Helonias Dioica

Helonias, like Aletris, to which it is a botanical ally, and with which it has

been often confounded (both have been called "Unicorn plant," or "Unicorn root," "Star Grass,"

and "Blazing Grass," or "Blazing Star"), is a uterine remedy of great power. It has an extensive

range of action, as its provings show, but the organ predominantly affected is the uterus. It has

been called with justice a "uterine tonic," and one of the keynote indications for its use is a

"consciousness of the womb," and relaxation of uterine ligaments, misplacements, and prolapse

• ▸have been removed by Helon.
• ▸Marvin A.
• ▸Custis (Am.
• ▸H.
• ▸, x1.
• ▸594) reports a case in point: "Mrs.

L—, 28, has two children, both living. Has prolapse of uterus, ulceration of cervix, dark,

offensive leucorrhcea. Her system is worn out and her expression one of great distress. Is

irritable, finds fault with every one, and cannot bear contradiction. Restless, wants to move

around, as she feels better when mind and body are employed." There was severe backache and a

sore and heavy feeling in the womb; in fact, as she said, she was always "conscious of her

womb." Helon. 30 every three hours for two days, and then every night, was prescribed, with a

warm water injection night and morning. At the end of three weeks the leucorrhoea had almost

ceased, the womb was in the first position, and she "forgets that she has such an organ." The

mental symptoms of He/on. are very marked, and the extreme depression, gloom, and irritability

of this case are characteristic of the remedy. One of the provers had a preliminary feeling of

wellness before being plunged into a mental hell. It is specially suited to nervously run-down

females, easily fatigued by any work, who complain of a tired backache, a tired feeling extending

into the limbs. Some of this passes off after commencing to work. This looks rather like the

Rhus: "< on commencing to work, > after working a little;" but it is not the same, for in the case

of Rhus the relief comes from a limbering up of stiffjoints. The backache is in the lumbar region,

just over the kidneys, or else in the sacrum. The kidneys themselves, especially the right, are the

• ▸seat of pain, and then the urine is generally scanty.
• ▸S.
• ▸A.
• ▸Jones found He/onin turned an alkaline

urine acid; increased the amount of urea; increased the amount of urine secreted. He considers

this to be the result of a condition of debility, venous paresis, the result of previous arterial tonic

contraction. Helon. produces irritation in mucous membranes; sore mouth; irritable stomach;

burning and scalding when urinating; but the most intense effect is produced in the vaginal

• ▸mucous membrane.
• ▸L.
• ▸L.
• ▸Danforth treated Mrs.
• ▸W.
• ▸, who had intense pruritus, vulvar and vaginal,

for several weeks: "She could tear the flesh out" it was so intense. There was vulvo-vaginitis, the

labia and adjoining skin being red and swollen, and covered with thin, white, curdy deposits.

Further examination showed, pouring from a congested cervix, a thin albuminous leucorrhcea,

evidently the cause of the pruritus. It coagulated on the vagina, forming small curds covering the

• ▸mucous membrane of vagina and vulva.
• ▸He/on.
• ▸© on tablets speedily relieved.
• ▸The relation of the

remedy to the climacteric period is indicated in the provings by alternate sensations of heat and

cold. "A sensation as if a cool wind streamed up the back of the legs along the gastrocnemii

muscles to the popliteal space" was noticed by one prover who had before had a burning, or

warm numbness, in the legs, most marked in the knees, "seeming to begin at the tendo Achillis

of each leg, and very marked over the region of each gastrocnemius." "Every movement of the

arms occasioned a chill, which seemed to radiate from the solar plexus all over the body."

Burning sensations are common. A patient to whom I gave it in the 6th had "burning-sinking at

the epigastrium" half an hour after each dose. Motion < almost all symptoms, but > numbness of

the feet, and the profound debility. > By mental diversion. The chest is sensitive to the air;

toothache is < in a warm room; and warm, moist air < toothache. Touch <: cannot bear the least

pressure of the dress (on breasts, nipples, kidneys, &c.)

Profound melancholy. Patient is better when kept busy, with mind engaged, when doing something. Irritable; cannot endure the least contradiction.

