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Natrum Muriaticum
Source:
Common Salt, NaCl, chloride of sodium.
Natrum Muriaticum
is not only a polychrest remedy but also a deep
acting and long acting remedy which makes it a
medicine of par excellence in the Homeopathic
Materia Medica.
This remedy is generally
considered to be indicated in the following
ailments:-
1. Anxiety 2.
Migraine 3. Constipation 4.
Skin disorders
"Salt
is so common an article of diet that it has been
assumed that it could be no use in medicine".
Dr.Kent says that this has been only the
opinion of men who operate entirely on the
tissue remedies. There are no constitutional
effects from crude salt but when given in
potentised form, it shows its medicinal effects
on the constitution. However, the prolonged
taking of excessive salt causes profound
nutritive changes to take place in the system
and there arise not only the symptoms of salt
retention as evidenced by dropsies and
oedemas, but also an alteration in the blood
causing a condition of anaemia and
leucocytosis. There seems also to be a
retention in the tissues of effete (free
radicals) materials giving rise to symptoms
loosely described as gouty or rheumatic gout.
The proving of Natrum Muriaticum are full of
such symptoms.
Typical Subjects:
For the anaemic and cachectic constitution,
whether from loss of vital fluids such as
profuse menstruation, seminal losses, or mental
affections, great emaciation: losing of flesh
while living and eating well.. Irritable, cross
when spoken to, cry due to the slightest cause;
gets into a passion about trifles, especially
when consoled. Awkward, hasty and drops things
due to nervous weakness (Apis, Bov.).
Notes and features:-1.
Mental depression, sad and weeping;
consolation aggravates.
2.Great emaciation, even
while living well; shows most in the neck (Abrotanum
of lower extremities).This remedy suits marasmus
from defective nourishment; the neck is thin as
under Cal.Carb, and the appetite is ravenous,
though the patient grows thin. Craving for salt
is a useful indication.
3.Anaemia
with bursting headaches, especially at the
menses, also school girls headaches. A good
medicine for migraines in such cases.
4.Mucous Membranes: Great
dryness of mucous membranes from lips to anuz;
lips dry and cracked, especially in the middle;
anus dry, cracked, fissured; constipation.
5. Heart: palpitates,
flutters, intermits, pulsates, violently,
shaking the whole body; < lying on left side.
6.Itching eruptions, dry
or moist; < at the margins of the hair. Warts on
palms of hands (sore to touch, Nat.). Hang
nails; skin around the nails dry and cracked;
herpes about the anus, in border of hair.
7. Modalities; <10 to 11
a.m. (many complaints) especially malarial
affections; lying down, especially on left side;
heat of sun or heat in general ; abuse of
Quinine, relieved by sweat.
8. For bad effects ; of anger,
nitrate of silver; too much salt; craves salt
and salty things.
Mental Symptoms:
Natrum Mur is indicated in Psychic causes of
disease; ill effects of grief, fright, anger,
etc. Depressed patients, particularly in chronic
diseases There is in fact , a long chain of
mental symptoms; hysterical condition of the
mind and body; weeping alternating with
laughing; irresistible laughing at unsuitable
times; prolonged, spasmodic laughter. This will
be followed by tearfulness, great sadness,
joylessness. No matter how cheering the
circumstances are she cannot being herself into
the state of being joyful. She is benumbed to
impressions, easily takes on grief, grieves over
nothing. Wants to be alone to cry. Unpleasant
occurances are recalled that she may grieve
over them Consolation aggravated the state of
the mind-the melancholy, the tearfulness,
sometimes bring on anger. She appears to bid for
sympathy and is mad when it is given. Headache
comes on with this melancholy. She walks the
floor in rage. She is extremely forgetful;
cannot cast up accounts; is unable to meditate;
forgets what she was going to say; loses the
thread of what she is hearing or reading. There
is great prostration of mind.
Dr Kent says that
"unrequited
affection brings on complaints. She is unable
to control her affections and falls in love with
a married man. She knows that it is foolish, but
lies awake with love for him. She falls in love
with a coachman.She knows that she is unwise,
but cannot help it. In cases of this kind,
Natrum Mur will turn her mind into order and
she will look back and wonder why she was so
silly. This remedy belongs to hysterical girls.
In a mental state where
Ignatia temporarily benefits the symptoms,
but does not not cure, its chronic, Natrum
mur should be given. It is as well to give
Nat. mur at once if there is an
underlying constitutional state too deep for
Ignatia.
