Senega. Seneg.

Identification. Polygala senega L. P. virginiana. Radix senegae seu senekae. Seneca snakeroot, a root product form the P. senega. Senega snake-root. Rattlesnake root. Mountain ax. Rattlesnake milkwort. Woods, and dry, rocky soil. Native to North America, Quebec to Georgia, Arkansas, Wyoming, and British Columbia. Fabales/Polygalaceae. Tincture of powdered dried root.

Pathology. Cancer; MM of lungs, MM adenocarcinoma; MM with hemoptysis.; MM cancerous affections; MM adenocarcinoma; MM with cachexia; MM with hemorrhage. MM

Indications. For cancer of the lungs with hemoptysis and for cancerous affections with cachexia and hemorrhage; in anxious, touchy patients, with hypochondriacal melancholy; great readiness to take offense; anguish, often with accelerated and hasty respiration; lively, irritable; paroxysms of rage and fury; lymphatic constitutions with tendency to mucous and serous exudations; old people; emaciated persons; tuberculous or rheumatic subjects; formerly plethoric, phlegmatic persons of lax bre prone to obesity; fat, chubby children; with pains worse from motion and worse from rest; and again, better from motion, and worse when at rest; lethargic, with trembling; depressed with stretching of limbs; heavy; empty; and throbbing; weak; diseases of mucous membranes; marasmus; edema after inflammation; affections of windpipe; left side of chest particularly; right eye; lower eyelids; agg. from looking fixedly at any object for a long time; subacute or chronic exudations of pleura, catarrhal pleuropneumonia in cachectic pleuritis; hydrothorax, edema pulmonum; heart diseases; primary and secondary anasarca; after albuminuria; hydrophthalmia with intraocular compression; in ascites accompanying hepatic diseases, peritonitis and abdominal tumors; in lymphatic constitutions with tendency to mucous and serous exudations; overall worse walking in open air, and during rest, better from sweat and bending head backwards.

Symptomatology. Chest/Lungs: Cancer; adenocarcinoma; with hemoptysis. Dyspnea, with sensation of stagnation in lungs. Shortness of breath when walking quickly and going up stairs. Troublesome oppression of chest, esp. in open air and on stooping, as if thorax too narrow. Pressure in chest, esp. during repose, and in morning, or at night, on waking. Great sensibility in interior coats of chest when touched. Squeezing and spasmodic pains in chest, with agitation and anxiety, esp. when lying on side. Certain movements cause pain, as if chest were too tight; disposed to expand the chest; this leaves soreness. Burning, sore pain under sternum, esp. during motion and on deep inspiration. Orgasms of blood; oppression with ushes of heat; oppression, esp. during rest. Shootings in chest, esp. when coughing and taking an inspiration. Burning, aching, and stitches in left half of chest; agg. lying on right side. Pleurisy right side of chest with thickening. Pain as from excoriation in chest, agg. by external pressure, movement, coughing, and sneezing. Soreness of walls of chest on moving arms, esp. left. Great soreness in walls of chest and great accumulation of clear albuminous mucus which is dif cult to expectorate; pressure on chest as if lungs were pushed back to spine. Accumulation of mucus in chest, larynx, and trachea. Phthisis mucosa: hydrothorax. Pneumonia. Pleurisy. Hemoptysis. Profuse secretion of mucus in lungs of old people. Drawing and burning sensation in the chest. Tingling in the chest. Violent congestion of blood in chest, with pulsation and ebullition, leading even to syncope. The majority of symptoms are most violent during repose, but do not obstruct respiration.

Generalities: Cancerous affections; adenocarcinoma; cachexia; hemorrhage. Emaciation. Sensation of great general lassitude, with trembling, esp. in lower limbs. Great moral and physical depression with stretching of limbs, heaviness, emptiness, and throbbing in head. Great weakness, which seems to proceed from the chest. Great burning in chest, either before or after coughing; profuse secretion of mucus. Dryness of inner parts which are usually moist: dry skin. Diseases of mucous membranes. Marasmus. Dropsy of internal organs (esp. after inflammation). Inflammation of internal organs. General affections of windpipe; left side of chest particularly; right eye; lower eyelids; agg. from looking fixedly at any object for a long time. Subacute or chronic exudations of pleura, catarrhal pleuropneumonia (after Bry.) in cachectic pleuritis, in hydrothorax, edema pulmonum, in diseases of heart, primary and secondary anasarca; in dropsies after albuminuria; hydrophthalmia with intraocular compression; in ascites accompanying hepatic diseases, peritonitis and abdominal tumors; in lymphatic constitutions with tendency to mucous and serous exudations. Fainting, when walking in open air. Several symptoms, esp. those of chest, are agg. by repose, and better by walking in open air.

Mind: Hypochondriacal melancholy, with great readiness to take offence. Excessive anguish, often with accelerated and hasty respiration. Liveliness, with irritability, and disposition to give way to paroxysms of rage and fury.

Differential Diagnosis. Bar-c.; Caust.; Hep.; Squil. Bronchial affections: Ammc. Bronchial and cystic catarrh; dif cult detachment of mucus, turbid urine with burning, etc.; cough causes gagging; more weakness of heart, tendency to gravel, and gout in old people (Seneg. more shaking cough): Aspar. Bronchial catarrh: Spong. Fat, plethoric people disposed to catarrhs: Calc. Frothy urine with mucous shreds: Cop.; Cub. Infantile colic; hysteria; to break up a cold: Nepet. Laryngeal and pulmonary catarrh: Phos. Mucous phthisis: Stann. Pleurodynia, pleurisy: Bry. Whooping cough; morning agg. (Coc-c. clear phlegm; Kali-bi. yellow phlegm; Seneg. clear phlegm, agg. toward evening): Coc-c.; Kali-bi.

