Bryonia Alba is a widely used homeopathic remedy. It is a plant-based remedy derived from a gourd family with twelve different species. The plant used in homeopathy is Bryonia Alba, or white bryony.
The plant is native to eastern Europe, especially the Scandinavian and Balkan regions. The white flowers of the plant turn into poisonous red berries in the summer.
The thick root of the plant has various resins, so it is the root of the Bryonia plant used extensively as a medicine.
The root has been traditionally used to treat infections, inflammations, constipation, fluid retention, vomiting, liver diseases and arthritis.
Bryonia Alba Mind Symptoms/Personality
The Bryonia person is a person of dark complexion and dark hair.
He has a rigid and fleshy body. He is a very irritable person and is said to have an ugly personality.
He has lots of fixed ideas in his head and keeps talking about them all the time. He desires many things and asks for them, but when they are offered to him, he rejects them rudely.
He is delusional; he keeps saying he needs to get back home while he is at home.
He dreads the future and is filled with lots of anxious thoughts about his future. He fears death, despite being cured of his ailments. He wants to be left alone at all times.
Bryonia Alba Uses
I will take you through all the body parts from toe to head.
You can match the symptoms and when you feel these symptoms are matched then you can take Bryonia Alba–
1-Head Complaints
Bryonia is a very good remedy for right-sided headaches.
The person will complain that there is crushing pain in the front-occipital region. He will tell the doctor that he can feel vertigo beginning in the occiput.
He gets dizzy on rising. Coughing, moving eyes and straining at stool increase his vertigo. He feels that all the objects are whirling around him.
His hair is extremely oily. This stickiness is due to the excessive perspiration on the scalp.
The head smells very bad due to the accumulation of all the sweat and grime. The entire scalp is very sensitive. Even the touch of the softest brush is not tolerated.
The head feels congested during headache as if all the blood has rushed to his head.
There is slurred speech and a staggering gait as if he is intoxicated. Headache starts early in the morning the minute he opens his eyes.
2-Eyes Complaints
The eyes are sore. There is pain felt behind the eyeballs. The left eye pains spreading all over the body.
The eyes start watering profusely when he goes out in the sun, and the lids are left puffed and swollen.
During the nighttime, there is nocturnal agglutination.
Bryonia is a good remedy for associated eye complaints in people suffering from gout.
Clinically Bryonia is useful in glaucoma, styes, conjunctivitis and presbyopia.
3-Ears Complaints
There is knob-like swelling before and behind the ears, indicating parotid gland affection.
While walking in the fresh air, the person feels ringing and humming in the ears leading to vertigo.
There is shooting pain felt inside the ears. All noise is insufferable. The ears bleed vicariously.
4-Nose Complaints
Bryonia is a well-indicated remedy for vicarious bleeding from the nose when the menses appear.
This is seen typically during pregnancy. The tip of the nose is huge and bulbous.
It is sensitive to touch and appears as if it would ulcerate if touched.
There is frequent coryza. The mucus gets dried up in the nose, making it difficult to breathe.
Coryza is always accompanied by shooting and aching pain in the forehead.
5-Face Complaints
Bryonia has a very characteristic face. The face is swollen and has a yellowish, earthy hue to it.
There is a lot of burning, painful spots on the face that are red. The face is puffed up and swollen under the eyes and at the root of the nose.
The temporal-mandibular joint is swollen, indictive of parotiditis. Many tiny eruptions on the face are painful; the pain is mostly mitigated by external pressure.
The lips in Bryonia are very typical. The lower lip is dehydrated, dry and cracked.
Eczema like patches is seen under the lower lip. Tiny eruptions are seen on the lip that shows burning and smarting pain.
6-Teeth Complaints
The teeth are rotten and ugly looking. The gums are swollen and spongy. They bleed on touch.
The person complains that his teeth are too long or too loose and that he feels they may fall off while he is having his meals.
The decaying tooth has sensitive and raw nerve endings. This, when exposed to open air leads to a shooting pain that jumps from one tooth to the other.
The pain also shoots into the cheeks and up into the head.
The pain in the teeth is temporarily relieved by lying down and by icy cold things.
Applying hard pressure on the tooth also relieves the pain. Chewing tobacco or smoking worsens tooth pain.
7-Mouth Complaints
The mouth and throat are very dry. The tongue is cracked and shows intense dryness.
This is in spite f the fact that there is copious salivation.
