What is Cadmium metallicum?
Cadmium metallicum is a homeopathic remedy. It is made from cadmium metal, a soft, silver-grey, poisonous metal. Homeopaths give it for deep tiredness, chills, and sickness with vomiting.
It is a single homeopathic drug, not a blend. The Latin name is Cadmium (Cd). It is also sold simply as Cadmium.
The remedy is made by watering the metal down again and again. This is called serial dilution. At 30C, none of the starting metal is left in the pill.
Here is the short verdict. Trials have not shown that this remedy works better than a placebo (a dummy pill). Homeopaths have used it for about 200 years, but long use is not proof that it works.
How does Cadmium metallicum work?
There is no known way this remedy could act on the body. At 30C nothing of the metal remains, so there is no dose to act.
Homeopathy rests on two old ideas. The first is that "like cures like", so a substance that causes signs in a well person may treat those same signs in a sick one. The second is that shaking and watering down a substance makes it stronger, not weaker.
Neither idea matches what we know about chemistry or the body. Any benefit people report is best explained by other things. These include the calm of a long consultation, hope, and the fact that many complaints settle on their own.
What forms does Cadmium metallicum come in?
You will most often see small white pills or tiny round granules. Liquid drops in water and alcohol are also sold.
Common strengths are 6C, 30C and 200C. Some makers sell low dilutions such as 3X or 6X. Only these low ones can still contain real cadmium, and they carry real risk.
Pills are usually let melt under the tongue. Drops are put under the tongue or into a little water.
Where it comes from:
Homeopathy was started by Samuel Hahnemann in Germany in the late 1700s. Metal remedies were added through the 1800s.
Homeopaths tested substances on healthy people and wrote down what they felt. These tests were called provings. Cadmium was worked up this way in the 1800s.
Cadmium metallicum stayed a minor remedy. A related one, Cadmium sulphuratum, is named more often in homeopathic books for sickness and vomiting. Outside homeopathy, cadmium has no healing use at all.
If this is an emergency
Some reactions to Cadmium metallicum need urgent care. Call your local emergency number or go to an emergency department straight away — do not wait to see whether it passes.
Who should avoid Cadmium metallicum?
- Never swallow, sniff or handle raw cadmium metal, cadmium dust or cadmium salts — they are poisonous, harm the kidneys and can cause cancer
- Do not use if you have been offered a low dilution such as 3X or 6X, because these can still hold real cadmium
- Do not use if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, unless your doctor has said it is fine
- Do not use if you are having chemotherapy (drug treatment for cancer) and plan to use it instead of your prescribed medicine
- Do not use if you have kidney disease (long-term damage to the organs that filter your blood)
- Do not use if you have a sudden or severe illness that needs real treatment, such as heavy vomiting, chest pain or trouble breathing
- Do not use if you are giving it to a baby or young child in place of medical care
- Do not use if you have lactose intolerance (trouble digesting milk sugar) and the pills are lactose-based — ask for the liquid drops
- Do not use if you have had a reaction to any ingredient in the product before
When should you see a doctor?
Get medical help straight away if you cannot stop vomiting, if there is blood in your vomit, or if you have severe stomach pain.
Go to an emergency department if you breathe in cadmium fumes at work. Signs include fever, chills, cough and a tight chest, and they can start hours later. This can be life-threatening.
See your doctor within a day or two if you are passing much less urine, if your ankles swell, or if you feel weak and are not getting better.
Also see a doctor if your symptoms have not improved after three days of using this remedy. Do not keep waiting.
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