Verat. alb.

White hellebore

Veratrum album

Mania, melancholia, and epilepsy were treated with this plant, and it was used by Hippocrates to cure a case resembling Asiatic cholera. The homeopathic remedy was first proved by Hahnemann between 1826 and 1830.

Parts Used

Fresh root.

Uses

This remedy is given for fainting or collapse where the person is pale, ice-cold, sweaty (particularly on the forehead), and dehydrated. Such a state of collapse may result from an acute fright, from violent vomiting with diarrhea and cramps, especially in pregnancy, or may be associated with severe menstrual pain.

Source

Grows in mountainous regions of Europe.

Personality profile

Veratrum album is a rare constitutional type, one of the handful of remedies which correspond to people who live their lives on the verge of insanity. It is closely related to Stramonium and Syphilinum, but has its own very unique characteristics.

Most homeopathic consultations with Veratrum album individuals involve those who are relatively stable mentally. Nevertheless, even during stable periods the Veratrum individual appears somewhat odd from the outset, as do many stable Anacardium patients. The most obvious abnormality initially is often the speech itself. Veratrum is a very rigid type psychologically, and this is reflected in his voice. Kali Carbonicum often speaks a little stiffly, but he is not nearly as stiff in either thinking or in speech as Veratrum, who is probably the most rigid of all types mentally. The next unusual feature that becomes apparent is the pushy, overconfident manner in which the patient speaks. This is of an order altogether more inappropriate than that seen in other confident types such as Nux and Sulphur, since the Veratrum personality is mentally off-balance, and does not interpret reality in a normal fashion.

Those Veratrum patients who seek help for physical complaints may appear only a little stiff and loud, until one investigates the mental picture. The social etiquette that we take for granted is often poorly mastered by Veratrum, who is liable to laugh a little too loud, or to launch into a description of his symptoms immediately upon sitting down, without waiting for the homeopath to address him. When one arrives at a consideration of the mental picture, the most striking characteristic that is revealed is usually the arrogant way in which Veratrum insists upon his own way, and the dogmatism with which he expresses his opinions. Veratrum's know-all attitude naturally makes him rather difficult to live with or be around.

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