty and in young women with menstrual irregularities; with anemia; bleeding elsewhere during menstruation; nervous symptoms predominant) • SENECIO AUREUS (functional amenorrhea of adolescence; worse before, better after periods—Boericke; minute or homeopathic dose) • Turnera (delayed menarche) • Vitex (irregular menses; feeling unready, fear of transition, “late bloomers”; small doses—Welliver).
Amenorrhea (Menses Absent or Scanty): • Achillea (lack of peripheral blood flow) • Alchemilla (anemic, pale) • Aletris (undernourished) • Aloe barb. (with constipation) • Angelica (see Cook for an American use of Angelica as a female remedy) • Angelica sinensis • Anthemis (tension, pain, weight, heaviness) • Aristolochia serpentaria (after recent viral infection, exposure to cold; in chronic, debilitating conditions; minute or homeopathic doses) • ARTEMISIA ABROTANUM (psychogenic amenorrhea) • Artemisia absinthium (suppressed by cold or emotion) • ARTEMISIA VULGARIS (functional amenorrhea; cold; stiff hips, lower back; delayed, irregular menses) • Asarum (suppressed by cold, after viral infection; crampy) • Asclepias tuberosa (after recent viral infection) • Betonica (weak and nervous; ungrounded, malnourished) • Calendula • Carthamus • CAULOPHYLLUM (delayed menarche; after cold weather; feet wet and cold; increases pelvic circulation and tone) • Chamomilla (whining, peevish) • CIMICIFUGA (congestion, brooding, pelvic and back pain) • Commiphora myrrha (uterine torpor) • Daucus (helps the membrane slough; regulates the period, but contraceptive while used; increases blood to Fallopian tubes) • Dicentra • GOSSYPIUM (backache, fullness, aching pelvis; sensation as if the flow will start, but it does not) • Hedeoma (from chill; crampy) • HELONIAS (anemia, weak uterus; restorative of menses after using birth control) • Hydrastis (pelvic heaviness; atonic) • Inula • LEONURUS (debility, nervousness, irritation, bearing-down pains; pelvic and lumbar pain) • Levisticum (delayed, absent, or painful menses) • Mentha piperita (from sudden chill; longstanding, with pallor, coldness, anemia, languor; dark circles around eyes; pain in back and loins; full, prominent veins) • MENTHA PULEGIUM (nervous shock or chill) • Mitchella (swollen feeling, congestion of kidneys) • Monarda fistulosa, M. punctata (suppressed by chill or emotion) • Nepeta (delayed or painful menses; agitated, nervous, excitable) • Origanum (suppressed by chill or emotion) • Petroselinum (lacking or scanty; weak and anemic) • Polygonum hydropiperoides, punctatum (hot infusion; amenorrhea from cold or emotional cause, pelvic heaviness; low cardiac function with poor circulation to the surface) • PULSATILLA (labile moods and cycles; nervous excitability; cold extremities) • Ricinus • Rubia (anemia) • Rumex crispus (anemia; for girls at puberty; nervous, fractious, irritable) • RUTA (Weiss) • Senecio aureus (minute or homeopathic dose; pallor, blood loss, excessive secretions of blood, mucus, pus; uterine prolapse, infertility, feeble appetite, backache; at adolescence; fallopian congestion, debility) • Solidago (from chill) • Thymus • Viburnum prunifolium (tense, bearing-down pains) • Viscum • Vitex (pituitary dysregulation) • Zanthoxylum.
Note: Warm the feet if amenorrhea is from chill.
Dysmenorrhea (Menstrual Cramp and Pain): • Achillea (from congestion of blood) • Acorus • Agrimonia (denies the pain; dysuria) • Alchemilla (tea) • Aletris (painful, scanty, or excessive) • ANGELICA ARCHANGELICA (works as well as the following; confirmed—Kress, Buhner, Wood) • ANGELICA SINENSIS (blood stagnation causing dysmenorrhea; lengthy cycles) • Anthemis (pain) • Apium (languor, debility) • Artemisia vulgaris • Asarum canadense • Bidens • Calendula • Cannabis (painful, spasmodic) • Capsella bursa-pastoris (oozing blood, from weak uterine muscles) • Carum • CAULOPHYLLUM (congestion, with lengthy cycles) • Chamomilla (irritable, complaining of pain) • Cichorium (tea) • CIMICIFUGA (brooding, delayed, better from onset) • Collinsonia (menses aggravate rectal spasms and hemorrhoids) • Crocus sativus (warming and nourishing; painful, irregular periods; menopause, infertility, anemia) • DIOSCOREA (griping, twisting pain, worse bending down and lying down, better standing erect and bending back) • Erigeron • Gelsemium (apply cream over uterus; internal nonhomeopathic use is toxic) • Gossypium (menses tardy, with backache, clots; iatrogenic complications from antihistamines, anti-inflammatory medications) • Hedeoma • Helonias (pelvic fullness) • Hydrastis (congestive) • Lactuca (stiff and cold) • Lamium (tea) • Leonurus (irritability, unrest, lumbar and pelvic pain and cramping; better from onset of menses) • Levisticum • Lilium longiflorum (conflicting desires) • LIRIODENDRON (increases flow, decreases spasm) • Liatris • Lobelia (painful torsion) • Magnesium salts • Melilotus • Mitchella (pain in kidneys and lower back from mild edema) • Nepeta (delayed, painful menses) • Passiflora (neuralgic) • Petroselinum (weak and anemic; scanty periods or very severe dysmenorrhea) • Piper methysticum • Piscidia (cramp, tension, insomnia, pain) • Polygonum aviculare (tea) • Pulsatilla (progesterone deficiency; changeable—happy/sad, tearful, nervous, on-edge) • Rosa • Rubus canadensis (cramps towards the end of menses, with red blood) • SAMBUCUS (painful, heavy flow from endometrial excess—Wolff) • Senecio aureus (pallor, blood loss, backache; “its action on the female organism has been clinically verified”—Boericke) • Symplocarpus • Tanacetum parthenium • Thymus (compress, tea) • TRIFOLIUM (hot flashes, night sweats, mood changes, depression, menstrual cramps, vaginal dryness, low desire) • Valeriana • Verbena hastata (food cravings; feels driven) • VIBURNUM OPULUS (uterine spasm, before and during menses; with intestinal cramps referred to thighs and sacrum; PMS) • VIBURNUM PRUNIFOLIUM (tension; intense spasms before, during, after menses; colicky lumbar and pelvic pain; scanty flow) • Viscum • Vitex (progesterone deficiency; headache, migraine, menstrual pains, breast tenderness, acne) • Zanthoxylum (tortured, as if ovaries are being ripped out by wires) • Zingiberis (muscle spasm; warm tea or liniment).
Note: Warm the feet if dysmenorrhea is due to cold. Magnesium salts are always indicated during and after spasm.
Menorrhagia, Metrorrhagia (Excessive Bleeding): • ACHILLEA (profuse bleeding) • Alchemilla (astringent; passive hemorrhage, menorrhagia) • Aletris (too frequent, weak, pale, insufficient flow) • Angelica archangelica (with cramping) • Angelica sinensis (with cramping) • Bidens (metrorrhagia) • CAPSELLA (heavy, dark, oozing, clotted) • Capsicum • Cimicifuga (with diarrhea and colon cramp) • Cinnamomum spp. (early and profuse menses; polyps and fibroids) • Codonopsis (thin, weak, drying out) • Crocus sativus (dark, clotted) • Equisetum • Erigeron • Fraxinus (severe hemorrhage) • Geranium • Geum (hemorrhage) • Gossypium • Hamamelis • Helonias • Hibiscus (excitation; hemorrhage) • Hydrastis (congestive, atonic menorrhagia) • Juniperus • Krameria (menorrhagia) • Leonurus (excess flow) • Lycopus (irregular pulse) • Mitchella (congestion) • Polygonum bistorta (excessive menses) • Pulsatilla (changeable cycles and moods) • Sanguisorba (metrorrhagia) • Scoparium • Senecio aureus (too soon, too long, painful; excess blood loss, prolapse, pallor, feeble appetite, backache) • TRILLIUM (pelvic weakness, fibroids, endometriosis, prolonged periods, uterin
e prolapse, menopausal bleeding) • Urtica (spotting) • Viburnum (menopausal metrorrhagia) • VINCA MAJOR (menorrhagia) • Vitex.
Menses Too Frequent: • Capsella (bleeding elsewhere during menstruation; poor uterine tone causes oozing, possibly throughout the month) • Erigeron • Senecio aureus (blood loss) • Trillium.
Menses Delayed: • Achillea (brings blood to the surface) • Aletris • Capsella (poor expulsive power of womb) • Cimicifuga (dark mood until arrival of menses) • GOSSYPIUM (backache, fullness, aching pelvis; sensation as if the flow will start, but does not) • Mitchella (backache, mild edema) • Pulsatilla (irregular or late periods due to pituitary dysregulation) • Senecio aureus (blood loss, anemia, backache; when “women do not cycle well or at all”—Sedlacek).
Restorative after Birth Control Pills Discontinued: • HELONIAS • Hypericum (helps liver clear hormones) • Nuphar • Vitex (after coming off the pill; can cause severe depression in women with high progesterone; other side effects reported—Welliver).
Menses Irregular: • Achillea • Alchemilla • Aletris • Angelica sinensis (cycles longer than 28 days) • Capsella bursa-pastoris • Cinchona • DAUCUS (take once a month at full or new moon until periods are regular, then discontinue) • Helonias • Hypericum (helps liver clear hormones) • Linum • Nuphar • PULSATILLA (no two periods are alike) • RUBUS CANADENSIS (menses “too much, too little, too seldom, too frequent, too painful,” etc.—Kress) • SENECIO AUREUS (known as “female regulator” in the nineteenth century; “women do not cycle well or at all”—Sedlacek) • Vitex (after coming off the pill; can cause severe depression in women with high progesterone—Welliver; other side effects reported).