The other Natrum salts

Volume 84, Number 1, January 1995

January 1995, Vol. 84, pp. 26-31

From the teaching centres

The other Natrum salts LEE HOLLAND, MB, BCH, MRCPSYCH, MRCGP, MFHOM

Group characteristics of the natrum salts (after Scholten) There are several themes running through the Natrums reflecting the sodium component in the different salts. On the emotional level the main themes ale: depressed closed/isolated, held on sensitive responsible The great sensitiveness of the natrum group encourages a tendency to deny, suppress or withdraw in order to avoid emotional pain. As these individuals are also usually quite determined and principled they can take this to pathological extremes and end up isolating themselves from the warmth and support of others which leads to varying states of depression. At the intellectual/cognitive level there are problems relating to mental work and study. Nat. mur. and Nat. carb. in particular are usually clever but there is a problem in all the natrums with mental exertion which aggravates their complaints. There is also a sensitivity throughout to noise and to music. Physically the group tends to share sensitivities to some foods (milk, fruit, starch i.e. bread and farinaceous, and fat) and climatic conditions (see Box 1). Natrum suiphuricum The keynote mental rubric of Nat-s is 'Injury, satiety of life, must use self control to avoid shooting himself.' With Aurum it is the most suicidal remedy (Nat-s prefers shooting or hanging, A u r u m Oxford Course of the HomoeopathicPhysicians Teaching Group, Year2, Module2.

prefers jumping from a window, Alum, Ars and Merc knifing, Hell, Puls and Sil drowning) but battles against it, whereas Aurum just does it--once he decompensates. Sick of life but very affected by their physical state. People of few words, not good communicators (Talk, indisposed to; Spoken to, a v e r s e to being) i s o l a t e d with their depressed thoughts and loathing of existence, struggle to avoid suicide yet not from lack of courage (Chin., N u x - v . ) but more because they are responsible or considerate or it is against their principles. The asthma they suffer as children may be the start of a physical suffering which they feel restricts them and they find it hard to tolerate. It is the beginning of a negative view of themselves which they cannot express and which builds up inside. They are fastidious and find imperfection difficult. Like all natrums music affects them. It reaches those depressed needy parts of their psyche in a way which words and people cannot. They weep and experience a pleasant sadness because the music communicates with their state, and communication is not something they experience very often. Their dreams are of deficiency or reject i o n - d r e a m s he is a criminal, that his toe is cut off, that he is thrown from a carriage--or compensatory dreams of picnics or sailing. Also dreams of running water, a balance to the 'hydrogenoid' constitution. They are quite basic people for natrums, p o w e r f u l because they have the natrum strength of character, but not imaginative. Practical, intelligent, planners and organizers. Businessmen, farmers (shotguns), soldiers; sensitive without the means to express it. A male medicine! Feel much better after stool, perhaps one 26

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Nat-s Cold Damp Warmth

<<< <<

Sun

27

Nat-m

Nat-c

Na~-p

Nat-ars

<

<<<

<<<

<<<<

<<

<

<<

<<< << >

<<

<<<

<

10, 11 < summer

5,11 < summer

11 < winter

11 < winter

<<- <<< +++

< -

<<

<< -

<<

<<

<<

Draught Open air Thunder

>>

<< >> <<

Time (a.m.) Season

4, waking < spring

Fat Starch Fruit Milk Salt [+ = des., - = averse] Appearance

<<< << <<-

>

< ++

<< +

<

< acid

<<<

<

<<

<<<<< +++

<<

short/fat florid/ yellow

thin neck, greasy

pale, flabby

thin, pale, flushed

pale, cyanotic cracked lips

Tongue

dirty, green-br. /grey

mapped

white, sore tip

like Mercurius

Discharges

greeny -yellow

albuminous, thick, yellow watery

goldenyellow base, hair sens. on tip creamy, yellow

-

_

_

<

-

offensive, sticky, thin, yellow

B o x 1. G r o u p c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s o f 5 N a t r u m salts

o f few m o d e s o f e x p r e s s i o n ! T h e y pass a stool once they start to move in the morning (Bry). Personality changes and confusion foll o w i n g head injury, very sensitive to head injury and also to noise. Vithoulkas emphasizes their fidelity to one partner, but, as you might expect, not from j o y so much as duty. If someone understands t h e m t h e y are s u r p r i s e d and feel e x p o s e d even though they appreciate it (delusion he is naked). T h e k e y n o t e p h y s i c a l s y m p t o m is the a g g r a v a t i o n from wet in all its forms, i.e. damp room, storm, wet weather, spring, sea, vegetables and food with high water content. This is typical o f a sycotic type of disease progression and of Grauvogl's 'hydrogenoid' constitution. The hydrogenoid constitution is associated with certain diseases thought to be aggravated by water retention in the tissues, i.e. asthma, diabetes, gout, gastric acidity, gall bladder and liver disease.

