Natrum muriaticum is common salt, and the fact that a substance every patient eats daily should produce one of the deepest remedy pictures in the materia medica is the best argument for potentisation ever offered to a sceptical student.
Boericke grounds it in physiology: "the prolonged taking of excessive salt causes profound nutritive changes to take place in the system," producing dropsies and oedemas, "an alteration in the blood causing a condition of anæmia," and a retention in the tissues of waste material. Salt holds water. The remedy holds everything — fluid, waste, and above all feeling.
That is the thread. The Natrum muriaticum patient has been hurt and has decided not to show it. Boericke's mental keynotes are three: "ill effects of grief," "consolation aggravates," and "wants to be alone to cry." Boger's parallel is harsher and truer to the consulting room: "hateful; detests consolation or a fuss. Inconsolable."
This guide profiles the remedy for clinical study from Boericke's Materia Medica, Clarke's Dictionary, Boger's Synoptic Key and Lippe's Keynotes. The originals can be read in full — Clarke's Natrum muriaticum, Boericke's Natrum muriaticum and Kent's Natrum muriaticum — through Similia's free digital materia medica.
The Natrum Muriaticum Constitutional Type
Boger's four-word sketch is hard to improve on: "Thin, thirsty, hopeless and poorly nourished."
The emaciation has a direction. Boericke: "emaciation most notable in neck"; Boger: "emaciation; descending; < neck or abdomen." The patient loses flesh from the top down, so the neck looks scrawny while the lower body may not. Alongside it runs the paradox Boericke records in the stomach section: "hungry, yet loose flesh."
The skin and complexion are diagnostic on sight. "Oily, shiny, as if greased," with an "earthy complexion" and fever blisters. Boger adds "face; pale, muddy or greasy" and "HERPES ABOUT LIPS; or at edge of hair; pearly." The greasiness concentrates on hairy parts, and eruptions cluster at the margin of the scalp, behind the ears and in the bends of the joints.
Thermally the type is chilly. Boericke: "Coldness... great liability to take cold." Lippe emphasises it twice — "great coldness of the body, with disposition to put on more clothing a very marked indication," and "continued chilliness and want of animal heat very marked." Yet the patient is also worse from the sun and from a warm room, which is one of the finer discriminations in the remedy.
Two more constitutional markers: dry mucous membranes throughout, and a "constrictive sensation throughout the body." Boger's phrase for the latter is "parts seem short, hamstrings, nape, etc."
Mental and Emotional Picture
Silent, held grief. The core. Boericke: "psychic causes of disease; ill effects of grief, fright, anger." The grief is not fresh — it has been carried. Boger: "sad, reserved; company distresses," with "weeps bitterly" when the defence finally gives.
Consolation aggravates. Boericke italicises it; Boger writes "easily angered; < if consoled" and "detests consolation or a fuss." Practically, this is the symptom you can test in the room: express sympathy and watch whether the patient softens (Pulsatilla) or stiffens and looks away.
Wants to be alone to cry. The privacy of the weeping is as characteristic as the weeping itself. The patient will hold composure through the whole consultation and break down in the car.
Dwelling and resentment. Boger's description is precise: "scattered thoughts, or an idea clings, prevents sleep, inspires revenge." Old injuries are rehearsed rather than released. This is what separates the chronic Natrum muriaticum state from the acute grief of Ignatia.
Irritability over trifles. Boericke: "irritable; gets into a passion about trifles. Awkward, hasty." Lippe adds "bad effects from anger."
Tears with laughter. A small paradoxical symptom Boericke records, and a recognisable one — the emotional control slips in the wrong direction.
Dreams of robbers. Both Boericke and Boger list it. A remarkably specific rubric for a remedy whose whole theme is guarding something against intrusion.
Physical Affinities
Head. The signature headache: "aches as if a thousand little hammers were knocking on the brain, in the morning on awakening, after menstruation, from sunrise to sunset." Boericke specifies the "anæmic headache of school-girls; nervous, discouraged, broken down," and a chronic semi-lateral congestive form with pale face, nausea and vomiting, periodical, from eyestrain or menstrual. Boger: "HEADACHES; hammering; heavy; bursting; maddening; < reading; < motion, even of eyes; > pressure on eyes."
