HOMŒOPATHIC MATERIA MEDICA
by
WILLIAM BOERICKE, M.D.

 

  
KALIUM ARSENICOSUM
Fowler's Solution
(KALI ARSENICUM)

The Kali ars patient tends towards malignancy, and inveterate skin diseases. He is restless, nervous and anæmic.

Skin.--Intolerable itching, worse undressing. Dry, scaly, wilted. Acne; pustules worse during menses. Chronic eczema; itching worse from warmth, walking, undressing. Psoriasis, lichen. Phagedænic ulcers. Fissures in bends of arms and knees. Gouty nodosities; worse, change of weather. Skin cancer, where suddenly an alarming malignancy without any external signs sets in. Numerous small nodules under skin.

Female.--Cauliflower excrescences of os uteri, with flying pains, foul smelling discharge, and pressure below pubis.

Relationship.--Radium.

Dose.--Third to thirtieth potency.

  
KALIUM BICHROMICUM
Bichromate of Potash
(KALI BICHROMICUM)

The special affinities of this drug are the mucous membrane of stomach, bowels, and air-passages; bones and fibrous tissues. Kidneys, heart, and liver are also affected. Incipient parenchrymatous; nephritis. Nephritis with gastric disturbances. Cirrhosis of liver. Anæmia and absence of fever are characteristic. General weakness bordering on paralysis. It is especially indicated for fleshy, fat, light complexioned persons subject to catarrhs or with syphilitic or scrofulous history. Symptoms are worse in the morning; pains migrate quickly, rheumatic and gastric symptoms alternate. More adapted to subacute rather than the violent acute stage. Mucous membranes everywhere are affected. Catarrh of pharynx, larynx, bronchi and nose, and a tough, stringy, viscid secretion is produced, which condition is a very strong guiding symptom for this drug. Perforation of the septum. Chronic atonic catarrh. Polypus. Dilatation of stomach and heart.

Head.--Vertigo with nausea when rising from seat. Headache over eyebrows, preceded by blurred vision. Aching and fullness in glabella. Semilateral headache in small spots, and from suppressed catarrh. Frontal pain; usually over one eye. Bones and scalp feel sore.

Eyes.--Supra-orbital neuralgia, right side. Eyelids burn, swollen, œdematous. Discharge ropy and yellow. Ulcers on cornea; no pain or photophobia. Descemetitis, with only moderate irritation of eye. Croupous conjunctivitis; granular lids, with pannus. Iritis, with punctuate deposits on inner surface of cornea. Slight pain, with severe ulceration or inflammation (Conium opposite).

Ears.--Swollen, with tearing pains. Thick, yellow, stringy, fetid discharge. Sharp stitches in left ear.

Nose.--Snuffles of children, especially fat, chubby babies. Pressure and pain at root of nose, and sticking pain in nose. Septum ulcerated; round ulcer. Fetid smell. Discharge thick, ropy, greenish-yellow. Tough, elastic plugs from nose; leave a raw surface. Inflammation extends to frontal sinuses, with distress and fullness at root of nose. Dropping from posterior nares (Hydr). Loss of smell. Much hawking. Inability to breathe through nose. Dryness. Coryza, with obstruction of nose. Violent sneezing. Profuse, watery nasal discharge. Chronic inflammation of frontal sinus with stopped-up sensation.

Face.--Florid complexion. Blotchy, red appearance. Acne (Juglans; Kal ars). Bones sensitive, especially beneath orbits.

Mouth.--Dry; viscid saliva. Tongue mapped, red, shining, smooth, and dry, with dysentery; broad, flat, indented, thickly coated. Feeling of a hair on tongue.

Throat.--Fauces red and inflamed. Dry and rough. Parotid glands swollen. Uvula relaxed, œdematous, bladder-like. Pseudo-membranous deposit on tonsils and soft palate. Burning extending to stomach. Aphthæ. Diphtheria, with profound prostration and soft pulse. Discharge from mouth and throat, tough and stringy.

Stomach.--Nausea and vomiting after beer. Load immediately after eating. Feels as if digestion had stopped. Dilatation of stomach. Gastritis. Round ulcer of stomach. Stitches in region of liver and spleen and through to spine. Dislikes water. Cannot digest meat. Desire for beer and acids. Gastric symptoms are relieved after eating, and the rheumatic symptoms reappear. Vomiting of bright yellow water.

Abdomen.--Cutting pain in abdomen, soon after eating. Chronic intestinal ulceration. Soreness in right hypochondrium, fatty infiltration of liver and increase in soft fibrous tissue. Painful retraction, soreness and burning.

Stool.--Jelly-like, gelatinous; worse, mornings. Dysentery; tenesmus, stools brown, frothy. Sensation of a plug in anus. Periodic constipation, with pain across the loins, and brown urine.

Urinary.--Burning in urethra. After urinating a drop seems to remain which cannot be expelled. Ropy mucus in urine. Urethra becomes clogged up. Congestion of kidneys; nephritis, with scanty, albuminous urine and casts. Pyelitis; urine mixed with epithelial cells, mucus, pus, or blood. Hæmatochyluria.

Male.--Itching and pain of penis, with pustules. Ulcers, with paroxysmal stitches; aggravated at night. Constriction at root of penis, at night on awakening. Syphilitic ulcers, with cheesy, tenacious exudation. Erections (Picric ac).

