Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
Elaps corallinus is a homeopathic remedy. It is made from the venom of the coral snake, Micrurus corallinus. You may also see it sold as Coral snake venom.
Homeopaths choose it for people whose blood looks dark, almost black. The usual reasons are nosebleeds, discharge from the ear, and a cold feeling in the chest. It is a single remedy, not a blend of several.
Like all homeopathic products, it is diluted over and over again. At 30C there is, in practice, no venom left in the pill at all. Long use in homeopathy is not proof of effect, and no human trials support these uses.
No one has shown how this remedy could work in the body, and it may not work at all.
Homeopathy follows an old idea called "like cures like". A substance that causes certain signs in a well person is thought to ease similar signs in a sick one. Snake venom can cause bleeding and dark blood, so homeopaths link it to bleeding complaints.
The venom is mixed with liquid, shaken, then diluted again and again. Each step is called a potency, such as 6C or 30C. By 30C essentially none of the starting venom remains.
Because there is nothing measurable left, there is no known way for it to act on nerves, blood or clotting. When people feel better after taking it, placebo effects and normal healing are the simplest explanations.
You will usually find it as small sugar pellets or tablets that melt under the tongue.
Common forms include: - Pellets or tablets in potencies such as 6C, 12C, 30C and 200C - Liquid drops in a water-and-alcohol base - LM or Q potencies, used mainly by practitioners
Avoid any product sold as raw, crude, undiluted or very low potency venom. Such a product is not a homeopathic dilution and is not safe to take.
Snake venoms entered homeopathy in the 1800s. Constantine Hering, a German-born homeopath who worked in South America and later the United States, led much of that work.
Elaps corallinus came in during the middle of that century. It has stayed a small, rarely used remedy, kept mainly for dark bleeding and ear complaints. It belongs to one tradition only, homeopathy, and has no separate record in herbal or other systems.
Some reactions to Elaps corallinus need urgent care. Call your local emergency number or go to an emergency department straight away — do not wait to see whether it passes.
Get emergency help now if you are coughing up blood, having a nosebleed you cannot stop, feeling short of breath, having chest pain, or feeling faint or very weak.
See a doctor the same day for ear discharge with fever or bad pain, blood in your urine or stool, or new heavy bruising.
Book a normal appointment if a nosebleed keeps coming back, if a headache is new or changing, or if any symptom has not settled after three days on this remedy.
If you took a product that may hold real venom, treat it as an emergency and call your local poison centre or emergency number.
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 Elaps corallinus 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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