Keynotes of Nat-s --Suicidal thoughts of hanging or shooting themselves; hold back because of responsibility; restrain themselves - - I n a b i l i t y to think

--Indisposed to talk, averse to being spoken to < a.m. - - O b j e c t i v e , factual, no delusions in repertory - - S e n s i t i v e to n o i s e , m u s i c ; w e e p s f r o m music --Photophobic, often chronic and particularly with headache

--Problems after head injuries --Asthma; < dampness; < 4.5 a.m. - - G e n e r a l l y worse for wet, cold or warm; w a r m - b l o o d e d and dislike hot rooms and hot sticky weather; < spring, < sea air, < water containing foods - - W o r s e lying left side, better open air - - T o o t h a c h e > cold water

--Loose cough, green sputum; lower left

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chestpain--supports it with hands - - B i t t e r taste in mouth, greenish, slimy

tongue - - L i v e r , gastric and biliary problems, R hypochondrial tenderness and stitching, jaundice, colic on R side < 2 a.m., vomiting bile, much gastric acidity; ileocaecal pain with distension and rumbling; also pancreas, i.e. diabetes - - C o l i t i s and diarrhoea in the morning,

after rising, and with much flatus; cheerful after stool; > after stool or diarrhoea; bleeding piles; large stools --Rheumatic pain < cold wet; hip joint pain --Pain back neck and head and pain 'base of brain' in meningitis, cancer and other painful conditions of spine (Calc-p) --Craves or averse to yoghurt, desires beer and cold drinks; averse: beer, bread, milk --Aggravated by green vegetables, milk, farinaceous, coffee, potatoes and fruit - - A syeotie drug with eondylomata and green urethral discharge; green discharges in general; skin yellow and warty; 'hydrogenoid' constitution

Natrum carbonicum A keynote mental rubric for this is 'sensitive to certain persons.' There is also 'aversion to certain persons', 'fear of people', 'dread of m e n ' , 'misanthropy' and 'aversion to company'. But add to your repertory 'delusion: division between himself and others' which comes from Kent's m a t e r i a m e d i c a and is the main m e n t a l keynote. F r o m this it sounds as if Nat-cs are unpleasant and antisocial but this is not so. They are refined and very considerate and, like all the Natrums, sensitive. Vithoulkas stresses the way they serve others and are sensitive to their needs, n e v e r imposing themselves but withdrawing with dignity when the meal is served or the person has been looked after. They feel separate from others and withdraw as soon as p o s s i b l e . ' Where Nat-m feels afraid of relationship because they cannot bear loss, Nat-c avoids relationship because they cannot bear rejection or being slighted or undervalued. To avoid this happening they smile, are charming, cheerful and polite but avoid closeness and quickly withdraw in case they are not appreciated or their sensibilities are trampled

on. They are, of course, sensitive to those persons who they feel are most likely to upset them in this way or who they feel are against them. Sankaran uses the image of the 'outcast'. They do not feel part of the social group. This is partly their refined sensitivity and partly their integrity, they cannot put aside their highly differentiated individuality and lose it in the 'group mind'. Because they cannot compromise in this way they feel isolated and avoid c o m p a n y yet also dread being alone because they feel so apart. They wish to be magnetized so that they can lose the highly conscious awareness of themselves which keeps them separate. The social forces of conformity which might steal away their identity press in on them though. They have dreams of their ears being cut off, being pulled by the nose, of fighting thieves, of robbers, dead people, quarrels, knives, being stabbed and of murder. Their dreams of a wedding are a union between themselves and others which they can never find when awake. Delusions are again about being beset by social forces. They imagine being sm'rounded by soldiers, pursued by enemies, being deserted and persecuted, and see ghosts and dead people. Another delusion is that the body is thick and heavy. This symbolizes the later stage of Nat-c where the mind slows down, there is indifference, dullness, irritability, weakness of the m e m o r y , prostration of the mind. Mental work becomes impossible and mental exertion aggravates all complaints. Imbecility is even a rubric containing Nat-c. Sensitive, isolated post-graduate students who cannot work might need Nat-c. Perhaps mental stasis is what happens when the person is isolated within himself for a long time and cut off from the stimulation of the group. As they hate coarse people they hate noise and especially thunderstorms. Music of course can aggravate if it is noisy, but if sweet and sad it communicates with their isolation and causes weeping. On the physical level the keynote is aggravation from the heat of the sun. A marked aversion to milk is important. There is weak digestion and weak ankles as well as weak memory. They are very chilly and draught sensitive despite the sun aggravation, and post-nasal drip is marked (Cor-r'ub).