Female.--Yellow, tenacious leucorrhœa. Pruritus of vulva, with great burning and excitement. Prolapsus uteri; worse in hot weather.

Respiratory.--Voice hoarse; worse, evening. Metallic, hacking cough. Profuse, yellow expectoration, very glutinous and sticky, coming out in long, stringy, and very tenacious mass. Tickling in larynx. Catarrhal laryngitis cough has a brassy sound. True membranous croup, extending to larynx and nares. Cough, with pain in sternum, extending to shoulders; worse when undressing. Pain at bifurcation of trachea on coughing; from mid-sternum to back.

Heart.--Dilatation, especially from coexisting kidney lesion. Cold feeling around heart (Kali nit).

Back.--Cutting through loins; cannot walk; extends to groins. Pain in coccyx and sacrum extending up and down.

Extremities.--Pains fly rapidly from one place to another (Kali sulph; Puls). Wandering pains, along the bones; worse cold. Left-sided sciatica; better, motion. Bones feel sore and bruised. Very weak. Tearing pains in tibia; syphilitic rheumatism (Mez). Pain, swelling and stiffness and crackling of all joints. Soreness of heels when walking. Tendo Achilles swollen and painful. Pains in small spots (Oxalic ac).

Skin.--Acne. Papular eruptions. Ulcer with punched-out edges, with tendency to penetrate and tenacious exudation. Pustular eruption, resembling smallpox, with burning pains. Itching with vesicular eruption.

Modalities.--Better, from heat. Worse, beer, morning, hot weather, undressing.

Relationship.--Compare: Tart emet; Brom; Hepar; Ind; Calc; Ant cr. In the production of false membranes compare: Brom; Ammon caust; Sulph ac; Ipecac.

Antidotes: Ars; Lach.

Dose.--Third trituration, also thirtieth attenuation and higher.

The lower preparations of this salt should not be kept too long.

  
KALIUM BROMATUM
Bromide of Potash
(KALI BROMATUM)

Like all Potash Salts, this weakens the heart and lowers temperature. Brominism is caused by it. General failure of mental power, loss of memory, melancholia, anæsthesia of the mucous membranes, especially of eyes, throat, and skin; acne; loss of sexual desire, paralysis. Leading remedy in psoriasis. Nodular form of chronic gout. Symptoms of apoplectic attacks, uræmic or otherwise; somnolence and stertor, convulsions, aphasia, albuminuria. Epilepsy (with salt-free diet).

Mind.--Profound, melancholic delusion; feeling of moral deficiency; religious depression; delusions of conspiracies against him. Imagines he is singled out as an object of divine wrath. Loss of memory. Must do something-move about; gets fidgety (Tarant). Fear of being poisoned (Hyos). Amnesic aphasia; can pronounce any word told, but cannot speak otherwise. Night terrors. Horrid illusions. Active delirium.

Head.--Suicidal mania with tremulousness. Face flushed. Numb feeling in head. Brain-fag. Coryza with tendency to extension into throat.

Throat.--Congestion of uvula and fauces. Anæsthesia of fauces, pharynx, and larynx. Dysphagia, especially of liquids (Hyos).

Stomach.--Vomiting, with intense thirst, after each meal. Persistent hiccough (Sulph ac).

Abdomen.--Sensation as if bowels were falling out. Cholera infantum, with reflex cerebral irritation, jerking and twitching of muscles. Green, watery stools with intense thirst, vomiting, eyes sunken. Prostration. Internal coldness of abdomen. Diarrhœa, with much blood. Green, watery stools. Retraction of abdomen.

Urinary.--Sensibility of urethra diminished. Urine profuse, with thirst. Diabetes (Phos ac).

Male.--Debility and impotence. Effects of sexual excesses, especially loss of memory, impaired co-ordination, numbness and tingling in limbs. Sexual excitement during partial slumber.

Female.--Pruritus. Ovarian neuralgia with great nervous uneasiness. Exaggerated sexual desire. Cystic tumors of ovaries.

Respiratory.--Spasmodic croup. Reflex cough during pregnancy. Dry, fatiguing, hacking cough at night.

Extremities.--Fidgety hands; busy twitching of fingers. Jerking and twitching of muscles.

Skin.--Acne of face, pustules. Itching; worse on chest, shoulders, and face. Anæsthesia of skin. Psoriasis.

Sleep.--Restless sleep. Extreme drowsiness. Sleeplessness due to worry and grief and sexual excess. Night terrors. Grinding teeth in sleep. Horrible dreams. Somnambulism.

Modalities.--Better, when occupied mentally or physically.

Dose.--A few grains of the crude salt to the third trituration. Remember the unstable character of this salt. Said to be much more active if salt is eliminated from the diet.

