NATRUM SULPHURICUM

This is one of our most frequently indicated constitutional remedies. The symptoms appear in the morning, evening and during the night, especially before midnight. Some symptoms are better after breakfast, during the daytime and after midnight, except the sweat. It is a very useful remedy for complaints following neglected gonorrhoea. The symptoms and the constitutional state of the patient are worse in wet weather. It is useful in patients who live near waterways and have suffered long from malarial influences. It is useful as an antidote to the abuse of quinine. It especially belongs to patients of the neuropathic and bilious constitution. He is extremely sensitive to the night air. He suffers from universal catarrh and the discharges are generally greenish. It cures dropsical conditions. Sensitive to touch and pressure; oversensitive mentally and physically. Very sensitive to pain. The pains are very numerous; dull pains, sharp pains, all better from motion. Bruised feeling all over. Strong desire for open air and better while walking in the open air. Sensitive to a warm room, though he is sometimes sensitive to cold and must have warm clothing. The feeling of fullness or distension is found in many Places; in the head, in the ear, in the abdomen, in the veins generally. Complaints all worse in the spring and in warn weather. General physical restlessness and anxiety. Marked weakness and trembling with internal pulsations and rapid heart. Twitching of muscles. Complaints from injuries of head and spine. The symptoms all worse during rest. Rheumatic complaints all over the body. He is compelled to lie on the back. Convulsions from injuries of the head. Sycotic conditions with a history of warts and condylomata. Anxiety in the morning which passes off after breakfast; in the evening in bed; at night before midnight; during fever; about the future; anxiety and loathing of life with suicidal impulse, must use all self-control to prevent taking his life. A woman during gestation attempted several times to hang herself, after this remedy she was cheerful and there was no return of the suicidal disposition. Cheerful after stool. Music makes her sad. Sadness in the morning, which passes off after breakfast. Extremely irritable in the morning. Violent anger which is followed by jaundice. Aversion to company. Dislikes to speak or to be spoken to. Dullness of mind and excitability. Mental exertion brings on mental symptoms. Mental troubles come on from injuries of the head. A young man became very sad and subject to attacks of vertigo, and neglected his business after being hit on the side of the head by a baseball. He was entirely free from all symptoms after taking this remedy. Fear of a crowd; of evil; of people. Forgetful, easily frightened, hysterical; indifferent; indolent; insanity. She is oversensitive and suspicious. Starting from fright or noise and in sleep. Subject to vertigo, congestive headaches with fullness and heat. Pressing outward in the head with pulsation. Periodical headaches with vomiting bile. The pains are worse when thinking of them and better by pressure, in the open air and when lying. Pulsation in the temples when walking. Splitting pain in the vertex. Heat of the vertex. Headache in the morning on waking. Mental exertion brings on headaches. Sensation as of brain falling to side lain on. Headache with intermittent fever. Violent occipital headache with pain in the nape of the neck. Headache from injuries of the head. Itching of the scalp. Formication. Eczema of the scalp with much moisture.

Photophobia and head complaints from looking into the light. Lachrymation and dim vision, jaundiced eyes; inflamed eyes with many blisters. Burning in the eyes morning and evening. Greenish discharge from the eyes. Lids stuck together in the morning. Granular lids. Scrofulous inflammation of the conjunctiva. Redness, swelling and burning of the margins of the lids. Heaviness of lids. Pressing in eyes when using eyes. Itching of the eyes in the morning.

Chirping in the ears in the evening; during chill and fever. Flapping sensation in the ears. Ringing in the ears. Pressing out feeling in the ears. Earache as if something was forcing its way out. Stitching pains in ears, worse entering warm room from cold air; in damp weather. Earache. Complaint worse on right side. Heat in right ear in evening. Catarrh of right ear. Stopped sensation in right ear. Purulent discharge from the ears.

Catarrhal discharge from nose, yellowish green. Epistaxis before and during menses; in afternoon and evening. Dryness and burning in the nose. Obstructed with mucus in the night. Mucus drawn from posterior nares tasting salty. Sneezing with fluent coryza and influenza. Epidemic influenza. Chunks of dried mucus blown from high up in nose. Itching of the face with eczema. Sickly expression and jaundiced skin. Vesicles and pimples on the face. Vesicles on the lower lip and around the mouth. Pimples on the chin burning on touch.

The teeth become loose and fall out in sycotic constitution. The gums separate from the teeth. Pain in the teeth worse from warm things, better from cold drinks and the cold air. Gums red, ulcerate and burn. Blisters on the gums. The mouth is always slimy. Much mucus forms in the mouth and throat. Taste is bitter and tongue is heavily coated a dirty greenish brown. Blisters on the tongue and roof of the mouth. Burning in the roof of the mouth during menses. Numbness in the mouth. Salivation.

