Repertory › Remedies in the repertory

Gelsemium sempervirens (Gels.)

Gelsemium sempervirens (Gels.) appears in 972 rubrics in the Repertory. Of these, 72 are single rubrics in which only this remedy appears, and 83 are small rubrics with at most two other remedies. The emphases lie in the rubrics on Children, Fear, Ailments from, Delusions, Anxiety and Speech, plus Stupefaction, Clinging, Delirium and Restlessness. The picture is that of a person who from anticipation, excitement and surprise loses self-control, becomes paralyzingly dazed, and seeks support.

King-pin symptom: fear of losing control

The king-pin symptom of the remedy is the fear of losing self-control: "Fear, phobia – self-control, of losing". It means the apprehension of losing control over bodily or mental functions in a particular situation, so that the situation slips away. Belonging to it are a delusion of the same content, the feeling of being about to lose self-control, the panic of being unable to control oneself, and the fear of falling apart. Essential rubrics of the remedy can be read as elaborations of this core: the tension of anticipation before going to the doctor, anxiety about the visit to the doctor, fear of approaching labor pains, panic in the airplane and when speaking in public. A series of rubrics stresses that the person would be able to speak, but shyness prevails.

Anticipation, surprise, fright

Ailments from anticipation and excitement are in the foreground. Ailments arise from unpleasant surprises, from fright, from criticism, from recent disappointment and from grief. An examination is the occasion for blackout and fright. More than with grief, the weakness shows with fright: after it the person becomes taciturn. Thunderstorm and storm also trigger restlessness and screaming. Recorded is an elation from the memory of things long past.

Stupefaction and paralysis

Stupefaction is the actual answer to excitement. It includes inability to open the eyes, stupefaction during childbirth and during labor pains, in hot weather, from bad news, and with heaviness in the head; it ameliorates by profuse urination. Thinking is slowed, reaction is absent, everyday life seems unbearable. Indifference to one's own illness and to one's own condition belongs to it, as does apathy in brain disease of children with stupor. Childbirth is accompanied by a half-conscious state from which the woman is aroused only by shaking, with speech as if drunk and a thick tongue.

Clinging and movement

The rubric "Clings to" counts 21 entries: to things, to the mother, to promises. Children grasp the nurse when they are carried, from fear of falling, and scream as if they had already experienced a fall. In keeping are the fear of being carried, of falling, and the delusion of falling, in children, as well as aversion to downward motion. The counterpart is a compulsion to move: the person must move because otherwise the heart might stop, a single rubric, and also the fear that the heart will stop beating if he does not keep moving. Delusion and fear alike concern the heart here.

Delusions and rapture

The delusions lead into dazedness: the person is intoxicated, the body lighter than air, also after coition, and the person lies in a grave. The single rubric "Feels – better when the mind (consciousness) is outside the body" belongs to the same area, as does the feeling of duality, as if not she but someone else were ill. Further delusions concern a white snake, becoming delirious and a strange illness.

Speech and voice

Speech shows the paralysis: clumsy during convulsions, weak after headaches, slurred as if drunk, dull in meningitis. The voice is weak after headaches or guttural. Aphonia aggravates before and during menses, and singing alternates with speaking.

Body relation and fever

The body remains present in the mind as well: mental symptoms occur in influenza and in typhus, delirium only partially in diphtheria, in tonsillitis and during examination of wounds. The quiet manner occurs during fever, heat and in grief. Sadness aggravates in sunshine and in summer. Confusion and laziness occur from masturbation, and a suicidal thought in spermatorrhea is also recorded as a single rubric.

Summary

Gels. shows in the Repertory a person who fears losing control before what is coming: examination, doctor, labor pains and public. The consequences are trembling, blackout, stupefaction and paralysis of speech. For support the person seeks people and things, clings to the mother or the nurse, and the fear of falling and of the heart stopping illustrates the lack of inner ground. The king-pin symptom sums up the core in one rubric.

A reference work for professionals; it does not replace diagnosis or treatment.