  
KALIUM CARBONICUM
Carbonate of Potassium
(KALI CARBONICUM)

The weakness characteristic of all Potassium Salts is seen especially in this, with soft pulse, coldness, general depression, and very characteristic stitches, which may be felt in any part of the body, or in connection with any affection. All Kali pains are sharp and cutting; nearly all better by motion. Never use any Salts of Potash where there is fever (T. F. Allen). Sensitive to every atmospheric change, and intolerance of cold weather. One of the best remedies following labor. Miscarriage, for consequent debilitated states. Early morning aggravation is very characteristic. Fleshy aged people, with dropsical and paretic tendencies. Sweat, backache, and weakness. Throbbing pains. Tendency to dropsy. Tubercular diathesis. Pains from within out, and of stinging character. "Giving-out" sensation. Fatty degenerations. Stinging pains in muscles and internal parts. Twitching of muscles. Pain in small spot on left side Hypothyroidism. Coxitis.

Mind.--Despondent. Alternating moods. Very irritable. Full of fear and imaginations. Anxiety felt in stomach. Sensation as if bed were sinking. Never wants to be left alone. Never quiet or contented. Obstinate and hypersensitive to pain, noise, touch.

Head.--Vertigo on turning. Headache from riding in cold wind. Headache comes on with yawning. Stitches in temples; aching in occiput, one-sided, with nausea, on riding in carriage. Loose feeling in head. Great dryness of hair; falls out (Fluor ac).

Eyes.--Stitches in eyes. Spots, gauze, and black points before eyes. Lids stick together in morning. Swelling over upper lid, like little bags. Swelling of glabella between brows. Asthenopia. Weak sight from excessive sexual indulgence. On shutting eyes, painful sensation of light penetrating the brain.

Ears.--Stitches in ears. Itching, cracking, ringing and roaring.

Nose.--Nose stuffs up in warm room. Thick, fluent, yellow discharge. Post-nasal dropping (Spigel). Sore, scurfy nostrils; bloody nasal mucus. Crusty nasal openings. Nosebleed on washing face in morning. Ulcerated nostrils.

Mouth.--Gums separate from teeth; pus oozes out. Pyorrhea. Aphthæ. Tongue white. Much saliva constantly in mouth. Bad, slimy taste.

Throat.--Dry, parched, rough. Sticking pain, as from a fish-bone. Swallowing difficult; food goes down œsophagus slowly. Mucous accumulation in the morning.

Stomach.--Flatulence. Desire for sweets. Feeling of lump in pit of stomach. Gagging. Dyspepsia of old people; burning acidity, bloating. Gastric disorders from ice-water. Sour eructations. Nausea; better lying down. Constant feeling as if stomach were full of water. Sour vomiting; throbbing and cutting in stomach. Disgust for food. Anxiety felt in stomach. Epigastrium sensitive externally. Easy choking when eating. Epigastric pain to back.

Abdomen.--Stitches in region of liver. Old chronic liver troubles, with soreness. Jaundice and dropsy. Distention and coldness of abdomen. Pain from left hypochondrium through abdomen; must turn on right side before he can rise.

Rectum.--Large, difficult stools, with stitching pain an hour before. Hæmorrhoids, large, swollen, painful. Itching, ulcerated pimples around anus. Large discharge of blood with natural stool. Pain in hæmorrhoids when coughing. Burning in rectum and anus. Easy prolapsus (Graph; Pod). Itching (Ignat).

Urine.--Obliged to rise several times at night to urinate. Pressure on bladder long before urine comes. Involuntary urination when coughing, sneezing, etc.

Male.--Complaints from coition. Deficient sexual instinct. Excessive emissions, followed by weakness.

Female.--Menses early, profuse (Calc c) or too late, pale and scanty, with soreness about genitals; pains from back pass down through gluteal muscles, with cutting in abdomen. Pain through left labium, extending through abdomen to chest. Delayed menses in young girls, with chest symptoms or ascites. Difficult, first menses. Complaints after parturition. Uterine hæmorrhage; constant oozing after copious flow, with violent backache, relieved by sitting and pressure.

Respiratory.--Cutting pain in chest; worse lying on right side. Hoarseness and loss of voice. Dry, hard cough about 3 am, with stitching pains and dryness of pharynx. Bronchitis, whole chest is very sensitive. Expectoration scanty and tenacious, but increasing in morning and after eating; aggravated right lower chest and lying on painful side. Hydrothorax. Leaning forward relieves chest symptoms. Expectoration must be swallowed; cheesy taste; copious, offensive, lump. Coldness of chest. Wheezing. Cough with relaxed uvula. Tendency to tuberculosis; constant cold taking; better in warm climate.

Heart.--Sensation as if heart were suspended. Palpitation and burning in heart region. Weak, rapid pulse; intermits, due to digestive disturbance. Threatened heart failure.

Back.--Great exhaustion. Stitches in region of kidneys and right scapula. Small of back feels weak. Stiffness and paralytic feeling in back. Burning in spine (Guaco). Severe backache during pregnancy, and after miscarriage. Hip-disease. Pain in nates and thighs and hip-joint. Lumbago with sudden sharp pains extending up and down back and to thighs.

Extremities.--Backs and legs give out. Uneasiness heaviness, and tearing in limbs and jerking. Tearing pain in limbs with swelling. Limbs sensitive to pressure. White swelling of knee. Tearing in arms from shoulder to wrist. Lacerating in wrist-joint. Paralysis of old people, and dropsical affections. Limbs go to sleep easily. Tips of toes and fingers painful. Soles very sensitive. Itching of great toe, with pain. Pain from hip to knee. Pain in knees.

