Hepar Sulphuris Calcareum – Hahnemann’s Calcium Sulphide/ Liver of Sulphur

The attenuations are prepared according to Hahnemann’s directions. The main components are Calcium sulphide and other Calcium salts of various valencies of Sulphur such as Polysulphides or Sulphates.

With regard to its action, Hepar Sulph. stands between the two important antip- sorics, Calcium Carbonicum and Sulphur. Its characteristic symptom is hypersensi- tivity: to touch, to pain and to cold air, the patients being so sensitive that they may fall down in a faint at the slightest pain. Neither can they tolerate for example a cold draught on the affected parts. The exception to this is the headache, otherwise there is relief from warmth and warm wrappings. This is accompanied by a general irri- tability, hypersensitivity and hastiness. All conditions are aggravated in the evenings, including the symptoms of despondency, lack of courage and tearfulness. On the scalp there are pimples and bald patches with failing of the hair.

A further important pointer to Hepar Sulph. is the tendency to suppuration, or else to inflammation which rapidly changes to suppuration. In such conditions a dose of Hepar Sulph. in low potency (4X) may possibly accelerate the suppuration, whereas high potencies generally bring it back again. However there are exceptions to this.

On the skin too there is a tendency to fester, (skin slow to heal), the wounds being mostly flat with a pulsating sensation. The edges are sensitive to touch and often sur- rounded by pimples. The discharges are generally thick and purulent, with a charac- teristic odour of old cheese. The author saw such a case in a young female medical student with serious pustular acne – the whole body giving off the typical cheese odour, which refused to go away in spite of thorough daily bathing. With Hepar Sulph. 6X the condition quickly disappeared, never to return.

Boils and carbuncles call for Hepar Sulph. as well as for Mercurius. Hepar Sulph. is also indicated in empyema, unless one first uses Calcium Carbonicum, in order to avoid perforations, e.g. in empyema of the gall-bladder. In all conditions which pro-

ceed with suppuration, e.g. Meibomian cysts, styes, acne vulgaris, suppurating eczema, sycosis barbae and others, apart from Mercurius Solubilis one thinks first of Hepar Sulph.

Hepar Sulph. is likewise the remedy for chronic catarrhs of the respiratory organs with expectoration of purulent sputum and aggravation in the fresh air, likewise the croupy cough, formerly very common, where in spite of the rattling of the mucus the patient cannot expectorate it. Here Hepar Sulph. is more frequently indicated after Aconitum or Spongia. Hepar Sulph. will also cure a cough which appears when some part of the body is uncovered.

Because of its action in suppurations, Hepar Sulph. is the main remedy for ab- scesses of the lung, and also in abscesses of the tonsils; in such cases there may be a sensation as if a splinter or a fish-bone were lodged in the pharynx. Purulent, offen- sive discharge from the ears calls for Hepar Sulph. (possibly along with Graphites and other remedies).

Hepar Sulph. also has a wretched, empty feeling in the stomach, with a craving for sour things, alcohol and spices. The general state of the patient is ameliorated by eat- ing, but it aggravates the heaviness and pressure in the stomach. Even the blandest of food can cause complaints in Hepar Sulph. patients. There is usually constipation, with even soft faeces being difficult to pass.

Hepar Sulph. is also indicated in hypertrophy of the prostate. The stream of urine drops almost perpendicularly, is sluggish, and it takes time for the bladder to empty. Hepar Sulph. is also an important remedy for sweating, when the patient sweats day and night without relief. Here Hepar Sulph. is often indicated in alternation with

Mercurius Solubilis, e.g. in abscess of the tonsils, rheumatism etc.

In children Hepar Sulph. is indicated when there is sour diarrhoea, and the whole child may smell sour (cf. Calcium Carbonicum and Magnesium Carbonicum).

In contrast to Natrum Sulphuricum, asthma which is better in damp weather calls for Hepar Sulph. as its remedy. Hepar Sulph. may also act beneficially where there is a chronic tendency to catch cold (cf. Thuja), and in kidney diseases which occur in progressive vicariation after retoxic treatment of scarlet fever or sore throats.

The outstanding symptoms and indications of Hepar Sulph. may be categorised as follows:

1. Hypersensitivity to touch, pain and cold air. Amelioration from warmth and wrap- ping up warmly.
2. Irritable, hypersensitive, hasty, and also despondent, lacking in spirit and tearful. Aggravated in the evening.
3. Skin with scabs, slow to heal; flat ulcerations and tendency to form pustules. Falling out of hair. Odour of old cheese.
4. Tendency towards suppurations and abscesses. Boils, carbuncles, acne vulgaris. Purulent discharge from the ears. Tonsillar abscess. Pyoderma. Empyema.
5. Stomach complaints with a wretched, empty feeling, and constipation. Difficult defaecation, even of soft stools. Sour diarrhoea in children.
6. Hypertrophy of the prostate with problems of urination.

• 7.   Dry, hard cough or loose, croupy cough. Feeling of weakness in the chest. Hoarseness. Cough worse from cool draught, from uncovering a limb or drinking cold water. Asthma, better in warm, humid weather.
• Typical sensation of a plug or splinter in wounds or eruptions on mucosa.
• Retoxically treated illnesses, e.g. scarlet fever after sore throat. Protracted pneu- monia with danger of abscess formation.

The German Monograph-Preparation Commission for the Homoeopathic Field of Therapy has, under the Preparation Monograph for Hepar sulphuris calcarea, pub- lished the following indication(s) in the German Bundesanzeiger (German Federal Gazette) for hepar sulphuris: inflammation and suppuration of the skin and mu- cosae such as furuncles, chronic purulent otitis media, and abscess of the palatine tonsils; for treatment of a disposition to lymphatic disorders; nervous hypersensitiv- ity.