Hepar sulphur
Calcium sulfide (impure, hepar sulphuris calcareum) · Mineral
People who respond best to Hepar sulph. are touchy, both mentally and physically. They are patient and methodical workers, but this tolerance does not extend to others, and they are often critical, irritable, and hard to please. They are also oversensitive and quick to take offense. Illness heightens their irritability and impetuosity, and anger, pain, or anguish may drive them to violent outbursts. They may have low self-esteem and feel as though they are rejected by others.
Often hypersensitive, these people tend to have a low pain threshold and to complain out of proportion to their illness. They lack internal warmth, and will feel the cold keenly, especially dry cold. Symptoms are usually worse at night, and aggravated by the least touch on the affected area. Common cravings are for fatty foods and for sour tastes such as vinegar.
Hepar sulph. is generally used where there is an infection, particularly in the respiratory system or skin. It is especially appropriate for ailments that are accompanied by swollen glands, particularly in the neck or groin, or if there is a high fever alternating with chills.
Key symptoms
- Extreme sensitiveness to all impressions: touch, cold air, pain, and noise
- Tendency to suppuration; every injury, wound, and ulcer tends to form pus
- Splinter-like pains in ulcers, throat, and inflamed tissues
- Extreme chilliness; wraps up tightly; sensitive to least draft of cold air
- Craving for sour and strong-tasting foods and condiments
- Croupous catarrhal inflammation of respiratory mucous membranes
- Slightest cause irritates; hasty, impulsive, ferocious disposition
- Unhealthy skin; every wound suppurates; lymphatic glandular swellings
Worse (aggravation)
- Worse from cold air and cold drafts
- Worse from uncovering or slightest exposure to cold
- Worse from touch
- Worse at night
- Worse from dry, cold winds
Better (amelioration)
- Better from warmth and warm wrappings
- Better in damp weather
- Better from warm applications
- Better after eating
Hahnemann's Calcium Sulphide (HEPAR SULPHURIS CALCAREUM)
Suits especially scrofulous and lymphatic constitutions who are inclined to have eruptions and glandular swellings. Unhealthy skin. Blondes with sluggish character and weak muscles. Great sensitiveness to all impressions. Sweating patient pulling blanket around him. Locally, it has special affinity to the respiratory mucous membrane, producing croupous catarrhal inflammation, profuse secretion; also easy perspiration. After abuse of Mercury. Infected sinus with pus forming. The tendency to suppuration is most marked, and has been a strong guiding symptom in practice. The lesions spread by the formation of small papules around the side of the old lesion. Chilliness, hypersensitiveness, splinter-like pains, craving for sour and strong things are very characteristic. Feeling as if wind were blowing on some part. The side of the body on which he lies at night becomes gradually insufferably painful; he must turn. Pellagra (material doses required). Syphilis after antispecific gross medication.
Mind
Anguish in the evening and night, with thoughts of suicide. The slightest cause irritates him. Dejected and sad. Ferocious. Hasty speech.
Head
Vertigo and headache, when shaking the head or riding. Boring pain in the right temple and in root of nose every morning. Scalp sensitive and sore. Humid scald-head itching and burning. Cold sweat on head.
Eyes
Ulcers on cornea. Iritis, with pus in anterior chamber; purulent conjunctivitis, with marked chemosis, profuse discharge, great sensitiveness to touch and air. Eyes and lids red and inflamed. Pain in the eyes, as if pulled back into the head. Boring pain in upper bones of the orbits. Eyeballs sore to touch. Objects appear red and too large. Vision obscured by reading; field reduced one-half. Bright circles before eyes. Hypopion.
Ears
Scurfs on and behind the ears. Discharge of fetid pus from the ears. Whizzing and throbbing in the ears, with hardness of hearing. Deafness after scarlet fever. Pustules in auditory canal and auricle. Mastoiditis.
Nose
Sore, ulcerated. Soreness of nostrils, with catarrhal troubles. Sneezes every time he goes into a cold, dry wind, with running from nose, later, thick, offensive discharge. Stopped up every time he goes out into cold air. Smell like old cheese. Hay-fever (Hepar 1x will often start secretions and profuse drainage in stuffy colds).