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Keynotes of Nat-c --Sensitive to certain persons, but kind, sweet, self-sacrificing, sympathetic --Retain their dignity by withdrawing before they could be slighted --Delusion: division between himself and others; estrangement from family - - ' O u t c a s t ' , desire to be magnetized - - F r i g h t e n e d easily, fear people, robbers and thunder --Dullness, prostration mind, mental work impossible, causes confusion --Weeping from music, especially piano --Aggravated by heat of sun (Lach, Lyss, GIon, Ant-c, Bry, Gels), cold, draught, even small noises, approach of thunderstorm, summer, milk, errors in diet --Weakness in heat, weak digestion, weak ankles, weak limbs in morning --Headache from sun, warm weather --Stomach symptoms such as sour eructations, these may alternate with head pain; diarrhoea from milk; stomach pain worse for touch; gets up at 5 a.m. to eat to relieve stomach pain / emptiness; thirst during gastric upset; worse cold food and drinks; emptiness 10 a.m., 1 la.m. or 12 noon. - - G e n e r a l l y better for rubbing, better for eating, better for moving --Post-nasal catarrh, hawks up mucus

Natrum phosphoricum A medicine that is too closed for Phos and too fearful for Nat-re. Probably the most refined and sensitive of the Natrums (comp a r i s o n s on p a g e 31), not v e r y widely prescribed. Refined but high sexual drive, indulgence of which aggravate. Fearful. Easily startled, especially by noise, easily upset by bad news, delusion that he hears sound of footsteps in next room, imagines that furniture and other objects are people when he wakes at night. Excitable. Ideas abundant, hurried, feels fearful that something is about to happen, sees images and phantoms, dreams of fire and dead bodies. He worries about health and p a r t i c u l a r l y has the idea that he has t y p h o i d - - t h o u g h this is not likely today, more likely Crohn's or chronic fatigue. The biggest fear is that something awful is about to happen, that they will receive some bad news and they won't be able to bear i t - because of their sensitivity. They are very

29 refined and communicate at a high level. They find it difficult to communicate at a lower level but are sympathetic and sensitive to others so d o n ' t e x p r e s s t h e m s e l v e s enough. They feel like they are walking round with a secret (Vithoulkas), that there is something they are not allowed to share with others, they don't like to talk in case they say the wrong thing (Scholten). They are alone and d o n ' t feel able to ask for help which compounds learning difficulties. Sensitive to music as with the other natrums. The memory and learning difficulties are a problem. There is prostration of mind, dullness, indifference, confusion of mind from mental exertion and they cannot talk to anyone about it. There is an aggravation from sexual activity. Depression from masturbation, forgetful after sexual excess--perhaps because of the contrast with their sensibility. Sex for them must be very romantic, sensitive, real communication, the more basic forms of appetite will depress them and they avoid these so that nocturnal emissions occur frequently. The inner knowledge of their high basic sexual need is perhaps one of the reasons for their feeling of carrying a secret.

Keynotes of Nat-p --Fears at night; that something will happen; that he will be ill. Easily startled, as if an electric shock went through body. Intolerant of friendly advice --Delusion: hears footsteps; thinks inanimate things at night are people --Prostration mind, confusion from mental exertion, dullness, forgetful --Nocturnal emissions, frequent; < after emissions, masturbation, sex excess --Sensitive, refined, feel they are burdened with a secret (Vithoulkas) --Weakness after emission and during thunder storm; convuls, during emission --Craves: eggs, especially fried eggs (Puls hard boiled; Calc soft boiled) Aggravated: sugar, sour food, milk and fat Averse: bread --Excess acidity, sour eructations and vomiting; tongue creamy yellow at the base and roof of mouth (Merc-i-f, Kali-bi, Chel); sensation hair tip tongue (Sil) --Yellow discharges nose and eyes. Itching nose

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30 --Involuntary stool on passing flatus (Aloe);

threadworms - - B u b b l e starts f r o m heart and p a s s e s through arteries; palpitation < thunder

