Phosphoricum Acidum

Phosphoric Acid

by William Boericke — Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica & Repertory

The common acid "debility" is very marked in this remedy, producing a nervous exhaustion. Mental debility first; later physical. A congenial soil for the action of Phos acid is found in young people who grow rapidly, and who are overtaxed, mentally or physically. Whenever the system has been exposed to the ravages of acute disease, excesses, grief, loss of vital fluids, we obtain conditions calling for it. Pyrosis, flatulence, diarrhœa, diabetes, rhachitis and periosteal inflammation. Neurosis in stump, after amputation. Hæmorrhages in typhoid. Useful in relieving pain of cancer.

Mind

Listless. Impaired memory ( Anac ). Apathetic, indifferent . Cannot collect his thoughts or find the right word. Difficult comprehension. Effects of grief and mental shock. Delirium, with great stupefaction. Settled despair.

Head

Heavy; confused . Pain as if temples were crushed together. Worse, shaking or noise . Crushing headache. Pressure on top . Hair gray early in life; falls out. Dull headache after coition; from eye-strain ( Nat m ). Vertigo toward evening, when standing or walking . Hair thins out, turns gray early.

Eyes

Blue rings around . Lids inflamed and cold. Pupils dilated. Glassy appearance. Averse to sunlight; sees colors as if a rainbow. Feel too large. Amblyopia in masturbators. Optic nerves seem torpid. Pain as if eyeballs were forcibly pressed together and into head .

Ears

Roaring, with difficult hearing. Intolerant of noise.

Nose

Bleeding. Bores fingers into nose. Itching .

Mouth

Lips dry, cracked. Bleeding gums; retract from teeth. Tongue swollen, dry, with viscid, frothy mucus. Teeth feel cold. At night, bites tongue in voluntarily.

Face

Pale, earthy; feeling of tension as from dried albumen. Sensation of coldness of one side of face.

Stomach

Craves juicy things. Sour risings. Nausea. Symptoms following sour food and drink . Pressure as from a weight, with sleepiness after eating ( Fel tauri ). Thirst for cold milk .

Abdomen

Distention and fermentation in bowels. Enlarged spleen ( Ceanoth ). Aching in umbilical region . Loud rumbling.

Stool

Diarrhœa, white , watery, involuntary, painless , with much flatus; not specially exhausting. Diarrhœa in weakly, delicate rachitic children.

Urine

Frequent, profuse, watery, milky. Diabetes . Micturition, preceded by anxiety and followed by burning. Frequent urination at night . Phosphaturia.

Male

Emissions at night and at stool. Seminal vesiculitis ( Oxal acid ). Sexual power deficient; testicles tender and swollen. Parts relax during embrace ( Nux ). Prostatorrhœa, even when passing a soft stool. Eczema of scrotum. Œdema of prepuce, and swollen glans-penis. Herpes preputialis. Sycotic excrescences ( Thuja ).

Female

Menses too early and profuse, with pain in liver. Itching; yellow leucorrhœa after menses. Milk scanty; health deteriorated from nursing.

Respiratory

Chest troubles develop after brain-fag. Hoarseness. Dry cough from tickling in chest. Salty expectoration. Difficult respiration. Weak feeling in chest from talking ( Stann ). Pressure behind the sternum , rendering breathing difficult.

Heart

Palpitation in children who grow too fast; after grief, self-abuse. Pulse irregular, intermittent.

Back

Boring pain between scapulæ. Pain in back and limbs, as if beaten.

Extremities

Weak. Tearing pains in joints, bones, and periosteum. Cramps in upper arms and wrists. Great debility . Pains at night, as if bones were scraped . Stumbles easily and makes missteps. Itching, between fingers or in folds of joints.

Skin

Pimples, acne, blood-boils. Ulcers, with very offensive pus. Burning red rash. Formication in various parts. Falling out of the hair ( Nat mur; Selen ). Tendency to abscess after fevers.

Sleep

Somnolency . Lascivious dreams with emissions.

Fever

Chilliness. Profuse sweat during night and morning. Low types of fever, with dull comprehension ans stupor.

Modalities

Better , from keeping warm. Worse , exertion, from being talked to; loss of vital fluids; sexual excesses. Everything impeding circulation causes aggravation of symptoms.

Relationship

Compare: Œnothera biennis -Evening primrose--(Effortless diarrhœa with nervous exhaustion. Incipient hydrocephaloid. Whooping-cough and spasmodic asthma). Nectranda amare (Watery diarrhœa, dry tongue, colic, bluish ring around sunken eyes, restless sleep). China; Nux. Pic ac; Lactic ac; Phos .

Antidotes: Coffea .

Dose

First potency.

Phosphoricum Acidum across the other classic books

Phosphoricum Acidum appears in 12 of the 13 classic books on Similia. Each was written to do a different job — here is what each adds on this remedy, with the opening of its entry.

