Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
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Collinsonia canadensis is a homeopathic remedy made from the root of stone root, a plant from North America. Homeopaths give it most often for piles (swollen veins around the back passage), constipation, and a dry, tickly throat.
The remedy is made by watering the plant down again and again, with hard shaking at each step. At 30C, a common strength, so little is left that the pill holds essentially none of the plant.
Trials do not show that homeopathic Collinsonia works any better than a dummy pill. It has a long record of use by homeopaths, but long use on its own is not proof that something works.
There is no known way for this remedy to act on the body at common strengths, because almost none of the plant is left in it.
Homeopathy rests on two old ideas. The first is that a substance which causes a symptom can treat that symptom. The second is that watering it down makes it stronger.
Neither idea fits what we know about chemistry or the body. Any relief people feel is best explained by time, care and the dummy-pill effect.
Sugar pellets or tablets are the most common form. You let them melt under the tongue.
Liquid drops in an alcohol and water base are also sold. The mother tincture, marked with a small circle symbol, is the least diluted form and still holds plant matter.
Strengths on the label run from 1X and 3X at the low end up to 6C, 30C and 200C. The higher the number, the more the plant has been watered down.
Native American healers used stone root for urinary and bowel complaints. Eclectic doctors in the United States picked it up in the 1800s, mainly for piles and a strained voice.
American homeopaths brought it into their own materia medica in the same century. It has stayed a familiar remedy in homeopathic books for piles and pelvic heaviness ever since.
See a doctor if you have bleeding from your back passage, black or tarry stools, or a lump that does not go away. Get help for severe pain, a fever, or piles that keep coming back. A hoarse voice, a sore throat or constipation lasting more than three weeks also needs checking. Go to an emergency department for heavy bleeding, fainting or severe belly pain.
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 Collinsonia canadensis 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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