Vincetoxicum has received a proper homeopathic proving by Dr. Walter Glück in 1988. Vincetoxicum officinalis (swallow-wort) as a plant belongs to the Asclepiadaceae family and is indigenous to Asia and Europe. It has been introduced to North America and apparently can be found there in New England.
The mother tincture is prepared from the fresh leaves of the plant, Cynanchum vincetoxicum,
which grows wild at the wayside in Europe.
Has offered great benefit in viral flu-like conditions, where the main pointer has been a peculiar
debilitating head ache.
The main indications are:
- Acute febrile reaction phases.
- Mononucleosis (glandular fever).
- Lymphadenitis
- Viral diseases
Colds, flu and fever starting with leaden tiredness, nasal congestion with discharge, pressive headache and chills. Afterwards come pains in the extremities, all bones hurt (similar
to Eup-per.), heat and fever, sometimes alternating with chilliness. Headache, primarily
and particularly a pressing down on the vertex or the forhead — dull, throbbing, bursting, ameliorated by lying down.
The feature that leads to Vincetoxicum most of the time is the headache. It is a pressing pain
which also may radiate from the forhead to the eyes with photophobia, mental dullness, vertigo, inability to think clearly. Often accompanied by a stiffness of the cervical spine and neck with pains there, extending to the head. Throat pain with enlarged or swollen tonsils, worse on swallowing. Paroxysms of a dry cough, leading to a burning chest pain after a couple of days. Headache definitely worse from coughing.
Vincetoxicum has features which belong to: Eup-per (broken down feeling and pain in bones)
Bryonia (worse movement, hot head with chills, similar kind of headache, etc.).
If you find a patient where you can’t decide between Eup-per and Bry give Vincetoxicum instead. — Chris Kurz
Oscillococcinum (Anas barbariae hepates et cordes extractum) 200C works wonders in the early chills kind of stage of a flu (if you catch it in the first hours — after that it’s chancy at best).
