Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
Cina is a homeopathic remedy made from wormseed, a plant whose Latin name is Artemisia cina. It is a single remedy, not a mix. Homeopaths choose it most often for cross, restless children who grind their teeth, pick at the nose and seem hungry all the time.
The remedy is made by diluting the plant over and over, with shaking at each step. At 30C the mix has been thinned so far that no plant matter is left in the pill. Trials do not show it doing more than a placebo (a dummy pill).
Cina has a long record of use in homeopathy. A long record of use is not proof that something works. Read this page as history plus a plain look at the evidence.
There is no known way a 30C pill could act on the body, because no wormseed is left in it.
Homeopaths hold that a substance which causes symptoms in a well person can settle the same symptoms in a sick one. They also hold that shaking at each step leaves an imprint of the plant in the water. Chemistry and physics do not support this idea.
If a child seems calmer after taking it, time, rest, care and placebo (feeling better because you expect to) are the likely reasons.
Cina is sold as small sugar pellets, as liquid drops, and as tablets that melt under the tongue. Pellets are the usual choice for children.
Labels show a strength such as 6C, 30C, 200C, 6X or 30X. The number and letter tell you how many times the plant was diluted. A higher number means more dilution and less plant, not a stronger dose of plant.
Mother tincture and low X forms hold real wormseed. Treat those as a herbal product, not as a homeopathic pill.
Wormseed was a worm treatment in Greek, Persian and Arabic medicine long ago. Its dried flower buds were still sold across Europe for gut worms into the 1800s.
Santonin, drawn from the plant, was a common worm drug until poisonings and safer drugs pushed it aside. Doctors stopped using it in most countries by the mid 1900s.
Homeopaths took Cina up in the early 1800s and wrote it into their children's remedy lists. It has stayed a staple of homeopathic texts ever since.
Some reactions to Cina need urgent care. Call your local emergency number or go to an emergency department straight away — do not wait to see whether it passes.
Call for emergency help straight away if anyone swallows raw wormseed, wormseed oil or seeds, and especially if they vomit, see things as yellow, or have a fit (a seizure).
See a doctor within a day or two if you spot worms in the stool, if belly pain keeps coming back, if a child is not gaining weight, or if there is blood in the stool.
See a doctor if symptoms have not moved after about three days on Cina. Also go if a rash, swelling of the lips or face, or trouble breathing starts after any dose.
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 Cina 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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