Belladonna
Useful properties and use of belladonna ordinary
Useful properties of belladonna
All parts of this medicinal herb contain tropane alkaloids - hyoscyamine and scopolamine, which are esters derived from two amino alcohols, namely tropin and horse meat. After isolation of the main alkaloid hyoscyamine from it, it passes into optically inactive atropine.
In addition, flavonoids, coumarins, the glycoside methylesculin, which breaks down into sugar and chrysatropic acid, were found in the leaves of the plant. This acid is capable of giving blue fluorescence in an alcohol solution when even one drop of ammonia is added, which makes it easy to detect the presence of belladonna in preparations.
For medicinal purposes, leaves, grass, and sometimes roots and stems of the plant are used. Leaves are harvested by hand up to three to four times over the summer and dried in well-ventilated areas. The lower leaves are cut off at the beginning of flowering before the branching of the stems, from the grown branches they are collected at the end of flowering. Finally, the plant is mowed at the beginning of seed formation at a height of 10 cm from the ground.
The cut grass is cut into pieces and then dried. When the leaves are crushed to a powdery mass, the veins are not thrown away, since they accumulate more alkaloids than in the pulp of the leaf. Usually the whole sheet is processed into powder without any residue. In the fall, after the last mowing, the roots are dug up. They are washed, cut into pieces lengthwise and dried, it is possible in the air.
Applying belladonna
The use of the plant for medicinal purposes is due to the pharmacological properties of the highly active alkaloid atropine. Belladonna preparations are effective as an analgesic and antispasmodic agent. Traditional medicine recommends them for chronic gastritis, gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcer, with some forms of pancreatitis. They are used for urolithiasis and cholelithiasis, intestinal colic and other diseases accompanied by spasms of intestinal smooth muscles.
Sometimes these drugs are prescribed for bradycardia and angina pectoris, with increased sweating and hypersecretion of the lacrimal glands.
Tincture belladonna
The tincture is prepared from the leaves of the plant in 40% alcohol. In appearance, it is a transparent liquid of red-brown or greenish color with a bitter taste and a peculiar smell. The tincture is part of Zelenin's drops, which effectively affect the body with heart neuroses, and other combined dosage forms. The tincture is taken orally (inside), its dosage depends on the age and weight of the patient. The drug is prescribed at the rate of 1 drop per 8-10 kg of body weight. It is good for stomach and duodenal ulcers, as well as for biliary and renal colic and hemorrhoids.
Belladonna during pregnancy
Sometimes belladonna drugs can be prescribed to pregnant women. They are effective for painful sensations throughout the body, especially in the viscera, uterus and pelvis. Decoctions and infusions of the plant are able to eliminate the threat of miscarriage or the resulting bleeding. However, the use of these drugs during pregnancy requires the strictest adherence to all precautions and medical supervision.
Belladonna extract
The extract is a thick dark brown mass with a peculiar smell. It contains alkaloids in an amount of 1.5%, reduces the secretion of lacrimal, sweat, digestive, bronchial glands, has a bronchodilator effect, mainly on small bronchioles. The use of the drug causes dilatation of the pupil and increases intraocular pressure, helps to reduce the cholinergic effect of the vagus nerve on the heart, relaxes the smooth muscles of the intestines, bile and urinary tract.
The extract is obtained by the method of repercolation (extraction of useful substances) of leaves with a 28% water-alcohol mixture.
Belladonna root
The root of the plant is cylindrical and light gray in color. It contains coumarins, sterols, flavonoids. The prepared raw materials are used for the treatment of many diseases as an antispasmodic and analgesic agent; preparations from it are prescribed for Parkinson's disease in the form of wine broth or tablets.
Broth: 30 g of crushed roots must be mixed with 100 g of activated carbon and diluted with 500 ml of dry white wine. Boil the composition over low heat for 10 minutes, and then filter and take 1 teaspoon three times a day on an empty stomach. Treatment continues for three days in a row.
Common belladonna
This perennial plant, reaching a height of 1.5–2 meters, has a long root from which many straight, highly branched shoots grow. The leaves in its upper part are arranged opposite, in pairs. Brownish-purple flowers grow between leaves on long stalks. Berries are glossy black, large. The plant blooms from June to August. This species grows in Europe and Asia Minor, prefers limestone soils rich in calcium.
The plant is deadly poisonous, poison is contained in all its parts. In our time, traditional medicine refuses to use this dangerous plant. However, belladonna extracts and extracts - both for internal and external use - are sometimes used for pain of various etiologies. In the old days, poisons and love potions were made from the plant.
Contraindications to the use of belladonna
In case of belladonna poisoning, the first signs will be a scratching sore throat, shortness of breath, dry mouth, thirst, headache and dizziness. Later, hallucinations begin with bouts of violent insanity, after 3-15 hours death occurs. A specific sign of plant poisoning is dilated pupils. At the first symptoms of poisoning, you should immediately give the patient first aid by washing the stomach and call a doctor.
The use of drugs from this plant is contraindicated for organic changes in the cardiovascular system, for tachycardia and arrhythmias. Their use is strictly contraindicated in glaucoma, pregnancy and during breastfeeding.
The author of the article: Sokolova Nina Vladimirovna | Phytotherapist
Education: Diploma in "General Medicine" and "Therapy" received at the Pirogov University (2005 and 2006). Advanced training at the Department of Phytotherapy at the Peoples' Friendship University of Moscow (2008).
