Muriaticum Acidum – Hydrochloric Acid

The attenuations are prepared from diluted Hydrochloric acid, HCl, MW: 36.5.

The main action of potentised Hydrochloric acid is on typhoid conditions, espe- cially those of a septic kind, in which the patient slides down in the bed owing to great weakness, the lower jaw hangs down, and the tongue is dry, leathery and shriv- elled, maybe with deep ulceration, bluish-red edges or aphthous ulcers; there is a dirty coating on the teeth, the breath is offensive, and there is a swelling of the gums and local lymphatic nodes. The uvula may also be swollen with ulceration and mem- branes, so that attempts to swallow give rise to spasms and attacks of choking, re- sulting in a state of extreme prostration, in which, without realising it, the patient may pass urine, and urination may be accompanied by involuntary defaecation (after radiotherapy).

In such serious typhoid conditions the pulse is frequently weak, small and rapid and misses every third beat (cf. Kali Carb.).

The patient is markedly aggravated by lying on the right side, before midnight and in damp weather, whereas lying on the left side ameliorates.

There is a typical aversion to meat with periodically ravenous hunger and a con- tinual craving for drink, with abdominal rumbling owing to fermentation of food.

Rectal problems are also typical, on the one hand characterised by involuntary de- faecation on urination, and on the other hand by haemorrhoids which are so sensitive to touch that even the use of toilet paper is painful. Pruritus ani may occur, with anal prolapse on urination. Haemorrhoids in pregnancy are also characteristic, bluish in colour, hot and with violent stabbing pains.

In spite of incontinence of urine, the patient must wait a long time for the urine to arrive, accompanied by simultaneous involuntary defaecation. Impotence may also be present in men.

There are rheumatic cutting and drawing pains in the limbs, better for movement (cf. Rhus tox.) and worse at rest. Toothache in incipient caries is much worse from cold drinks.

The patient is easily provoked, more irritable than usual, with a tendency to anger, or also to gloom and melancholy with general apathy and discontent.

The characteristic skin symptoms of Muriatic Acid include burning with itching in a wide variety of places, especially the scrotum, barely relieved by scratching and giving rise to the eruption of vesicles and the formation of scabs with small painful nodules and pustules and consequent suppuration with burning and itching. Ulcers may form, with offensive discharge and looking like burns, especially on the lower leg. There is a typical eczema on the surface of the hand.

A characteristic of Muriatic Acid is also the general sensitivity to the slightest touch, especially in haemorrhoids and on the genitalia.

The total picture of Muriatic Acid does not always need to be present. Even when few of the typical symptoms, or even only rudimentary ones are present, the use of this important polychrest is justified. In the most serious cases it must be repeated, in order to guarantee success.

If we summarise the principal symptoms of Muriatic Acid, the typical picture which emerges is as follows:

1. Typhoid conditions with a dry, leathery, shrivelled tongue, aphthous stomatitis, septic diarrhoea, maybe with the passing of clear dark blood. Sliding down in bed, dropping of the lower jaw. Dirty coating on the teeth.
2. Haemorrhoids, swollen, blue and exceedingly sensitive to touch, even of bed- clothes. Rectal prolapse, even on urination. “Cooing” sounds and rumbling in the abdomen. Pruritus ani. Haemorrhoids, bluish-red and hot, bleeding, in pregnancy.
3. Difficulty in urination with simultaneous involuntary defaecation.
4. Rapid, weak, small pulse, missing every third beat.
5. Drawing rheumatic pains, especially in the Achilles’ tendon, worse on first mo- tion, better for continued motion.
6. Very itchy papular and vesicular eruptions. Carbuncle. Foul-smelling ulcers of the lower leg. Eczema on the back of the hand. Prostration. Epistaxis.
7. Irritable and peevish mood or taciturn gloominess. “Suffering in silence.”
8. Aggravation in damp weather and before midnight, also when lying on the right side. Amelioration when lying on the left side.

What follows is Nash’s description of Muriatic Acid therapy (including the use of Sac.Lac. placebos), as the physician should give it in serious septic illnesses:

“Of course the friends are anxious, even desperate, and a show of work must be made. If much pressure is brought to bear in the way of suggestions or demands for counsel, all sorts of wonderful prescriptions that cured a great many cases like this, let Sac.Lac. be given every five minutes. It is a wonderfully quieting medicine (to friends and meddlers) and should never be omitted. Send the most rampant howler off on horseback miles away, if you can, for something, no matter what. That is in- dispensible to the patient’s recovery. The greatest danger to the patient is that the physician, losing his presence of mind, will suffer himself to be led or driven away from the only true helpful course. This advice is given only to those who need it. Many a patient has died because his physician ‘lost his head’ under this kind of pressure.”

The German Monograph-Preparation Commission for the Homoeopathic Field of Therapy has, under the Preparation Monograph for Acidum hydrochloricum, pub- lished the following indication(s) in the German Bundesanzeiger (German Federal Gazette) for acidum muriaticum: general weakness and debilitation; loss of ap- petite; haemorrhoids; mucosal ulceration; haemorrhagic diathesis.