The Natrum mur patient is
greatly disturbed by excitement, is extremely
emotional. The whole nervous economy is in a
state of fret and irritation < from nose, the
slamming of a door, the ringing of a bell, the
firing of a pistol, <music.
The mental complaints are > in
the open air. Complaints come on in the warm
room, worse in the house, she wants the open
air. She takes cold easily from sweating, but is
generally > in the open air, though worse in
getting heated.<by sufficient exertion to heat
up but > by moderate exertion in the cold air.
All the Sodiums are, without
exception, hypersensitive-sensitive to noise,
surrounds, music, thunder and to people. They
are always rather keyed up and restless. They
constantly complain that whenever they attempt
to relax, or as they are falling off to sleep,
they are liable to get sudden muscular jerks.
Both Nat. carb and Natr.
,mur have the general nervous tension of
Natrum, but one is a chilly patient, the
other warm blooded.
Face:
The face is sickly looking, oily, shiny, as if
greased , yellow, often chlorotic, covered with
vesicular eruptions around the edges of the
hairs, the ears and back of the neck. . Earthy
complexion. Fever-blisters. But Dr. Blackie
writes in her book,"Classical
Homeopathy".
"I
think the ordinary textbook description of
Natrum Mur, is misleading. They tell you that
Natrum Mur. patients have an oily skin, but you
do not get the waxy pallor which Kent stresses.
You are much more likely to get a patient with
a fair amount of color and very often, a
tendency to flush. When you are talking to
them, or if they are embarassed, they tend to
get a high, irregular color. The circulation
is unstable, they quickly become embarassed, the
pulse runs up very quickly, and it is then you
get the oily look. The modern woman does not
come into your room with a greasy nose, but
before you have done with them they tend to be
greasy across the forehead.".
Head:
Headache: Throbs. Blinding headache(Iris
versicolor, Kali bich.). Aches as if
thousand little hammers were knocking on the
brain, in the morning, on awakening, after
menstruation. Chronic headache, semi-lateral
from sunrise to sunset with pale face,
nausea, vomiting, periodical(Every day, or
third day, or fourth day;) beiginning at 10 to
11 a.m., lasting until 3 p.m. or evening. from
eyestrain; menstrual. Before attack, numbness
and tingling in lips, tongue and nose, relieved
by sleep. with zig-zig dazzling, like lightning
in eyes, ushering in a throbbing headache, which
is worse from eye strain. Anaemic headache of
school girls.; nervous discouraged, broken
down. Frontal Sinus inflammation.
Eyes:
Feel bruised, with headache in school children.
Muscles weak and stiff. Letters run together.
Sees sparks. Asthenopia due to insufficiency of
internal rectii muscles. (Gels, and
Cup. Acet. when due to external muscles).
Pain in the eyes when looking
down
Nose:-
`Colds with watery, transparent discharges ,
causing vesicular eruptions about mouth and nose
which burst and leave thin crusts and scabs.
Running colds with watery, clear, frothy
discharge, worse on going into cold air and on
exertion; great dryness of posterior nares.
There is entire loss of taste. Post Nasal
dropping of mucus. It also removes the tendency
to take cold.
Mouth:-
Blisters like pearls around the mouth are found
in Natrum mur. ; especially in
intermittents. If the upper lip is much
thickened or swollen, not of an erysipelatous
character, we think of three remedies, all of
which have it, Bell, Calc, Natrum Mur.
Deep painful fissure in the middle upper lips
given in Guiding Symptoms which may also some
time present in the lower lip.
The another marked feature of
Natrum Mur is Numbness, tingling of tongue,
lips and nose. Tongue mapped. (Ars. Rhus;
Tarax.) Loss of taste. Immoderate thirst.
Sensation of hair on tongue(Silicea, kali
Bich).
Stomach:-Hungry,
yet loose flesh.(Iod) [After eating Natrum
patient feels weary and sleepy, while the Iodine
one feels better]. Heartburn, with palpitation.
Unquenchable thirst. Sweats while
eating. Craving for salt. Aversion to
bread, to anything slimy, like oysters; fats.
Throbbing in pit. Sticking sensation in cardiac
orifice.The stomach and liver are closely
related. The stomach is distended with flatus.
After eating there is a lump in the stomach. It
seems to take a long time for food to digest; <
from eating. There is a great thirst for cold
water, sometimes there is relief from drinking,
sometimes the thirst is unquenchable.
