Magnesia Sulphurica.
Sulphate of Magnesia. Epsom Salts. Magnesia sulphate. MgSO47H2O. Trituration.
Clinical.─
Cough. Diabetes. Diarrhœa. Dysentery.
Dysmenorrhœa. Enuresis. Epithelioma. Eyes, pains in. Hernia. Intermenstrual hæmorrhage.
Leucorrhœa. 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 homœopathic 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 diarrhœa 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 diarrhœa,
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.
SYMPTOMS.
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Ears.─
Shooting pains in ears.─Tinkling
in ears.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. Mouth.─
Dryness of mouth, with sensation of
numbness.─Roughness of tongue.─Vesicles on edges of
tongue, with incisive pains.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. Stool and Anus.─
Fæces at one time hard, at
another soft.─Acid diarrhœa of children.─Liquid
stools with tenesmus.─Diarrhœa 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.
14. 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.
15. Male Sexual Organs.─
Frequent stinging about
penis when sitting or walking.─Erections without amorous fancies or
sexual desire.
16. 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 leucorrhœa, with contusive pain in sacrum and thighs.─Burning
leucorrhœa, esp. during movement.
17. 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.
18. 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.
20. 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.
22. 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.
23. 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.
24. 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.
25. 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.
26. 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).
27. 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.® 2000
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