Natrum arsenicicum Least known of the big 5 Natrums. There are all the natrum problems with aggravation from mental exertion, depression, sensitivity to noise, dullness, weakness of m e m o r y , despair, noise sensitivity and poor concentration. There is an added c o m p o n e n t from arsenic of anxiety, anxiety about the future, fear of evil, people, impending disease, crowds, with being easily frightened, starting easily with noise and when falling asleep, timidity and, particularly, anxious restlessness < 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. The nervousness is revealed by their general physical restlessness such as restless hands and fingers, twitching muscles shoulder, face etc. during conversation (Borland). There is a greater emphasis on guilt and conscientiousness than other natrums; this is in the small rubrics Delusion: neglected his duty, and, wrong, fancies he has done. Also conscientious about trifles and reproaches himself. The Arsenicum fastidiousness seems intensified and turned inward by the natrum element, so that they torment themselves, checking they have done their duty, and give themselves no peace. They are very chilly and also sensitive to the damp but better in the open air after being upset. All complaints are worse in the morning on waking and worse for physical exertion.

Keynotes of Nat-a - - N e r v o u s restlessness, < 1 a.m.,< 3 a.m.; twitchy, full of fears --Conscientious about trifles, delusion: neglected duty, done wrong - - H e a d pain from tobacco smoke, pain temple from sun; floating sensation on turning head quickly; indisposed to talk during headache --Smoke sensation in lungs, trachea, eyes --Mental exertion aggravates

--Alternating fluent coryza with obstruction of nose; pain at root; crusts and post nasal discharge --Coldness in region of thyroid

--Thirst for frequent small quantities; burning stomach pain < after warm things;

emptiness of stomach without hunger

----< daytime, cold, cold air, cold food, winter, damp weather

Natrumsmsome comparisons Relative emotional sensitivity of different medicines (after Vithoulkas)

Group 1 Primitives

Bufo, Graph, Hell, Bar-c, Alum, Flu-a, Plb, Tarent, Hyos--in that order Group 2 Insensitive type

Arn, Bell, Bry, Calc, Chel, Cocc, Cupr, Dulc, Kali-bich, Lach, Stram, Nit-ac, Rhus-t, Sulph, Zinc--not in order here or below Group 3 Moderately sensitive Ant-cr, Arg-n, Ars, Calc-p, China, Kali-c,

Kali-s, Mag-p, Nux-v, Plat, Psor, Sep, Sul-ac, Tub, Lyc, Ferr Group 4 Sensitive

Aur, Cham, Kali-p, Mag-c, Mag-m, Phos-ac, Phos, Puls, Verat, Ign, Coloc, Nat-a, Nat-s Group 5 Highly sensitive

Caust, Nat-c, Nat-m, Nat-p, Lil-t, Sil, Staph, Asar, Coff I would feel Calc should be in the medium group and that LiLt could drop one or even two places while Phos can sometimes be highly sensitive. What do you think of this listing?

Main physical characteristics of the different miasmatic states (after Jonanny) Psora (= struggle) 1 Periodicity of cutaneous, m u c o u s and serous manifestations 2 Alternation of these manifestations with each other or with internal dysfunction or with nervous symptoms 3 Tendency to parasitic infection 4 Long recovery period after illness 5 Poor response to indicated medicine

Sycotic (= overgrowth) 1 Water retention in tissues 2 Chronic catarrh of mucous membranes 3 Small fig-like growths

Volume 84, Number 1, January 1995

4 Insidious progression Syphilitic (= destruction) 1 Ulceration and/or sclerosis of lymph glands (induration) bone (exostoses) connective tissue skin and mucosa 2 Hereditary asymmetry, dystrophy and laxity of ligaments 3 Perversions, criminality, mental retardation, alcoholism Tubercular (psora + syphilis) (from work of Antoine Nebel) 1 Loss of weight despite hunger 2 Frequent respiratory illness 3 Family history of tuberculosis

Address for correspondence Dr Lee Holland 22 Farndon Road Oxford OX2 6RT

31 Sources 1 S c h o l t e n J. Homoeopathy and Minerals. T r a n s l a t e d Honig. 1993. 2 Nash EB, Leaders in Homoeopathic Therapeutics. 7th edition. Boericke and Tafel 1934. 3 Borland D. Homoeopathy in Practice. P r i e s t m a n ed. Beaconsfield 1982. 4 J o u a n n y J, The Essentials of Homoeopathic Materia Medica. Translated Clausen. Boiron 1984. 5 Kent JT. Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica. 1904. 6 Sankaran R. The Spirit of Homoeopathy, 2nd edition 1992. 7 Boericke W. Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica. 1927. 8 Hering C. The Guiding Symptoms of our Materta Medica. 1891. 9 Vithoulkas G. 'Essences'. Unpublished.