Dull, inactive—Always better when doing something, when the mind is

• ▸engaged.
• ▸—Desire to be let alone; conversation unpleasant.
• ▸—Depressed mood.
• ▸—Dull,

gloomy.—Irritable; cannot endure the least contradiction or receive any suggestions in relation to

any subject.—Fault-finding.

Tired, weary, drowsy.—Languor, unusually tired, yet knows no

reason.—Debility (diphtheria).—Over-sensitiveness to air, < from uncovering; > in warm

air.—Aneemia, atony, from prolonged hemorrhage.—Dropsy from albuminuria, general debility,

uterine atony or after uterine hemorrhage.

Burning sensation on top. Headache, better mental exertion.

Pain in head is < by stooping, and attended by increased vertigo.—Fulness and

• ▸pressure in the forehead or vertex; < or renewed when thinking thereof.
• ▸—At 2.
• ▸30 p.
• ▸m.
• ▸dull heat

and pressure in vertex as if skull were too full.

Bitter, disagreeable taste, every morning, 5 a.m., on awaking; tongue and fauces

• ▸dry.
• ▸—Tongue white (diabetes).
• ▸—Salivation of pregnant women and teething children.
• ▸—Mouth

gets sore; stomatitis materna.

Loss of appetite, eructations, fulness, cramp, and painful congestion of the

stomach.—Appetite poor, food tasteless bilious sleepy during the day.

Cramp-like pain in the stomach.—Burning in stomach; burning and aching in

spine; eructations.—Irritable stomach, with general dropsy.

Pain in I. side, as if in spleen, which feels as if distended, causing a dull

ache.—Motion and rumbling in abdomen, as if diarrhoea would come on; cramps in the

stomach.—Colic-like pains in hypogastric region, off and on all day.—Burning in the lower third

of abdomen.

Constant aching, extreme tenderness of kidneys, esp. r.—Burning

sensation at the kidneys; can trace their outlines by the burning.—Pain in the kidneys with

albuminous urine.—Weariness, languor, weight in region of kidneys; mind dull, inactive;

afternoon and evening.—Burning scalding when urinating; desire frequent and

urging.—Strangury.—Involuntary discharge of urine after the bladder seemed to be

emptied.—Urine profuse, clear, light-coloured; albuminous; diabetic.

Albuminous, phosphatic; profuse and clear, saccharine. Diabetes.

• ▸Dragging in sacral region, with prolapse, especially after a miscarriage.
• ▸Pruritus vulvae.
• ▸Backache after miscarriage (Kali c).
• ▸Weight and soreness in womb; conscious of womb. Menses too frequent, too profuse.
• ▸Leucorrhoea.
• ▸Breasts swollen, nipples painful and tender.
• ▸Parts hot, red, swollen; burn and itch terribly.
• ▸Albuminuria during pregnancy.
• ▸Debility attending the menopause.

Loss of sexual desire and power with or without

sterility—Profound melancholy, deep, undefined depression, with a sensation of soreness and

weight in the womb; "a consciousness of a womb.".—Aching, dragging weakness in sacral

region, with prolapsus; also at climaxis, with marked debility, profound mental

gloom.—Prolapsus uteri and ulceration of the cervix; discharge constant, dark, badly smelling;

flooding on lifting a weight, and on least exertion; face sallow, having an expression of

suffering; great vaginal irritation; pain in small of back.—Excessive uterine hemorrhage all

through the proving; pain in back through the uterus.—Prolapsus uteri, leucorrhcea; the os

protrudes externally.—Uterus low down, fundus tilted forwards; the finger passes with difficulty

between the os and the rectum.—Menses too frequent and profuse in women who are feeble from

loss of blood.—Flow passive: dark, coagulated, offensive-—Amenia, arising from or accompanied

by disordered digestive apparatus and aneemia.—Leucorrhea, with atony and

anzemia.—Threatened abortion from atonic conditions—Women with prolapsus from atony,

enervated by indolence and luxury; feel better when the attention is engaged, hence when doctor

comes; worn out with hard work, do not care for sleep; so tired, and the strained muscles burn

and ache so.—Scanty menstrual flow with heaviness, languor, drowsiness, and albuminous

urine.—Profuse flooding, with serous leucorrhoea, much uterine and ovarian pain;

climaxis.—Labia and pudendum hot, red, swollen, burning and itching terribly; epidermis every

morning falls off in thin, transparent exfoliations—Mucous surface of labia red, swollen, covered