Skin.--Burning as from a mustard plaster.

Sleep.--Drowsy after eating. Wakes about two o'clock and cannot sleep again.

Modalities.--Worse, after coition; in cold weather; from soup and coffee; in morning about three o'clock; lying on left and painful side. Better, in warm weather, though moist; during day, while moving about.

Relationship.--Complementary: Carbo; (Lowness of vitality may suggest a preliminary course of Carbo to nurse up recuperation to the point that Kali carb would come in helpfully). Follows Nux often in stomach and bladder troubles.

Compare: Kali salicylicum (vomiting, especially of pregnancy; arteriosclerosis, with chronic rheumatism); kali silicum (gouty nodosities); Kali aceticum (diabetes, diarrhœa, dropsy, alkaline urine, very much increased in quantity); Kali citricum (Bright's disease-1 gr to wine-glass of water); Kali ferrocyanatum-Prussian blue--(physical and mental prostration following infection. Inability to sustained routine work. Neuralgic affections depending on impoverished blood and exhausted nerve centers, especially spinal. Fatty and functional heart troubles. Pulse weak, small, irregular. Uterine symptoms, like Sepia, bearing-down sensation and gastric sinking; profuse, pus-like leucorrhœa and passive hæmorrhage; use 6x); Kali oxalicum (lumbago, convulsions); Kali picro-nitricum and kali pricricum (jaundice, violent eructations); kali tartaricum (paraplegia); Kali telluricum (garlicky odor of breath, salivation, swollen tongue). Also compare: Calc; Ammon phos; Phos; Lycop; Bry; Natrum; Stann; Sepia.

Antidotes: Camph; Coffea.

Dose.--Thirtieth and higher. Sixth trit. Do not repeat too often. Use cautiously in old gouty cases, advanced Bright's and tuberculosis.

  
KALIUM CHLORICUM
Chlorate of Potassium-K clo. 3
(KALI CHLORICUM)

Acts very destructively upon the kidneys, producing a croupous nephritis, hemoglobinuria, etc. Parenchymatous nephritis with stomatitis. Produces most acute ulcerative and follicular stomatitis. Noma. Toxæmic conditions of pregnancy (urinary symptoms). Chronic nephritis; hepatitis. Septicæmia. Anæmia.

Mouth.--Profuse secretion of acid saliva. Whole mucous surface red, tumid, with gray-based ulcers. Tongue swollen. Stomatitis-aphthous and gangrenous. Fetor. Mercurial stomatitis (as a mouth wash).

Stomach.--Feeling of weight in epigastric and umbilical region. Flatulence. Vomiting of greenish-black matter.

Stool.--Diarrhœa; profuse, greenish mucus.

Urine.--Albuminous, scanty, suppressed. Hæmaturia; diuresis. Nucleo-albumin and bile, high Phosphoric acid, with low total solids.

Skin.--Jaundice. Itching miliary or papular eruptions. Discolored; chocolate tint.

Dose.--Second to sixth potency. Use cautiously locally as it is poisonous.

  
KALIUM CYANATUM
Potassium Cyanide
(KALI CYANATUM)

Sudden sinking sensation. Cancer of tongue and agonizing neuralgia have been benefited by this drug. Sick headache; sciatica; epilepsy.

Tongue.--Ulcer of tongue, with indurated edges. Speech difficult. Power of speech lost but intelligence intact.

Face.--Severe neuralgia in temporal region, recurring daily at same hour. Pain in orbital and supra-maxillary region, with screaming and loss of consciousness.

Respiratory.--Cough prevents sleep; respiration weak; cannot take deep breath.

Modalities.--Worse, from 4 am to 4 pm.

Relationship.--Compare: Platin; Stann; Cedron; Mezer; Mur ac.

Dose.--Sixth potency and 200th.

  
KALIUM IODATUM
Iodide of Potassium
(KALI HYDRIODICUM)

The profuse, watery, acrid coryza that the drug produces serves as a sure guiding symptom, especially when associated with pain in frontal sinus. It acts prominently on fibrous and connective tissues, producing infiltration, œdema, etc. Glandular swellings. Purpura and hæmorrhagic diathesis. Syphilis may be indicated in all stages: 1. In acute form with evening remitting fever, going off in nightly perspiration. 2. Second stage, mucous membranes and skin ulcerations. 3. Tertiary symptoms; nodes. Give material doses. Diffused sensitiveness --(glands, scalp, etc). Rheumatism in neck, back, feet, especially heels and soles; worse, cold and wet. Iodide of Potass in material doses acts in the different forms of Fungoid disease (thrush, ringworm, etc), offer simulating syphilis and bacterial diseases like tuberculosis. Symptoms like loss of weight, spitting of blood, etc. Tea-taster's cough due to inhaling the fungus; a also brings about often favorable reaction in many chronic ailments even when not clearly symptomatically indicated.

Mind.--Sad, anxious; harsh temper. Irritable; congestion to head, heat and throbbing.

Head.--Pain through sides of head. Violent headache. Cranium swells up in hard lump. Pain intense over eyes and root of nose. Brain feels enlarged. Hard nodes, with severe pain. Facial neuralgia. Lancinating pain in upper jaw.