Chronic inflammation of the throat with copious viscid white mucus. Dry sensation in throat. Pain in throat on swallowing food. Choking feeling in the throat when walking. It is often needed in goitre. Great thirst in the evening; for very cold drinks; during chill and fever. Aversion to bread and meat. Qualmishness after farinaceous foods; hiccough after. bread in evening. Eructations of sour water; of bitter fluid. Nausea before breakfast. Constant nausea. Vomiting of sour or bitter fluid. Vomiting of green bile with colic. The stomach feels distended and heavy. Pulsation in the stomach after breakfast. Extreme cases of gastric, weakness with acidity. Can digest only the simpler foods. Digestion very slow. This remedy has cured many _complaints of the liver; congested, enlarged, sore liver. Pain in the liver from lying on the right side. Dragging in the right hypochondrium when lying on the left side (Mag. m., Card. m., Ptel.), soreness and itching in the liver when walking. Sharp pains in the liver on deep inspiration. The liver is disturbed by mental exertion and anger. The liver seems to manufacture an excess of bile. Perverted viscid bile that readily forms gall stones. It causes the liver to healthy bile which is the natural solvent of gall stones, when given in homoeopathic doses at long intervals. It has cured many cases of gall stone colic. It has removed gall stones in many cases. Sensitive to clothing over the hypochondria. The following three cases will testify:

CASE I. Woman, married, grown children. Aged 37. Headache followed by vomiting of bile for several years. Face purple. Heat ameliorates the pain. Pain begins in right eye, spreads over the forehead with a dragging feeling in back of head. Pain in sacrum extends to thighs, aggravated on right side. Nervous, easily startled, apprehensive. Intensely fastidious. Had gall stone colic three months ago. Cold feet. Headache at menstrual period for sixteen years. Menstrual flow thick, clotted, dark, lasts one day. Stool, light color when sick, darker when in better health. Must restrain herself or she will commit suicide. Slow pulse at times. Tired all the time. Condemned to an operation by the surgeon for gall stone. Fissured tongue. Natrum sulphuricum cured; the gall stones disappeared.

CASE 2. Man actively engaged in business, weight i8o pounds. Age 40. Pain in region of gall bladder. Gall stone colic. Came on after indigestion. Dull aching in that region. Must walk about the room, not ameliorated in any position. Only once has stool become light colored. Pain in region of kidneys also through pelvic region and legs with a cloudy condition of the urine; dribbling of few drops of urine after urination. Dull heavy pain in right side behind the lower ribs, continuous pain; pain extends up right side as far as nipple; stabbing pains in breast. Pain in duodenum aggravated after eating. Natrum sulph. cured. The patient is in perfect health.

CASE 3. Woman. Age 64. Diarrhoea; stool watery, sometimes chalky; enlarged liver; clawing feeling in gall bladder ; gall stone colic. Had been condemned by a surgeon to the operating table. Sinking spells after stool; cold spells; vertigo, stooping, lying or walking; spells of rapid beating of heart; mental depression; thirstless; temperature sub-normal; sensitive to jarring abdomen; flatulence and rumbling in abdomen; cold legs to knees; cold hands; much belching, aggravated after meals; sensitive to weather changes; nervous and sleepless before a storm; sore dragging feeling in the liver; bowels sluggish; slow digestion; heaviness of arms and legs; chilliness down the back; unable to lie on right side with comfort; urine copious; strong; late going to sleep. Natrum sulph. made a radical change in her condition and there are no more signs of gall stones.

Distress in the abdomen relieved by displacing flatus- Emptiness relieved by passing flatus and by eructations. Cramps and many pains from obstructed flatus. Pain -and distension in the ascending colon from flatus. Pain in the region of the caecum. It has cured many cases resembling the first stage of appendicitis. Pain and tenderness cases in the whole abdomen. Dull heavy pain from abdomen to back. Burning in the abdomen. Feeling in the abdomen as if a diarrhoea would come on, ameliorated by eructations and passing flatus. Distress in the abdomen that hurries him to stool but only flatus passes. Pain in the abdomen during menses. Cramp in the morning before breakfast. Pain in abdomen 4 to 8 P. M., and in evening. Constant distress in bowels and urging to stool. Fullness, rumbling, motions, gurgling with or without diarrhoea. Pain in right ascending colon when lying on the right side. Bilious colic with vomiting of bile. It has cured many cases of syphilis. It has cured enlarged abdominal glands. Morning diarrhoea with copious flatus soon after rising or soon after standing on the feet. Diarrhoea in wet weather. Stools gushing; copious; greenish; thin; very offensive; slimy, bloody; cramps in the abdomen before stool. Smarting in the anus during stool. Sometimes cheerful after stool. Often the diarrhoea is painless. Diarrhoea after farinaceous food; from vegetables; fruit; pastry; cold drinks; ice cream. Diarrhoea alternating with constipation. Diarrhoea with stools at any hour of the day or night, but especially morning and evening. It has cured many cases of chronic diarrhoea with stool involuntary and lienteric. Itching and crawling in the anus. Condylomata at the anus. It cured an ulceration in the rectum with copious bleeding in a lawyer who had long struggled with suicidal impulses. It has often cured bleeding piles.