Interactions. Followed well by: Calc.; Lyc.; Phos.; Sulph. Antidoted by: Arn.; Bell.; Bry.; camphor.

Etiology. Bites of poisonous animals. Sprains. Rheumatic fever. Tuberculosis.

Constitution. Lymphatic constitutions with tendency to mucous and serous exudations. Plethoric, phlegmatic persons. Persons tending to obesity. Fat persons of lax fibre. Fat, chubby children. Old persons. Emaciated persons.

Clinical Notations. Senega is an old lung tonic, and I suspect it has been an ingredient in most of the lung medicines for the last one hundred years…Senega is a sort of cross between Bryonia alba and Rhus toxicodendron. The violent symptoms are those of Bryonia, yet it is worse from rest, unlike Bryonia. The symptoms of Senega are not so much like Rhus. but it has an amelioration like that of Rhus. better from motion, the pains being worse when at rest.JTK

Posology. Tincture, to thirtieth potency.WB For cancer, tincture and low decimal potencies; also Q-potencies.

Pathogenetic Trials. (1) Massie in 1803 conducted an experiment on himself and on 6 provers, 5 men, 1 woman, taking doses of (a) 10 to 20 drops of gum dissolved in water; (b) 10 to 20 drops of resin dissolved in alcohol; (c) 32 gr. of gum in pills; observing symptoms for a period of a few hours. Mass (2) Seidel conducted a trial on himself and on 7 provers, 5 men, 2 women, taking (a) doses ranging from 1 to 60 drops of the tincture, made from 20 parts of rectified spirit and 1 part of dried and powdered root, observing symptoms over a period of up to 11 days; and (b) 1 dose of 2 to 5 gr. of the powdered root; observing symptoms over a period of up to 13 days. Seid (3) Lembke conducted a self-experiment taking repeated doses ranging from 5 to 10 5 gr. of dry powdered root dissolved in alcohol and water;overaperiodof2days. Lemb (4)Sundelin around 1832 conducted a self- experiment taking a total of 3 doses of unknown amounts of the powdered root every 2 hours. Sund (5) Böcker conducted 4 self-experiments taking (a) repeated and increasing doses beginning with 15 drams of a decoction of Senega root on the 1st day; (b) of powdered root single doses of 10 and 20 gr. on the 2nd and 3rd day, and repeated single doses of 20 to 25 gr. of the same up to 140 gr. on the 4th day; (c) taking unknown amounts of the decoction; and (d), taking “larger quantities of the drug”; and (e), taking an unknown amount of another product of the plant.Böck

Pharmacology. This is a perennial plant indigenous to North America. It is most commonly found in the western states of the Union. It has a woody, branching, contorted root, ash-colored, about one-half inch thick. From the root arise several stems eight to fourteen inches high, erect, simple, smooth and leafy, green near the top, but sometimes tinged red or purple below. Leaves from one to two inches long, lanceolate, tapering at each end, alternate, short-petioled, bright green above, paler beneath. Flowers small, white, irregular, in a filiform spike at the top of the stem. Sepals ve, two of them wing- shaped and petal-like. Petals three, cohering by their claws to the laments. Capsules small, obcordate, compressed, two-valved, two seeded.

John Tennent, a Scotch physician, in 1735, while in the western part of New York State, noticed that the Seneca Indians obtained excellent results from a certain plant as a remedy for the bite of the rattlesnake. As it relieved the symptoms of snake venom, Tennant concluded that it might also relieve dyspnea, cough, and hemoptysis arising from other causes, and gave it with success in cases pneumonia, pleurisy, and hydrothorax. Polygala senega is extensively used in traditional systems of medicine against various lung diseases including lung cancer. While Senega has been used widely for respiratory disorders in homeopathy, its use for cancer has been attempted only recently by the author.

Efficacy Trials. Several in vivo and in vitro studies have scientifically validated Senega’s use as an anti-cancer agent, particularly against lung cancer. Researchers of the Kalyani group in West Bengal India tested the anti-cancer potentials of ethanolic extract of roots of P. senega in mice, and in human lung adenocarcinoma cell lines (A549). The tests showed positive modulation in expression of signal proteins. Up regulation of apoptotic signals such as p53, Caspase-3 and Bax, and down regulation of AhR, cytochrome P450 (CYP1A1), Bcl-2 and PCNA were observed. Addition of root extract of Polygala senega (at doses of 50 μg and 100 μg) into culture medium containing A549 cells induced recovery of decreased cell viability and increased chromatin fragmentation (apoptosis). The authors concluded that both in vivo and in vitro studies scienti cally validate “its potential use as an anti-cancer agent, particularly against lung cancer.”Paul

Case Documentation. None known.

Citations. Allen TF Enc 8,10. Böcker. Beitr Heilk 2:20. Boericke W. Pock Man. Bradford TL. Ind. Clarke JH. Dict. Hering C. Guid. Sympt 9. Hughes R. Drug Path. Lembke. Neu Zeit Hom. Klin 13:161. Massie T. An Experimental Inquiry into the Properties of the Polygala Senega. Inaug Thesis University of Pennsylvania 1803. Paul S. Anticancer potentials of root extract of Polygala senega and its PLGA nanoparticles-encapsulated form. Evid Based Complement Alternative Med 2011 9:517204. O‘Connor JT. Pharm. Pierce W. Graph Drug Pict. Seidel. Arch hom Heilk 9;2:175. Stapf JE. Add Mat Med Pura. Vermeulen F. Conc. Syn.