Belladonna acts on the circulatory
system as well as on the heart, lungs, brain and nervous system.
Like Aconite, a sudden onset
of the disease typifies Belladonna, though the disease process is
more prolonged. The salient feature of Belladonna is the inflammation especially
affecting the brain, lungs, heart and intestines. Although the acuteness of the symptoms is like that of Aconite,
there is no associated fear. The patient expresses his suffering in the form of
a groan or remains silent. He does not like to talk much except for crying out
on having a nightmare during sleep. He usually remains quiet with the body
covered. The slightest sound of somebody walking, and light also, intensify his
suffering. His skin is so sensitive that even the touch of a cloth at the site
of pain is unbearable. The afflicted part is red, with a severe burning sensation. Due to
the rise of blood pressure, the patient may experience spasms or convulsions. Jerky movements of the body during sleep,
secondary to stomach upset or disorder of the nervous system, are very
responsive to Grindelia. In Grindelia, the jerky movements do not affect the
whole body, though may be perceived as the jerking sensation at the heart. In Belladonna, the whole body gets jolted waking
the person up. This happens repeatedly
and the patient is unable to sleep. A single dose of Belladonna may relieve the
symptoms in no time. Photophobia associated
with the diseases of the eye or headache, is also a Belladonna symptom.
When Belladonna symptoms and the symptoms of the patient
match exactly, Belladonna works instantaneously. In fact, the patient is amazed
with the prompt efficacy of the treatment rendered.In Belladonna, the symptoms pertaining to the nervous system are much
more pronounced than in Aconite. Belladonna affects the mind and may even cause
severe frenzy.
When an insane person gets too excited and is ready to kill somebody or
himself, if he is extremely enraged and starts hitting even his carer, then
Belladonna should be administered at once. If the condition becomes chronic,
then Belladonna will not work. Belladonna is certainly effective in sudden cases
of insanity such as in Meningitis
and other delirious states, but Sulphur and Stramonium are more
effective in chronic insanity. A severe state of frenzy requiring the patient
to be chained typifies Belladonna. After Belladonna has relieved the acute
problem, one should look for an appropriate, long-acting constitutional remedy
to prevent recurrence of insanity. Aconite and Belladonna are not longacting remedies.
Sometimes, the attack of madness is only shortlived. However, a chronic form of madness, despite having subsided temporarily,
can recur again and again. Stramonium works for a much longer period than
Belladonna.
In typhoid
too, sometimes the symptoms may be similar to those of Belladonna.
High fever affects the mind causing delirium. Belladonna may temporarily relieve the
symptoms, but its effect will not be long lasting because typhoid and
Belladonna are not alike in their characteristics. Stramonium is relatively
more similar to typhoid and it works for a relatively longer duration. Thus, it
may not only control the delirium of typhoid, but it will also cure the
typhoid. Stramonium and Sulphur are
very beneficial in mental patients, whether the madness is due to typhoid or
something else. Sometimes an insane person is not only aggressive but may also
talk obscenely. This is due to
inflammation of the internal reproductive organs, and will also need to be
attended to. Some people may become insane due to an old calamity affecting
their mind, while others become insane due to intense grief or a big financial
loss. Proper diagnosis of insanity needs an in-depth study of the case.
Unfortunately, physicians do not always have enough time to go into details and
thus make use of the everyday prescription of Stramonium and Sulphur to some
benefit at least. One peculiar feature of Belladonna is that its fever is a
continuous one. Once it is down, it does not recur. On the contrary,
the typhoid fever is high at night and relatively low in the morning. It
returns the following day higher than on the previous day. Sometimes it
is so high that it may even kill the patient. The Belladonna fever
typically comes down suddenly. A fever that is suppressed by some strong
medication and then recurs suddenly may very well be controlled by Belladonna. However, Belladonna is not the remedy for
fevers which come on slowly.
In Belladonna patients, pimples and affected lymph glands
show visible sign of inflammation. The throat
gets swollen suddenly due to severe inflammation causing difficulty
in swallowing. Belladonna is very useful for this condition. Another
characteristic feature is that red spots form over the surface of inflamed
glands. The redness lasts a while, and then becomes discoloured. The joint
pains are associated with redness and swelling. The red spots also appear on
the joints, which later discolour, but do not lead to pus formation. Belladonna can also offer instant relief
from a severe, acute pain of
the gall bladder, if the pain gets worse by application of heat.
After that, Sulphur, Natrum Sulph, Lycopodium and Chelidonium can be used for
permanent cure.
Belladonna is also very useful in the colicky pain of the kidneys in addition
to gall bladder colic (Biliary colic). Belladonna along with Aconite will work
better still. Both Belladonna and Aconite 1000 should be given together every
ten to fifteen minutes for two to three doses. If still ineffective and the
pain seems to be getting better by heat, Colocynthis CM or Mag Phos 6X mixed in
water should be administered repeatedly. The spasmodicity of the pain may apparently
be the same, but the constitutional difference dictates the type of remedy
required.
