by Matthew Wood
Intermittent Claudication: • Allium sativa • Gingko.
Parkinson’s: • Amygdalus • Avena (severe pain; nightly dose) • Capsicum • Galium • Scutellaria • Verbena hastata (palliative) • Zanthoxylum.
Multiple Sclerosis: • Angelica sinensis (young women) • Eleutherococcus • Eupatorium perfoliatum • Oplopanax (if aggravated by blood-sugar shifts) • Panax quinquefolius • Populus gileadensis • Scutellaria.
Narcolepsy: • Avena • Cola.
Shock: See “Injuries, First Aid.”
Stroke, Paralysis: • Achillea (external) • Arnica (external) • Eupatorium purpureum (external, on paralyzed part) • Heracleum (fresh root tincture, externally) • Pedicularis • SASSAFRAS (thick blood, pulse like oatmeal) • Urtica (affinity to weakness of inner thighs; paralysis after anesthesia—needs confirmation; internal or external) • Zanthoxylum (external).
Note: For stroke/paralysis, both the brain and the affected part need attention.
Rebuilding Nervous System After any Severe Addiction: • AVENA (decoct for at least forty minutes) • Borago (needs confirmation) • Passiflora (quieting effect on nervous system; heroine addition).
Sensorium: • Monarda (sensory nerves weak or too intense) • Monotropa (sensory overload) • Psilocybe (reawakens senses) • Turnera (loss of pleasure in).
FORMULARY
Hypericum, Melissa, and Rosemary comprise William LeSassier’s basic “triune formula” for the nervous system.
Medicago—with Chondrus, Ulmus (convalescence tonic). BHP 1983, 140.
Muscular and Skeletal Systems
Myalgia, “Rheumatism” (Muscles Injured, Painful, Inflamed, Bruised): • ACHILLEA (bruising; poultice, fomentation) • Acorus • Aesculus hip. (dull, throbbing pain) • Agrimonia (pinched nerve, muscle) • Agropyron (renal) • Aletris (undernourished) • Allium cepa (rheumatic pain in the tendons; tincture, external) • Anemopsis • Anagallis (acute rheumatism) • Angelica • Anthemis (poultice on pain) • APIUM (stiffness, pain, mental depression) • Aralia racemosa (rheumatism) • Aralia spinosa (rheumatism, spasm) • Arctium (lower back, pelvis) • ARNICA (bruising, stiffness, strain, overexertion; external) • ARTEMISIA VULGARIS (external, in moxibustion) • Betonica (chronic rheumatism) • BUPLEURUM (intercostal, chest, shoulder, neck fullness and pain, the “must-see” sign—Huang) • Calendula (pulled muscle) • Calluna • Cannabis (severe pain) • Carthamus (reduces soreness if taken before exercise; removes lactic acid) • Castanea (generalized fibrositis) • Caulophyllum (“neuralgic forms of rheumatism,” with cramping, twitching—Cook) • CENTELLA (dull, throbbing pain) • Chamomilla (complains about pain) • Chelidonium (dull muscular ache) • Chimaphila (muscle pain from edema; kidneys) • CIMICIFUGA (pain, tightness, dull ache; whiplash, fibromyalgia, rheumatism, rheumatoid arthritis, intercostal myalgia, sciatica; from change of weather) • Cinchona (shoulders, wrists, fingers) • Cinnamomum (external, on cold, sore muscles) • CURCUMA (combine with pepper) • DIOSCOREA (tincture) • DIPSACUS (myalgia; adhesions and scar tissue; torn, wrenched—LeSassier) • Echinacea (dull, heavy pain) • Echium vulgare (inflammatory pain) • Eschscholzia • Equisetum • Eupatorium purpureum • Filipendula (tea) • Fucus (internal and/or external) • Gaultheria (oil, external) • Genista tinctoria • Guaiacum (rheumatism, feeble circulation, cold hands and feet, vital depression) • Hamamelis (strain, soreness, injury) • HARPAGOPHYTUM • Heracleum (temporomandibular joint syndrome, Bell’s palsy, whiplash; 20–40 drops) • Hydrangea • Hypericum (oil, external) • Hyssopus • Iris (pains in pectorals, under scapula) • Jeffersonia (acute, non-inflammatory, with mild auto-toxicity) • Juniperus • Lactuca (tightness, tight lower back) • Lavandula • Ledum (rheumatic feet) • Leonurus • Lobelia (torsion, spasm, “rheumatic nodules”—BHP) • Lycopodium • Majorana • Melilotus (cold extremities, lameness, soreness; “sharp stabbing pain”—D. Winston) • MENYANTHES • Myristica (pain) • Nicotiana (external poultice) • Oplopanax • Opuntia (flowers) • Paeonia (spasm) • Panax quinquefolius (during recuperation from debilitating, protracted illness) • Pedicularis (sprains, pain; sharp muscle spasms; removes lactic acid) • Peumus • Petroselinum (internal, external) • PHYTOLACCA • Pilocarpus jaborandi (profuse or lack of sweat; fever, hard pulse; small doses) • Piper methysticum • Populus gileadensis (ointment of the bud) • Primula vera (acute rheumatism) • Quercus • Rhamnus frangula (external) • RHODIOLA (increases stamina) • Ruta • Salix alba (“muscular and arthrodial rheumatism with inflammation and pain”—BHP) • Salvia • Sassafras • SENECIO JACOBAEA (external) • Smilax • Solanum dulcamara (toxic for internal use; external for pain from cold and damp) • Stellaria • Symphytum (swollen) • Taraxacum (affinity to sternocleidomastoid muscle, neck; inflamed, swollen muscles) • Thuja • Thymus serpyllum (dilute oil) • Urtica (bath) • Vaccinium (solid extract) • Valeriana • Verbascum • Verbena (tight nape of neck) • Veronica (tincture, external, internal) • WITHANIA • ZANTHOXYLUM (weakness with pain; poor circulation, debility, agony) • YUCCA • Zea (tea) • ZINGIBERIS (fresh rhizome for spasm; dried rhizome for pain).
Muscles (Weakness, Asthenia): • Abies nigra (poor digestion, vascular weakness, pale mucosa) • Alchemilla (hernia; weak muscles and membranes) • Betonica (weakness) • Capsella • Capsicum (senility) • Cichorium (rub on atrophic limbs) • Cola (“depressive states associated with general muscular weakness”—BHP; senescence) • Ganoderma • Glechoma (lead poisoning) • Hydrastis (weakness, debilitated muscles) • Lycopodium (weakness, sometimes with severe spasms) • Melilotus • Myrica • Panax quinquefolius (weak) • Pinus • Polygonatum (convalescence) • Rhodiola • Rubus canadensis (tones and nourishes) • Ulmus (convalescence) • Withania • Zanthoxylum (weakness, pain).
Muscles (Spasms, Cramps, Myalgia): • Betonica • Cannabis sativa (spasmodic pain of nervous origin, with depression) • Caulophyllum (“neuralgic forms of rheumatism,” with cramping, twitching—Cook) • Chamomilla • Cimicifuga • DIOSCOREA (cramps and intermittent claudication) • Epilobium (with diarrhea and dysentery) • Filipendula • GELSEMIUM (herbal cream; external only) • Heracleum • Lavandula (external) • Leonurus (spine, mental; muscles, especially when felt around the heart; tension from cold) • Lobelia (sthenic; torsion) • Lycopodium (asthenic cramping) • Majorana (relaxes, loosens) • Mentha piperita • Paeonia • Passiflora • Pedicularis • Piper methysticum • Rosmarinus (essential oil, in olive oil—rub on calf spasm) • Salvia (tea) • Scutellaria (tremors, tics, fits, nervousness) • Thymus (compress, tea) • UMBELLULARIA (muscle spasm; leaf or roasted nut) • Valeriana (uterine, lower back, with nervousness) • VERBASCUM (root; “effective remedy esteemed by countryfolk”—Parton; lacking modern verification) • Viburnum opulus (uterine, lower back, leg at night) • Viscum (tea) • Withania • ZINGIBERIS (fresh rhizome; external).
Note: Always use Magnesium salts during or after muscle spasm to replenish their loss. Magnesium sedates muscles, and without this element muscles are twitchy and spastic. It is assisted by calcium; see discussion of parathyroid, under “Thyroid.”
Muscles (Strain, Sprain, Overexertion, Hyperextension): • Acorus • ARNICA (overexertion) • ARTEMISIA VULGARIS (external, in moxibustion) • Hypericum (sharp pain, pulled muscle) • Pedicularis (sharp pain) • Petasites (leaf compress) • Ruta • SYMPHYTUM (sprain, overexertion; leaf, external) • Thymus • TSUGA CANADENSIS (oil, external) • VERBENA (hyperextension) • Veronica (overexertion).
