Valeriana Officinalis

V. officinalis is usually found in moist hedgerows or on the banks of ditches

and streams. The peculiar fetid odour of Valerians is probably due to the presence of Valerianic

acid. It is especially agreeable to eats, who become, as it were, intoxicated with it. "Volatile oil

of Valerian seems not to exist naturally in the plant, but to be developed by the agency of water"

• ▸(Treas.
• ▸of Bot.
• ▸).
• ▸Val.
• ▸first appeared in homceopathic medicine in Stapf’s Additions, the article on

it was written by Franz, and Hahnemann and Stapf were among the provers. When Franz wrote,

it was the custom among ladies in Germany to take Valerian almost as frequently as coffee, and

to this practice he attributed no little of the nervous suffering then prevalent. "There is scarcely a

drug," he says, "which communicates its primary as well as secondary action to the organism

with more intensity than Va/." He instanced his own eye symptoms, which were both severe and

remarkable, and of them he says that, though he had never had any tendency to anything of the

kind before, they were excited at intervals for four months afterwards, the cause being frequently

unknown, showing the deep action on the organism. "The many inveterate spasms of the

stomach and abdomen; the incurable cases of hysteria and hypochondriasis; moral disturbances,

passing from one extreme of emotion to another, from the highest joy to the deepest grief, from

leniency, kindness, and mildness to grumbling impatience, obstinacy, and quarrelsomeness; from

a sinking of the vital forces accompanied by a painful craving for stimulants, to the greatest

liveliness and extravagance, and vice versa"; tedious convalescence after nervous fevers;

paralysis, and contractions of the limbs, &c.—these, in Franz's opinion, were much less owing to

the original intensity of the disease than to the Val. with which the patients had been dosed; and

they were only saved from worse effects by the fact that Val. was so frequently given in

combination with one or more of its antidotes. Some notes by Franz are important: (/) The first

and most rapid effect of Val., which precedes any after symptoms, is an acceleration of the pulse

and congestion of the head. (2) The symptoms of the upper and lower limbs alternate frequently.

(3) The principal times of day when Val. produces its symptoms are noon and early afternoon

and the hours before midnight. The abdominal symptoms especially are felt in the evening. (4)

"Val. causes several kinds of darting, tearing pains which come and go. Similar to these pains are

those which appear suddenly. If we compare with these two kinds of pains—the jerking pains

which are scarcely felt in any other than muscular tissues and the cramping pains—we have a

very easy and natural indication of the grounds on which Tissot's recommendation of Vai. for

epilepsy might be considered valid. The eye symptoms of Franz were burning, smarting, and

pressure in the margins of the lids, which seemed sore and swollen. But in addition was this,

which shows the exalted state of sensorum Val. can produce: "Shine before the eyes in the dark;

the closed, dark room seemed to be filled with the shine of twilight, so that he imagined he

distinguished the objects in the same; this was accompanied with a sensation as if he felt that

things were near him even when not looking at them; on looking he perceived that the things

• ▸were really there" (at 10 p.
• ▸m.
• ▸, thirteen hours after the dose).
• ▸There were also hallucinations of

hearing and of sense. "Imagines she is some one else and moves to the edge of the bed to make

room" was removed in one case. "Anxious, hypochondriac feeling, as if the objects around him

had been taken from him; the room appears to him desolate, he does not feel at home in the

• ▸room, he is compelled to leave it.
• ▸" "As if in a dream.
• ▸" The restlessness of Val.
• ▸is a, very

prominent feature: Nervous irritation, cannot keep still; tearings, cramps, > morning. Constant

• ▸heat and uneasiness.
• ▸The digestion is disturbed.
• ▸The taste caused by Vai.
• ▸is as disgusting as its

odour. Before dinner a taste of fetid tallow; early in the morning on waking the taste is flat,

slimy. Nausea begins in umbilical region, rising into pharynx. In the preface to his Pocket Book