The saliva is offensive and frothy and collects in bubbles at the corners of the mouth. The saliva makes the entire mouth smell very vile and offensive.
There is an intense burning thirst. The tongue is parched and shows deep cracks in the middle and sides. It has a yellowish colour to it.
On examination, numerous tiny blisters are seen on the tongue.
The speech is indistinct and sounds slurred due to the excessive salivation and dryness of the tongue and throat.
8-Throat Complaints
The throat is extremely dry and hoarse. There is constricting pain in the throat that is exacerbated while swallowing.
Empty swallowing is very painful. The pharynx feels swollen and constricted.
There is excoriating pain as if a hard and pointed object was being scraped over the throat.
Shooting pain is felt in the throat while moving or turning sideways.
The person complains of tenacious mucus stuck inside his throat and that he has to put in a lot of effort in hemming and hawking to expel it.
9-Chest and Respiratory Complaints
Bryonia has a great affinity for the lungs. The person always breathes with the help of the abdominal muscles.
He tends to breathe deeply and continuously. It appears as if he is sighing all the time.
In acute bronchitis, the breathing becomes quick and anxious. There are stitching pains that shoot all over the chest and compel him to sit up.
Coughing causes a lot of sweat and pain in the chest region. The cough sounds as if the chest is rattling.
The throat is extremely dry, and there is a sensation of a mucus plug sticking at the larynx.
The tickling sensation makes him hem and hawk. After a lot of effort, he is finally able to cough up the mucus.
The mucus is reddish-brown. The person is left tired and with burning excoriating pain in the larynx.
All the coughing gives him an intense headache. Also, there is involuntary urination while he coughs.
The cough is brought on by eating, especially his favourite foods. The cough begins as nausea and water brash.
The moment his nausea starts, his coughing starts. There is no relief in either till the contents of his stomach are thrown out.
There are attacks of dyspnoea at night. There is a sensation that a heavyweight has been placed on his chest.
The person gets up, unable to breathe. Even the slightest movement makes him breathless and sends pain shooting from his chest all over the abdomen.
He cannot lie down; he cannot move. He sits very still, taking slow deep breaths.
The dyspnoea comes with colic in the abdomen, and there is an urge to pass stools.
10-Stomach Complaints
Bryonia has a wonderful action on the stomach. The remedy is very effective for nausea and vomiting.
There is nausea after eating or drinking. It starts as hiccoughs and empty retching.
Very soon, there is water collecting in the mouth that is sour and has the taste of the food just eaten. Vomitus is watery and yellowish.
The food or drink that had been consumed is vomited out in the partially digested form.
The characteristic symptom in Bryonia is that nausea starts immediately after eating or drinking, especially after eating something satisfying the palate.
Along with nausea, there is a pain in the stomach as if twisting a knife inside. The insides of the stomach feel as if squeezed. There is burning in the pit of the stomach.
The nausea is aggravated by motion, slightest touch and walking around.
Pressing hard on the stomach area provides some relief. At night there is often vomiting of bile and sometimes even blood.
All this nausea makes him lose interest in food. Everything tastes bitter.
He has a ravenous appetite, but as soon as he takes the first bite, nausea starts. This leads to disgust for food. He, therefore, eats little food frequently.
He has a desire for acidic drinks, beer, wine, and coffee. All these cause great thirst, but drinking water leads to nausea and vomiting.
He drinks copious amounts of water infrequently.
The Bryonia person can be termed as bulimic as whatever he eats is thrown up. This bulimia-like condition is not intentional, though.
11-Abdominal Complaints
Bryonia has a great affection for the right side of the body.
As such, in the abdomen, it is the liver that is affected the most.
The right hypochondriac region is very rigid and tense. There is great sensitivity to touch.
The pain from the liver shoots to the back and the stomach. The pain also radiates to the spleen.
The entire abdomen is tense and rigid. Upon palpation, there can be felt hard lumps in the right hypochondrium and umbilical regions.
The abdomen is distended as if from the accumulation of fluid. Loud gurgling sounds are heard frequently in the abdomen.
A lot of flatus is passed, with no relief. Sometimes, the pain is associated with loose stools.
The pain in the right side is aggravated by eating food and especially at night.
The entire abdomen feels heavy after eating; there is a feeling of a heavyweight placed in the pit of the stomach.
12-Rectum Complaints
In constipation, the stools are very large and extremely dry. They are scanty and appear brown as if burnt.
The stools are evacuated with great difficulty. The entire anus burns and remains sore for a long time after passing stools.