Allen HC — The keynotes that separate this remedy from its nearest neighbours.
“Glacial Phosphoric Acid. (HPO3.) Best suited to persons of originally strong constitutions, who have become debilitated by loss of vital fluids , sexual excesses (Cinch.); violent acute diseases; chagrin, or a long succession of moral emotions, as grief, care, disappointed affection. Ailments: from care, chagrin…”
Allen TF — The raw proving record — symptoms as the provers reported them, unedited.
“Glacial phosphoric acid (Metaphosphoric acid, H2 OP2O5 or HPO3). Preparation , Triturations of the acid obtained by the method of Hahnemann. Authorities. (Nos. 1 to 14 , from Hahnemann, Chr. Kr.). Emotional. The sensations experienced on taking from 40 drops to 3 drachms were those of moderate alcoholic stimulation…”
Boger (GA) — Which general headings this remedy belongs under — the analytical scaffolding.
“BONES. BURNING, stinging. CHANGE of position, Amel. COATED FEELING COLD AND HEAT, Agg. COUGH, incessant DISCHARGES, eruption appearing etc., Amel. DISCHARGES, AGG.; LOOS OF VITAL FLUIDS, ETC.., AGG. DUST, feathers, etc., as of EMOTIONS, excitement, etc. EXPRESSION, changed. FINGERS OR HANDS, using, as in writing…”
Boger (Syn) — Generals and modalities in a short analytical portrait rather than a symptom list.
“MIND. Nerves. Metabolism. Sexual system. Spine: sensory nerves. Muscles. Bones. DEBILITY from: LOSS OF FLUIDS. Sexual excesses. Fatigue. Fevers. Convalescence. EMOTIONS (chronic): Grief. Chagrin. Mental shock. Unhappy love. Homesickness. Drafts. Cold. Music. Talking. Warmth. Short sleep. Stooling. WEAK OR DEBILITATED…”
Clarke — The widest entry — sources, provings, clinical uses, relationships and antidotes in one place.
“Phosphoric acid. H 3 PO 4 . Dilution. (The dilute acid of B. P. forms the homœopathic 1x. In U.S. the first solution is made of glacial Phosphoric Acid.) Amblyopia / Asthma / Boils / Brain-fag / Bronchitis; capillary / Chancre / Chilblains / Cholera / Climacteric flushes and vertigo / Coccygodynia / Condylomata /…”
Hering — Graded symptoms, each weighted by how often provers and practice confirmed it.
“Glacial Phosphoric Acid. HPO 3 . Provings by Hahnemann, Becher, Franz, Gross, Gutmann, Fr. Hahnemann, Hermann, Hartmann, Langhammer, Meyer, Stapf, Teuthorn, Wislicenus, Hering, Chronische Krankheiten ; Herinigke, A. H. Z., vol. 79, p. 157 ; Schelling, A. H. Z., vol. 84, p. 43 ; Robinson, B. J. H., vol. 25, p. 327 …”
Kent — The mental and general picture — who the patient is, before what the remedy cures.
“" Mental enfeeblement " is the thought that will come into the mind when considering what the Phosphoric acid patient says, does and looks. The mind seems tired. When questioned he answers slowly or does not speak, but only looks at the questioner. He is too tired to talk or even think. He says: "Don't talk to me; let…”
Lippe (KN) — Only the symptoms Lippe considered reliable enough to prescribe on.
“Sorenss in the limbs, as from growing, especially in the morning. Formications. Burning of the lower half of the body, the limbs feeling cold. Debility from loss of fluids, without pain, or only with burning. Eyes like glass, without lustre. He lies down stupid. Bad effects from sorrow. The pains are only severe…”
Lippe (MM) — The strict Hahnemannian reading — the symptom picture without clinical interpretation.
“Perfect indifference. Silent sadness. Indifference, thoughtlessness, stupidity. Disinclination to talk, even to answer a question. Home-sickness with inclination to weep. Low-spirited and anxiety about the future or about one's health. Bad effects from grief, sorrow, unfortunate love, with great emaciation, sleepiness…”
Lippe (Red) — Keynotes with the most-trusted ones marked as red-line symptoms.
“Common name: glacial phosphoric acid. It produces nervous prostration and debility; an atonic condition of the gastro-intestinal tract and bone affections (D.). Best suited to persons of originally strong constitutions, who have become debilitated by loss of vital fluids, sexual excesses (Chin.), violent acute…”
Nash — The comparisons — the remedy set beside the ones it is most often confused with.
“Drowsy, apathetic; unconscious of all surroundings, but can be aroused to full consciousness. Chronic effects of grief; hair turns gray; hopeless, haggard look. Grows too fast and too tall; young persons with growing pains in bones. Great physical and mental weakness from ovarian or sexual excesses. Diarrhoea WHITE…”

Phosphoricum Acidum in Kent's Repertory

Kent's Repertory lists Phosphoricum Acidum in 3,483 rubrics. These are the ones where it carries the highest grade — the symptoms Kent treated as most characteristic. Most of them sit in EXTREMITIES (593), GENERALITIES (338), HEAD (327), MIND (248), SKIN (200).

BLADDER - URINATION - interrupted (intermittent) - urine - so thick,with cheesy masses like curdled milk
EXTREMITIES - PAIN - scraping - Bones
HEAD - PAIN, - Occiput - grief,after
STOOL - COPIOUS - which does not exhaust
COUGH - TICKLING - bronchi - bifurcation
STOOL - YELLOW - bright
URINE - MILKY - curdled-like
COUGH - TICKLING - talking,on
PROSTATE GLAND - EMISSION prostatic fluid - erections, - during
STOOL - WHITE - grayish white
GENERALITIES - LASSITUDE - eating after
GENERALITIES - WEAKNESS,enervation - nursing women,in
MIND - LOVE,ailments, - silent grief
RECTUM - DIARRHOEA - food - solid,after
RECTUM - DIARRHOEA - weakness,without
EAR - NOISES in - lying,while - amel.
EXTREMITIES - PAIN - Leg - growing pains
RECTUM - DIARRHOEA - cold - taking cold,after - summer,in
EXTREMITIES - PAIN - scraping
EXTREMITIES - PAIN - scraping - Leg,bones

Search all 7 classical repertories

More remedies in this book

Previous remedy: Petros Next remedy: Phase

Passi Pen Pert Petr Phel Phos Phys Physal-al

Explore the full Similia platform

Access 13 classic materia medica books, 7 classical repertories, AI semantic search, and basic case management — free.

View Pricing