Face
Yellowish complexion. Middle of lower lip cracked. Vesicular erysipelas, with pricking in parts. Neuralgia of right side, extending in streak into temple, ear, alæ, and lip. Pains in bones of face, especially when being touched. Ulcers in corners of mouth. Shooting in jaw on opening mouth.
Mouth
Ptyalism. Gums and mouth painful to touch and bleed readily.
Throat
When swallowing, sensation as if a plug and of a splinter in throat. Quinsy, with impending suppuration. Stitches in throat extending to the ear when swallowing. Hawking up of mucus.
Stomach
Longing for acids, wine, and strong-tasting food. Aversion to fat food. Frequent eructations, without taste or smell. Distention of stomach, compelling one to loosen the clothing. Burning in stomach. Heaviness and pressure in stomach after a slight meal.
Abdomen
Stitching in region of liver when walking, coughing, breathing, or touching it (Bry; Merc). Hepatitis, hepatic abscess; abdomen distended, tense; chronic abdominal affections.
Stool
Clay-colored and soft. Sour, white, undigested, fetid. Loss of power to expel even a soft stool.
Urine
Voided slowly, without force-drops vertically, bladder weak. Seems as if some always remained. Greasy pellicle on urine. Bladder difficulties of old men (Phos; Sulph; Copaiva).
Male
Herpes, sensitive, bleed easily. Ulcers externally on prepuce similar to chancre (Nitr acid). Excitement and emission without amorous fancies. Itching of glans, frænum, and scrotum. Suppurating inguinal glands. Figwarts of offensive odor. Humid soreness on genitals and between scrotum and thigh. Obstinate gonorrhœa "does not get well".
Female
Discharge of blood from uterus. Itching of pudenda and nipples, worse during menses. Menses late and scanty. Abscesses of labiæ with great sensitiveness. Extremely offensive leucorrhœa. Smells like old cheese (Sanicula). Profuse perspiration at the climacteric (Tilia; Jaborandi).
Respiratory
Loses voice and coughs when exposed to dry, cold wind. Hoarseness, with loss of voice. Cough troublesome when walking. Dry, hoarse cough. Cough excited whenever any part of the body gets cold or uncovered, or from eating anything cold. Croup with loose, rattling cough; worse in morning. Choking cough. Rattling, croaking cough; suffocative attacks; has to rise up and bend head backwards. Anxious, wheezing, moist breathing, asthma worse in dry cold air; better in damp. Palpitation of heart.
Extremities
Finger-joints swollen; tendency to easy dislocation. Nail of great toe painful on slight pressure.
Skin
Abscesses; suppurating glands are very sensitive. Papules prone to suppurate and extend. Acne in youth. Suppurate with prickly pain. Easily bleed. Angio-neurotic œdema. Unhealthy skin; every little injury suppurates. Chapped skin, with deep cracks on hands and feet. Ulcers, with bloody suppuration, smelling like old cheese. Ulcers very sensitive to contact, burning, stinging, easily bleeding. Sweats day and night without relief. "Cold-sores" very sensitive. Cannot bear to be uncovered; wants to be wrapped up warmly. Sticking or pricking in afflicted parts. Putrid ulcers, surrounded by little pimples. Great sensitiveness to slightest touch. Chronic and recurring urticaria. Small-pox. Herpes circinatus. Constant offensive exhalation from the body.
Fever
Chilly in open air or from slightest draught. Dry heat at night. Profuse sweat; sour, sticky, offensive.
Modalities
Worse, from dry cold winds; cool air; slightest draught, from Mercury, touch; lying on painful side. Better, in damp weather, from wrapping head up, from warmth, after eating.
Relationship
Antidotes: Bellad; Cham; Sil.
Compare: Acon; Spongia; Staphis; Silica; Sulph; Calc sulph; Myristica. Hepar antidotes bad effects from Mercury, Iodine, Potash, Cod-liver oil. Removes the weakening effects of ether.
Dose
First to 200th. The higher potencies may abort suppuration, the lower promote it. If it is necessary to hasten it, give 2x.
