Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
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Angustura vera is a homeopathic remedy. It is made from the bark of a South American tree, Galipea officinalis. The bark is also called Angostura bark.
Homeopaths give it for muscle cramps, stiff joints, jaw tightness and bone pain. It is a single remedy, so it is used on its own and not as part of a mix.
The bark is diluted again and again to make the remedy. At 30C, no bark at all is left in the pills or drops. Trials do not show that it works better than a dummy pill.
Long use in homeopathy is not proof that a remedy works. That point is made once here, and the rest of this page just reports what is known.
There is no known way this remedy could act in the body, and no test has shown that it does.
Homeopathy is built on two ideas. The first is that a tiny dose of something can treat the same signs it would cause in a well person. The second is that shaking each step of the dilution leaves a trace of the bark behind.
Chemistry does not support the second idea. Past 12C, the odds of even one molecule of bark being left are close to zero. At 30C there is none.
Any change people notice is best explained by time, care and the placebo effect (feeling better because you expect to).
You will mostly find it as small sugar pills or pellets. Liquid drops in an alcohol base are also sold.
Common strengths are 6C, 12C, 30C and 200C. The higher the number, the more times the bark was diluted, and the less of it is left.
A mother tincture (the raw bark extract) exists but is rarely sold to the public. It is the only form that still holds plant chemicals in any real amount.
Spanish missionaries brought Angostura bark to Europe in the late 1700s. It came from the town of Angostura, now Ciudad Bolivar, in Venezuela.
It was sold as a bitter tonic for fever, weak digestion and loose bowels. Homeopaths began using it in the 1800s after provings, which are tests where healthy people take a substance and write down what they feel.
The bark also has a dark history. Loose bark was often swapped for false Angostura bark, which comes from a nux vomica tree and holds strychnine. Several deaths in Europe were traced to this mix-up.
See a doctor if cramps, stiffness or bone pain last more than two weeks, keep coming back, or get worse.
Go to hospital now if you cannot open your mouth after a wound, if you have fits (seizures), if your muscles go rigid, or if you have a stiff neck with fever and a bad headache.
Also call a doctor if you have swelling of the lips or face, a spreading rash, or trouble breathing after taking any remedy.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
What it is typically used for, usual dose, cautions, and the study behind it where real trial data exists.
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