Horse-nettle

Seizures that intensify in force or frequency around the menstrual period

Paroxysmal, spasmodic cough of whooping cough poorly controlled by gentler antispasmodics

Epileptiform convulsions of iodiopathic origin; hystero-epilesy; spasmodic cough.

Overview. Solanum carolinense is a coarse, spiny perennial of the nightshade family, native to and naturalized throughout the eastern and central United States, common in fields, roadsides, and waste ground. The root and ripe berry were the parts used by the American eclectic physicians of the nineteenth century, who valued the plant chiefly as an antispasmodic for epilepsy and whooping cough. It has no established place in mainstream herbal practice today and is essentially a historical remedy rather than a current one.

Clinical Notes. The eclectic literature is candid that horse-nettle's reputation as an antiepileptic outran its actual reliability: some practitioners reported a reduction in seizure frequency and severity, particularly when attacks clustered around menses, but results were inconsistent and the doses required to produce any effect approached those that caused toxicity.

Action and Therapy. Solanum is antispasmodic, and for this effect has been extolled as a remedy for iodiopathic epilepsy, in which extraordinary claims are made for it; and of lesser value, in petit mal. As large doses are required its effects may border upon the poisonous. Hare asserts that he has reduced the force and frequency of epileptic attacks with it; and most observers claim that it acts best when the attacks are severest at or when provoked by or occurring in the menstrual period. It has been used also in chorea, but not with marked benefit. We have found it a good modifier of the paroxysms of whooping cough. Altogether its virtues are much overrated .

Therapy. The remedy has been used with some success in the treatment of epilepsy. It was used in an Eastern hospital for epileptics experimentally, with a reduction in the number of paroxysms of twenty-five per cent. It may be given in all forms of epilepsy in sufficient frequent doses to produce a sensation of dullness or drowsiness. It has cured some stubborn cases and has relieved many. Its specific field is yet to be determined. It has been used in the treatment of puerperal convulsions with satisfactory results, in a few cases. In hysterical paroxysms it has been useful.