• ▸Boenninghausen gives a case which brings out many of the Val.
• ▸characteristics: "E.
• ▸N.
• ▸, 50, of

blooming, almost florid complexion, usually cheerful, but during his most violent paroxysms

inclined to outbreaks of anger with decided nervous excitement, had suffered for four months

with a peculiar violent kind of pain in the right leg after the previous dispersion, allopathically,

of a so-called rheumatic pain in the right orbit by external remedies which could not be found

out; this last pain attacked the muscle of the posterior part of the leg, especially from calf to heel,

but did not involve the knee or ankle-joint. The pain itself he described as extremely acute,

cramping, jerking, tearing, frequently interrupted by stitches extending from within outward; but

in the morning hours, when the pain was generally more endurable, it was a dull, burrowing with

a bruised feeling. The pain became < towards evening and during rest, especially after previous

motion, while sitting and standing, particularly if he did it during a walk in the open air. While

walking the pain often jumped from the right calf to the left upper arm if he put his hand into his

coat pocket or his breast and kept the arm quiet, but it was > while using the arm, and then the

pain suddenly jumped back again into the right calf. The greatest relief was experienced while

walking up and down the room and rubbing the affected part. The concomitant symptoms were

sleeplessness before midnight, frequently recurring attacks during the evening of sudden flushes

of heat with thirst, without previous chill, a disgusting, fatty taste in the mouth with nausea in the

throat, and an almost constant pressing pain in the lower part of the chest and pit of the stomach

• ▸as if something were there forcing itself outward.
• ▸" Of course Val.
• ▸was the remedy.
• ▸Val.
• ▸has a

strong affinity for the tendo Achillis, and I have cured with it many cases of painful affection of

this tendon and heel when the Va/. conditions were present. Nash cured with it a severe case of

sciatica in a pregnant woman on the symptom, "pain < standing and letting the foot rest on the

• ▸floor.
• ▸" She could stand with the foot resting on a chair or lie down in comfort.
• ▸Val.
• ▸is a leading

member of the group of remedies which meet lack of reaction. It is Suited to: (1) Hysterical

women who have taken too much chamomile tea. (2) Nervous, irritable, hysterical subjects in

whom the intellectual faculties predominate and who suffer from hysteria and neuralgia. It meets

"nervous affections occurring in excitable temperaments; in hypochondriasis it calms the

nervousness, abates the excitement of the circulation, removes the wakefulness, promotes sleep,

and induces sensation of quietude and comfort; sadness is removed; in globus, in all asthmatical

and hysterical coughs, nervous palpitation of the heart, profuse flow of limpid urine" (quoted by

Hering). "Red parts become white" is another indication of Hering's. Among Sensations are: As

• ▸if flying in air.
• ▸As if eyes would be pierced from within outward.
• ▸As if smoke in eyes.
• ▸As if a

thread were hanging down throat. As if something forcing a passage through pit of stomach. As

if something warm were rising from stomach. As if something pressed out in lower chest. As

from cold or over-lifting, pain in loins. As if he had strained left lumbar region. As if an electric

• ▸shock through humerus.
• ▸As if thigh would break.
• ▸As if strained in right ankle.
• ▸As if bruised in

• ▸outer malleolus of right foot.
• ▸Lightness in leg.
• ▸Like lead in limbs.
• ▸The symptoms are: < By touch

(blisters on cheek and lip). Rubbing > cramp in calf. Pressure of hand or covering with hat = icy

• ▸coldness on vertex.
• ▸Early decubitus in typhoid.
• ▸Slight injury = spasms.
• ▸Rest; sitting; standing <.

• ▸Motion >.
• ▸Moving eyes < headache.
• ▸Bending head back < pain in occiput.
• ▸Straightening out limb

• ▸< sciatica.
• ▸< Noon.
• ▸< Before midnight (cannot sleep before midnight).
• ▸Profuse sweat at night.
• ▸<

• ▸Open air; draught of air.
• ▸> After sleep.
• ▸< Fasting.
• ▸> After a meal.

• ▸Changeable disposition.
• ▸Feels light, as if floating in air.
• ▸Over-sensitiveness (Staph).
• ▸Hallucinations at night.
• ▸Irritable.
• ▸Tremulous.

