Lac defloratum
The classical remedy prepared from skimmed cow's milk — the sick-headache chapter's great remedy, and the classical remedy of the migraine with the blind spell.
The whole picture, in one breath
Think of a sick-headache that steals the sight: a violent migraine with transient blindness or dimming before and during the pain, nausea and vomiting at the height, the head bursting and throbbing, and the books' great milk-headache of the sick-headache chapter. The blind-spell migraine remedy: that is Lac defloratum.
The substance, in plain words
Lac defloratum is prepared from skimmed cow's milk — a remedy of the old school built on the observation that milk disagreed with certain constitutions, and that their headaches belonged to the disagreement. The proving gave the remedy the blind-spell migraine portrait.
The traditional picture Classical sources
The inner state
- Anxiety of the coming attack. The dread of the blind spell and the pain, worse in the quiet hours.
- Irritability. Cross from the pain and the light-sensitivity.
- Despondency. Gloomy in the recurrent, disabling states.
The body
- Migraine with transient blindness. The keynote: the sick-headache preceded and accompanied by dimming or loss of sight — the books' celebrated characteristic.
- Bursting, throbbing pain. The head feels it will burst, throbbing with every pulse.
- Nausea and vomiting at the height. The sickness rises with the pain's peak, then eases as it passes.
- Milk disagreement. The books link it to the constitutions that cannot bear milk.
- Worse cold damp and light. Wet weather and light deepen the spell.
- Better for quiet and darkness. Dark, quiet stillness is the only refuge — the quoted amelioration.
Modalities (worse and better factors)
| Worse from ⬇ | Better from ⬇ |
|---|---|
| cold damp weather; light; noise; milk. | darkness; quiet; stillness. |
Where it acts (organ affinities)
Head (sick-headache, visual aura), digestion (milk), general vitality.
Where the classical picture comes from
The skimmed-milk proving gave the blind-spell migraine portrait; Lac defloratum became the classical remedy of the sick-headache with the transient blindness — a remedy born of the milk-disagreement observation.
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.
Milk intolerance is genuinely real medicine: lactose intolerance and cow's-milk protein allergy are documented, diagnosed and managed — the observation the remedy was built on has a modern explanation. The migraine it portrayed is now neurology's: the visual aura understood, the attacks prevented and treated with real, effective drugs.
Look-alikes (how the classical authors told it apart)
| Remedy | Looks similar because… | Tells it apart because… |
|---|---|---|
| Iris versicolor | Sick-headache with vomiting | Iris' vomit is sour and burning with the biliousness; Lac defloratum's brings the blind spell. |
| Sanguinaria canadensis | Right-sided sick-headache | Sanguinaria's is right-sided and sleep-better; Lac defloratum's steals the sight. |
| Glonoinum | Throbbing congestive head | Glonoinum surges in waves; Lac defloratum blinds then bursts. |
| Aethusa cynapium | Milk disagreement | Aethusa' is the milk-vomiting infant; Lac defloratum the milk-linked migraine. |