RE: Dr.Bill's post..
The Greeks had a word for it:Clotho, Lachesis & Atropos, the Fates.. Clotho is a spinner, Lacheis a weaver, and Atropos the one who cuts the cloth.

My M-W-10th only has one word immediately recognizable coming from atropos-- atropine..(A poisonous, bitter, crystalline alkaloid, C17H23NO3, obtained from belladonna and other related plants. It is used to dilate the pupils of the eyes and as an antispasmodic.

but.. there are others..http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE539.html

any one else have some words of fate that have turned round in meaning?

Atropine was in Pharmacopoeia as "Belladonna" a tincture allegedly used by Italian
beauties who felt dilated pupils enhanced theri attractiveness. Or maybe they
preferred the resulting blurring of vision paralysis of muscles that mediate change
of focus, which would hide lack of comeliness in their escorts.
An overdose could snip the thread of life. The plant as a weed can be hazardous
to livestock.

"The Solanaceae also includes the nightshades, from woody to deadly. You’ll
notice that the flowers of tomatoes, potatoes, woody and deadly nightshades
are very similar in shape, and once potatoes have flowered, they produce a
little green inedible fruit that looks just like a miniature tomato. At the other
extreme of edibility, the deadly nightshade (belladonna) berry looks like a
small, black tomato, but it is highly poisonous." (excerpt from long site"

wasn't a mild form of belladonna given as a drug to "dry up" women's milk? I remember having a disagreement with my doctor when i gave birth to my son in 1973, and wanted to nursed..

he had 'prescribed' a shot of belladonna, so that i wouldn't be uncomfortable when my milk came in, and i refused to let any one give me the drug.. he came to "talk some sense into me" he knew me for over 2 years at that point, and should have known better! i remained firm.. (much to his chagrin!) and did nurse.

FYI back in the dark ages--ie 30 years ago, they still regularly want to "knock 'em out" when it came to childbirth, and were still giving scopolamine.. a drug that is a first cousin to LDS, and can cause hallucinations.
(nothing personal Dr bill, doctors, one on one, are okay, but the medical profession scares me!)

Are there any other real medical uses for belladonna?

Dear of troy: I have been retired for over twenty years, and have made no attempt to keep up. I believe that there are new drugs superior to atropine for all its former uses.
Believe it or not, there were only about a dozen drugs in U.S. Pharmacopoeia whose value could be proven when I started medical school. Think how many thousands of medicines there are now! I find it wryly amusing that "alternative medicine" appeals to so many suckers now. My grandfather took courses in "homeopathic" medicine, but used it only for idiots who demanded it.

Indications for the use of Atropine:

Organophosphate poisoning - diagnosis and treatment
Premedication for anaesthesia
Reversal of neuromuscular blockade (usually regional anaesthesia)
Bradycardia with haemodynamic compromise
Asystole

Indications for use of Belladonna alkaloids (controversial):

Irritable bowel syndrome
Infant colic

...and on a grimmer note (but sadly apppropriate for our times), atropine was what was in the little "syrettes" available to soldiers in the Vietnam era for use in case they should be exposed to nerve gas, to be jabbed into your own thigh and injected in time of need. It wasn't considered all that effective, but it was the best thing available. Each soldier could be issued two of them; if they weren't strong enough, it didn't matter, you were a goner anyway.

Similar biochemical reactions aren't working right in patients who have the disease Myesthenia Gravis, and current treatments work by the same principle as atropine (but more effectively).