Magnesia Sulphurica
Clarke - Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica · John Henry Clarke · 10,287 chars · source ↗
General
Magnesia Sulphurica.
Sulphate of Magnesia. Epsom Salts. Magnesia sulphate. MgSO47H2O. Trituration.
Clinical
Cough. Diabetes. Diarrhoea. Dysentery. Dysmenorrhoea. Enuresis. Epithelioma. Eyes, pains in. Hernia. Intermenstrual haemorrhage. Leucorrhoea. Lumbago. Menorrhagia. Neuralgia. Toothache. Warts.
Characteristics
The ancient reputation of Mag. sul. as a "refrigerant cathartic" under the familiar name of "Epsom Salts," or "salts" par excellence, has overshadowed its homoeopathic uses. But Mag. s. is something more than a "refrigerant cathartic." Fatal poisoning has occurred from an overdose, death apparently occurring from collapse; and the proving of the salts produced many symptoms of utter prostration. Recently old-school authorities have discovered in this "cathartic" a remedy for dysentery.
It is the chief ingredient in many laxative mineral waters and popular saline aperient mixtures. The provings bring out effects common to the other Magnesias: Tearfulness; restless uneasiness; pains in facial bones; sensitiveness to touch; > by walking. The diuretic action of the drug with great thirst has led to its successful use in diabetes.
The diarrhoea is accompanied with great thirst. The chill is accompanied or followed by thirst. Shuddering in back from below upward. The toothache is < coming into a room out of cold air, < by contact with food, whether cold or warm.
It is also > in bed. According to Med. Press (Sept. 9, 1891), eight cases of new growth having all the outward characters of epithelioma have been cured by Graves with teaspoonful doses of a solution of three drachms to the pint. Warts are allied to epithelioma, and H.
T. Webster (quoted H. R., x. 542) has cured many cases in children, giving as much of the salts as would lie on a clime (sixpenny piece) three times a day. One boy was literally covered with warts, his face being much disfigured.
One girl of 16 was cured of large warts on her hands. F. H. Pritchard (H.
M., xxxv. 691) gives his experience with Mag. s. (1/2 gr. in a teaspoonful of water) in summer diarrhoea, with vomiting of food, copious yellowish, slimy, and stinking stools, and later merely watery serum. The first sign of improvement was that the stools became bile-tinged, after which they soon became of thicker consistency. The copiousness of the stools seemed to be the cardinal indication.
Relations
Compare: Mag. c., Mag. m., Mag. p. In diabetes, Nat. s. Sadness, weeping, foreboding anxiety, Act. r., Pul. Stinging in fauces between acts of deglutition, Ign. Eructations, Hep. Apprehension, Lyc.
Mind
Melancholy and disposition to weep, with apprehension, and restless uneasiness
Tendency to fly into a passion; everything is taken in bad part
Prostration; almost beside herself with anxiety; she thought she would die; with earthy colour of face
Foreboding anxiety, as if some accident would happen
Errors of imagination; patient believes that he sees persons who are absent.
Head
Stupidity; head feels as if it were compressed in a vice
Vertigo (with heaviness of head and spontaneous closing of eyes), causing a tendency to fall forwards in morning, and after dinner
Boring in vertex
Pressive headache, and sensation as if head were squeezed in a vice, much < by moving eyes
Compressive pain in head, with heat in head, and redness of face
Tearing and shooting in head, esp. in temples
Congestion, with pressive pain and heat in forehead
Sensation in forehead on stooping as if something would fall forward
Sensation of wavering and shaking of brain at every movement
Shivering during the violent pains in head.
Eyes
Pains in eyes, as if protruding from orbits when looking aside
Violent pains in eyes, esp. r., as if it would start out of socket
Dimness of eyes, with frequent drowsiness
Burning in eyes, pains in evening and in morning, but chiefly by candle-light
Shooting pains in eyes
Lachrymation, with photophobia
Supra-orbital neuralgia, l. side.
Ears
Shooting pains in ears.—Tinkling in ears.
Nose
Pain, as from ulceration in nose, esp. when it is touched
Epistaxis, at night (with diminution of the headache)
Copious secretion of thick and yellow mucus in nose
Fluent coryza, with loss of smell, indistinct speech, and pain, as from excoriation, in nose and chest
Rough voice and frequent flow of water from nose.
Face
Earthy colour of face
Tearing in bones of face (r. facial bones or in l. malar bone)
Dryness and burning in lips, in evening.
Teeth
Odontalgia, generally in evening, sometimes on returning from a walk, or caused by hot or cold things, as well as by contact of teeth with food; the pains are generally jerking, pricking, or throbbing, and disappear in bed.
Mouth
Dryness of mouth, with sensation of numbness
Roughness of tongue
Vesicles on edges of tongue, with incisive pains.
