# Sabal Serrulata ## Remedy Classification - **Type:** Homeopathic Remedy - **Miasm:** Psoric Miasm - **Temperament:** Chilly - **Aggravation Time:** Morning ## Keynote Indications In the provings, the tincture or fluid extract were used, from 5 to 10 drop doses, repeated two or three times a day. A similar dosage has been adopted in the clinical use of the remedy. Sabal is an organ remedy of great power, selecting the uterus and prostatic gland (which is the male analog of the uterus), ovaries and testes and bladder. For irritability of the genito -urinary organs, especially the prostate, ovaries, breasts, bladder and ure thra. It is soothing to the mucus membranes and is tonic, nutritive and stimulating to the overworked brain. Prostate enlargement and weakness. Prostatitis. Epididymitis and urinary difficulties. Iritis with prostatic trouble. Homeopathic catheter for retention of urine due to enlarged prostate. General and sexual debilit y. Nervous irritability with loss of sexual desire in both sexes. Sexual neurotics. Valuable for undeveloped breast glands. Small and undeveloped genitals. Sharp, stinging and wandering pains. Languor, apathy and indifference. Fear of going to sleep. Promotes nutrition and tissue building. ## Modalities (Aggravations / Ameliorations) Better after sleep, from milk. Worse from cold, damp, cloudy weather. Worse in early morning, from rising, at bedtime. Worse from sympathy. Worse before menses. Worse from motion. Back ache worse after sex. Catarrhal symptoms are worse in cold, damp weather. Cough worse on lying down a t night. Depression worse before menses. ## Symptoms by System ### Mind - Difficult thinking, cannot grasp or re- memberwhatisread. - Confused. - Impatience, fretfulness. - Irritability and depression, particularly before menses. - Irritability from loss of sexual desire. - Dislikes sympathy, makes them angry. - Self-concentrated on their own sufferings, wants to be left alone. - Apathy. - Wants to go away and die alone. - Indifference to wants of others. - Fears to fall asleep lest something should happen. - Starts up with fear as he is dozing. - Difficult thinking, cannot grasp or re- memberwhatisread. - Confused. - Impatience, fretfulness. - Irritability and depression, particularly before menses. - Irritability from loss of sexual desire. - Dislikes sympathy, makes them angry. - Self-concentrated on their own sufferings, wants to be left alone. - Apathy. - Wants to go away and die alone. - Indifference to wants of others. - Fears to fall asleep lest something should happen. - Starts up with fear as he is dozing. ### Vertigo - Vertigo with headache from fumes of oil. - COMMENTS - In his book, Saw Palmetto, Hale put together most of the available knowledge regarding this plant. - It is a dwarf palm with a creeping (or leaning), branching stem, the edges of leaf and petioles serrate, roots fibrous, large, half exposed. - The fruit, so-called “berry,” is a one- seeded dupe about the size of an olive, dark purple when ripe, and ripening in October and November. - The fruit is richer in sugar than sugar cane and contains two oils, one volatile and one fixed. - The volatile oil is considered to possess the most characteristic properties of the medicine. - Hale described it as “yellow,” but he quoted John Uri Lloyd of Cincinnati, as writing to him, “The principal constituent is a volatile oil. - This oil possesses a deep green color.” And he goes on to say that the color is not due to chlorophyll nor to the copper of the form used in condensing it. - This agrees with Es tep’s contention that the preparation of Sabal should be dark green or grass -green. - The preparation Estep used was a fluid extract prepared by Burrough Brothers of Baltimore from the “fresh green berries.” Hale directs that the fresh ripe berries should be used. - Hale’s tincture was of fresh ripe berries and seeds, all crushed and macerated in 90 percent alcohol for fourteen days and decanted. - He noted that the fluid extract was “probably four times stronger than the tincture.” C. - S. - Estep used a dark -green fluid extract that was made from the fresh green berries and as “almost as green as grass and has an oily surface.” He made his dilutions from this. - Other preparations disappointed him. - Oil can be prepared from the