Valeriana officinalis
Remedy of hysterical and nervous conditions with rapidly changeable symptoms. Pains shift quickly from place to place. Sensation as if floating. Hyperesthesia — oversensitive to everything. Red thread-like body sensation. Insomnia from nervous excitement.
Source
Prepared from the fresh root of Valeriana officinalis (Caprifoliaceae/Valerianaceae).
Available Potencies
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Keynote Symptoms
Changeable, shifting symptoms — pains wander from place to place rapidly. Hysteria with dramatic, changeable complaints. Sensation of a thread hanging in throat. Floating, flying sensation. Hyperesthesia — oversensitive to touch, pain, noise. Insomnia from nervous excitement despite extreme fatigue. Sciatica with twitching. Red spot on face during fever.
Mind & Emotional Symptoms
Hysterical, changeable, dramatic. Mood alternates rapidly — laughing/crying, friendly/hostile. Oversensitive. Imagines she is someone else. Hallucinations, especially at night. Fear of dark.
General Symptoms
Changeable, wandering. Worse from standing, evening, night, darkness, cold. Better from walking, changing position, rubbing, warmth.
Physical Symptoms
Head
Sensation as if a thread hangs in forehead. Pressure on vertex. Vertigo.
Throat
Sensation of a thread hanging in throat — must swallow.
Stomach
Nausea with faintness. Hunger with nausea. Bloating.
Abdomen
Flatulence, bloating. Colic from suppressed conditions.
Extremities
Sciatica with twitching and jerking. Shifting pains in joints. Heel pain. Tearing, drawing pains.
Sleep & Dreams
Insomnia — sleepless from nervous excitement despite being exhausted. Muscles twitch on falling asleep. Disturbed by many visions and ideas.
Modalities
Better From
Walking, changing position, rubbing, warmth, turning around
Worse From
Standing still, evening, night, darkness, cold, fasting
Constitutional Type
Hysterical, nervous, changeable individuals. Those with wandering pains. Insomniacs with nervous excitement.
Clinical Indications
Hysteria (changeable), insomnia, wandering pains, sciatica with twitching, hyperesthesia, nervous conditions, globus
Comparative Materia Medica
Pulsatilla has changeable symptoms but is weepy, mild, and warm-blooded. Ignatia has hysterical symptoms but from grief with contradictory symptoms. Asafoetida has hysteria with globus and reversed peristalsis. Moschus has hysteria with fainting.
Safety Information
Camphora, Coffea, Mercurius, Pulsatilla.
Valerian root is one of the most commonly used herbal sedatives. Non-toxic, non-addictive. Used for insomnia worldwide. Rarely causes paradoxical stimulation. Safe in all potencies and mother tincture.
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