• ▸with a curdy deposit, like aphthe.
• ▸—Threatened abortion; esp.
• ▸in habitual abortion.
• ▸—Albuminuria

during pregnancy; great weakness, drowsiness.—Nipples sensitive, painful, breasts swollen;

nipples tender, will not bear the pressure of ordinary dress.

Sexual desire and power increased.—Erections unusually strong and

frequent.—Impotence.

Chest sensitive to the air——Aching, as if the front of chest had been compressed in a

vice.

• ▸Pain and weight in back; tired and weak.
• ▸Aching and burning across the lumbar region; can trace outlines of kidneys by constant burning.
• ▸Boring pain in lumbar region, extending down legs.
• ▸Great languor, better exercising.

Burning and heat in dorsal region, mostly between the lower half of the scapulz;

while sitting reading at night—Back aches across the lumbar region; feels tired and weak;

burning and tired aching in lumbar and sacral region on sitting down.—Pain about the upper part

of sacrum and pelvis; < at night.—Pain in lower part of back, through to uterus; piercing,

drawing.—Aching pain in sacrum, also down into each buttock.

Severe pains in r. hip-joint, < during motion.—Numbness of feet > by

motion, only felt when sitting still.

Sensation as if a cool wind streamed up calves of legs. Feet feel numb when sitting.

Face pale, earthy; sallow.—Epidermis (of labia) falls off thin, transparent exfoliation.

Chill, seemingly radiating from solar plexus all over body, caused by motion of

arms.—Flushes of heat pass over him with every movement while in a room.

• ▸Albuminuria.
• ▸Amenorrhoea.
• ▸Anemia.
• ▸Breasts, affections of.
• ▸Chlorosis.
• ▸Debility.

• ▸Diabetes.
• ▸Dysmenorrheea.
• ▸Impotence.
• ▸Kidneys, pains in.
• ▸Leucorrhoea.
• ▸Lochia, prolonged.

• ▸Menopause.
• ▸Menorrhagia.
• ▸Metrorrhagia.
• ▸Pruritus vulve.
• ▸Rheumatism.
• ▸Splenalgia.
• ▸Sterility.

Uterus, affections of.

• ▸Alet.
• ▸and Lil.
• ▸t.
• ▸are closely allied botanically and medically with Helon.
• ▸Helon.

• ▸antidotes the prolapse of Lil.
• ▸t.
• ▸and the mental depression of Kali brom.
• ▸In general it is a close

• ▸analogue of Pulsat.
• ▸, in its local and general symptoms.
• ▸Compare also: Sep.
• ▸; Pic.
• ▸ac.
• ▸(tired aching

and some burning in back and legs); Pallad. (tiredness; soreness; irritability); Plat. (indurated

• ▸uterus); Nat.
• ▸m.
• ▸, Agn.
• ▸, and Caust.
• ▸(aversion to coitus); Eup.
• ▸purp.
• ▸, Chi.
• ▸, Ferr.
• ▸, Hydrast.
• ▸, Senec.
• ▸;

• ▸Act.
• ▸r.
• ▸(uterine symptoms and gloom; Nat.
• ▸hyperchlor.
• ▸(sodden condition of uterus); Pip.
• ▸meth.

(> by diverting mind).

• ▸Compare: Agrimonia-Cockleburr--(painful kidneys, impaired digestion and menstrual difficulties; Bronchorrhoea and catarrh of bladder.
• ▸Cough with profuse expectoration attended with expulsion of urine.
• ▸Tincture 1-10 gtt).
• ▸Aletris; Lilium; Puls; Senecio; Stannum.

Tincture, to sixth attenuation.