LA BELLADONNA AND ITS PROPERTIES

The Belladona is a perennial, and resistant, shrub. The plant grows in the shade of the trees, in wooded hills or coal fields; can reach a height of 1.5 meters. The flowers of this medicinal plant are dark purple, with a characteristic bad odor.

The Belladona fruit is a spherical and blackish berry the size of a cherry, and contains 0.1% of atropine. The root of the Atropa belladonna L. has higher alkaloid concentrations ranging from 0.4 to 0.6%.

Properties of the Belladonna

Its alkaloids (hyoscyamine, atropine, scopolamine), derivatives of the tropanos, turn it into a poisonous plant. Belladonna is a legal drug, can be grown and sold freely. Your medical preparations do not require a prescription.

The use of Belladonna demands a lot of prudence, administered at a slightly high dose produces dizziness, nausea, dilation of the pupils, delusions, hallucinations and often death. A peculiar symptom of belladonna intoxication is the complete loss of voice, and continuous and uncontrolled movements of the fingers and hands.

In herbal medicine, they are usually prepared with the fences of Atropa belladonna L. and the root of the plant. Despite its toxic properties, belladonna is currently applied locally as a solution during ophthalmic interventions, and in tablets, capsules or drops of oral administration.

The effects start between 15 and 30 minutes. Upon reaching the brain at low doses, atropine blocks the acetylcholine receptors by depressing the impulses of the nerve terminals; in high doses, a stimulation before depression appears.

This medicinal plant is applied in medicine in cases of neuralgia, cough, asthma, convulsions, epilepsy, spasmodic constrictions and some diseases of the eyes. Atropine is also used as a diuretic, sedative, mild analgesic and antidote against poisoning by fungi containing muscarinic alkaloids.

Mild doses reduce salivation and sweating. At higher doses of this plant the pulse and respiratory rate increase, the action of the involuntary muscles decreases, the heart rate is accelerated, the dilation of the pupils is very marked and the ocular accommodation is inhibited, that is, the crystalline is fixed for distant vision and nearby objects are blurred.

Prolonged use of Atropa belladonna L. may cause chronic constipation. In case of accidental poisoning with this plant it is recommended to take as soon as possible some substance that causes the vomit.

Medicinal Recipes with Belladonna

Within the herbal medicine, for each intraocular application requires between one and three drops of extract of belladonna leaves.

For cutaneous applications, 5 mg. of leaves or 2 mg. of the pulverized root of this plant.

For oral ingestion of Belladonna, between 5 and 15 drops of berries macerated in alcohol. In the western medicine the low therapeutic doses go of 0.5 to 1 mg and the highs of 2 to 5 mg; more than 10 mg are considered hazardous.