Gratiola Officinalis

Gratiola is one of the most important members of the great Scrophularian

• ▸group—Digit.
• ▸, Euphras.
• ▸, Tabac.
• ▸, Scroph.
• ▸—and should be carefully studied with these.
• ▸A large

proportion of the effects of Gratiola are expended on the gastro-intestinal tract. It is an inodorous

plant, of bitter taste, and very poisonous, causing violent colic, diarrhoea, bloody stools, enteritis,

jaundice, trembling of extremities, convulsions, cramps, excitement and disordered condition of

the sexual powers, and death. Symptoms of a fully developed, rapid attack of Asiatic cholera are

produced. On the other hand, the mind is strongly affected. Peevishness, ill-humour; irresolute;

hysterical; cerebral affections without fever. It is useful in mental troubles from overweening

• ▸pride.
• ▸Teste considers Gratiola the Chamom.
• ▸of chronic diseases.
• ▸There is < during and after

eating: vertigo during and after a meal. Hunger after a meal with feeling of emptiness. The

diarrhoea is yellowish, gushing, watery, as though rushing from a hydrant. There is also vomiting

of yellowish fluid. Summer diarrhoea from excessive drinking of water whether cold or hot.

Soreness, burning or irritation of anus follows the stools. Two excellent cures with Gratiola have

• ▸been recorded by C.
• ▸W.
• ▸Sonnenschmidt (H.
• ▸R.
• ▸, xi.
• ▸547).
• ▸(7) Mrs.
• ▸C.
• ▸, 53, attacked in June with

diarrhoea; yellow, watery, frothy stools gushing out with force. Severe cutting pains in abdomen;

• ▸rumbling of flatulence.
• ▸Occasional nausea and vomiting.
• ▸Co/oc.
• ▸and Ipec.
• ▸failed to relieve; then

on close inquiry it was elicited that "a cold feeling in the abdomen" had been a feature

• ▸throughout.
• ▸Grat.
• ▸off.
• ▸3, cured promptly.
• ▸(2) A three-weeks' old infant was attacked with

diarrhoea and colic. There were two or three passages in quick succession, and then an interval of

an hour or two. Passages green or yellow, watery, frothy, expelled suddenly; nausea, vomiting,

• ▸severe pain before stools, relieved after, for a short time.
• ▸Cham.
• ▸, Coloc.
• ▸, Verat.
• ▸failed and Grat.

rapidly cured. It also removed in this case "redness around anus, and on one side an abrasion of

• ▸half an inch in extent, which caused some oozing of blood.
• ▸" E.
• ▸E.
• ▸Case (Med.
• ▸Adv.
• ▸, xxix.
• ▸343)

cured a woman, et. 50, of heemorrhoids with the following symptoms: (/) Constipation, difficult

stools. (2) External piles from any exertion and after stool. (3) Biting, stinging tension in

tumours. (4) During stool, a sensation as if the rectal membrane was torn. (5) After stool, all the

nerves of the pelvis seem in a high state of tension; the flesh on the perineum feels as if torn from

the bone. [Compare "Wrenching pain in coccyx."] Sleepless before midnight; peevish;

• ▸melancholy.
• ▸Grat.
• ▸200 cured.
• ▸Cooper has used it with great success in a case of gouty acidity

with great constipation; and in the constipation of cancer. He regards it as "the vegetable

antacid." It is said to have formed the basis for a once famous nostrum for gout, "Eau

Médicinale." Indications are: Constant sinking but cannot eat; bitter taste. The affection of the

solar plexus is very marked; cramps beginning at pit of stomach, and pains radiating therefrom;

anxiety; gnawing; empty feeling; rolling about in epigastric region. Urine is diminished, reddish,

turbid. Buvier, says Teste, saw four cases of nymphomania in females to whom herb-doctors had

given injections of a decoction of freshly gathered Gratio/a. Burnett considers it specific in

female masturbation and nymphomania. A number of pains are experienced in the coccyx.