Extremely delirious, attempting to get out of the window, threatening and vociferating

wildly.—Anxious, hypochondriacal sensation, as if all around were desolate, disagreeable, or

strange (very changeable disposition).—Joyous, tremulous excitement; mild delirium.—Intellect

• ▸clouded.
• ▸—Fear, esp.
• ▸in evening, and in the dark.
• ▸—Despair—The most opposite moral symptoms

appear alternately Extreme instability of ideas —General illusions and errors of the

mind.—Hallucinations: esp. at night; sees figures, animals, men; thinks she is some one else,

moves to edge of bed to make room.—Great flow of ideas, chasing one another.—Felt like one

who is dreaming.—Hysteria, with nervous over-excitability of the nerves.

[This remedy is like Pu/s. in many of its aggravations, &c., but it has a

different temperament—patients get "raving, tearing, swearing" mad; get < toward evening from

being still; great sleeplessness in early part of night—all like Pu/s., but the temper

decides.—Affections in general of the orbit of the eye; margins of the eyelids; calves of the

legs.—Fatty taste; sediment in the urine; reddish urine; hysterical condition; pains darting from

within outward.—< On stooping; after moving and being at rest; while resting; standing —> From

• ▸moving, from walking.
• ▸—H.
• ▸N.
• ▸G.
• ▸].
• ▸—Rheumatic tearing in limbs, but not usually in the joints,

chiefly during repose, after exercise, and mostly > by movement; or which gives place to other

sensations in other parts of the body during a walk.—Jerking and shaking pains, appearing (in

many places) suddenly and by fits.—Pains which manifest themselves after resting a long time in

any position, and are > by changing it.—Drawing and jerking in limbs, as if in bones.—Pain, as

from paralysis in limbs, towards the end of a walk.—Periodical symptoms, which reappear after

two or three months.—Epileptic fits—Paralytic torpor in limbs.—The majority of the symptoms

manifest themselves in the evening and after dinner.—Over-sensitiveness of all senses.—General

morbid excitement and irritability, with lassitude in the limbs, great gaiety, and appearance of

vigour.—Painful weariness, esp. in lower extremities, after rising in morning.

Sensation of great coldness. Pressure in forehead. Feeling of intoxication.

Head confused, as after intoxication.—Intoxication and dizziness, with absence of

ideas.—Whirling in head when stooping forwards.—Headache, which appears suddenly or in

jerks.—Fulness as from rush of blood to head.—Pressive headache, or with pressive shootings,

esp. in forehead, towards orbits, often alternating with confusion and dizziness in the

head.—Headache; < in evening, when at rest, and in the open air; > from movement in the room

and when changing the position; the pressure over the orbits alternates between a pressing and a

sticking; the sticking is like a darting, tearing as if it would pierce the eyes from within

outward.—Headache an hour after dinner, pressure over eyes as if they would be pressed out, <

moving them.—Drawing pain on one side of head, from a current of air—Headache in the

sunshine.—Stupefying contraction in head, as from a violent blow on vertex.—Sensation of icy

coldness in upper part of head, from pressure of hat.—Pressure and drawing into side of

occiput.—Piercing drawing, with pressure from nape to occiput, when bending head back.—Sweat

in hair of forehead and on forehead about noon.

Eyes downcast, as after a nocturnal debauch, esp. after a meal.—Pressure, burning

sensation, and smarting in eyes as from smoke: morning after rising.—Tearing in r. eyeball, sight

dim in morning, and pain as from insufficient sleep.—Sees things at a distance more distinctly

than usual——The eyes shine.—Redness, swelling, and pain as from excoriation in margin of

eyelids —Swelling and painful sensibility of eyelids——Myopia.—Brightness and light before eyes

when in the dark, so that objects become almost distinguishable; with this a sensation as if he felt

that things were near him even when not looking at them; on looking, he perceives they really

• ▸were there (10 p.
• ▸m.
• ▸).
• ▸—Sparks before eyes.

Earache from exposure to draughts and cold. Nervous noises. Hyperaesthesia.

Otalgia, with spasmodic drawings.—Jerking in the ears.—Tinkling and ringing in the

ears.—Illusions of hearing; imagined he heard the bell strike.

