Homoeopathic aid of Viburnums in female reproductive health

Dr K Syed Abid 

VIBURNUM, (genus Viburnum), any of about 175 shrubs and small trees belonging to the family Adoxaceae, native to temperate and subtropical Eurasia and North America, with about 16 species native to Malaysia. Many species are cultivated for their ornamental foliage, fragrant clusters of usually white flowers, and colourful blue-black fruits.¹

The genus Viburnum  (Adoxaceae, Dipsacales) is comprised of evergreen, semi evergreen, or deciduous shrubs and small trees distributed primarily within the temperate forest regions of the northern hemisphere but also in the mountains of Central and South America, Southeast Asia.

Although the species of the genus are generally well adapted to mesic forest environments, particular species have been reported to inhabit both, cold boreal forests, and tropical rainforests.²

Many traditionally used medicinal herbs exert a beneficial impact on human health thanks to their antioxidant potential. Phenolic compounds, commonly found in plants, are the largest group of natural antioxidants. Plants produce them to protect their cells from oxidative damage caused by oxygen radicals and molecular excitation. Viburnum plant species have been extensively studied in vitro and in vivo assays. Most antioxidant studies relate to Viburnum fruits and juices, being V. opulus the most investigated plant species.²

VIBURNUM OPULUS.

• Common Name: European cranberrybush
• Type: Deciduous shrub
• Family: Adoxaceae
• Native Range: Europe, northwestern Africa, Asia Minor, Caucusus, central Asia
• Zone: 3 to 8
• Height: 8.00 to 15.00 feet
• Spread: 10.00 to 15.00 feet
• Bloom Time: April to May.⁵

High Cranberry Bush. Cramp Bark. Water Elder. (The Gueldres Rose, or Snowball-tree of our gardens, is the cultivated and sterile variety.) N. O. Caprifoliaceae. Tincture of the fresh bark.

Clinical- After-pains. Cough, of pregnancy. Cramps. Dysmenorrhoea; spasmodic; neuralgic; membranous. Ears, painful. Epididymitis. Headache. Hysteria. Labour pains, false. Lumbago. Menstruation, painful. Miscarriage. Ovaries, pain in. Paralysis. Uterus, cramps in; bearing down in.

Characteristics- Viburnum opulus, a native of Great Britain, is widely distributed over the northern parts of the continent and America. In America (says Hale) the wild species is called “Cramp bark,” and the knowledge of its curative virtues in painful spasmodic diseases, especially in dysmenorrhoea, is derived from the American aborigines. The tincture has a strong odour of Valerianic acid (as also has that of Vib. tinus).

Female Sexual Organs. Leucorrhoea: thick, white, and copious; thin, yellowish white after menses; thin, colourless, except with every stool, when it was thick, white, inodorous, blood-streaked; causing redness, smarting and itching of genitals. Sudden pain in womb and hypogastrium before menstruation. Pain in ovarian region. Congested feeling in pelvic organs, as before menses. Bearing-down pains: in pelvic region, with uneasiness; as before menses; as during menses, with heavy aching in sacral region and over pubes; as during menses with drawing pains in anterior muscles of thighs, every day after 3 p.m., with occasional shooting over ovaries, later the same, with nervousness, could not sit or lie still on account of the pains.-Menstrual pain, with feeling as if the breath would leave her body and heart would cease to beat. Crampy, colicky pains in both ovarian regions, extending down thighs.⁶

 VIBURNUM PRUNIFOLIUM .

• Common Name: Blackhaw viburnum
• Type: Deciduous shrub
• Family: Adoxaceae
• Native Range: Eastern and central North America
• Zone: 3 to 9
• Height: 12.00 to 15.00 feet
• Spread: 6.00 to 12.00 feet
• Bloom Time: May to June.⁵

Black Haw. (An American species.) *N.O. Caprifoliaceae. Tincture of fresh bark (“gathered in October and November from trees grown in open situations.”- Phares, quoted by Hale).