Tendons, Ligaments: • Arctium (withered tendons; leaf poultice) • Cimicifuga (deep, aching pain with muscle involvement) • Cinchona (relaxed ligaments; aching pain after movement) • DIPSACUS (pulled, torn, wrenched, incapacitated) • Echinacea (chronic) • Equisetum (cartilage damage) • Eupatorium purpureum (dried-out muscles and tendons around joint; frozen) • Hedeoma (Achilles-tendon strain; oil) • Iris (tight tendons) • Linum (rub linseed oil; not for internal consumption—Hall) • Monarda fistulosa (burning pain) • POLY
GONATUM (tendons tight or loose) • Symphytum • Thuja (Achilles tendon strain).
Convulsions: See “Nervous System.”
Joints (Arthritis): • Acorus (cold, achy) • Agrimonia (out of joint; inflammation, pain) • Alchemilla arvensis • Anemopsis (inflammatory; bath) • Angelica (warming) • Apocynum cannabinum (arthritic pain with edema) • Arctium • Arnica (chronic; external) • ASARUM CANADENSE (chronic; external) • Asclepias tuberosa (acute inflammation, bursitis, intercostal, lack of lubrication, clicking in joints) • Betonica • BOSWELLIA (rheumatoid and osteoarthritis; fatigue, weakness; with digestive, metabolic disorder) • Capsella • Caulophyllum (fingers) • Centella (red, not inflamed) • Chimaphila (arthritic pain with edema) • CIMICIFUGA (trapezius, scapula; rheumatism in the depth of the muscle) • CURCUMA (inflammation from tissue depression; external, internal) • DAUCUS (in elderly) • DIOSCOREA (arthritis; cook until suds appear) • DIPSACUS (muscle spasm, joint pain, inflammation, Lyme disease) • Equisetum • Eryngium maritimum • Eupatorium purpureum (removes calcification) • Filipendula (tea) • Fucus • Galium • Gaultheria (oil, external) • Glycyrrhiza • GUAIACUM (“takes the heat out of any rheumatic or arthritic flare-up”—Bartram; atrophy, contraction, shortening of tendons; joint stiffness, deformities; affinities to the wrists, knee, limbs, spine) • Harpagophytum (rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis) • Hydrangea • HYPERICUM (tight, painful, swollen hands; external; if it doesn’t work within 15 minutes, it won’t work at all) • Inula • Iris (aching in the shafts of the long bones) • Juniperus • Larrea (bath; pain, swelling, redness) • Lavender (external) • Leonurus (stiff, cold joints; osteoporosis) • Lycopodium • Medicago sativa • Menispermum canadense (chronic arthritis with lymphatic swelling and weak digestion) • MENYANTHES (rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis; with liver, digestive disorder) • Oplopanax • PARIETARIA • Petroselinum • Phaseolus • Phytolacca (apathetic, with lazy habits; external, or small doses) • Pinus • POLYGONATUM (pain relief in all kinds of arthritis, lack of lubrication) • Populus • Prunus serotina • Prunus spinosa • Pulsatilla (shoulder joints) • Rosmarinus (external) • Ruscus • Salix (external) • Sassafras (tonic, preventive; warms the joints, increases circulation to extremities; external) • Senecio • Smilacina • Smilax • Stellaria • Symphytum (arthritis, swelling) • Tanacetum parthenium (swelling, tenderness; thins blood) • Taraxacum • Thuja • Thymus (chronic; warming) • Tsuga canadensis (especially for lower back; oil, external) • URTICA (arthritis) • Verbascum (lubricating; bath) • WITHANIA • YUCCA (breaks up mineral deposits in inflamed tissues) • Zanthoxylum (in weak-nerved older people with painful joints; adjuvant to stimulate nerves and capillaries) • ZINGIBERIS (muscular cramp and pain with arthritis).
Joints (Inflammation, Synovitis): • AESCLEPIAS TUBEROSA (swollen, inflamed, hot; old adhesions) • BRYONIA (homeopathic; acute) • CENTELLA (acts on cellular matrix and connective tissue) • CURCUMA (inflammation from tissue depression) • Hypericum • Smilax.