It has cured parenchymatic inflammation of the kidneys following scarlet fever and from malarial influences. It has cured sugar in the urine and polyuria. It has cured brick dust sediment many times also where copious white sandy sediment was present. It has cured copious deposits of phosphates with copious jelly-like mucous sediment. Must rise often in the night to urinate. Burning during and after urination. Urine loaded with bile. Where these symptoms appear after neglected gonorrhoea.

In the male strong sexual desire and troublesome erections. Gonorrhoea when the discharge has a greenish yellow color and there is burning during and after urination. It has cured enlarged prostate many times. Condylomata, soft fleshy with greenish discharge. Oedema of the scrotum and prepuce. Itching of the penis and scrotum with burning after scratching.

The menstrual flow is copious, acrid and clotted. Leucorrhoea acrid, greenish, purulent, excoriating the parts. It has cured milk Ieg. Much thick, viscid white mucus forms in the larynx- and trachea. Dyspnoea on exertion and while waling; with sharp pain in left chest.

Stitching on deep breathing. Dyspnoea in damp weather. It is a most useful remedy in humid asthma in children of sycotic parents. Humid asthma with copious viscid mucus in every spell of hot weather. Chronic catarrh of the bronchial tubes.

Frequent attacks of paroxysmal cough from irritation in larynx ending in copious white, viscid expectorations. Expectoration bloody; greenish yellow; purulent; white; viscid. Oppression of the chest from damp evening air and in the morning on waking. Emptiness in the chest on inspiration. Soreness in the chest on coughing, better by holding the chest with the hands. Bronchitis and pneumonia are sometimes hard to cure in sycotic patients until they have received this remedy. Muco-purulent expectoration in old people. Eruptions on the chest every spring in sycotic patients. Swelling and suppuration in the axillary glands.

It has been the epidemic remedy in this country in cerebro-spinal meningitis, where the pain in the back of the head and neck was marked, "as the gnawing of a dog" and the head was drawn backward. Piercing pain between the scapulae in the evening while sitting. Tenderness of the spine. Sore pain in the small of the back and sacrum. Pain in the small of the back during the night compelling her to lie on the right side; it passes away in the morning after rising. Pain in the small of the back from retaining the urine. Itching of the back when undressing. Pain in the sacrum, cannot lie on either side.

Trembling, twitching and weakness in the limbs, twitching in hands and feet during sleep. Pains in the limbs during rest. Rheumatic pains in the limbs in wet weather. Cracking in the joints. Warts on the arms and hands. Pains in the limbs during chill and fever, better by motion and walking. Worse in the lower than in the upper limbs.

Weakness in the hands; flexors pain on grasping anything. Trembling in the hands in the morning on waking and when writing. The tendency to suppuration around the nails is a marked symptom in this remedy. Palms raw and sore and exude a watery fluid. It has cured bad cases of psoriasis of the palms. Fingers swollen and stiff. Panaritium, pain more bearable in the open air. Ulceration, pain under the nail and in the tips of the fingers.

Pain in the right hip joint on motion. Stitching in the left hip. Pain in the hip extending to the knee. Swelling in the left leg. Sciatica better in motion. Dull aching in the lower limbs during chill and fever, better when walking. Restlessness of the limbs at night in bed. Ulcers on outer side of thighs. Stiffness of knees. Weakness in lower limbs. Burning of feet and legs to the knees. Dry heat in feet at night. Oedema of the feet. Sharp pain in soles and-heels.

Drowsiness in the forenoon when reading. Frightful dreams. Chill from 6 to 9 P. M., with fever, then dry heat until 1 A. M., sweat absent. Chili with icy coldness and gooseflesh from 4 to 8 P. M. during menses. Shaking chills. Chilliness with fever in the evening from night air. Perspiration after midnight or toward morning. Fevers with vomiting bile. Remittent and intermittent fevers. It is a much neglected remedy in chronic intermittent fever.

Eczema with watery oozing. Water blisters. Yellow scales after breaking the vesicles. Jaundice. Intertrigo. Wart-like, red excres-censes all over the body. Red, knotty eruptions on head above the ears; on the forehead and left side of nape of neck; in the middle of chest. Itching when undressing.