Throat
Sore throat, with shooting pains at night, < by deglutition
Stinging in fauces, more between than during acts of deglutition
Dryness and sensation of numbness in throat
Accumulation of mucus in throat
Frequent mucus in throat, which can neither be swallowed nor hawked up
Expectoration of sour mucus.
Appetite
Bitterness or sweetish bitterness in mouth, esp. in morning
Thirst, esp. morning and evening
Thirst early in morning on rising, going off after breakfast
Thirst in evening, particularly during menses
Want of appetite and repugnance to all food, even when thinking of it
Dislike to meat.
Stomach
Empty, mucous, bitter, and putrid risings
Regurgitation of fluid, preceded by a quivering in stomach
Disgust and nausea, with accumulation of water in mouth
Vomiting, first of food, then of mucus
Sensation of coldness in stomach, with inclination to vomit, in bed, in morning.
Abdomen
Lancinating pains in l. hypochondrium, esp. when sitting, or in evening, before and after a meal
Tension, hardness, and fulness of abdomen even after a moderate meal
Violent shooting pains in whole abdomen, but esp. round the navel
Painful drawing in abdomen
Tension in abdomen, pressure towards groins, as if they were going to burst, when stretching body
Rumbling in abdomen, with emission of flatulence
Itching of l. inguinal region, not removed by scratching.
Stool And Anus
Faeces at one time hard, at another soft
Acid diarrhoea of children
Liquid stools with tenesmus
Diarrhoea preceded by rumbling in abdomen
Soft stools early after rising
Loose evacuations, with violent thirst
Ejection of ascarides during every evacuation
Neuralgia of rectum, stabbing pain, comes on two days after a material dose of Epsom salts.
Urinary Organs
Increased secretion of urine
Emission of urine at night (involuntary)
Emission of urine, drop by drop
Urine of a clear or greenish colour
Shootings in orifice of urethra, after emission of urine.
Male Sexual Organs
Frequent stinging about penis when sitting or walking.—Erections without amorous fancies or sexual desire.
Female Sexual Organs
Catamenia too early and too copious, with thick, black menstrual blood
Catamenia too feeble
Flow of blood in the intervals of catamenia
During the catamenia, heaviness of head and shivering; bruised pain in small of back; pain in groins
Thick and copious leucorrhoea, with contusive pain in sacrum and thighs
Burning leucorrhoea, esp. during movement.
Respiratory Organs
Deep hollow bass voice (as in catarrh)
Dry cough, with burning from larynx to pit of stomach
Dry cough in evening in bed, during which he falls asleep
Dry and shaking cough after waking in morning, and which compels sitting up
Cough in morning with expectoration, and pain as from excoriation, in chest, throat, and palate.
Chest
Pressure on chest, with impeded respiration, esp. in morning, or in bed, at night
Burning pains in chest, sometimes when coughing
Painful burning in chest when coughing, as if a piece of the lungs would come out
Oppression of chest with burning in chest when walking
Burning in middle of chest
Burning in sternum.
Neck And Back
Tension in nape of neck and between shoulders with stitches, particularly in morning, on rising, with great sensitiveness to touch, > by walking
Contusive pain in back, on waking in morning
Tearings in back, at night, which compels movement from side to side.
Upper Limbs
Jerking in arms
Tearing in shoulders and arms
Rheumatic pains in l. elbow, in l. wrist-joint
Tingling in fingers, going off by rubbing
Tearing and shooting in hands and fingers, with contraction of these parts
Trembling of hands
Tearing in tips of fingers, at nigh.
Lower Limbs
Nocturnal pains in legs and loins
Heaviness, at one time in hips, at another in loins
Rheumatic pain in hip, in l. femur
Tearing in legs, and esp. in thigh-bones, and shootings in toes, which are contracted.
Generalities
Tearings (rheumatic) in limbs, esp. at night.—Great lassitude and soreness in whole body, with trembling, and weakness of the feet.—Great languor, with staggering gait.—Bruised sensation.—A peculiar sick feeling, like exhaustion and prostration, with dry Warmth of skin and drawing pains.
Skin
Itching blotches, either hard or as from nettles, with burning, after scratching
Small red tetter (on arms), with violent itching
Stinging itching spots on skin with tendency to boils, < when undressing
Warts.
Sleep
Sleep, early in evening
Sleeplessness at night, caused by violent pains in head, abdomen, and loins (which do not allow him to lie on his back)
Many dreams, sometimes disagreeable and anxious (with starting).
Fever
Shivering and shuddering (in back from below upwards), esp. in evening, disappearing in bed
Chilliness with thirst, early in morning after waking
Shaking chill with violent headache in evening, 9 p.m., going off in bed, succeeded by thirst
Cold feet all day, although otherwise he feels hot
Shivering at night, with thirst until noon; perspiration in afternoon, or after lying down
Heat on sitting up in bed, with vertigo, perspiration on forehead, and redness of face
Heat of head, with coldness of rest of body
Alternations of heat and shuddering, redness and paleness of face
Perspiration at night or in morning, often accompanied by thirst.