In diarrhoea, the stools are loose and watery. They smell like rotten cheese.
The stools contain undigested food. Sometimes they are evacuated involuntarily.
Involuntary evacuation of loose stools at night during sleep is a keynote symptom for prescribing Bryonia.
In breastfed babies, there are frequent, watery stools of a brownish colour.
13-Urinary Complaints
There is a great urge to urinate as soon as the bladder is full.
The person cannot seem to hold the urine inside. Involuntary urination happens at night.
Some urine leaks out while he is lifting heavy loads. There is cutting, constricting pain all along the urethra during urination.
The urine is very watery and looks turbid. Upon standing for a while, the urine turns a dark reddish-brown colour.
The Bryonia person’s toilet often has a pinkish hue due to his urine.
14-Male Organs Complaints
The genital area is filled with itchy eruptions.
The right testicle is swollen. This makes him very uncomfortable while sitting.
The glans is swollen, red and very itchy.
15-Female Organs Complaints
In Bryonia, the typical symptom is vicarious bleeding.
There is bleeding from the nose at the time of menses, seen during pregnancy.
The menses are too early and too profuse. There is metrorrhagia with dark red and extremely offensive blood.
During menses, there is drawing pain in the lower limbs, more in the right leg. The lady bleeds in between her periods.
The genitals are very itchy. On examination, there will be lots of tiny itchy, burning bumps.
One labium is swollen more than the other; it has a purplish-blackish lump.
The breasts are engorged and sore due to retarded blood flow in lactating women.
During pregnancy, there is burning pain in the uterine region.
This pain is aggravated by walking around. The lady has to press hard and change her posture to overcome the pain.
16-Neck & Back Complaints
The neck and back regions are extremely stiff and painful.
The neck shows a lot of tiny miliary eruptions that itch violently.
The pain in the neck and back is so painful that it hampers free movement.
The person is unable to turn the neck freely or bend and twist his back freely.
He sits in a crooked position and walks with a crooked gait.
While walking, it appears he has a particular gait because he has pain in his loins, while in fact, it is a pain in his sacrum that is not allowing him to walk upright.
17-Hands Complaints
As is typical of Bryonia, the right arm is the most affected. The right shoulder is stiff as if bruised by rheumatism.
The shoulder looks bright and shiny. The entire hand is painful.
There is involuntary trembling of the arm. The forearm shows tiny eruptions that burn and itch.
The elbow is swollen, and the pain from the elbow shoots down to the fingertips.
The wrist feels painful, as if it would dislocate and fall off. This sensation is felt acutely during writing or while the wrist is moved due to any reason.
The fingers ache terribly while writing. The entire hand swells up during nights, and there is a burning sensation all over the hand.
18-Legs Complaints
All the joints are affected by rheumatism.
The hip joint is extremely painful, and the person feels that the joint will dislocate, so much is the pain.
The pain from the hip radiates down to the toes. Right-sided sciatica is a condition well covered by Bryonia.
The pain from the right buttock tears through the back of the right thigh and into the right calf.
The knees and ankles are affected by rheumatism.
They are shiny red, hot to touch and extremely painful. Bending the joint causes intense pain.
The legs are weak. Climbing up the stairs is very painful.
The legs give way while standing for too long or after walking a lot. At night, the leg swells up, and there is a terrible pain in the calves.
The soles of the feet show corn development due to too much pressure upon them.
19-Skin Complaints
The skin of the Bryonia person is dark and wrinkled.
It has a yellowish-brown hue to it making the person look jaundiced.
This is mainly due to the liver affections. The entire body is filled with tiny miliary eruptions that itch and burn.
Touching them makes them itch and burn more.
The feet show corn that has developed due to excessive pressure.
There are ulcers in various places that are cold. The area around the ulcer feels chilled.
20-Sleep Complaints
The Bryonia person keeps yawning all day.
Throughout the day, he is exhausted and sleeps with his eyes open.
This is because he has not slept well in the night. The heat of the room keeps him awake.
The heavy dinner and resultant nausea make him unable to sleep.
He is not able to lie on his right side for long. As he drifts into sleep, he has nightmares. He sees disagreeable dreams, dreams of financial ruin, business losses.
These vivid dreams wake him up with a start, and he is left restless and anxious.
He then cannot go back to sleep. Bryonia also shows somnambulism or sleepwalking.
21-Fever Complaints
The chill state during fever comes mostly in the evening.