Clinical- Abortion, threatened. Dysmenorrhoea. Menorrhagia. Tetanus. Tongue, cancer of.⁷
Habitual miscarriage; afterpains; cancer of the tongue; obstinate hiccough; uterine tonic; Morning sickness; Menstrual irregularities of sterile females with uterine displacements.⁸

VIBURNUM  TINUS.

• Common Name: laurustinus
• Type: Broadleaf evergreen
• Family: Adoxaceae
• Zone: 8 to 10
• Height: 4.00 to 8.00 feet
• Spread: 4.00 to 8.00 feet
• Bloom Time: February to March.⁵
• Bloom Description: Red-pink buds opening to white.
• Viburnum tinus. Laurustinus. N. O. Caprifoliaceae. Tincture of fresh leaves.

Clinical- Deafness. Diaphragm, cramp in. Hypochondriasis. Ovary, pain in.

Menorrhagia, postpartum hemorrhage and in threatened abortion; and in dysmennorhoea and after pains.⁹

Characteristics- Viburnum tinus is the beautiful evergreen shrub known in our gardens as Laurustinus. Cooper has investigated it, giving always single doses of the Ø tincture in cases analogous to those for which Vib. o. is given. He has cured with it: (1) Pain in ovary with depression. [He considers hypochondriasis an indication for Vib. t.] (2) Deafness, with sufferings in lower segment of abdomen and dysmenia; erosions about the os uteri. (3) Cramp in diaphragm. (4) Horrible headache all over head, < on right side with right-sided deafness, coming on at 7 and 11 a.m. and 4 and 7 p.m., with great sinking in pit of chest. (5) Waking at 4 a.m. with horrid depression of spirits that lasts till noon, with a weight on chest and back; has to hold herself up in order to breathe.¹⁰

OTHER VIBURNUM SPECIES AND ITS USES

Viburnum foetidum

• Family – Caprifoliaceae.
• Habitat – Khasi hills at altitudes of 900–1,800 m.
• Folk – Narwel (Maharashtra).
• Action : Leaves – astringent, antispasmodic. Juice used in menorrhagia and as a sedative (a substitute for American Viburnum bark) in uterine disorders, and in post-partum haemorrhage. See Viburnum coriaceumand V. opulus.⁴

Viburnum cotinifolium 

• Family- Caprifoliaceae.
• Habitat- The Himalayas from Kashmir to Bhutan at altitudes of 1,200–3,300 m.
• Folk- Richh, Richhabi, Khimor (Punjab), Gwiaa, Ghinwaa, Guyaa, Ghenu (Kumaon).
• Action: Bark—used in menorrhagia and metrorrhagia.³

CONCLUSION: Since the ancient era, species of viburnums in general  are used as the folk medicine in order to treat the diseases related to female reproductive system especially for the uterine cramps and for miscarriages. Dysmenorrhoea is the most common problem from the teenagers to the women attaining menopause, so these viburnums can be benefitted when selected in a proper potency and dose, based on their age and intensity of complaint. According to the numerous published results, it can be said that Viburnum species and their products are exceptional antioxidants finding their place as naturally safe agents.² Homoeopathically prepared medicines are having much benefits in the female reproductive health as they were proved and clinically verified with the complete picture of the drug on healthy individuals. They acts as the uterine tonic and also beneficial in the treatment of infertility in females, they are best indicated in cases of dysmenorrhoea with menorrhagia and also the bleeding disorders.

SOME RESEARCH ARTICLES ON VIBURNUMS :

1) Antioxidant properties of Viburnum opulus and Viburnum lantana growing in Turkey.¹¹

2) Genus Viburnum: Therapeutic Potentialities and Agro-Food-Pharma Applications.¹²

3) Viburnum opulus L.: A remedy for the treatment of endometriosis demonstrated by rat model of surgically-induced endometriosis.¹³

4) “AMELIORATING EFFECTS OF VIBURNUM OPULUS HOMOEOPATHIC MOTHER TINCTURE IN SPASMODIC DYSMENORRHEA.”¹⁴

REFERENCES:

1. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “viburnum”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 17 Oct. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/plant/viburnum. Accessed 10 December 2021.
2. Javad Sharifi-Rad, Cristina Quispe, Cristian Valdés Vergara, Dusanka Kitic, Milica Kostic, Lorene Armstrong, Zabta Khan Shinwari, Ali Talha Khalil, Milka Brdar-Jokanović, Branka Ljevnaić-Mašić, Elena M. Varoni, Marcello Iriti, Gerardo Leyva-Gómez, Jesús Herrera-Bravo, Luis A. Salazar, William C. Cho, “Genus Viburnum: Therapeutic Potentialities and Agro-Food-Pharma Applications”, Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity, vol. 2021, Article ID 3095514, 26 pages, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/3095514
3. Khare C. (2007) Viburnum cotinifolium D. Don.. In: Khare C. (eds) Indian Medicinal Plants. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-70638-2_1733.
4. Khare C. (2007) Viburnum foetidum Wall.. In: Khare C. (eds) Indian Medicinal Plants. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-70638-2_1734.
5. Missouribotanicalgarden.org. 2021. Conditions of Use. [online] Available at: <https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/conditions.aspx> [Accessed 13 December 2021].
6. Materiamedica.info. 2021. Viburnum Opulus. from Materia Medica by John Henry Clarke. Homeopathy.. [online] Available at: <https://www.materiamedica.info/en/materia-medica/john-henry-clarke/viburnum-opulus> [Accessed 13 December 2021].
7. Materiamedica.info. 2021. Viburnum prunifolium. from Materia Medica by John Henry Clarke. Homeopathy.. [online] Available at: <https://www.materiamedica.info/en/materia-medica/john-henry-clarke/viburnum-prunifolium> [Accessed 13 December 2021].
8. Varma, P. and Vaid, I., 1995. Encyclopaedia of homoeopathic pharmacopoeia with fingerprint testing, standardization methods, clinical uses, and prescribed potencies. Delhi: B. Jain Publishers.
9. Nadkarni, A., 1994. Indian materia medica. viburnum tinus. 3rd enlarged edition. Bombay: Popular Prakashan
10. Materiamedica.info. 2021. Viburnum Tinus. from Materia Medica by John Henry Clarke. Homeopathy.. [online] Available at: <https://www.materiamedica.info/en/materia-medica/john-henry-clarke/viburnum-tinus> [Accessed 13 December 2021].
11. Levent Altun >, Saltan Çitoğlu G, Sever Yilmaz B, Çoban T. Antioxidant properties of Viburnum opulus and Viburnum lantanagrowing in Turkey. International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition. 2008;59(3):175-180.
12. Sharifi-Rad J, Quispe C, Vergara C, Kitic D, Kostic M, Armstrong L et al. Genus Viburnum: Therapeutic Potentialities and Agro-Food-Pharma Applications. Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity. 2021;2021:1-26.
13. Saltan G, Süntar I, Ozbilgin S, Ilhan M, Demirel MA, Oz BE, Keleş H, Akkol EK. Viburnum opulus L.: A remedy for the treatment of endometriosis demonstrated by rat model of surgically-induced endometriosis. J Ethnopharmacol. 2016 Dec 4;193:450-455. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2016.09.029. Epub 2016 Sep 16. PMID: 27647013.
14. Shaikh D, Jadhav D, Dolas D. “AMELIORATING EFFECTS OF VIBURNUM OPULUS HOMOEOPATHIC MOTHER TINCTURE IN SPASMODIC DYSMENORRHEA.”. GLOBAL JOURNAL FOR RESEARCH ANALYSIS [Internet]. 2022 [cited 19 August 2022];X(V).

Dr. K Syed Abid
UG- Bhagawan Buddha Homoeopathic Medical college, BANGALORE. (2013 Batch)
PG- Currently PG scholar – Part II MD (2019 Batch) Department of Homoeopathic Pharmacy, Father Muller Homoeopathic Medical college, Deralakatte, MANGALORE-575018.