Joints (Injured, Frozen): • Agrimonia (pinched tissues, dislocations) • Ajuga (dislocations) • Angelica (hot compress on painful joint) • Asclepias tuberosa (dried-out synovial fluids; adhesions; frozen) • Cinchona (relaxed ligaments; aching pain after movement) • DIPSACUS (pulled, torn, wrenched, incapacitated) • Equisetum (cartilage damage) • Eupatorium purpureum (dried-out muscles and tendons around joint; frozen) • Hydrastis (torn bursa, meniscus, disc) • Hypericum (shoulder) • Hyssopus (oil, rubbed into dry, painful joints) • Lycopodium (compress) • Menispermum (chronic arthritis with lymphatic congestion and weak digestion) • POLYGONATUM (tendons tight or loose) • Smilacina • Symphytum • Tsuga canadensis (oil, external) • Urtica • Zanthoxylum (painful).
Joints (Rheumatoid Arthritis): • Agrimonia • APIUM (with mental depression, debility) • Boswellia • Caulophyllum • Centella • Chelone • CIMICIFUGA • Citrus limonum (excessively red, inflamed surfaces; elongated red tongue) • DIOSCOREA • Dipsacus (with Smilacina) • Echinacea (acute phase) • Equisetum • Fucus • Ganoderma lucidum • Gaultheria • Glycyrrhiza • GUAIACUM (“gouty nodes on fingers and knees, etc.”—Bartram) • HARPAGOPHYTUM (specific; small doses relieve pain; large doses cause inflammation and reduce deposits) • Menyanthes • Piper Methysticum • POPULUS • Salix • SENECIO JACOBAEA (lotion) • Scrophularia • SMILACINA • Smilax • Symphytum (external) • Tabebuia • Tanacetum parthenium • Taraxacum • Teucrium • Withania • YUCCA.
Hands, Wrists, Fingers: • Arctium (DuPuytren’s contracture; leaf) • Boswellia (DuPuytren’s) • Caulophyllum (arthritic fingers) • Cimicifuga (cramps in wrists from gardening; external) • Crataegus (dryness, back of wrists) • Cimicifuga (wrist, joints swollen, inflamed, red) • GALIUM (almost a specific for DuPuytren’s and Morton’s neuroma) • GUAIACUM (DuPuytren’s; shrunken tendons of hands) • Ledum (wrists, ankles) • MELISSA (sweaty palms) • Polygonum hydropiperoides, P. punctatum (arthritis) • Senecio aureus (chapped hands; cream) • Smilacina (rheumatoid fingers; combines well with Dipsacus) • Thuja (chapped) • THYMUS (for some reason, specific for when the fingers are dry).
Palms (plump parts) Red: • CRATAEGUS • PRUNUS SEROTINA (red and yellow) • ROSA (mottling with carmine- and dark-red).
Note: Redness of the plump parts of the palms indicates slowing-down of erythrocytes as they pass through the capillaries. This is due to inflammation of the capillaries (with or without cholesterol deposition), low or high blood pressure, or inflammatory processes. With mottling of dark-red and carmine-red, it indicates heat burning into the tissues, which needs to be stopped to prevent chronic illness.
Raynaud’s Phenomenon (White and Cold Fingers): • Achillea • Artemisia vulgaris • CARTHAMUS (a true specific; oil, external; tincture, internal) • HELICHRYSUM (oil, external) • Hypericum (external) • Melilotus • Oplopanax (needs confirmation) • Zanthoxylum.
Repetitive-use Injury: • Hypericum • POLYGONATUM (external) • RHUS TOX. (homeopathic) • RUTA (swollen, very painful, complicated) • SYMPHYTUM (external) • VERBENA.
Nails: • Althaea • Arnica (infection; tincture externally) • Avena (ingrown) • Calendula • EQUISETUM (fungus under nail; hangnails; weak nails) • Juglans nigra (suppurating infection; leaf tea externally).
Note: Henna on the nails will slowly kill fungus and strengthen the nails. This “beauty tip” is well-known in India and was passed on to Jim MacDonald at a Hindu wedding. Frank Parton (1931) gives general directions: “Look to the general health; take at least a pint of milk daily; soak the nails in almond oil nightly.”
Hip Joints: • Allium cepa (rheumatism) • Cannabis (palliative in hip-joint disease) • Cimicifuga (dull pain; sciatica) • Dioscorea (hip-joint disease) • Helianthemum (hip-joint disease) • Hypericum (sciatica) • Polygonatum (ligamentous tension) • Melilotus (sciatica) • Pulsatilla (pain in hip joint) • Smilacina (ligamentous tension).
