Natrum sulphuricum

Lecture LXVII — Preparations of Soda — Natrum carb. and Natrum sulph.

Natrum Sulphuricum.

Natrum sulphuricum would hardly have been used by members of our school had it not been alluded to by Grauvogl as the central remedy for his hydrogenoid constitution. Patients having this constitution feel every change from dry to wet; cannot tolerate sea air; nor can they eat plants that thrive near the water. They feel best on a dry day. It is this constitution in which, according to Grauvogl, the gonorrhceal poison is most pernicious. It finds here the richest soil in which it may grow rank. Therefore, he claims that if gonorrhoea occurs in such a constitution, to cure the patient not only of the local gonorrhceal discharge, but of the constitutional effects, the constitution must be altered. This he does with two remedies, Natrum sulph. and Thuja. The Natrum sulph. cures obstinate cases of gonorrhoea. In the chronic effects of injury, especially to the head, Natrum sulph. is almost indispensable.

You will find Natrum sulph. especially indicated for ailments which are either aggravated or dependent upon dampness of the weather or dwelling in damp houses. You may think of Natrum sulph. then in the sycotic constitution of Hahnemann or the hydrogenoid of Grauvogl. It may even be necessary to give this remedy when there is no bubo or urethral discharge to be seen.

There is a kind of phthisis, not a true tuberculosis, which appears in those who have this constitution. The cough is attended with muco-purulent expectoration, loud rdles are heard through the chest, and the seat of inflammation seems to be the lower lobe of the left lung. The patient complains of pain about the ninth and tenth ribs on the left side. The Natrum sulph. patient has a marked tendency to this catarrh of the chest. If it appears as the result of suppressing haemorrhoids or anal fistula, Natrum sulph. is even more strongly indicated.

Natrum sulph. is also indicated in asthma which is excited or made worse by every spell of damp weather.

Natrum sulph. also acts on the stomach and abdomen. It produces a great deal of flatulence, belching after eating, eructations being tasteless or sour. There is a great deal of rumbling of wind in the bowels, particularly in the right side of the abdomen, probably in the ascending colon. We find, too, a subacute pain in the ileo-csecal region, because it has some action on that portion of the intestinal tract. Associated with this there is diarrhoea, which comes on regularly in the morning after rising and returns quite regularly each day. Much wind is passed with the stools and is worse in damp weather. It is distinguished from Sulphur by this: with Natrum sulph. the diarrhoea comes on more in the forenoon after getting up, whereas, with Sulphur it hurries the patient out of bed.

It is distinguished from Bryonia which has diarrhoea on first rising in the morning by the fact that the latter has less flatus, and is aggravated by hot weather.

Natrum sulph. is also useful in affections of the left hip-joint in patients of this hydrogenoid constitution. The pains are worse at night, and arouse the patient from sleep. They cease when he turns over in bed.

Stillingia is useful for hip diseases in secondary or in inherited syphilis, with pains in and through the hip, worse at night and worse in wet weather.