Helleborus

Action and Therapy. Hellebore is a powerful gastro-intestinal and nerve poison, and produces death by convulsions and exhaustion. Small doses stimulate the heart. Large doses are drastically cathartic, and in this way it exerts also emmenagogue effects.

Therapy. In hysteria, melancholy, mania and other mental conditions in which the abdominal organs are seriously at fault, it is prescribed with benefit. The agent is prescribed in dropsical conditions where there is great inactivity on the part of the liver, with torpidity of bowels, with general anasarca or pericarditis or hydrothorax.

Therapy. In apoplexy or in sudden paralysis from cerebral hyperemia, or from rupture of the cerebral vessels, a profound derivative influence may be at once obtained from an active dose of croton oil. In acute cerebritis, or in meningitis, or in violent delirium, or furious mania in adults, it is sometimes beneficial.

Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage. This preparation is tonic and cathartic, exerting a direct influence on the female reproductive organs. It has proved serviceable in menstrual derangements, as amenorrhoea, dysmenorrhoea, and some painful uterine affections. The dose varies from ½ to 1 or 2 fluid ounces, every 3 or 4 hours.