Swelling is a manifestation of Belladonna. When Belladonna
is combined with Arnica for the treatment of injuries,
it enhances its effect. In the case of an injury, the blood is rushed to the
affected part for which doctors usually prescribe cold packs. Belladonna is
more effective than cold packs and also fast acting. Belladonna given with Arnica
is the best initial treatment for any kind of injury.
Belladonna ailments get worse with heat but cold compresses, applied locally, offer
relief. If liver and the gut are inflamed, the body becomes cold. In this condition, even if the patient is of
Belladonna nature, external application of heat offers relief.
In Belladonna, each affected part of the body pulsates.
Sometimes the whole body throbs. Belladonna will relieve any acute pain of a spasmodic nature with
associated throbbing, which gets worse with jolting and noise, and is
associated with the sensation of warmth. Belladonna acts on the small circular fibres in the walls of
the blood vessels (veins and arteries). Whenever these fibres contract
violently due to heat, Belladonna will relieve this spasm. Belladonna
works instantaneously in spasmodic
tightness of the mouth of the uterus
at the
time of labour, provided other symptoms of Belladonna are also
present. Otherwise, Colophylum has the capability of relieving this severe
spasm. Calcaria Carb is the long-term remedy for the diseases of children who
have initially responded well to Belladonna.
Any convulsions which get worse on the movement of the body or
jolting,
will respond to Belladonna. One strange feature of Belladonna is that during the
illness, the patient feels better by taking food. Even if the patient is in a
state of madness, he will calm down if fed. This symptom is also found in Phosphorus
and Psorinum. An insane person feels hungry but he does not ask for food. If he
is provided with some food his desire to eat, and the anguish will subside
while the Phosphorus patient is usually very hungry and feels hungry soon after
having food. When the blood circulation
towards the brain increases, the patient will envision demons and ghosts.
Nightmares where objects are on fire disturb the patient during sleep. If such
a patient is given Belladonna, he will stop dreaming about fire. In Belladonna,
there is a tendency of deep
unconsciousness. One pupil of the eye gets dilated. This particular
symptom makes it similar to Opium, however Opium is different from Belladonna
in other symptoms. Belladonna should be
the first medicine to be given when a child
has high fever affecting mostly his head, but his feet are ice cold.
It is a dangerous situation when, during a fever,
the body becomes cold but the head is very hot. The mothers may believe that
the fever has subsided but actually, it is the fever caused by the severity of
the disease. If a proper homoeopathic remedy is administered, the body will
start warming up. Otherwise, dangerous illnesses like meningitis and epilepsy
can develop. In such conditions, Belladonna is one of those remedies which will
work promptly. If the proper remedy is not provided, the child may die.
Belladonna will offer immediate relief when the patient
has severe vertigo and
is restless. This symptom is also present in Phosphorus. When there is a headache, the scalp starts hurting. Combing
the hair or even touching it with the hand is very bothersome. The hypersensitivity of the scalp is
also found in Hepar Sulph, which is so saliently present that some women may
actually become unconscious. When there is lack of sleep due to preoccupation
of thoughts and restlessness, Belladonna, Coffea and Phosphorus are all useful.
When the sleeplessness is
due to the mental perturbance, any slight noise or bump against the bed becomes
unbearable and the ailment becomes aggravated at once. In Nux Vomica also,
noise makes the symptoms worse. Many symptoms of Nux Vomica resemble those of
Belladonna because Belladonna is a natural element of Nux Vomica.
Some patients react to the treatment very slowly and will
likewise respond to slow acting remedies, but the patients whose symptoms progress
rapidly will find the faster acting remedies work better. Some patients are very sensitive in reacting
to the treatment. In such patients, instead of improving the patient’s
condition, the Homoeopathic remedies can actually produce the poisonous effects
of the substance from which they are derived. Whatever medicine is given, it
will produce corresponding symptoms. For this reason, one should prescribe the
medicine with great care and should give it in low potency. At the same time,
it is important that the hypersensitivity of the patient should also be
treated.
There are three possible remedies to decrease
hypersensitivity:Belladonna, Nux Vomica and Zincum Metallicum. Zincum Metallicum
is the most sensitive type of medication. It can be so sensitive that the
patient may not even tolerate a low potency. For this reason, such a patient
should first be given Zinc which will then make the body react to other
medicines in a proper way. Zinc should be started in a low potency of 30.
One symptom of Belladonna is similar to Gelsemium. The headache becomes better when the head is tilted backwards but if the
head is tilted forwards, it makes the headache worse, (there are certain exceptions however). Such a patient should be treated with
Belladonna or Gelsemium. Many a time when discharges accumulate in the nose or
in the sinuses, the headache becomes worse when the head is tilted forwards.
Generally, Belladonna is a treatment of sudden short-lived
illnesses.