Rectum:
Obstinate constipation. Stools dry, crumbling(Am.mur,Mag.m)Burning
pains and stitching after stool. Anus
contracted, torn, bleeding. In constipation
of young people who are subjected to acne and
comedons, Natrum mur should be thought of.
Urine:
Pain just after urinating (Sars.). Increased,
involuntary when walking, coughing etc. Has to
wait a long time for it to pass if others are
present (Hep.,Mur.ac,).There is also a
continued urgin, he must pass the urine often.
Male:
Impotence with retarded emission;
the emission occurs even after coitus.
Female:
Natrum mur. is useful in the complaints
of women, in troublesome menstruation. There is
a great variety of menstrual complaints; menses
too scanty or too free, too late or too soon.
The headaches of Natrum Mur are apt to occur
after the menstrual period, as if caused by loss
of blood and you know that China also has
throbbing headache in such cases. In Nat. mur
the headache occurs whether the menses be scanty
or profuse.Dr. Kent says,
"We
cannot individualize from the menstrual
symptoms, we must do it from the constitutional
state. Examine every possible function to be
sure you have all the symptoms. Examine every
organ, not by examining it physically, for
results of diseases do not lead to the remedy,
but examine the symptoms."
Suppressed menses (follow with Kali carb).
Hot during menses.
Respiratory:
Cough from a tickling in the pit of stomach,
accompanied by stitches in liver and spurting of
urine (Caust; Squiilla) Stitches all over
chest. Cough, with bursting pain in head.
Shortness of breath, especially on going
upstairs (Calc.)Whooping-cough
with flow of tears with
cough.
Heart:-Natrum
Mur. has strong action upon the heart and
circulation, as the following marked symptoms
indicate:
"Fluttering
of the heart with weak faint feeling, worse
lying down. Irregular intermission of beats of
heart and pulse, worse on lying on left side.
Violent pulsations of the heart which shake the
body"
(Spigelia). All the se symptoms are more
markedly present in anaemic subjects with
constitution generally weakened by grief, sexual
excess, loss of blood and other debilitating
causes. It is especially efficacious in subjects
suffering from abuse of Quinine.
Extremeties:
Pain in back, with desire for some firm
support(Rhus ; Sep.). Every movement
accelerates the circulation. Palms hot and
perspiring. Arms and legs, but especially
knees feel weak. Hangnails. Dryness and
cracking about finger-nails. Numbness and
tingling in fingers and lower extremities.
Ankles weak and turn easily. Painful contraction
of hamstrings (Caust). Cracking in joints
on motion. Coldness of legs with
congestion to head, chest, and stomach.
Sleep:
Nervous jerking during sleep. Dreams of
robbers,. Sleepless from grief.
Skin:-
Greasy, oily, especially on hairy parts. Dry,
eruptions, especially on margin of hairy scalp
and bends of joints. Fever blisters. Urticaria;
itch and burn, itching after exertion. .
Crusty eruptions in bends of limbs,
margin of scalp, behind ears. (caust)Warts
on palms of hands. Eczema; raw, red, and
inflamed; worse eating salt, at seashore.
Alopacia. Greasy skin.
Fever:
In fevers it is among Hahnemann"s
too well known remedy. In intermittents it is
especially useful in cases suppressed, not cured
by Quinine, and its leading
characteristic is in the time of the
appearance of the chill.:-
Natrum
appears characteristically at 10 to 11 a.m.
Eupatorium Perfoliatum
at 7 a.m.
Apis Mell.
At 3 p.m.
Lycopodium
at 4 p.m.
Arsenicum alb.
At 1 to 2 p.m. or a.m.
Coldness of body and continued
chilliness very marked.
The fever, headache, and all
other symptoms of Natrum are relieved by
sweating, as are those of Arsenicum also.
Heat: violent thirst, increases with fever.
Fever-blisters. Sweaats on every exertion.
Modalities:
Worse:
At about 10 a.m. or 11 a.m.
At the sea-shore or from sea air
Heat of sun or stove.
Mental exertion talking, writing,
reading, noise, music.
Lying down, consolation.
Better:
In the open air (Apis mellifica,
Pulsatilla nigricans0
Cold bathing
Missing regular meals.
Lying on right side (on painful
sided:- Bryonia alba, Ignatia amara, Pulsatilla)
Tight clothing, pressure on back.
Relations:
Complementary to
Apis mellifica, Sepia, Ignatia amara. Acts well
before and after them.
Natrum Mur is the chronic Ignatia
amara.
Antidote:
Arsenicum Alb.
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