Eyes. Asthenopia "due to insufficiency of internal recti muscles" — a precise anatomical note. "Letters run together"; eyes "give out on reading or writing"; "pain in eyes when looking down." And the memorable "tears stream down face on coughing."
Nose. "Violent, fluent coryza, lasting from one to three days, then changing into stoppage of nose." The discharge is "thin and watery, like raw white of egg" — one of the most-used descriptive phrases in acute prescribing. Boericke adds that the remedy is "infallible for stopping a cold commencing with sneezing," specifying the thirtieth potency. Loss of smell and taste follow.
Mouth and lips. "Tongue mapped" — geographical tongue. "Deep crack in middle of lower lip," with "vesicles like pearls on lips," dry ulcerated corners of the mouth, and "numbness, tingling of tongue, lips, and nose." Boger's "TONGUE MAPPED; beaded or striped along edge" is the same finding.
Stomach. "Craving for salt" and "aversion to bread" are the two food symptoms that carry the most weight; Boger capitalises both. Add "unquenchable thirst," "immoderate thirst," aversion "to anything slimy, like oysters, fats," and the odd, specific "sweats while eating."
Rectum. "Constipation; stool dry, crumbling," with the anus "contracted, torn, bleeding" and burning and stitching after stool. Boger: "dry, hard, crumbling stool, tears anus."
Urinary. A small symptom with real clinical value: "has to wait a long time for it to pass if others are present." The reserve extends even here.
Back and extremities. "Pain in back, with desire for some firm support" — which is why the patient is better for pressure against the back and, unusually, better for tight clothing. "Palms hot and perspiring"; hangnails and cracking about the fingernails; "ankles weak and turn easily"; painful contraction of the hamstrings.
Skin. Greasy and oily; dry eruptions at the margin of the hairy scalp and in the bends of joints; urticaria that itches and burns after exertion; warts on the palms; alopecia. And the confirmatory aggravation: eczema "worse, eating salt, at seashore."
Fever. "Chill between 9 and 11 a.m." — Boger records the periodicity as "9–11 A.M." and "with the sun," on alternate days. A major remedy in chronic malarial states.
Key Modalities
Worse from:
- Consolation and sympathy — the defining mental modality
- Heat; the sun; a warm room; summer
- About 10 a.m.; periodically 9–11 a.m.; alternate days
- At the seashore
- Mental exertion; eyestrain; reading; talking
- Noise and music
- Lying down
- After menses; puberty
- Violent emotions; grief
Better from:
- Open air; cool bathing
- Pressure against the back; tight clothing
- Lying on the right side
- Going without regular meals
- Sweating; rest; deep breathing; before breakfast
The music aggravation is worth flagging: it is uncommon, easy to ask about, and when present alongside the salt craving and the consolation aggravation it makes the prescription nearly certain.
Keynote Symptoms
- Ill effects of long-held grief; dwells on old injuries
- Consolation aggravates; wants to be alone to cry
- Craving for salt; aversion to bread
- Hammering headache from sunrise to sunset
- Coryza like raw white of egg, then nasal stoppage
- Oily, greasy skin, especially on hairy parts
- Deep crack in the middle of the lower lip; fever blisters; pearly vesicles
- Mapped tongue
- Emaciation greatest about the neck, though hungry
- Worse at the seashore; worse from the sun
- Better for tight clothing and firm pressure against the back
- Cannot urinate in the presence of others
- Tears stream down the face on coughing
- Chill between 9 and 11 a.m.; dreams of robbers
Clinical Applications
Chronic effects of grief. Bereavement, disappointed love or humiliation carried for years, with reserve, resentment, private weeping and aggravation from sympathy. The remedy's central indication.
Chronic headache and migraine. Periodical, hammering, sunrise-to-sunset, worse from reading, eyestrain, sun and after menses.