Pain in face, with spasmodic twitching and drawing in zygomatic process.—Redness

and heat of cheeks in open air; a quarter of an hour later sweat breaks out over whole body, esp.

• ▸in face.
• ▸—Twitching of muscles of face.
• ▸—Darting like electricity in r.
• ▸ramus of lower jaw.

Sensation as if a thread were hanging down throat. Nausea felt in throat. Pharynx feels constricted.

• ▸Hunger, with nausea.
• ▸Eructations foul.
• ▸Heartburn with gulping of rancid fluid.
• ▸Nausea, with faintness.
• ▸Child vomits curdled milk in large lumps after nursing.

Taste in mouth (and smell before nose) as of fetid tallow (early in the morning

after waking).—Bitter taste on tip of tongue when passing it over the lips after a meal.—Insipid

and slimy taste in mouth after waking in morning.—Bulimy, with nausea.

Risings, with the taste of rotten eggs, on waking in morning.—Frequent, empty, or

rancid and burning risings.—Voracious hunger with nausea.—Nausea and a sensation as if there

were a thread from gullet to abdomen (arising from umbilicus and gradually rising to fauces),

with copious accumulation of saliva.—Nausea, with syncope, lips white and body

cold.—Disposition to vomit.—Vomiting of bile and of mucus, with violent shivering and

• ▸shaking.
• ▸—Nocturnal vomiting.
• ▸—Weak stomach and digestion.
• ▸—Pressure at scrobiculus, appearing

and disappearing suddenly, with a gurgling in abdomen.

• ▸Bloated.
• ▸Hysterical cramps.
• ▸Thin, watery diarrhoea, with lumps of coagulated milk, with violent screaming in children.
• ▸Greenish, papescent, bloody stool.
• ▸Spasms in bowels after food and at night in bed.

Pains in hepatic region and epigastrium when touched.—Painful shocks in r.

hypochondrium.—Abdomen inflated and hard.—Powerful sensation of expansion in abdomen, as

if about to burst—Tendency to retract abdomen.—Spasms in abdomen, generally in evening, in

bed, or after dinner, allowing no > in any position whatever.—Hemorrhoidal colic; from,

• ▸worms.
• ▸—Gripings and painful pinchings in abdomen when retracting it.
• ▸—Pains in |.
• ▸side of

abdomen in evening, as from subcutaneous ulceration.—Drawing, pressure, and pains as from a

bruise in hypogastrium, inguina, and abdominal muscles, as after a chill or strain —Digging pains

in abdomen.

Loose evacuations.—Greenish feeces of consistence of pap, mixed with

blood.—Painful borings in rectum.—Bubbling pressure above anus in region of

coccyx.—Discharge of blood from anus.—Ascarides from rectum.

Profuse and frequent emission of urine. —Urine contains a white, red, or

turbid sediment.—During urination much straining and prolapsus recti.

Menses late and scanty (Puls).

Menses too late and scanty.—Neurasthenia of sexual organs of

women.—Child vomits as soon as it has been nursed, after mother has been angry.—Child vomits

curdled milk in large lumps, the same in stools.

Creeping and drawing in penis as if it had gone to sleep; frequent

erections the day previous, early in morning.—Tensive gurgling in r. testis when sitting.

Choking on falling asleep. Spasmodic asthma; convulsive movements of the diaphragm.

Choking in throat-pit on falling asleep; wakens as if

suffocating.—Inspirations grow less and less deep and more rapid till they cease; then catches her

breath by a sobbing effort in spells.—Sensation as if something warm were rising from stomach,

arresting breathing, with tickling deep in throat and cough.

Obstructed respiration and anguish in chest—Oppressed respiration, with pressure

on lower part of chest.—Frequent jerks and stitches in chest (with the sensation as if something

were pressed out), sometimes on I. side (in region of heart) when drawing breath—Sudden

stitches in chest and liver from within out—Eruption of small, hard nodosities on chest.

Drawing pains in the loins and back.—Pain in the region of the loins as from a chill or

• ▸a strain.
• ▸—Lancinations in |.
• ▸lumbar region above hip, worse when standing, and esp.
• ▸when

sitting, than when walking. —Rheumatic pains in the shoulder-blades.