expressed juice of the fruit by allowing it to stand a few days. - Saccharated oil is one part of the oil to seven parts of cane sugar. - Malted Sabal is one part of the oil to seven of Maltine. - Aqua Olei Sabal, for use as a spray, is a preparation suggested by Hale made by triturating 15 drops of th e oil with Mag-c. - 3j., gradually adding a pint of distilled water and decanting. - The preparation used by Dr. - Mullin’s prover was made by Boericke and Tafel. - All are agreed that preparations of the dried fruit and of the root-bark do not possess the curative powers of the remedy. - While on a trip through the wilds of Florida, Hale observed the great fattening properties of the berries on animals. - During summer, food is scanty and the wild animals become very thin, but as soon as the pal metto fruit ripens they improve rapidly. - In a few weeks have put on so much fat that they become easy prey. - This fat, said Hale, “consists principally of olein and will not make lard.” Dr. - Langton said that she gave 5 drop doses four times daily in cases of overworked brain and school- headache for the “tonic, nutri tive and stimulating” effect of the remedy. - She gives the lx as soon as relief has been obtained and she finds that the dilution often gives greater relief than the larger doses for the headaches. - Mullins said “I now found the use of the drug in the 3c and 6c potency curative in nearly all of the diseases of the uterus and appendages. - Also in headache from reflexes uterine troubles in breast abscess, mental irritations and nervous debility.” He thought that it well deserved the name of “The Homeopathic Catheter,” but he added that it must be given on its individual indications. - W. - E. - Rely published three cases illustrat ing the prostatic action of Sabal. - The first, Mr. - J., 56, was very despondent, irritable. - Sympathy seemed to anger him. - Great tenesmus in neck of bladder with heavy, aching pains with sense of coldness extend ing into external genitals. - Occasional sharp pains extending up into abdomen and down into thighs. - Capricious appetite. - Chronic constipation. - Urin ation too frequent, dis turbing sleep. - Sabal tincture was given, five drops, night and morning. - Steady improvement followed, and in eight weeks all the symptoms had gone and with them an annoying eczema of the hands. - The second case was Mr. - M., 45, who had increasing frequency of urination for a year. - Despondent, distressed. - Capricious appetite. - Vertex headache and gastric catarrh. - Little sexual desire. - Sex followed by digging pain in back and tenesmus of bladder with difficulty in commencing to urinate. - Genitals were cold, dull aching in region of prostate, extending to abdomen and thighs. - Sabal tincture gradually relieved and cured in three weeks. - The third case concerned Mr. - E., 35. - He had frequent urination for one and a half years. - Heavy, dragging pains, extending into back and thighs, back pains much after sex. - Considerable loss of prostatic fluid at times. - Sexual desire much impeded. - Severe headache on vertex and gastric catarrh. - All symptoms were removed by Sabal tincture. - Hale said that E. - S. - Evans of Columbus, Ohio, considered Sabal “almost specific in iritis when the prostate gland in involved. - I have cured cases with the 3x which could not be relieved in any other way.” A. - L. - Davidson related acase of impotence in a man, 51, who had difficult urin ation, tenderness of prostatic portion of urethra, loss of power. - His testicles shrunk, penis shrunk and cold. - Sabal tincture, 15 drops, four times a day, was prescribed. - At the end of the first week he complained of drawing pains in spermatic cords, there was freer flow of urine, he slept better and felt better. - At the end of the second week the testes gradually increased in size. - The urethral tenderness had nearly disappeared and erections were established. - In two weeks more the cure was complete, the testes were even larger and firmer than normal. - J. - Martin Kershaw of St. - Louis, treated a young woman, 23, who had great difficulty in controlling her urine all her life. - Undue exertion, lifting, straining, or laughing caused it to dribble away. - Unless she rose several times in the night, she was sure to wet the