LEDUM PALUSTRE


In the mental sphere there is a strong desire for solitude, which we may note in connection with the natural habitat of the plant, for it grows in our-of-the-way places. There is a strong aversion to people because they irritate; therefore the Ledum patient keeps by himself. He actually grows to hate people, through the irritation their presence causes him.


Ledum was one of the remedies that Hahnemann proved and incorporated in the Materia Medica Pura. There were over 300 symptoms, and by six provers besides Hahnemann. In the Transactions of the I.H.A over a period of many years I can find only two references to the action of Ledum, and those pertaining tot the rheumatic effects with the peculiar modality of the remedy.

Hahnemann considered Ledum prominently a remedy for chronic conditions. It covers the field of the psoric, syphilitic and sycotic miasms, with perhaps the strongest emphasis on the sycotic.

It has a close action to Arnica in some spheres but Ledum has a special action on the capillary system in parts where cellular tissue is wanting and where a dry resisting texture is present, as in the fingers and toes.

Ledum has been used with marked success in treating punctured wounds, stings and bites of animals and insects, especially where there is pain shooting upward from the wound and the characteristic coldness accompanying the symptoms. Many think of the sphere of this remedy in punctured wounds to be only a present one, at the time of the injury; but sometimes such wounds will cause trouble for years afterward by symptoms arising from such injuries, and in such condition Ledum finds a valuable place, for even at a very late date it will set in motion a curative action.

In the mental sphere there is a strong desire for solitude, which we may note in connection with the natural habitat of the plant, for it grows in our-of-the-way places. There is a strong aversion to people because they irritate; therefore the Ledum patient keeps by himself. He actually grows to hate people, through the irritation their presence causes him.

In the sensorium we find a great deal of vertigo, with the head sinking backward; vertigo that persists all day long, even when sitting still, but increases by stooping; and when walking in the open air falling forward as if the patient were intoxicated. With this vertigo is associated a sense of heat of the body, especially the face, with pale cheeks and forehead, and without thirst. It is significant that with this remedy where there is heat it is an internal heat.

With all the conditions in Ledum, as a rule we find extreme coldness yet great < from heat.

The headaches have tearing pains in the head and eyes. The conjunctiva and whites of the eyes are swollen and highly inflamed. These tearing pains of the head and eyes are < lying and > sitting. The eyelids themselves are not affected but in the morning they are sealed with matter which is ill-smelling.

With the headache there is great internal heat (rather than external) and profuse sweating on the back and in the hair of the head. The headaches are characterized by a sense of pressure, mostly on the top of the head and in the forehead like a heavy weight; and they finally locate in the right temple.

On the surface of the head and a different parts of the body is the sensation of crawling as from vermin. This is an interesting symptom when we remember Linnaeus observation its extensive use-before it was recognized by medicine-by farmers for the eradication of vermin on animals; it was fed in its crude state with the other fodder. In this connection, too, we may note again its use for the effects of insect bites, as may be found in our homoeopathic repertories.

In the eye Ledum is a remedy for contusions, preeminently with ecchymosis, especially of the lids; especially with extravasation of blood into the tissues.

There are haemorrhagic conditions even into the inner chamber. It is a remedy to be thought of in conditions following iridectomy, when there is haemorrhage and contusion.

There is marked dilation of the pupils; sensitiveness to light; flickering before the eyes, and inability to see things distinctly. When he looks at an object attentively there is a halo or flickering before the eyes, making it impossible for him to fix his gaze steadily. Profuse lachrymation;the tears are acrid and smarting, excoriating the lower lids and the cheeks. There is an alternation of the character of the discharges: the secretions are by day watery and in the morning upon rising they are gummy.

The swelling of the face is of an erysipelatous nature, often starting from the bites of insects associated with this is the sensation of coldness, notwithstanding the fever that accompanies it.

Ledum covers a great many of the eruptions of the faces of young people, with dry pimples or red lumps; also the pimply eruptions of hard drinkers.

There are noises as of ringing of bells in the ears; roaring often as from a heavy wind.

There is burning or burning pain in the interior of the nose, as from red-hot coals, which is < by pressure and bowling.

