The common nux vomica is a member of the nux vomica family (Loganiaceae). Due to its highly effective ingredients, it is used as a natural remedy in homeopathy under the Latin name Nux Vomica. The evergreen deciduous tree is also known by the synonyms strychnine tree, crow’s-eye tree, crow’s-eye tree, and brown talon.
Occurrence and cultivation of the common nux vomica.
The tree bears tennis ball-sized red berries in a leathery pod, each with two to four bitter seeds. common nux vomica grows up to 25 meters in height and is native to subtropical areas of India, Java, Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, South Vietnam, Laos, Ceylon China, Pakistan, West Africa and Australia along waterways and dry forests. The trunk is broad in diameter and has blackish-gray to yellowish-gray bark with light green shiny twigs. The leaves are stalked and ovate pointed with a leathery surface and small flowers in generous umbels with a white corolla. The tree bears tennis ball-sized red berries in a leathery pod, each with two to four bitter seeds. They are hard and gray and open in wet weather, tasting pungent and bitter. The strychnine tree prefers clayey to clayey sandy soils and belongs to the trifurcate pollen dicotyledonous class (Rosopsida) and the gentian-like subclass (Gentianales). The Latin name is misleading because it is not a nut (nux). In addition, the nux vomica seeds rarely cause vomiting (vomica), but nausea is associated with vomiting.
Effect and application
The medicinal plant has analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects. Alkaloids, such as strychnine, brucine, subsidiary alkaloids, vomicin and bitter substances act as constituents. Homeopathy uses Nux Vomica in supportive therapy for headache, neuropathy, neurasthenia, dizziness, colds as well as menstrual disorders. But also gout, rheumatic complaints, pancreatitis, liver dysfunction, flatulence, stomach cramps, heartburn and hemorrhoids are successfully treated with it. Other uses include food and drug-induced ailments, cardiovascular diseases, gastrointestinal tract disorders, liver-biliary system disorders, fever, inflammation, irritability, and mood disorders. Nux Vomica is especially recommended as a single homeopathic remedy in the area of autointoxication. This is self-poisoning with disease value, which comes from an unhealthy lifestyle and excessive consumption of individual foods (fat, sugar, stimulants, alcohol, nicotine). In these areas, the nux vomica acts as an “antidote”. Stress and too little exercise also lead to hyperacidity of the organism. To obtain the mother tincture for the homeopathic remedy, the seeds of the red nux vomica fruits are dried. Nux Vomica is a lead remedy for behavioral problems that can affect anyone regardless of age. Infants and toddlers are impatient, whiny, unbalanced, prone to overeating as well as suffering from cramps, indigestion and colic. Adults with this pathological picture are aggressive, prone to stress, unbalanced, constantly overtired, overstimulated and often suffer from insomnia. At the same time, they are overly ambitious, obsessed with success, and active, with little regard for those around them. These people are authoritarian, sore losers, impatient, depressed and react nastily to contradictions. The healing power of the common nux vomica is also ideal for people who think they are on the losing side of life, who are constantly struggling with suppressed anger, job-related stress caused by superiors and colleagues, and who react aggressively to even minor disturbances. The healing power of the strychnine tree is suitable in ENT for severe colds and in infectology for flu-like infections. In cardiology, crow’s eye is effective against hypertension, which is a common and difficult to treat condition in adults. Pharmacies carry Nux Vomica in addition to homeopathic medicines as a biological remedy under the trade names Biodolor and Gastricumeel. The drug is used in the form of tablets, drops, ointments, drinking ampoules, suppositories and liquid dilution for injection. It is administered intravenously, subcutaneously, intramuscularly or orally.
Importance for health, treatment and prevention.
Because the ingredients of common nux vomica are highly toxic, people should refrain from using the medicinal plant on their own. Although the plant components are non-toxic to some animals such as the hornbill and snails, humans experience symptoms of poisoning such as restlessness, anxiety, twitching and convulsions, which can cause dyspnea and lead to suffocation. Leaves, bark, and seeds contain the poisonous ingredient strychnine, which properly and in low doses aids digestion, but in overdose can cause symptoms of poisoning and paralysis of the autonomic and central nervous systems. The alternative medicine uses the brown walnut in the form of tablets and globules under the Latin name Nux Vomica. Since the seeds of the nux vomica can cause nausea, homeopathy uses this remedy according to the principle “cure like with like”, especially in the area of gastrointestinal complaints. In this potentized and refined form, the plant constituents are harmless, but highly effective and an all-rounder. Preferred potencies are C5, C9 and C15. It is possible to let the tablets or globules dissolve on the tongue or to powder them between two spoons and dilute them with water. Since this is a homeopathic remedy, plastic spoons should be used, as metal has a counterproductive effect on the medicine. The recommended dosage is one to two tablets per day, or one every hour for more severe symptoms. An administration of five globules three times a day is sufficient. Increasing the dosage is also possible in this case. The intake can be targeted and occasion-related, for example, at the moment when a stress-triggering experience affects the affected person. Five globules correspond to one tablet. Homeopaths, doctors and pharmacists provide information about the optimal dosage. In conventional medicine, however, the nux vomica is considered to have only a minor therapeutic effect, so it is used extremely rarely in this field. Contraindications are a known hypersensitivity to the ingredients, as well as pregnancy, lactation, and children and adolescents, since there is insufficient scientific knowledge in this area.
