Homeopathic Stories: Crocus

A solitary crocus. (Louise McCoy/The Epoch Times)

Crocuses are one of the earliest flowers to appear in the spring. They are now appearing in upstate New York.

Crocus sativa (saffron) is in the Iris (Iridaceae) family of plants. Its homeopathic use was first discovered by Drs. Stapf and Gross, two of Dr. Hahnemann’s closest colleagues. (Dr. Hahnemann was the founder of the homeopathic system of medicine.)

One symptom that persons needing this remedy have is “a peculiar sensation as if something alive were moving about in the abdomen or chest.” (From A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica, by John Henry Clarke, M.D.)

Persons needing this homeopathic remedy may have uncontrollable laughter, such as a case of the giggles observed in some children.

Dr. Clarke relates this case: “On one occasion, in hospital, I happened to see a young girl who was really desperately ill with heart failure and valvular disease, in a fit of hysterical laughter. This made me think of Crocus. The only definite sensation she complained of in the heart region was a ‘jumping’ sensation. Crocus 30 was given, and very soon she was able to lie down flat (after having been propped up for weeks), and from that time she made a rapid recovery.”

Those in need of Crocus may suffer from extreme mood swings: from being affectionate to being very angry and then back to being affectionate again, from being happy to weeping and then being happy again.

Some women who need this remedy imagine that they are pregnant. Dr. Dorothy Shepherd says in Magic of the Minimum Dose: “She is certain that she is about to become a mother and nothing that you or any other doctor can say will convince her it is not so. ‘But doctor, I feel the baby move.’ One mother booked with the nurse in spite of all I said to persuade her to the contrary. … She had [a] few doses of Crocus, and she forgot her previous delusion. …”

Another indication for this remedy is the compulsion to sing once one has heard a single note of music played. “If someone happens to sound a note, she begins to sing involuntarily and then laughs at herself; nevertheless, she soon sings again in spite of her determination not to sing anymore.” (From Additions to the Materia Medica Pura, by Ernst Stapf, M.D.)