Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
Serum anguillae is a homeopathic remedy. It is made from the blood serum of the eel. Serum is the clear liquid part of blood.
It is a single drug in homeopathy. The Latin name is Anguilla anguilla (blood serum). Many people know it as eel serum.
Homeopaths have used it for kidney trouble and for a build-up of water in the body. It was also used for swollen legs and for low urine output. These uses come from old practice, and old practice is not proof that something works.
The remedy is diluted over and over again. At 30C no eel serum is left at all. Trials do not show it doing more than a dummy pill (placebo).
There is no known way this remedy could act on the body. That is the honest answer, and it comes first.
Homeopathy rests on an idea called 'like cures like'. Raw eel blood harms red blood cells and the kidneys. So homeopaths give a tiny, diluted dose for kidney and water problems.
The maker mixes one part eel serum with 99 parts liquid. Then they shake the mix hard. This shaking step is called succussion.
The step is then repeated many times. A 30C remedy has been through 30 such steps. By that point no eel serum remains in the bottle.
What you swallow is sugar, or water and alcohol. Homeopaths say the liquid keeps a 'memory' of the eel serum. Chemists and doctors have found no sign of such a memory.
When these remedies are tested against a dummy pill, they match it. So any change you feel is likely due to time, care, or your own hopes.
You will mostly find it as small sugar pills. They melt under the tongue.
Other common forms are:
Sugar pellets in a tube, often 6C, 30C or 200C. Liquid drops in water and alcohol. Larger tablets that dissolve in the mouth.
It is a rare remedy. Most shops do not stock it, so it is often ordered from a homeopathic pharmacy.
There is no injection form for home use. Raw eel serum is not sold as a supplement, and it should never be taken raw.
Eel serum came into homeopathy from French lab work, not from folk medicine.
Around 1900, French scientists showed that eel blood was toxic. It damaged red blood cells and harmed the kidneys in animals.
French homeopaths then turned it into a remedy. They gave it for kidney trouble and for water held in the body. This followed the 'like cures like' rule.
It has stayed a small, rarely used remedy. It sits in some homeopathic reference books. You will not find it in most home kits.
So its traditional standing is real but narrow. It belongs to one tradition, and only to a small corner of it.
See a doctor the same day if your legs, ankles or belly swell up quickly. Also get checked if you pass much less urine than usual, or if your urine turns dark, red or foamy.
Call emergency services if you cannot catch your breath, if you have chest pain, or if you cannot lie flat without gasping.
Get urgent help for signs of a severe allergy: a swollen face, lips or tongue, a spreading rash, or trouble breathing or swallowing.
Book a routine appointment if you have used this remedy for four weeks and nothing has improved. Bring the tube or bottle with you.
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 Serum anguillae 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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