Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
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Bacillus sycoticus compositum is a single homeopathic remedy. It is also sold under the name Sycotic co. bowel nosode.
Its source is a gut germ taken from human stool. In Latin it is named as a non-lactose fermenting coliform (a bowel nosode).
Homeopaths give it to people with long-running gut trouble, thick catarrh (mucus in the nose or throat), warts and joint aches. The source is watered down over and over again. At 30C no source matter is left in the dose at all.
Long use in homeopathy is not proof that a thing works. Trials have not shown this remedy to do more than a dummy pill. Please read the rest of this page with that in mind.
The short answer: there is no known way it could work in the body.
The maker shakes the source with water or alcohol, then throws most of it away and repeats. At 30C, not one molecule of the starting matter is likely to be left. What you swallow is water, alcohol or a sugar pill.
Homeopaths teach that the shaking leaves a trace or pattern behind in the liquid. Chemistry and physics do not support this. No lab test has shown such a trace.
Bowel nosodes carry a second idea on top. John Paterson taught that the germs in a person's gut point to the remedy they need. That idea rests on old case notes, not on tests.
It comes as small sugar pills, tiny granules, or liquid drops.
Common strengths are 30C, 200C and 1M. The higher the number, the more it has been watered down. All of them are past the point where any source matter is left.
Bowel nosodes are often given as one single dose, not as a daily pill. Most people get them from a homeopath rather than off a shelf.
Edward Bach worked with gut germs in London in the 1920s. He linked certain germs found in stool to certain remedy types.
John Paterson and Elizabeth Paterson in Glasgow carried the work on in the 1930s. They named a set of bowel nosodes, and Sycotic co. was one of them.
The word sycotic comes from Hahnemann's old idea of miasms, or inherited taints. That idea is part of homeopathic teaching and is not used in medicine.
See a doctor if your symptoms last more than a few weeks, get worse, or keep coming back. Go the same day if you have a high fever, bad belly pain, blood in your stool, black stools, or you are losing weight without trying. Call emergency services for chest pain, trouble breathing, or a child who is limp, very drowsy, or hard to wake.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
Reviewed by the HealisticMD editorial team How we grade evidence →
The published evidence for Bacillus sycoticus compositum is weak or absent. That usually means no controlled trial has tested it, not that a trial found it ineffective — the two are different, and we grade only what has been published.
What it is typically used for, usual dose, cautions, and the study behind it where real trial data exists.
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