Chilly; shuddering on entering a warm room. Heat ascending to face, with redness and increased

external warmth. Constant vaporous exhalation from body. Sensations: as if brain contracted; as

if head grew smaller; as if brain would fall forward; as if sand in eyes; as if throat contracted; as

if a stone rolling from side to side in stomach. The left side is more affected than the right. The

head and eye symptoms are of the first importance. Rush of blood to head with vanishing of sight

• ▸I consider a keynote.
• ▸With Grat.
• ▸30.
• ▸I cured this symptom in a patient: "Sometimes everything

seems to assume a yellowish tint, and occasionally, when I have been taking notes, a rush of

blood to my head seems to shut the book from my sight and for the moment I have been unable

to follow the speaker by writing although I could by thought." Motion <; rest >. > In open air; <

in warm room (some headaches, and vertigo have the opposite modality). Coffee = neuralgia.

Serious, taciturn, absorbed in reverie.—Self-concentration.—Irresolute, want of

perseverance.—Ill-humour, tired of life, apprehensive of the future; hysteria;

hypochondriasis.—Loquacity and gaiety.

Tearing in the limbs.—Tetanus, with full consciousness while lying down after

a meal, followed by a deep sleep with emission of semen; bruised feeling of the body, back and 1.

arm on waking.—The majority of symptoms appear at night, or when sitting, and after rising

from a seat, or in the open air; contact > them.—Great languor and prostration.—Great loquacity

and gaiety.

• ▸Sick headache.
• ▸Rush of blood with vanishing of sight.
• ▸Sensation as if brain was contracting and head became smaller.
• ▸Tightness in forehead, with wrinkles in skin.
• ▸Eyes dry, burn.
• ▸Myopia.

Whirling vertigo on shutting the eyes.—Vertigo when reading, and when seated, as if

the head were waving backwards and forwards.—Headache, with nausea and

drowsiness.—Intoxicated feeling during and after a meal.—Rush of blood to the head and feeling

as if intoxicated in whole brain.—Violent rush of blood to head, with throbbing in forehead

amounting to vertigo, with blackness before the eyes; < by motion, esp. riding, increasing even

to loss of consciousness, only disappearing after several hours' sleep.—Pressive headache, esp. in

the forehead and occiput.—Lancinating and pulsative headache.—Sensation of heaviness in the

forehead, as if the brain would fall forward, with stoppage of the nose.—Sensation as if the head

were shrinking from contraction of the brain.—Sudden attack; sudden vibration in the head,

which suspends the senses of sight and hearing.—The headache is < when rising from a seat,

during movement, and while walking in the open air—The head is very sensitive to cold.—Heat

in the head, on raising the head.—Tightness in the forehead with wrinkles in the skin.

Itching, quivering, and sensation of weakness in eyelids.—Itching of eyelashes.—The

eyes feel dry and as if sand were in them.—Burning pain and pressure on the eyes.—Eyes watery

and weak when reading.—Mist before eyes, when reading or writing —Myopia on reading.—Sees

distant objects better than near ones.—While writing, or looking at light objects, sight suddenly

vanishes; > by closing eyes, but constantly returns —All objects seem white on opening the eyes,

even green trees and turf.

Frequent sneezings, with shootings in |. side of the chest and of the

hypochondria.—Stoppage of the nose—Smarting-itching in I. nostril—Pressure at upper part of

nose.

Burning heat and redness of the face —Tingling-burning in malar bones.—Sensation of

tension in the face; it feels swollen—Swelling of upper lip (every morning, with

• ▸stinging).
• ▸—Tearing on one side of face.
• ▸—Painful crack in 1.
• ▸side of chin.

Accumulation of much saliva in the mouth.—Accumulation of clear water in the

• ▸mouth.
• ▸—Mouth bitter or clammy.
• ▸—Tongue rough, covered with mucus.
• ▸—Fetid breath in the

morning after waking.