Spasmodic drawings and jerkings, or else tearing in arms.—Crampy drawing

in region of biceps, in r. arm from above downward while writing. —Crampy, darting tearing like

an electric shock, repeatedly through the humerus, intensely painful—Paralytic pain in joints of

shoulder and elbow towards the end of a walk.—Eruption of small, hard nodosities on

arms.—Trembling of hands when writing.—Painful shocks across the hand.

Burning pain in hips when in bed in evening.—Crampy tearing in outer side

of thigh, extending into hip.—Pain in hip and thigh intolerable when standing, as if thigh would

break.—Spasmodic drawing and jerking in thighs.—Great heaviness and lassitude in legs, but esp.

in calves.—Twinging pain in outer side of calf when sitting —Pulsative tearing in r. calf when

sitting in the afternoon.—Pain, as of a fracture, in the thighs and tibia —Paralytic pain in the knees

towards the end of a walk.—Violent stitch in knee.—Tensive pain in the calves of the legs, esp.

when crossing the legs.—Drawing and weak feeling along tendo Achillis, toward heel, as if the

part had lost all strength, when sitting; disappearing when rising from a seat —Constant pain in

heels ——When sitting heels, esp. r., painful—Drawing in the joints of the feet when sitting

down.—Sudden pain, as if bruised, in outer malleolus of r. foot, < when standing, > when

• ▸walking.
• ▸—Wrenching pain in the joints of the foot and ankles.
• ▸—Transient pain in r.
• ▸ankle, <

while standing, but seems to disappear when walking.—Lower limbs contracted.—Pains and

shootings in heels, esp. when seated.—Tearing pains in the soles of the feet and in the toes.

• ▸Rheumatic pains in limbs.
• ▸Constant jerking.
• ▸Heaviness.
• ▸Sciatica; pain worse standing and resting on floor (Bell); better walking.
• ▸Pain in heels when sitting.

Eruption of small nodosities, at first red and confluent, the white and hard.—Painful

eruptions.—Skin too dry and warm.

Sleepless, with nightly itching and muscular spasms. Worse on waking.

Sleeplessness.—Disturbed sleep (could fall asleep only towards morning), with

tossing and anxious and confused dreams.

Long lasting heat, often with sweat on face. Heat predominates. Sensation of icy coldness (Heloderma; Camp; Abies c).

The chilliness generally begins in neck and runs down back.—Sensation of icy

coldness.—Fever, with constant heat, after a short fit of shivering, accompanied by confusion in

head and thirst—Heat < in evening and when eating.—Accelerated pulse.—Pulse irregular;

generally rapid and somewhat tense, sometimes small and weak.—Frequent perspiration, esp. on

face and forehead (often appearing and disappearing suddenly).—Profuse perspiration, esp. at

night and from exertion, with violent heat.

• ▸Asthma, spasmodic; nervous.
• ▸Bed-sores.
• ▸Change of life.
• ▸Clairvoyance.
• ▸Coxalgia.

• ▸Headache.
• ▸Heart, palpitation of.
• ▸Heels, pain in.
• ▸Hypochondriasis.
• ▸Hysteria.
• ▸Levitation.

• ▸Neuralgia.
• ▸Sciatica.
• ▸Sleeplessness.
• ▸Toothache.

• ▸Antidoted by: Bell.
• ▸, Camph.
• ▸, Cin.
• ▸, Coff.
• ▸, Puls.
• ▸Antidote to: Merc.
• ▸, abuse of

• ▸Chamomile tea.
• ▸Compare: Hysteria, Mosch.
• ▸(Mosch.
• ▸has more unconsciousness), Ign.
• ▸, Asaf.