An ailment which comes on suddenly will also disappear
suddenly. But sometimes, when the
headache disappears, it may leave a heaviness of the head for many days along
with the sensation of being tired. In Belladonna, having the hair cut or getting the beard shaved can
provoke headache.
In Belladonna ailments, rest brings about relief, but
movement exaggerates the symptoms. Most of the ailments of Belladonna start in
the upper part of the body and migrate downwards. When the headache becomes
better, the joints and the muscles start hurting starting from the upper part
of the body to the lower part. Ledum is famous for the treatment of diseases
that start in the lower part of the body and migrate upwards.
Belladonna is also very useful in the diseases of the eye. The
eyes are unusually red, and the eyelids
are swollen. The patient experiences flashes of light before their
eyes. One peculiar sign is that the eyes remain completely dry while in
Euphrasia, the eyes water in addition to the redness. In Belladonna and
Euphrasia, the symptoms of redness and the intensity are similar. In Euphrasia,
the redness is not that pronounced, but the eyes water a lot.
Belladonna is very useful in glaucoma (the rise of pressure inside the eye).
There was a patient who had severe glaucoma who the doctors had labelled as
incurable. The patient was told that due to the high pressure in the eye, the
interior of the eye could burst open which might result in permanent blindness.
The prescription that I gave to the patient mainly contained Belladonna.
Surprisingly, within a week, the pressure inside the eye started returning to
normal and the patient completely recovered. Gelsemium is also useful in
decreasing the intra-ocular pressure in glaucoma.
It is better to give Calcaria Phos 6X also.
Nux Vomica and Belladonna both have the element of Cuprum
and Cuprum is one of the best remedies for convulsive
states.
When the body becomes tremulous or blood pressure rises
due to mental irritability,
Belladonna will lower the pressure very effectively and quickly. The thirst associated with
Belladonna ailment resembles that of Bryonia. The thirst is intense but is not relieved
by drinking water. Sometimes the patient’s mouth is dry as in Arsenic and the
patient frequently sips water to quench his thirst. Arsenic and Bryonia have different symptoms of their own, but regarding
the dryness of the mouth, all three, i.e. Bryonia, Arsenic and Belladonna are
similar.
The women of the Belladonna type love to eat sour things. Diarrhoea of
Belladonna is characterized by frequent, scanty stools. In Belladonna, the patient also develops piles. Belladonna is very useful
in frequent urination if it is due to the infection of kidneys or the bladder.
Otherwise, frequent urination is not a typical symptom of Belladonna.
If the urethra is injured by the passage of broken stones
due to some medication, Belladonna will relieve the inflammation of the urinary
passage. Belladonna will also offer immediate relief of the spasms of the uterus,
especially if the condition worsens by heat.
At the time of delivery, Belladonna is a very good treatment if the bleeding
becomes severe. The trouble is mostly on the right side, and gets worse by
heat. Belladonna can be very useful in preventing an abortion or miscarriage in
those pregnant women who are very sensitive in nature, to the extent that they
cannot tolerate noise or even the sound of footsteps. The sound of cough of the
Belladonna patient is usually very forceful. Belladonna is a temporary initial
treatment but if administered at the outset of making a proper diagnosis, it prevents
further complications.
One of the symptoms of Belladonna is cramping of the calf muscles. During a convulsion, the head is pushed
backwards. In Apis, like Belladonna, there is an element of excessive heat and
swelling. The difference between Belladonna and Apis is that in Belladonna, the
body is cold except for the affected part. Therefore, the patient wants to be
kept warm and likes to wrap himself in warm clothing. In Apis, the entire body
feels burning hot, and no external heat can be tolerated. In fact, if such a
patient is made to sit close to fire, he may go into a state of convulsion.
In Belladonna and Apis both, the patient develops
urticaria due to exposure to heat. This also happens in Pulsatilla. In such a
condition, Pulsatilla and Belladonna given together are useful. Sometimes, the urticaria
can be due to gastric upset. For this, Pulsatilla and Nux Vomica are more
useful.
In Belladonna, red
spots and pustules develop on the skin. There is also inflammation,
as in Apis. The appearance of pimples and blisters
on the skin can help in diagnosis, though the presence of other additional
symptoms is also helpful. Aurum Triphyllum is also very useful in the treatment
for urticaria. In Aurum Triphyllum however, the itching is at the nose and
around the lips. Belladonna is also
related to Calcaria Carb, especially in sub-acute diseases. Calcaria Carb
proves very useful where Belladonna has failed. Sometimes the symptoms of
Belladonna transform into those of Sulphur, which in turn produces the symptom
complex of Calcaria Carb. Calcaria Carb is a meeting point of many Homoeopathic
remedies but Sulphur should not be administered after having given Calcaria
Carb. If so desired, Lycopodium will have to be given in between. However,
Calcaria Carb can be given directly after having used Sulphur. Belladonna symptoms get worse on touch, jolting, noise and
the passing of wind (emitting gas). The patient feels better when lying half-stretched.