Legs: • Aesculus hip. (phlebitis) • Mahonia (night pains in shinbones) • Melilotus (rheumatic and neuralgic lameness) • Mentha piperita (flower essence; directs to lower limbs) • Nymphaea (sores) • Paeonia (shaky leg) • Plantago (ulceration) • Pulsatilla (phlebitis) • Rosmarinus (essential oil, in olive oil—rub on calf spasm) • Ruta (shin splints; acute, chronic) • Solidago (skin irritation) • Stellaria (ulceration; ointment) • TARAXACUM (flower, in oil). Also see “Restless Leg Syndrome,” above.
Knees: • Althaea • Chamomilla • Chelidonium (right knee pain, drawing of muscles up to liver) • Cinchona (relaxed ligaments, with ache) • Helianthemum (swollen) • Nymphaea (weakness) • Polygonatum • Sambucus • Symphytum.
Ankles and Feet: • Acorus (tired feet; apply locally) • Althaea (swollen; footbath) • Arctium (tired, sore, painful hips, legs, feet) • Avena (tired feet; oatstraw bath) • Cinchona (ankle ligaments relaxed, achy from use) • Equisetum (sweaty; fallen arches; footbath) • Guaiacum (foot pain) • Juglans nigra (sweaty; leaf) • Juniperus (edemic pitting of
ankles) • Larrea (foot pain) • Ledum (ankle joints swollen, soles of feet worse from warmth of bed) • Lycopodium (cramps in feet; homeopathic or herb) • Medicago (foot pain) • Petasites (on sore, chafed feet; leaf dressing) • Plantago (sore) • Polygonatum (bone spurs from unequal tensions on ligaments) • Polygonum hydropiperoides (to tone and relieve arthritis; footbath) • Rosmarinus (dark rings around ankles in the elderly; bad circulation to the head; “low blood”) • Rumex crispus (sore feet) • Smilacina (arthritis) • Solidago (tired feet and kidneys) • SYMPHYTUM (footbath with bath salts) • Thuja (ingrown toenail) • Thymus (foot pain) • Tussilago (tired, swollen feet) • WITHANIA • Zanthoxylum (foot pain) • Zingiberis (chilled, cold, tight; decoction of the rhizome as a footbath).
Spinal Injury: • ACHILLEA (to prevent pressure of congealed blood on nerves, administer as soon as possible after a serious head or spine injury) • Aesculus hip. (swollen disks) • Agrimonia (pinched tissues) • Artemisia vulgaris (moxibustion) • ASARUM CANADENSE (old and very old injuries; stiff, sore, cold; external) • CIMICIFUGA (accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid; whiplash with tightness in trapezius; painful lower back, thighs, loins) • Dipsacus (torn, wrenched, pulled muscles) • Equisetum • Eupatorium perfoliatum (compression fracture) • Hydrangea (postpartum) • HYDRASTIS (herniated or ruptured discs) • HYPERICUM (nerve pain and inflammation, shooting pain, coccygeal pain; pain from torn disc) • Lobelia (whiplash with torsional spasm) • Petasites (inflamed, herniated, ruptured discs) • SOLIDAGO (bruised, tired; external, internal) • Verbascum (helps set spine straight) • Verbena (tension in nape of neck) • Zanthoxylum (writhing in agony from pain of torn disc).
Spine (Spasm): • Aesculus glabra (contraction, rigidity) • Aesculus hip. (lower back, sacrum, and sacroiliac pain; stiff, weak back that “gives out”; heaviness, swelling) • Agrimonia (pinched tissues; lumbar) • Angelica sinensis (back, pelvis, menstrual cramp) • Artemisia vulgaris (moxibustion) • Bupleurum • Cannabis (pain “between the shoulders”—Jones) • CIMICIFUGA (accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid; whiplash with tightness in trapezius; painful lower back, thighs, loins) • Cinnamomum (lower back pain, cold) • Dioscorea • HYPERICUM (nerve pain and inflammation, shooting pain, coccygeal pain) • Lactuca (lower back tight; cold constitution) • Lobelia (torsional spasm)• Piper methysticum • Piscidia (sedative, anodyne, antispasmodic; often palliative, not curative, but valuable for the pain) • Polygonatum (adjusts tensions on vertebrae; TMJ [temporomandibular joint syndrome]) • Sambucus (back pain, colic) • TSUGA (oil, on lower back) • VALERIAN (see Viburnum) • VERBENA (tension in nape of neck; TMJ) • VIBURNUM OPULUS (spasms, neuralgia, lower back, neck, pelvis, digestion, legs; back pain during menses) • Zingiberis (for spasm; fresh).