Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
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Spigelia anthelmia is a single homeopathic remedy. It is made from a small tropical plant called pinkroot. Homeopaths reach for it most often for sharp nerve pain in the face and for a heartbeat you can feel thumping or fluttering.
The remedy is made by diluting the plant over and over. At 30C, the usual shop strength, no plant matter is left in the pill. In trials, remedies made this way have not beaten placebo (a dummy pill).
It has a firm place in homeopathic books going back to the 1800s. Long use is not proof that a remedy works. This page gives you both facts so you can judge for yourself.
The raw pinkroot plant is a different thing from the 30C pills. Raw pinkroot is toxic. Old worm cures made from it caused vomiting, fits and deaths in children, which is why the raw plant and strong extracts need care.
Short answer: no one has shown a way this remedy could work in the body.
Homeopathy rests on an old idea called "like cures like". A plant that brings on a symptom in a well person is given in tiny amounts for that same symptom. Pinkroot can cause face pain and heart flutters, so it is given for those.
The plant is mixed with water or alcohol, then diluted again and again. Homeopaths hold that the shaking leaves some imprint of the plant behind. Chemists find nothing left to measure, and tests have not backed the idea up.
So when people feel better, the most likely reasons are time, rest, and the care they got. Face pain and odd heartbeats often come and go on their own.
The number on the label tells you how dilute the remedy is.
Small sugar pills are the most common form. Liquid drops made with alcohol come next. A few sellers also offer a mother tincture, which is the strong raw plant extract and the only risky form.
Labels read 6C, 30C or 200C. The bigger the number, the more the plant has been diluted. 30C is the usual home strength, and at that point no plant is left.
Pinkroot grows in the West Indies and in warm parts of South America. Folk healers there used it to drive worms out of the gut. Some doses poisoned children, so doctors gave it up.
Homeopaths took the plant up in the mid-1800s. Their books list it for stabbing face pain, left-sided headache, eye pain and a pounding heart. It has stayed in homeopathic kits ever since.
Some reactions to Spigelia anthelmia 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 have chest pain that spreads to the arm, neck or jaw, or if you faint, gasp for breath, or have a fit. Also get emergency help if anyone has swallowed the raw plant and is vomiting or looks unwell.
See a doctor soon if your heart races or skips while you are resting, or if face pain comes with a drooping face, weak limbs or changed sight. Book a visit if face pain, headache or eye pain lasts more than a few days, or keeps coming back.
See a doctor or pharmacist for worms rather than treating them at home. And speak to your doctor before you stop any medicine you already take.
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 Spigelia anthelmia 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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