The person shivers with cold and wants to be covered up. Despite feeling so cold, he desires to drink a lot of water.
The characteristic of the Bryonia chill stage is that only the right side of the body is cold.
He feels colder in the enclosed room than in the open air.
The heat stage comes with copious perspiration that is very greasy and foul swelling.
There is a bitter taste in the mouth, and the person desires a lot of water and cold drinks.
The fever ends with the onset of cough. The cough is very debilitating. He coughs till his chest and abdomen ache.
There is severe rattling and oppression felt in the chest.
Bryonia Alba Modalities
Modalities are the factors which, increase or decrease the complaints in a patient.
They are categorized as aggravating factors and amelioration factors.
Aggravating factors make the condition of the illness worst, while the amelioration factor makes the condition of the disease better.
It can be time, any part of the day, season, position, or any applications, etc.
Aggravated By–
The conditions or factors that aggravate or worsen the symptoms and sufferings are –
-Touch,
-eating or drinking, especially one’s favourite foods
-slightest touch
-moving around
-morning
-warm and hot weather
-exertion
Amelioration By–
-lying on the painful side
-applying hard pressure
-rest
-cold things
-open-air
Bryonia Alba Relationship with Other Medicines
Complementary Remedies-Alumina
It is Antidoted by-Aconite, Camphor, Chamomilla, Ignatia, Nux Vomica, Pulsatilla, Rhus Tox
It Antidotes-Chlorum, Merc Sol
It is Followed Well by-Alum, Arsenicum Album, Kali Carb
It Follows Well-Aconite, Ammonium, Opium.
Bryonia Alba Dosage & Potency
Homeopathic medicines are prescribed based on the similarity of the symptoms. The symptoms presented by the patient are matched with the symptoms of the remedy.
Depending on the extent of symptom similarity, the potency and repetition are decided. The greater number of symptoms that match, the higher is the potency used.
Similarly, if a smaller number of symptoms match the remedy, then a lower potency is used.
Other than this, one major factor in deciding the dosage and repetition is peculiar and rare symptoms. These are the seemingly irrelevant symptoms to the pathology, and they appear to have no relevance to the case whatsoever.
Indeed, these are the ones that, more often than not, may be dismissed as a joke and not taken seriously. But these are the ones that define the person.
These symptoms are the ones vital to a homeopathic prescription as they are the ones that help us understand the person suffering from the disease.
So more the number of this peculiar and rare symptom higher should be the dose used, and lesser should be the repetition.
Homeopathic remedies are powerful and deep acting. They have to be prescribed with utmost care and judiciousness.
Bryonia Alba 30 Uses–
This is a potency reserved for cases where the medicine is required in a purely therapeutic dose. The symptoms presented by the patient help the doctor to make a diagnosis of the disease, but they show less matching with the symptoms of the remedy as such, in this case, Bryonia.
This dose needs to be repeated frequently, like 3 to 4 times a day.
One may dissolve the pills or the dilution in water and consume as per the doctor’s advice.
Bryonia Alba 20 Uses–
This potency should be used when the symptoms of the remedy match well with the person’s symptoms. This potency calls for a lot of symptoms peculiar to Bryonia to be present.
200C is repeated infrequently. After administering the first dose, it is advisable to wait for the symptoms to subside. Repeating has to be done only till the symptoms disappear.
Bryonia Alba 1M Uses–
This is a very high potency and should be used cautiously. It should be thought of only when the symptom similarity is perfect, and the remedy picture perfectly matches the patient’s presentation.
Bryonia Alba Side Effects
Side-effects to homoeopathic medicines is an extremely rare phenomenon.
It may so happen that the symptoms may subside temporarily and then come back with a renewed strength and severity. This happens when the medicine has been repeated more than what was required.
It may also happen that the person may come back saying that he has developed an entirely new set of symptoms while all his old symptoms are still present. This means that the remedy prescribed was the wrong one.
In both cases, it is advisable to give a suitable antidote to Ignatia.
You may have to re-work the case as a new totality has emerged. Based upon this new totality, you may have to prescribe Ignatia in a different potency or a new remedy altogether that matches the newly formed totality.
Keep a lookout for these symptoms; they are the red flags on your path to recovery-
1.Dizziness
2.Vomiting
3.Convulsions
4.Bloody diarrhoea
5.Rash appearing all over the body
6.Nervousness, excitement.
7.Worsening of any symptom that you had before taking the dose.