Dulcamara
Made from bittersweet nightshade — the climbing Solanum of hedgerows whose glycoalkaloids guard it, and the classical remedy of ailments from damp.
The whole picture, in one breath
Think of everything that follows getting wet: after sitting on damp ground, being caught in a rainstorm, or the first cold snap of a wet autumn — urticaria, facial eruptions, loose coughs, stiff backs and diarrhoea all arrive. One cause — cold damp — behind them all. Ailments from damp, worse wet weather: that is Dulcamara.
The substance, in plain words
Bittersweet nightshade is a woody hedgerow climber with scarlet berries, carrying the solanine-family glycoalkaloids that make all nightshades defended. The proving of the fresh stems and leaves gave the cold-damp constitutional portrait of the classical library.
The traditional picture Classical sources
The inner state
- Confusion and dullness. Slow, foggy thinking with the complaints; anxiety about health.
- Low spirits Low spirits accompany the long wet-weather states.
- Restlessness at night. Tossing with the wet-weather coughs and skin.
The body
- Ailments from cold damp. The grand keynote: every complaint can be traced to damp — rain, wet feet, sitting on damp, river fog.
- Urticaria and nettle-rash. Large white raised wheals, especially after chill; the books' damp-weather hive remedy.
- Facial and scalp eruptions. Thick crusty eruptions of the scalp and face, worse winter.
- Wet-weather cough. Loose, rattling, whooping-like coughs from every exposure to damp.
- Stiffness and backache. Stiff neck and back from draught and damp — a small Rhus picture.
- Diarrhoea of damp. Greenish, slimy summer diarrhoeas and autumn looseness after chilling.
Modalities (worse and better factors)
| Worse from ⬇ | Better from ⬇ |
|---|---|
| cold damp weather; rain and fog; getting wet; night air. | warm dry weather; keeping dry; motion. |
Where it acts (organ affinities)
Skin (urticarial, crusty), respiratory tract, back and muscles, bowels.
Where the classical picture comes from
The solanaceae proving gave the typical family dryness-and-irritation, sharpened by clinical experience into the damp-weather keynote: Dulcamara was the remedy of the marsh-dweller and the rain-soaked harvest.
The substance in real medicine Pharmacology
What this section is: the pharmacology and toxicology of the source substance. It is not clinical evidence that a homeopathic preparation of it treats any condition. What controlled trials do and do not show is set out on the Evidence page.
Dulcamara's glycoalkaloids are genuine natural pesticides — the plant's own chemistry — and Solanum alkaloids are studied in pharmacology for their effects on the nervous system. The remedy's damp-weather territory in modern terms is seasonal allergy and weather-sensitive rheumatism, managed with antihistamines and conventional care.
Look-alikes (how the classical authors told it apart)
| Remedy | Looks similar because… | Tells it apart because… |
|---|---|---|
| Rhus toxicodendron | Stiffness, worse damp | Rhus is stiff and sore, better for continued motion and warmth; Dulcamara is damp-exposure-triggered at every level. |
| Apis mellifica | Urticaria, cold-better | Apis' wheals are rosy, puffy and cold-loving; Dulcamara's follow getting wet. |
| Petroleum | Eczema from cold | Petroleum cracks in winter dryness; Dulcamara erupts in damp. |
| Natrum sulphuricum | Ailments from damp | Nat-sulph is the damp-constitutional of the biochemic school with liver gloom; Dulcamara the nightshade of wet weather. |