Nose.--Red, swollen. Tip of nose red; profuse, acrid, hot, watery, thin discharge. Ozæna, with perforated septum. Sneezing. Nasal catarrh, involving frontal sinus. Stuffiness and dryness of nose, without discharge. Profuse, cool, greenish, unirritating discharges.

Eyes.--Conjunctiva red, injected; profuse lachrymation. Syphilitic iritis. Pustular keratitis and chemosis. Bony tumors of the orbit.

Ear.--Noises in ear. Boring pain in ears.

Stomach.--Saliva increased. Faintness at epigastrium. Cold food and drink, especially milk, aggravate. Much thirst. Throbbing, painful burning. Flatulence.

Female.--Menses late, profuse. During menses uterus feels as if squeezed. Corrosive leucorrhœa, with subacute inflammatory conditions of the womb in young married women. Fibroid tumors, metritis, sub-involution, hypertrophy, 1x or 1 gr crude, 3 times a day.

Respiratory.--Violent cough; worse in morning. Pulmonary œdema. Larynx feels raw. Laryngeal œdema. Awakes choking. Expectoration like soap-suds, greenish. Pneumonia, when hepatization commences. Pneumococcic meningitis. Stitching pains through lungs to back. Asthma. Dyspnœa on ascending, with pain in heart. Hydrothorax (Merc sulph). Pleuritic effusion. Cold travels downward to chest.

Extremities.--Severe bone-pains. Periosteum thickened, especially tibia; sensitive to touch (Kali b; Asaf). Rheumatism; pains at night and in damp weather. Contraction of joints. Rheumatism of knees with effusion. Pain in small of back and coccyx. Pain in hip, forcing limping. Sciatica; cannot stay in bed; worse at night and lying on affected side. Formication of lower extremities when sitting, better lying down.

Skin.--Purple spots; worse on legs. Acne, hydroa. Small boils. Glands enlarged, indurated. Hives. Rough nodules all over, worse any covering; heat of body intense. Fissured anus of infants. Tendency to œdematous swellings, eyelids, mouth, uvula, etc. Acne rosacea.

Modalities.--Worse, warm clothing, warm room, at night, damp weather. Better, motion, open air.

Relationship.--Antidote: Hepar.

Compare: Iod; Mercur; Sulph; Mezer. Chopheenee, a Hindoo remedy for syphilitic eruptions, ulcerations and bone-pains. Used in tincture.

Dose.--Crude drug, in material official dosage, but remember Dr. Meyhoffer's statements in his chronic diseases of organs of respiration: "From the moment the drug produces pathogenetic symptoms, it exaggerates the function of the tissue, exhausts the already diminished vitality, and thence, instead of stimulating the organic cell in the direction of life, impairs or abolishes its power of contraction. We use, as a rule, the first dilution from 6 to 20 drops a day; if after a week no decided progress is visible, one drop of the tincture of Iodine is added to each hundred of the first dilution. In this way, the mucous tubercles, gummy deposits and ulcerations resulting therefrom in the larynx undergo a favorable termination in laryngeal syphilis. " When strictly homeopathically indicated, as in acute respiratory affections to third potency.

  
KALIUM MURIATICUM
Cloride of Potassium-KCl
(KALI MURIATICUM)

Although not proven, this remedy has a wide clinical use, through its introduction by Schuessler. It certainly is of great value in catarrhal affections, in sub-acute inflammatory states, fibrinous exudations, and glandular swellings. White or gray coating of base of tongue, and expectoration of thick, white phlegm, seem to be special guiding symptoms. Bursitis præpatellaris.

Head.--Imagines he must starve. Headache, with vomiting. Crusta lactea. Dandruff.

Eyes.--White mucus, purulent scabs. Superficial ulcer. Trachoma. Corneal opacities.

Ears.--Chronic, catarrhal conditions of the middle ear. Glands about the ear swollen. Snapping and noises in the ear. Threatened mastoid. Great effusion about the auricle.

Nose.--Catarrh; phlegm white, thick. Vault of pharynx covered with adherent crusts. Stuffy cold. Nosebleed (Arn; Bry).

Face.--Cheek swollen and painful.

Mouth.--Aphthæ; thrush; white ulcers in mouth. Swollen glands about jaw and neck. Coating of tongue grayish-white, dryish, or slimy.

Throat.--Follicular tonsillitis. Tonsils inflamed; enlarged so much, can hardly breathe. Grayish patches or spots in the throat and tonsils. Adherent crusts in vault of pharynx. "Hospital" sore throat. Eustachian catarrh.

Stomach.--Fatty or rich food causes indigestion. Vomiting of white, opaque mucus; water gathers in the mouth. Pain in the stomach, with constipation. Bulimia; hunger disappears by drinking water.

Abdomen.--Abdominal tenderness and swelling. Flatulence. Thread-worms, causing itching at the anus.

Stool.--Constipation; light-colored stools. Diarrhœa, after fatty food; clay-colored, white, or slimy stools. Dysentery; purging, with slimy stools. Hæmorrhoids; bleeding; blood dark and thick; fibrinous, clotted.

Female.--Menstruation too late or suppressed, checked or too early; excessive discharge; dark-clotted, or tough, black blood, like tar (Plat). Leucorrhœa; discharge of milky-white mucus, thick, non-irritating, bland. Morning sickness, with vomiting of white phlegm. Bunches in breast feel quite soft and are tender.