Coldness
The Hepar patient is chilly. He is sensitive to the cold and wants an unusual amount of clothing when in cold air. He wants the sleeping room very warm and can endure much heat in the room, many degrees warmer than a healthy person ordinarily desires, He has no endurance in the cold and all his complaints are made worse in the cold. If he becomes cold in sleep his complaints come on or if he is out in the cold, dry wind, complaints come on; inflammatory and rheumatic complaints appear.
The exposure of hand or foot at night in bed brings on symptoms. He wants the covers drawn close about the neck when in bed. This patient is also oversensitiveto impressions, to surroundings and to pain. What with an ordinary person would only be an ache or disagreeable sensation becomes with Hepar an intense suffering.
Hepar sulphuris calcareum. An impure Sulphide of Calcium prepared by burning in a crucible the white interior of oyster shells with pure flowers of sulphur. Trituration.
Clinical
Abscess. Amaurosis. Angina pectoris. Appetite, disordered. Asthma. Axilla, abscess in. Beard, eruptions of. Blepharitis. Boils. Breast, affections of. Bronchitis. Bubo. Burns. Carbuncle. Caries. Chilblains. Chlorosis. Cold. Constipation. Consumption. Cornea, ulceration of; opacity of. Cough. Croup. Diaphragmitis. Diarrhœa. Ear, affections of; polypus of. Eczema. Emphysema. Erysipelas. Eyes, affections of. Fester, tendency to. Glandular swellings. Hæmoptysis. Hæmorrhoids. Headache. Hectic. Herpes preputialis. Hip-joint disease. Hoarseness. Jaundice. Joints, affections of. Laryngitis. Leucorrhœa. Lips, swollen. Liver, affections of. Lungs, affections of. Lupus. Marasmus. Menorrhagia. Mouth, sore. Nipples, sore. Ovaries, affections of. Parametritis. Pleurisy. Pneumonia. Pregnancy, sickness of. Pruritus …
Sulphuret of Lime (CaS)
For torpid lymphatic constitutions; persons with light hair and complexion, slow to act, muscles soft and flabby. The slightest injury causes suppression (Graph., Mer.). Diseases where the system has been injured by the abuse of Mercury. In diseases where suppuration seems inevitable, Hepar may open the abscess and hasten the cure. Oversensitive, physically and mentally; the slightest cause irritates him; quick, hasty speech and hasty drinking. Patient is peevish, angry at the least trifle; hypochondriacal; unreasonably anxious. Extremely sensitive to cold air, imagines he can feel the air if a door is open in the next room; must be wrapped up to the face even in hot weather (Psor.); cannot bear to be uncovered (Nux - cannot bear to be covered, Camp., Sec.); take cold from slightest exposure to fresh air (Tub.). Urine: flow impeded; voided slowly, without force, drops vertically; is obliged to wait a while before it passes; bladder weak, is unable to finish, seems as if some urine …
Mind
Over-sensitiveness and irritatability, quick, hasty speech, hasty drinking, etc.
General Face
Boils or pimples on face, lips, chin, or neck; very painful to touch.
Sight and Eyes
The pains in the eyes or lids, etc., are of a throbbing character, very sensitive to touch and < by cold or cold air, > by warmth.
Hearing and Ears
Discharge of fetid pus from ears; sensitive to touch.
Hearing and Ears
Otalgia, with sensitiveness to external contact, out of proportion to the actual pain.
Mouth and Throat
Sensation of a splinter or fish bone sticking in the throat.
Stomach
Stomach inclined to be out of order; longing for strong or sour tasting things.
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Sensation as if a fish bone, or splinter were sticking in the throat.
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Stomach inclined to be out of order; longing for sour or strong tasting things.
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Green slimy diarrhoea of a sour smell.
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Croup after dry, cold wind with swelling below the larynx, and great sensitiveness, to cold air or water.
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Cannot bear to be uncovered, coughs when any part of the body is uncovered.
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Unhealthy, suppurating skin, every out or hurt suppurates.
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Ulcers very sensitive, burning or stinging edges, discharges corroding, smelling like old cheese, little pimples surround the principal ulceration.
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Ailments after west or northwest wind.
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Affections from the abuse of mercury, or iodine, particularly the iodine of potash.
Phatak's chapter on Hepar sulphur is available in the app.
Read Phatak in the appClassical texts are in the public domain. Educational reference only — not medical advice.