bed. - Sabal tincture, one drop, four times a day, was given. - In one month she was much improved and under the same remedy she gradually got quite well. - Elias C. - Price reported three cases. - The first was a case of a very nervous, sensitive woman with chronic inflammation of the bladder, frequent, painful urination, ten to twelve times in the night and every fifteen to thirty minutes during the day. - Spells of pressing pain on rectum, better by warm water enemas, which generally brought away hardened feces. - Lil-t. - 3x removed this temporarily. - Rectal examination disclosed a hard, fleshy tumor the size of half a hen’s egg on the posterior aspect of the uterus. - Sabal fluid extract 5 drops, thrice daily, diminished the tumor by half in two months and removed it entirely in three more. - Prices’ next case was of Mrs. - X. - who, five days after confinement after her first child, had irritation of kidneys and a week later symptoms of pelvic peritonitis. - Her uterus was mu ch enlarged, very tender. - She did not urinate very often, but when she did the pain was so excruciating that she fainted away and sometimes did not come to for an hour. - • For three days no remedy did any good. - Then she had a violent pain on the right ^ide of her head above and behind the ear, and paralysis of her left arm and leg. - She became unconscious and could not be aroused, at times would talk of things that had occurred before her illness, insensible to external impressions. - She remained so for ten days. - Sabal fluid extract, 20 drops, every two hours, relieved the pain on being raised to urinate after the second dose. - Recovery from the other condition was very gradual. - The third case was of Miss X., 22, who had irregular menses for years, having once gone nine months without a period. - When she came to Price she was three months past her time, one breast was much smaller than the other. - Sabal fluid extract was given, 5 drops, thrice daily. - In about a month the menses came on freely, lasting four days instead of the usual two. - Breasts began to increase in size. - In three months one was as large as the other. - The following year she again missed her time and Sabal brought it right in a week. - Using Sabal, Price has cured cases of pelvic cellulitis, peritonitis, puerperal fever inflammation of uterus, tubes, ovaries and even appendicitis and proctitis, especially if the prostatic gland is involved. - Enlarged prostates. - Acute prostatitis. - Prostate conditions relating to impotence. - Prostate cancer (Con.). - Frequent urination. - Chronic bladder inflammation. - Benign prostatic hypertrophy. - Characteristic stinging pains. - Wandering, radiating and cramping pains were also prominent. - Sabal has several groups of associated regions of pain: pains affecting head and ovary, ovar ies and breasts, lower back and right temple, prostate and eye. - Mainly used in tincture. ### Head - Severe headache with giddiness and dim vision. - Headache of weak per sons. - Neuralgia in feeble patients. - Sharp, darting pains here and there, coming and going suddenly. - Pain runs up from nose and centers in forehead. - Dull, aching pain in right temple and on vertex. - Pain and irritation at base of brain and upper third of cervical spine (Gels.). - Sensation as if something tightening in brain. - Kidneys - Pain or irritation in region of kidneys. - Excruciating pain and fainting on being raised up to urinate. - Severe headache with giddiness and dim vision. - Headache of weak per sons. - Neuralgia in feeble patients. - Sharp, darting pains here and there, coming and going suddenly. - Pain runs up from nose and centers in forehead. - Dull, aching pain in right temple and on vertex. - Pain and irritation at base of brain and upper third of cervical spine (Gels.). - Sensation as if something tightening in brain. - Kidneys - Pain or irritation in region of kidneys. - Excruciating pain and fainting on being raised up to urinate. ### Eyes - Iritis when prostate gland is involved. - Dim vision during headache. ### Ears - Chronic inflammation of middle ear. - Fullness in nose and ears. - Frequent sharp, stitch-like pains inward from ears. - Hearing diminished, voices seem far off. ### Face - Papular eruption on left temple and about mouth. - Slight neuralgia