Sordes appear on the upper lip, with burning and itching.

There is soreness in the throat with shooting pains when not swallowing and only in the forenoon; or a sensation as of a plug in the throat with shooting pain on swallowing.

There is a bitter, musty taste in the mouth which causes qualmishness and nausea.

Upon beginning to eat there is sudden repulsion as though she had eaten to much, reminding one of Lycopodium,; as though she had eaten too much, causing nausea. There is dislike to the customary tobacco smoking, but with no change in the appetite for food. This suggests the use of Ledum in breaking the tobacco habit.

There is frequent recurring hiccough.

A sudden digging colic under the navel is followed by a sudden flow of watery saliva from the mouth like waterbrash. The abdominal pains are as if contused; cutting; pressing; often accompanied by diarrhoea or sensation as if diarrhoea were about to come on. This is at the same time associated with anorexia, normal taste, sudden flow of watery saliva and cold feet.

With the cutting pains of the stool we find a flow of blood from the anus and the pappy stools are mixed with blood; or there may be pappy stools mixed with blood but without pain.

The urinary symptoms are notable for the diminished secretion of urine., with frequent urging and reddish sand in the urine. The flow of urine often stops, and he must press on the urethra in order to pass urine. The stream is very thin but without pains; or there may be the cutting pain that is often characteristic of the Ledum symptoms.

There are nocturnal emissions and pollutions with bloody or watery semen. After the pollutions he is so exhausted he can scarcely drugs his feet alone.

There is dyspnoeic constrictions of the chest < by movement and walking; in going upstairs there is tightness of the chest, tight painful respirations of an asthmatic nature, with a sensation of suffocation. It is a remedy to be considered in whooping cough where there is intense tightness of the chest and before the cough comes on the child loses the breath and if about to be suffocated. During the paroxysm there is epistaxis. There is cough without expectoration; or again, cough severe and violent with profuse expectoration of bright red blood. There is a peculiar subjective symptom; as if something was alive in the chest, with uneasiness.

The expectoration of Ledum has a musty, moldy taste, and there is a chronic cough that lasts for a long time. With the cough is the characteristic of the remedy; coldness and deficiency of animal heat.

There may be suppuration of the lungs with a purulent greenish expectoration, after neglected pneumonias.

Phthisical conditions alternate with rheumatism. Haemoptysis alternates with rheumatism the haemoptysis bright red, profuse, with a severe cough; rattling and hissing in the air passages. or coxalgia may alternate with violent cough in paroxysms.,.

On the chest and upper arms there is an eruption liked varicella, with desquamation.

Ledum has severe pains in the shoulders; in fact, the key to rheumatic conditions of Ledum lie in its action on ligamentous tissue. The rheumatic pains are severe in the shoulder joints, in the knee joints, and especially in the hands and feet, where there is a great deal of ligamentous tissue involved. Another peculiar thing about the rheumatism of Ledum is that the pains go from motion and in the evening.

Another peculiar symptom of Ledum is the tremor when sitting or attempting to walk or stand.

Pains which extend from the knees to the hips are greatly > by rubbing. The child will keep quiet and still so long as his limbs are rubbed. In other words, it has the characteristic bone pains of children to a marked degree, and they are > by rubbing.

In rheumatic troubles the legs and feet up to the knees become purple, mottled and swell and pit upon pressure. They can get no relief from the intense swelling except by holding the feet in cold water. In fact, the whole condition is > by bathing in cold water.

This is a remedy that we think of in whitlow as a result of punctured wounds, like needle pricks, or from splinters.

The pains of gout are particularly to be thought of in this remedy, especially pain in the feet with gouty nodosities. The ball of the great toe is painful and swollen, rendering it almost impossible to stand or to step.

H.A. Roberts
Dr. H.A.Roberts (1868-1950) attended New York Homoeopathic Medical College and set up practrice in Brattleboro of Vermont (U.S.). He eventually moved to Connecticut where he practiced almost 50 years. Elected president of the Connecticut Homoeopathic Medical Society and subsequently President of The International Hahnemannian Association. His writings include Sensation As If and The Principles and Art of Cure by Homoeopathy.