Respiratory Organs.--Loss of voice; hoarseness. Asthma, with gastric derangements; mucus white and hard to cough up. Loud, noisy stomach cough; cough short, acute, and spasmodic, like whooping-cough; expectoration thick and white. Rattling sounds of air passing through thick, tenacious mucus in the bronchi; difficult to cough up.

Back and Extremities.--Rheumatic fever; exudation and swelling around the joints. Rheumatic pains felt only during motion, or increased by it. Nightly rheumatic pains; worse from warmth of bed; lightning-like from small of back to feet; must get out of bed and sit up. Hands get stiff while writing.

Skin.--Acne, erythema, and eczema, with vesicles containing thick, white contents. Dry, flour-like scales on the skin (Arsenic). Bursitis.

Modalities.--Worse, rich food, fats, motion.

Relationship.--Compare: Bellad which Kali mur follows well in catarrhal and hypertrophic conditions. Kino (otorrhœa, with stitches in right ear); Bry; Mercur; Puls; Sulph.

Dose.--Third to twelfth potency.

External use in skin affections with burning sensation.

  
KALIUM NITRICUM
Nitrate of Potassium-Saltpeter
(KALI NITRICUM - NITRUM)

Often indicated in asthma, also valuable in cardiac asthma; of great value in sudden dropsical swellings over the whole body. Gastro-intestinal inflammation, with much debility, and relapse in phthisis, call for this remedy. Suppurative nephritis.

Head.--Scalp very sensitive. Headache, with vertigo, as if falling to right side and backwards; worse, stooping. Ennui.

Eyes.--Vision becomes clouded. Turbid corpus vitreum (Arn; Ham; Solan n; Phos). Variegated-colored rings before eyes. Burning and lachrymation.

Nose.--Sneezing. Swollen feeling; worse, right nostril. Point red and itching. Polypus (Sang nit).

Mouth.--Tongue red, with burning pimples; burns at tip. Throat constricted and sore.

Stool.--Thin, watery, bloody. Membranous shreds, with tenesmus. Diarrhœa from eating veal.

Female.--Menses too early, profuse, black; preceded and with violent backache. Leucorrhœa. Burning pains in the ovarian region only during menses (Zinc after).

Respiratory.--Hoarseness. Dry, morning cough, with pain in chest and bloody expectoration. Bronchitis, with sharp, short, dry, hacking cough. Asthma, with excessive dyspnœa, nausea, dull stitches, and burning in chest. Dyspnœa so great that breath cannot be held long enough to drink, though thirsty. Chest feels constricted. Oppression worse in morning. Sour-smelling expectoration. Expectoration of clotted blood, after hawking mucus. Acute exacerbations in phthisis; congestion of lungs. Spasmodic croup; paroxysm of crowing. Laryngeal diphtheria.

Heart.--Pulse weak, small, thready. Violent stitch in præcordia, and beating of heart.

Extremities.--Stitches between shoulder-blades. Tearing and sticking in shoulders and joints. Hands and fingers seem swollen.

Modalities.--Worse, eating veal; towards morning and in afternoon. Better, drinking sips of water.

Relationship.--Antidotes: Opium; Nitr sp dulc.

Antidote to Opium and Morphine poisoning, 8-10 grains to glass of water.

Compare: Gun-powder (Nitre with sulphur and charcoal-2x trit. "Blood poisoning. " Septic suppuration. Protractive against wound infection. Antidote to Ivy and Primula rash (Clarke) Herpes facialis; crops of boils. Carbuncles). Osteo-myelitis. Cannab sat (which contains a large amount of Kali nit). Lycop; Sanguin; Allium sat; Antimon iod.

Dose.--Third to thirtieth potency.

  
KALIUM PHOSPHORICUM
Phosphate of Potassium
(KALI PHOSPHORICUM)

One of the greatest nerve remedies. Prostration. Weak and tired. Especially adapted to the young. Marked disturbance of the sympathetic nervous system. Conditions arising from want of nerve power, neurasthenia, mental and physical depression, are wonderfully improved this remedy. The causes are usually excitement, overwork and worry. Besides, it corresponds to states of adynamia and decay, gangrenous conditions. In these two directions it has won many clinical laurels. Remember it in the treatment of suspected malignant tumors. After removal of cancer when in healing process skin is drawn tight over the wound. Delayed labor.

Mind.--Anxiety, nervous dread, lethargy. Indisposition to meet people. Extreme lassitude and depression. Very nervous, starts easily, irritable. Brain-fag; hysteria; night terrors. Somnambulance. Loss of memory. Slightest labor seems a heavy task. Great despondency about business. Shyness; disinclined to converse.

Head.--Occipital headache; better, after rising. Vertigo, from lying, on standing up, from sitting, and when looking upward (Granat). Cerebral anæmia. Headache of students, and those worn out by fatigue. Headaches are relieved by gentle motion. Headache, with weary, empty, gone feeling at stomach (Ign; Sep).

Eyes.--Weakness of sight; loss of perceptive power; after diphtheria; from exhaustion. Drooping of eyelids (Caust).

Ears.--Humming and buzzing in the ears.