Pressure in throat, as from thick mucus.—Accumulation of mucus in throat.—Pain in

throat obliging one to swallow constantly; the swallowing is difficult, as if the throat were

contracted; < during empty deglutition —Stinging in throat (1. side)—Tingling, roughness, and

scraping in throat.—Phlegm in throat, with inability to throw it off.

10. Appetite-—Gnawing, as from hunger after eating. —Constant sinking at epigastrium, but

cannot eat.—Hunger, sometimes with loathing and horror of all food.—Increased thirst.

• ▸Vertigo during and after meals; hunger and feeling of emptiness after meals.
• ▸Dyspepsia, with much distention of the stomach.
• ▸Cramps and colic after supper and during night, with swelling of abdomen and constipation.
• ▸Dysphagia for liquids.

Bitter or sweetish risings.—Ineffectual efforts to eructate, with pressure from

stomach to throat, which suspends respiration.—Empty or cold feeling in

• ▸stomach.
• ▸—Hiccough.
• ▸—Regurgitation of bitter water.
• ▸—Constant nausea, with retching.
• ▸—Nausea,

with cold in the abdomen.—Vomiting, with stoppage of the nose.—Bilious vomiting, or vomiting

of acid or bitter substances.—Uneasiness, and sensation of fulness in stomach.—Pressure on the

stomach after a meal, with nausea.—Searching and digging in the stomach, with inclination to

vomit.—Pressure on the epigastrium after a meal, as from a stone; which moves back and

forth.—The sufferings of the stomach and of the epigastrium are often accompanied by nausea, or

ineffectual efforts at eructation.—Paroxysms of inclination to vomit, > by eructations.—Rolling

about in epigastrium.

Shooting pains in the abdomen.—Beatings in 1. hypochondrium (heating pain,

burning).—Pressive pain in abdomen, with pinchings (in umbilical region), which force the

patient to bend double (> by the emission of flatulence).—Inflation of the abdomen.—Flatulent

and pressive colic, with nausea and disagreeable risings.—Rumbling, with nausea, eructation, and

vertigo.—Feeling of coldness in abdomen, lasting half all hour.

Diarrhoea; green, frothy water, followed by anal burning, forcibly evacuated without pain. Constipation, with gouty acidity. Haemorrhoids, with hypochondriasis. Rectum constricted.

Urgent and fruitless want to evacuate——Constipation.—Feces, hard, scanty,

and tenacious, expelled with great effort—Nocturnal slimy diarrhoea, with tenesmus.—Diarrhcea:

stools, watery yellow-green, succeeded by burning at the anus; green frothy, coming out with

great force —Stools with burning and protrusion of large stinging-burning tumours.—Passage of

feeces without being conscious of it.—Discharge of ascarides.—Pain, as from excoriation in the

rectum.—Burning pain in the rectum, during and after the evacuation.—Shootings, itching,

smarting, and throbbing in the anus.—Blind hemorrhoids.

Diminished secretion of urine.—Scanty and reddish urine, which becomes

turbid on standing, with cloudy sediment.—Burning in the urethra during and after micturition.

Nymphomania. Menses too profuse, premature, and too long. Leucorrhoea.

Catamenia premature, too profuse, and of too long

• ▸duration.
• ▸—Masturbation.
• ▸—Nymphomania.
• ▸—Irritable condition of sexual organs, with

congestions.—Shootings in r. breast, < on rising, during menses.

Stitches in |. spermatic cord, ascending through the abdomen up to

the chest.—Painful rigidity of the penis after pollutions.—Drawing pain in glans.

Dry cough, excited by a sensation of roughness in the chest, esp. in

the morning or at night—Nocturnal cough, with pain as from excoriation in the trachea,

oppression of the chest and shivering —Choking when ascending.