• ▸Alternating mental states, Croc.
• ▸Defective reaction, Ambra.
• ▸, Pso.
• ▸(despair of recovery), Chi.
• ▸,

• ▸Lauro.
• ▸(chest affections), Caps.
• ▸, Op.
• ▸, Carb.
• ▸v.
• ▸Periodical neuralgia, Ars.
• ▸(Val.
• ▸hysterical

• ▸patients).
• ▸Pain = fainting, Cham.
• ▸, Hep.
• ▸, Ver.
• ▸Rheumatism > motion, Rhus.
• ▸Pains come and go

• ▸suddenly, Bell.
• ▸, Lyc.
• ▸Infant vomits curdled milk, Eth.
• ▸Over-sensitiveness, Nux.
• ▸Averse to

• ▸darkness, Stram.
• ▸, Stro.
• ▸, Am.
• ▸m.
• ▸, Ars.
• ▸, Bar.
• ▸c.
• ▸, Berb.
• ▸, Calc.
• ▸, Carb.
• ▸a.
• ▸, Carb.
• ▸v.
• ▸, Caus.
• ▸, Lyc.
• ▸, Pho.
• ▸,

• ▸Pul.
• ▸, Rhus.
• ▸As if in a dream, Ambr.
• ▸, Anac.
• ▸, Calc.
• ▸, Can.
• ▸1.
• ▸, Con.
• ▸, Cup.
• ▸, Med.
• ▸, Rhe.
• ▸, Ver.
• ▸, Ziz.

• ▸Levitation, Nux m.
• ▸, Sti.
• ▸p.
• ▸, Ph.
• ▸ac.

Compare: Asaf; Ign; Croc; Castor; Amm valer (in neuralgia, gastric disturbance, and great nervous agitation). Insomnia especially during pregnancy and menopause. Feeble, hysterical nervous patients.

Tincture.

all the senses ; great nervous restlessness* All these general symptoms

come on during rest, and are relieved by motion and moving about.

Fainting easily. Slight exertion brings on symptoms. Complaints

change about, and pains wander from place to place. It is a great

remedy for the numerous nondescript nervou^i manifestations that

come in spinal irritation when there is amelioration by motion and

aggravation by much exertion. Exertion brings on headache in these

cases. Stitching pains all over the body during rest.

The mental state is often ecstatic or hysterical. The mind undergoes rapid changes in disposition and ideas. The mental symptoms

come on at night ; sees images, animals and men. The mental state is

one of extreme activity — tension, excitement, passes from one subject

to another. Erroneous ideas ; thinks she is some one else, moves to

the edge of the bed to make room ; imagines animals lying near her

which she fears she may hurt. Fear in the evening in the dark.

Symptoms aggravated in the dark. Great sadness and irritability.

Morose, easily exasperated. Mental symptoms come on during rest,

while sitting and lying, and go off on walking about.

Vertigo when stooping. Feels light as if floating in air.

Violent nervous headaches in evening during rest, ameliorated by

• ▸motion.
• ▸Stupefying pains in head.
• ▸Stitching, tearing pain.
• ▸Sensation of great coldness in head.
• ▸Headache from exposure to the heat

and light of the sun. Aggravated in the open air and from a draft.

Pain in forehead and through the eyes. Tension and constriction of

the scalp. Icy coldness in vertex.

Wild look in the eyes. Flashes of light before the eyes in the dark.

Pressure in the eyes in the morning. Smarting in the eyes. Vision

very sharp.

Hearing acute. Jerking pains Hissing and ringing in ears.

Face red and hot in open air. Stitching in face and teeth. Sudden

jerking pain in the face. Twitching in the muscles and drawing pain

in face. Neuralgia of face, aggravated during rest.

Thickly coated tongue ; rancid taste. Flat taste in mouth on waking.

Sensation as if a thread were hanging down the throat with salivation and vomiting.

Voracious hunger with nausea. Symptoms aggravated when stomach is empty, ameliorated after breakfast. Complaints from fasting.

Eructations, like spoiled eggs, morning. Eructation of rancid fluid.

Nausea, faintness, body ice cold. Child vomits as soon as it nurses

after mother has been angry. Child vomits curdled milk in lumps.

• ▸Distended abdomen.
• ▸Cutting pain in abdomen.
• ▸Colic.
• ▸Cramps

in hysterical women, in evening in bed and after dinner.

Watery diarrhoea with curds in infants. Greenish japescent stool

and blood with cramp in abdomen and tenesmus, in children. Worms

Painful drawing in upper and lower extremities when sitting quietly, > by walking.