Nose.--Nasal disease, with offensive odor; fetid discharge.

Face.--Livid and sunken, with hollow eyes. Right-sided neuralgia relieved by cold applications.

Mouth.--Breath offensive, fetid. Tongue coated brownish, like mustard. Excessively dry, in the morning. Toothache, with easily-bleeding gums; they have a bright-red seam on them. Gums spongy and receding (Caps; Hamam; Lach).

Throat.--Gangrenous sore throat. Paralysis of the vocal cords.

Stomach.--A nervous "gone" sensation at the pit of the stomach (Ign; Sep; Sulph). Feels seasick without nausea.

Abdomen.--Diarrhœa; foul, putrid odor; occasioned by fright, with depression and exhaustion. Diarrhœa while eating. Dysentery; stools consist of pure blood; patient becomes delirious; abdomen swells. Cholera; stools have the appearance of rice water (Verat; Ars; Jatrop). Prolapsus recti (Ign; Pod).

Female.--Menstruation too late or too scanty in pale, irritable, sensitive, lachrymose females. Too profuse discharge, deep-red or blackish-red, thin and not coagulating; sometimes with offensive odor. Feeble and ineffectual labor pains.

Male.--Nocturnal emissions; sexual power diminished utter prostration after coitus (Kali carb).

Urinary Organs.--Enuresis. Incontinence of urine. Bleeding from the urethra. Very yellow urine.

Respiratory.--Asthma; least food aggravates. Short breath on going upstairs. Cough; yellow expectoration.

Extremities.--Paralytic lameness in back and extremities. Exertion aggravates. Pains, with depression, and subsequent exhaustion.

Fever.--Subnormal temperature.

Modalities.--Worse, excitement, worry, mental and physical exertion; eating, cold, early morning. Better, warmth, rest, nourishment.

Relationship.--Compare: Kali hypophosph (Debility with wasting of muscular tissue. Phosphaturia with general anæmia or leucocythemia. Effects of excessive tea drinking. Chronic bronchitis where the expectoration is thick and fetid, sometimes scanty and tough. Dose.--5 grains of crude to 3x). Genista.--Dyer's Weed--(contains scopolamin; frontal headache and vertigo, worse motion, better open air and eating. Dry throat, awakes with waterbrash. Itching eruption on elbows, knees and ankles. Promotes diuresis in dropsical conditions). Macrozamia Spiralis (Extreme debility after severe illness; collapse. Weariness from no assignable cause, no pains. Boring pain at vertex; vomiting and retching all night; impossible to open eyes, giddiness and cold). Zinc; Gels; Cimicif; Laches; Mur ac.

Dose.--Third to twelfth trituration. The highest potencies seem to be indicated in certain cases.

  
KALIUM PERMANGANATUM
Permanganate of Potassium
(KALI PERMANGANICUM)

Intense irritation of nose, throat, and larynx. Diphtheria. Dysmenorrhœa. Bites of serpents and for other animal poisons. Septic conditions; tissues infiltrated with tendency to sloughing.

Respiratory.--Bleeding from nose. Nasal discharge. Smarts and irritates. Constrictive, smarting sensation in throat. Larynx feels raw. Short, hacking cough.

Throat.--Swollen and painful. Everything hawked up streaked with blood. Posterior nares painful. Muscles of neck feel sore. Swollen uvula. Fetor of breath.

Dose.--Locally, 1 dram to a quart of water, to correct fetor in cancer, ulcer, ozæna, and other foul odors. Also as an injection in leucorrhœa and gonorrhœa. Internally, 2x dilution in water. Saturated solution locally in eruption of smallpox.

Potassium Permanganate for Morphine Poisoning.--Potassium permanganate is recognized as being the most effective chemical antidote in cases of morphine or opium poisoning, acting directly on the morphine and oxidizing it to less toxic substances. To be effective the permanganate must come in direct contact with the opium or morphine in the stomach; hypodermatic or intravenous injections are absolutely useless, as the salt would be decomposed by the blood serum at once. The approved treatment is administration of two to five grains of potassium permanganate in dilute aqueous solution as soon as possible after the poison is taken, this amounts to be increased if very large doses of the poison have been taken. Washing out the stomach with a quantity of 1 to 500 solution of permanganate is also recommended, using at least a pint of this solution either by a stomach pump or by enforced vomiting. Permang of Potash counteracts effects of alkaloids of many poisonous plants. Owing to its oxidizing powers if given before the alkaloid has been absorbed (Dr. Chestnut in Dept of Agriculture).

  
KALIUM SULPHURICUM
Potassium Sulphate
(KALI SULPHURICUM)

Ailments accompanied by profuse desquamation. Applicable to the later stages of inflammation. Yellow, mucous and serous discharges, profuse and intermittent. Has been found of much use in oxaluria.

Head.--Rheumatic headache, beginning in evening. Bald spots. Dandruff and scaldhead.

Ears.--Eustachian deafness. Discharge of yellow matter (Hydr).

Nose.--Cold, with yellow, slimy expectoration. Nose obstructed. Smell lost (Nat mur). Engorgement of the nasal pharyngeal mucous membrane, mouth breathing, snoring, etc, remaining after removal of adenoids.

Face.--Aches in heated room. Epithelioma.

