Passiflora: When Slumber Is Nervous Lumber

The homeopathic remedy, Passiflora Incarnata [passion flower], relates to insomnia, or sleeplessness, triggered by nervous anxiety. Individuals who respond well to the remedy are predisposed to slouch wide awake at night and become fatigued in the process.

- Dr Mukesh Batra

Passion flower, the age-old herb, is believed to have gotten its name when the first Christian missionaries landed in Latin America in circa 1600 AD. They attested that the parts of the flower represented certain elements related to the death of Christ. They, therefore, symbolised such emblems of their ‘discovery’ as having divine sanction.

The classic symptom of the homeopathic remedy, Passiflora Incarnata [passion flower], relates to insomnia, or sleeplessness, triggered by edgy anxiety. Individuals who respond well to the remedy are predisposed to slouch wide awake at night and become fatigued in the process. They are also subject to weird impressions, or feelings. In typical terms, they often feel that their eyeballs are jutting out, ‘as if they are being thrust out of their heads.’ Yet, another emotion could be that the tops of their heads are ‘taking off,’ like the Boeing aircraft. Besides, they may feel that the heels of their feet are ‘lifting up in the air,’ more so, when they are lying in bed, unable to get their much-needed forty winks.

Passiflora is often a remedy of choice for nervous individuals, who have a longing for alcohol. It also, likewise, matches the personality of children, who tend to scream their throats out, or present with symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD]. The remedy may also help in whooping cough that is worse at night, besides haemorrhoids [piles], pain in the coccyx, or discomfort, in women, during or just before menstruation, when accompanied by insomnia.