Heat in the chest, then the head and hands, with redness of the face.—Pressure on the

chest.—Shootings in the chest on breathing.—Pimples on the chest, which burn after having been

scratched.

Palpitation of the heart——Violent palpitation, particularly immediately after a stool,

and with oppression of the chest.

Sensation as if the neck were seized with the hands.—Darting from the 1.

scapula to the shoulder and mamma.—Sticking pain in lower dorsal vertebra; in r.

• ▸kidney.
• ▸—Bruised pain in loins.
• ▸—Painful cramps in coccyx.
• ▸—Pressive or wrenching pain in

coccyx after stool.

Rheumatic pains in the shoulders, arms, fingers, particularly in elbow and

wrist-joint.—Itching in the palm of the (r.) hand.

Bruised pain in the thigh, after a short walk.—Lancinating tearing in tibia

when sitting, disappearing when walking.—Smarting itching on tibia——Shootings in legs and feet.

Itching with burning after scratching.—Running and corrosive eruptions, which

resemble scabies.

Insomnia.

Irresistible drowsiness with yawning.—Great drowsiness, with frequent yawning and

inclination to lie down, esp. in the afternoon—Deep sleep, like stupor.

Pulse small, intermittent.—Great tendency to chilliness.—Chilliness in a warm room,

during sleep, after an evacuation; with the hair standing on end.—Heat ascending to the face, with

redness and increased external warmth.—Constant vaporous exhalation from the body.

• ▸Cholera.
• ▸Coccygodynia.
• ▸Constipation.
• ▸Cramps.
• ▸Diarrhoea.
• ▸Dropsy.
• ▸Eyes, affections of.

• ▸Gastralgia.
• ▸Gout.
• ▸Hemorrhoids.
• ▸Headache.
• ▸Hydrocephalus.
• ▸Hypochondriasis.
• ▸Hysteria.
• ▸Mania.

• ▸Masturbation.
• ▸Mesenteric glands, affections of.
• ▸Neuralgia.
• ▸Nymphomania.
• ▸Tetanus.
• ▸Vision,

disordered.

• ▸Antidoted by: Caust.
• ▸, Bell.
• ▸, Euphorb.
• ▸, Nux v.
• ▸/t antidotes: lodum.
• ▸Compare: Apis,

• ▸Bell.
• ▸, Helleb.
• ▸, Cham.
• ▸, Nux v.
• ▸, Elat.
• ▸, Pod.
• ▸Hunger after meals with feeling of emptiness, Lauro.
• ▸,

• ▸Calc.
• ▸, Cascaril.
• ▸, Chi.
• ▸, Cin.
• ▸; (emptiness after stool, Petrol.
• ▸); vanishing of sight and headache,

• ▸Gels.
• ▸; botanical, Dig.
• ▸, Euphr.
• ▸, Scroph.

Compare: Dig; Euph; Tab; Cham; Ammon pic; Nux vom.

Second to third potency.

State in the one who stands upon the street corner not knowing his

way home because of the surging of blood in the head, that state is

accompanied by choking and the collar causes uneasiness about the

neck like Lack. He chokes and swells up under the ears. There is

not only a sensation, but with the sensation there is actual swelling.

Tumefaction about the neck and throat, under the chin, and the glands

become swollen.

The next circumstance in the text that brings forth the general

aspect of the remedy is in connection with the catamenia. The menstrual flow does not appear, it is delayed, with violent congestion to

the head, violent headaches and these symptoms already described.

These congestions may also come on during the menstrual period.

Again, if a uterine haemorrhage stops suddenly, or a copious flow from

any part stops suddenly, the patient comes down with great violence

and the blood rushes to the head.

There are many conditions and complaints in life where we have

surging of blood to the head, when this will be the remedy wanted.