Stomach.--Tongue coated yellow and slimy. Insipid, pappy taste. Gums painful. Burning thirst, nausea, and vomiting. Load feeling. Dread of hot drinks.

Abdomen.--Colicky pains; abdomen feels cold to touch; tympanitic, tense. Yellow, slimy diarrhœa. Constipation, with hæmorrhoids (Sulph).

Male.--Gonorrhœa; discharge slimy, yellowish-green. Orchitis. Gleet.

Female.--Menses too late, scanty, with feeling of weight in abdomen. Metrorrhagia.

Respiratory.--Coarse rales. Rattling of mucus in chest (Tart em). Post-grippal cough, especially in children. Bronchial asthma, with yellow expectoration. Cough; worse in evening and in hot atmosphere. Croupy hoarseness (Hep; Spong).

Extremities.--Pain in nape, back and limbs, worse in warm room. Shifting, wandering pains.

Fever.--Rise of temperature at night. Intermittent fever, with yellow, slimy tongue.

Skin.--Psoriasis (Ars; Thyroid). Eczema; burning, itching, papular eruption. Nettle-rash. Polypi. Epithelioma. Seborrhœa. Favus. Ring-worm of scalp or beard with abundant scales.

Modalities.--Worse, in evening, heated room. Better, cool, open air.

Relationship.--Compare: Kali sulph chromico.--Alum of chrome-3x (Produces in the nasal passages very fine threads from the septum to external wall; affections of nasal fossæ and hay-fever. Chronic colds. Sneezing, red, watery eyes, irritation of mucous membrane). Pulsat; Kali bich; Nat m.

Dose.--Third to twelfth potency.

  
KALIUM SILICICUM
Silicate of Potash
(KALI SILICATUM)

A deep-acting remedy. Lassitude is very marked. Desire to lie down all the time. Emaciation.

Head.--Absent-minded, anxious, indolent, timid. Feeble will power. Head congested, blood surges from body to head. Vertigo, coldness of head; photophobia. Nasal catarrh, discharge bloody, excoriating, offensive nose, swollen, ulcerated.

Gastric.--Weight in stomach after eating, nausea, pain, flatulence. Pain in liver region. Constipation. Construction of anus during stool.

Extremities.--Stiffness over body and limbs. Creeping sensation over limbs. Twitching of muscles. Weak and weary.

Modalities.--Worse, open air, drafts, cold, exertion, motion uncovering, bathing.

Dose.--Higher potencies.

  
KALMIA LATIFOLIA
Mountain Laurel

A rheumatic remedy. Pains shift rapidly. Nausea and slow pulse frequently accompanying. Has also a prominent action on the heart. In small doses, it accelerates the heart's action; in larger it moderates it greatly. Neuralgia; pains shoot downwards, with numbness. Fulgurating pains of locomotor ataxia. Protracted and continuous fevers, with tympanites. Paralytic sensations; pains and aching in limbs accompany nearly every group of symptoms. Albuminuria.

Head.--Vertigo; worse stooping. Confusion of brain. Pain in front and temporal region from head to nape and to teeth; from cardiac origin.

Eyes.--Vision impaired. Stiff, drawing sensation when moving eyes. Rheumatic iritis. Scleritis, pain increased by moving the eye.

Face.--Neuralgia; worse right side. Stitches in tongue. Stitches and tearing in bones of jaw and face.

Stomach.--Warm, glowing sensation in epigastrium. Nausea; vomiting. Pain in pit of stomach; worse by bending forward; relieved by sitting erect. Bilious attacks, with nausea, vertigo, and headache. Sensation of something being pressed under the epigastrium.

Urinary.--Frequent, with sharp pains in lumbar region. Post-scarlatinal nephritis.

Heart.--Weak, slow pulse (Dig; Apoc can). Fluttering of heart, with anxiety. Palpitation; worse leaning forward. Gouty and rheumatic metastasis of heart. Tachycardia, with pain (Thyroid). Tobacco heart. Dyspnœa and pressure from epigastrium toward the heart. Sharp pains take away the breath. Shooting through chest above heart into shoulder-blades. Frequent pulse. Heart's action tumultuous, rapid and visible. Paroxysms of anguish around heart.

Female.--Menses too early, or suppressed, with pain in limbs and back and inside of thighs. Leucorrhœa follows menses.

Back.--Pain from neck down arm; in upper three dorsal vertebræ extending to shoulder-blade. Pain down back, as if it would break; in localized regions of spine; through shoulders. Lumbar pains, of nervous origin.

Extremities.--Deltoid rheumatism especially right. Pains from hips to knees and feet. Pains affect a large part of a limb, or several joints, and pass through quickly. Weakness, numbness, pricking, and sense of coldness in limbs. Pains along ulnar nerve, index finger. Joints red, hot, swollen. Tingling and numbness of left arm.

Sleep.--Sleepless, wakes very early in morning.

Modalities.--Worse, leaning forward (opposite, Kali carb); looking down; motion, open air.

Relationship.--Compare: Kalmia contains Arbutin g v. Derris pinuta (of great service in neuralgic headaches of rheumatic origin).

Compare: Spigelia; Pulsat.

Complementary: Benz acid.

Dose.--Tincture, to sixth potency.

 

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