Acute coryza. Sneezing onset with egg-white discharge, for which Boericke recommends the thirtieth potency.
Anaemia and debility. With emaciation about the neck, chilliness, weakness worst in the morning in bed, and hunger without weight gain.
Chronic eczema and herpetic eruptions. At the scalp margin, behind the ears and in flexures, worse from salt and at the seashore; recurrent cold sores.
Constipation. Dry, crumbling stool that tears the anus, with burning afterwards.
Asthenopia and eyestrain. Letters running together, eyes giving out on close work, pain looking down.
Chronic malarial and intermittent states. With the 9–11 a.m. periodicity and the splitting headache Lippe emphasises.
Differential Diagnosis
Natrum muriaticum vs. Ignatia. The essential pair, and complementary in Boericke's list. Ignatia is acute grief — sighing, sobbing, mood changing minute to minute, the globus lump in the throat, effects still raw and contradictory. Natrum muriaticum is the chronic residue: months or years later, hardened, resentful, rehearsing the injury alone. Ignatia often precedes it in the same patient.
Natrum muriaticum vs. Sepia. Complementary, and genuinely close — both chilly, reserved, worse from consolation. Sepia is indifferent where Natrum muriaticum is hurt; Sepia has the pelvic bearing-down and improves dramatically with vigorous exercise; Natrum muriaticum craves salt, has the sunrise-to-sunset headache, and is worse from exertion rather than better.
Natrum muriaticum vs. Pulsatilla. Boger lists Pulsatilla as related, and they are opposites on the symptom that matters most. Pulsatilla weeps openly and is visibly better for sympathy; Natrum muriaticum weeps alone and is worse for it. Pulsatilla is thirstless; Natrum muriaticum has immoderate thirst.
Natrum muriaticum vs. Lachesis. A clean opposition on clothing: Natrum muriaticum is better for tight clothing and firm pressure; Lachesis cannot bear anything tight anywhere. Natrum muriaticum is silent and reserved; Lachesis is loquacious.
Natrum muriaticum vs. Phosphorus. Both are thirsty and slender. Phosphorus wants company and sympathy and is warmed by it; Natrum muriaticum wants to be left alone. Boericke lists Phosphorus among the antidotes.
Repertorisation Tips
These rubrics carry Natrum muriaticum in high grade:
- Mind; CONSOLATION; agg. — the single most characteristic rubric
- Mind; AILMENTS FROM; grief and Mind; AILMENTS FROM; love, disappointed
- Mind; WEEPING; alone, when and Mind; DWELLS; past disagreeable occurrences, on
- Generalities; FOOD and drinks; salt; desires and bread; aversion
- Head; PAIN; sunrise to sunset; Head; PAIN; hammering
- Mouth; DISCOLORATION; tongue; mapped
- Face; ERUPTIONS; lips; herpes
- Generalities; SEASHORE; agg. and Generalities; SUN; agg.
- Generalities; MUSIC; agg.
- Bladder; URINATION; retarded; presence of others, in
- Generalities; CLOTHING; tight; amel. — the inverse of Lachesis
- Chill; 9–11 a.m.
Anchor on the mental triad (grief, worse consolation, weeps alone) and confirm with the salt craving and one physical particular — the mapped tongue, the cracked lower lip or the egg-white coryza. Our beginner's guide to repertorisation sets out the method in more detail.
Deepening Your Study
- Boericke supplies the salt-retention physiology, the three mental keynotes and the practical note on the highest potencies in infrequent dosage
- Boger's Synoptic Key gives "thin, thirsty, hopeless and poorly nourished" and the clinging-idea description of the resentment in the fewest words
- Clarke's Dictionary holds the fullest proving and clinical compilation
- Lippe's Keynotes stresses the coldness and the disposition to put on more clothing as "a very marked indication"
- Kent's Lectures develop the psychology of the reserve and its relationship to the physical dryness
You can read all of these side by side for any remedy through Similia's free digital materia medica. To place Natrum muriaticum among its peers, see the guide to the essential polycrest remedies, or read how materia medica and repertory work together in case analysis.