in right temple and right jaw. - Pallor. ### Mouth - Pungent, burning sensation in mouth and fauces, causing sneezing, coughing, and gagging. - As if mouth coated with fat. - Burning on tongue as if scalded. - Nose - Pain at root of nose. - Pain running up from nose a nd centering in forehead. - Fullness in nostrils, compelling him to pick them. - Catarrhal symptoms, worse cold, damp weather. - Sneezing and lachryma tion, coughing and gagging. - Prostate - Prostatitis. - Emission of prostatic fluid during stool, on straining at stool, during urination. - Prostatic weakness with discharge of prostatic fluid. - Enlarged prostate. - Dull aching in prostate extend ing into abdomen. - Cystitis from prostate enlargement. - Dribbling of urine from prostate enlargement. ### Throat - Voice changed, throat feels husky. - Sharp pain in left side of throat. - Pungent, burnin g sensation in fauces, followed by smooth sensation, as if coated with oil. ### Chest - Sharp pain in left side of chest, running through left breast. - Constitutions - Sycotic constitutions. - Chronic bronchitis (Stann., Hep.). - Copious expectoration with catarrh of nose. - Wheezing cough, worse lying down, until 6 a.m. ### Stomach & Abdomen - Sharp pain running through stomach. - Severe pain in left side of stom ach. - Irritation of stomach. - Belching and acidity. - Acute gastritis, fearful burning as from sulphuric acid. - Could not take meat, vegetable, or pudding, only bread and milk. - Sudden, intense, cramp-like pain through abdomen. - Sharp, stinging pains running up and down front of abdomen, and also right side. - Pain extending to thighs. - Appetite poor and capricious. - Mal nutrition and great emaciation. - Better from bread, milk. - Constant desire for buttermilk, milk (Rhus -t., Tub.), which is usually disliked. - Aversion to mother’s milk. - Worse meat, pudding, vegetables. ### Urinary & Genital - Coldness of genitals. - Drawing pains in spermatic cords. - Slight twisting chordee as if stretched from the root. - Atrophy of testes. - Testes drawn up, painfully. - Epididymitis. - Gonorrhea. - Impotency, loss of sexual power. - Hard erections. - Semen thick, causes hot feeling along the cord. - Sex is painful at the time of emission. - Loss of sex drive. - Sexual neurotics with suppressed or perverted sexual inclination. - Amenorrhea. - Ovaries tender and enlarged. - Stinging pain in ovary, pains running down the thighs. - Stinging pain in uterus. - Uterine tumor. - Heavy feeling over womb. - Vulva feels open. - Sensation of coldness in genitals. - Awakened by a most distressing itching of labia majora. - Furious sexual passion. - Loss of sex drive. - Sexual neurotics with suppressed or perverted sexual inclination. ### Extremities - Pains into thighs, radiating in dif ferent directions, settling in ovaries. - Sharp pain running down thigh. - Aching in knee and calf. - Annoying eczema of hands. ### Neck & Back - Aching across lower part of back. - Deep pains in lower back. - Fearful back ache, pain in sa cral region, before and at commencement of menses. - Backache after sex. - Bladder - Feeling as if bladder too full. - Heavy, aching pain and sense of coldness in bladder, extending to external genitals. - Painful starting the flow, as if forced through very narro w meatus. - Feeling as of a stricture about two inches down urethra. - Urethra sensation of narrowness ( Arg-n.). - Difficult urination, smarting, burning in urethra. - Paresis of bladder sphincter. - Cystitis from prostate enlargement. - Painful urination, connected with ovarian pain. - Urinary sediment. - Incontinence from any exertion, lifting, laughing. - Constant desire to pass urine at night. - Bedwetting. - Chronic gonorrhea. - Breasts - One breast smaller than other. - Breasts shrink in size (lod., Kali-i.), or increase rap idly. - Breasts, sore, tender and full feeling, itching. - Stinging in breasts, soreness worse after cold bath. - Sharp pains in mammary glands. - Pain in breasts, worse coldness, pressure. - Defective lactation. ### Skin - Papular eruption on face. - Eczema of hands. ### Sleep - Fears to fall asleep lest somethi ng should happen, starts up with this fear when he is dozing. - Wakes from coldness. - Awakened by stinging pains in ovaries, or by a distressing itching of labia majora.