Know Your Remedies: Spigelia Anthelmia (Spig.)
Common Names: Pink root; worm grass.
General Information
Spigelia Anthelmia (Spig.) is a remedy for nerve-related pain, often on the left side of the body, and especially in nerves related to the heart, face (trigeminal nerve), teeth, and eye. The pains ire stitching, sharp, piercing, or like hot needles, and may be radiating and intense. Symptoms are worsened by motion, touch, jarring, smoke, and during the daytime.
Mental-Emotional Symptoms
- Fear of pointed objects.
Head
- Severe pain in and around left eye.
- Ciliary neuralgia (cluster headache).
- Facial neuralgia (facial nerve pain).
- Types of trigeminal neuralgia
Eye
- Types of glaucoma.
- Types of iritis.
Gastrointestinal
- Worms with left colon infestations.
- Itching and crawling sensations around the anus.
Chest
- Angina pectoris (chest pain) worsened by the least motion, deep inspiration, and lying on the left side. Improved by hot drinks.
- Stitching pain around the heart.
- Palpitations that may be violent, audible, or visible.
Where do I find it?
Spigelia Anthelmia (Spig.) is available from our online store as a single remedy in either pills or liquid, and as part of the following Complexes (combination remedies): Headache (Migraine); Trigeminal Neuralgia.
Important
While above self-limiting or acute complaints are suitable for home treatment also contact your healthcare provider during emergency situations or if symptoms worsen or fail to improve. Chronic or persistent complaints, which may or may not be mentioned above, require a different treatment and dosage protocol so are best managed by a qualified homeopath for good results.
Dosage Instructions (suitable for babies to adults)
For the home treatment of acute and self-limiting complaints take one pill or five drops of the remedy every 1 minute to 4 hours (1 minute for intense or emergency symptoms (plus seek emergency help), 4 hours for milder ones). Once an improvement is noticed, stop dosing and repeat the remedy only if symptoms return. If there is no improvement at all by three doses, choose a different remedy or seek professional guidance.
Note: Chronic symptoms or complaints require a course of professional treatment by a qualified homeopath to manage the changes in potencies and remedies may be required.
More Information
Guidelines on which potency to use
From Past Masters
Homeopathy is a 200-year system of medicine. Early medical homeopaths recorded initial provings, remedy relationships, and their early experiences with each remedy in great detail.
These writings were then shared with others to advance homeopathic knowledge and practice.
Today, these same writings give a fascinating insight into the symptoms and clinical conditions for which each remedy was used.
The following extract, with minor editing, is one example.
Leaders In Homoeopathic Therapeutics by E. B. NASH M.D.
Spigelia anthelmia (Spig.)
Violent beating of the heart, shakes the chest; sometimes audible several inches away.
Left-sided neuralgias of head, face and eyes; pains increase and decrease with the rising and setting sun; watering of the eye, on affected side.
Modalities: < from motion, noise, inspiration, moving eyes, cold, damp, rainy weather; rising sun; > quiet; dry air, setting sun.
* * * * *
In this we have another valuable, heart remedy.
The pains in the heart in this remedy are as severe as those under Cactus and the action is more violent than under either Cactus or Digitalis.
It is so violent as often to be visible to the eye through the clothes, shaking the whole chest, and the sounds are often audible several inches away.
It is not only a very valuable remedy in acute attacks of the heart but in chronic valvular affections following the acute attack, where we have the loud blowing sounds and attacks of violent palpitation.
I have seen the violent attacks of palpitation quickly relieved, and not only that, but the valvular troubles gradually and perfectly cured, under the action of this remedy.
In these troubles the patient can often only lie on the right side (Phos., Nat. mur.), or with the head very high; least motion < (Naja).
It is one of our best remedies for neuralgic affections of the head, face, and eyes.
The headaches are generally one-sided, beginning in the occiput and extending forward, and settling over the left eye (right, Sang. and Silicea). They are aggravated by the least noise or jar.
They increase with the rising of the sun and decrease with its going down (Natrum mur., Tabacum), and the eye on the affected side often runs clear water. (Chelidon. maj., right side with water gushing out).
Spigelia is very useful in ciliary neuralgia, the pain being of the same character as the headaches.
The pains are also stabbing, running through into the back of the head, or like Actea, they press outward, as if the eyeballs were too large for the sockets (Comocladia).
In any or all of the above-named affections, for which Spigelia is so efficacious, the patient is made worse from motion, noise, inspiration or moving the eyes, and especially in cold, damp, rainy weather.
It makes us think of Bryonia, Kalmia and Natrum mur., and Actća (motion), Belladonna (noise), and China (touch, especially light touch).
It is certainly a very valuable remedy, though not one, so far as known, of very wide range of action.