Persons who are subject to palpitation with dyspnoea, upon any effort,

he cannot go uphill, he cannot walk along the pavement without bringing on palpitation and dyspnoea ; any little exertion or excitement

brings on the rush of blood to the heart and fainting spells ; fainting

spells in women, who are not suppose to be subject to fainting. Great

weakness, palpitation, trembling of the limbs, shaking of one or both

hands as with palsy. ‘'Laborious action of the heart” is a strong

feature of the remedy ; pulsation all ;^over. Fluttering in the region of

the heart. Pulse quick, irregular, slow or quick and wiry. There

are some persons that are apparently plethoric ; very much affected

by the slightest exertion and who have pulsation all over ; pulsation in

a warm room. They are sometimes relieved by opening the window

if it is cool, by fanning, by cold air, by cold applications to the head.

In keeping with the remedy, this is clinical application of it; “Chib

dren get sick in the night after sitting up at an open fire or falling

asleep there.” “Bad effects from having the hair cut.” Bell, is generally thought of for taking cold in the head from having the hair cut.

“Bad effects from being exposed to the sun's rays.” “Bad effects

from sunstroke.”

It is a great remedy for nervous prostration ; marked lassitude, with

mental and bodily weakness. It is closely related to Coffea and Nux

vomica and especially useful for the weakness of the will and neuralgic pains in coffee drinkers. In hypochondria and in the fernale it

has melancholia and nymphomania. Convulsive conditions without

CRAtlOtA

loss of consciousness. Complaints are better in the open air, but he

is chilly in a warm room (like Pulsatilla) ; complaints predominate

on the left side ; constant vaporous exhalations from the body. Catarrhal conditions of the stomach and intestines with spasmodic ailments. There is a lack of will power and aversion to work; mental

depression and capriciousness ; he is very irritable and hypochondriacal ; fear of the future. Complaints from pride. Bad effects from

coffee and alcohol ; nervous complaints associated with stomach and

bowel troubles. Vertigo during and after eating ; on closing the eyes ;

while reading ; on rising from a seat ; on motion ; vertigo with cerebral

hyperaemia. Heat and fulness of the head ; sensation as though the

head grew smaller ; pulsation in head ; in temples ; rush of blood to

head, after rising from stooping. The head symptoms are better in

the open air and worse or come on in warm room. Pain in the

occiput in the morning on waking, better rising or lying on the face.

Sick headaches, nausea, vomiting or disgust for food, with vertigo,

better in the open air.

Pain in occiput from sneezing. The head feels cold and is sensitive

to cold air. Cold sensation of vertex. Corrugated forehead during

the headache. Itching of the scalp ; itching of the eyes and ears..

Mist before the eyes while reading and green objects appear white.

Pain in eyes as from sand ; itching in the nose. There is a sensation of burning heat in the face, but it feels cold to the hand.

Swelling of the upper lip in the morning. There is a sensation of

tension of the face and tingling and it feels swollen. The face is

red ; the teeth ache from cold things taken in the mouth. Grinding

of teeth in brain affections.

Pain in the throat, compelling constant swallowing ; much mucus

in the throat, which he cannot eject. Violent thirst ; emptiness in the

stomach after eating; emptiness when he does not need or desire food.

Craves nothing but bread.

Nausea better after eating and by eructations. Vomiting of bitter,

sour water and mucus. A feeling of anxiety in the stomach. Cramping in the stomach after food and a heavy load that seems to go from

side to side as he turns from side to side, with nausea and eructation.

Distension after eating. Pressure in stomach, after eating. Marked

coldness in stomach. Cramp and hard aching in stomach, pain grows

rapidly worse and seems to extend to back and kidneys.

Cold feeling in abdomen. Cramping like colic with nausea.

Rumbling in abdomen with distension in afternoon and evening.

Swelling of mesenteric glands. Pinching in abdomen, better by passing flatus. Diarrhoea, with copious gushing, yellow or yellowish-green,

frothy, watery stools ; copious watery vomiting and purging, like

cholera morbus ; copious , green watery stools. The diarriioea is brought