Tellurium metallicum
Tellurium · Tellurium. · Mineral
Tellurium met. is most appropriate for people who are excitable and irritable, with a disposition that is sometimes described as “rough and angular.”
Skin disorders are the characteristic focus of Tellurium met., including conditions such as psoriasis, ringworm, herpes, and eczema on the eyelids and behind the ears. A key symptom associated with the remedy is a characteristic smell of garlic in the perspiration, which tends to burn and irritate the skin. Skin symptoms are often circular or ring-shaped, and may occur in conjunction with severe back pain.
The remedy may also be used for back pain that is typically worse for coughing, sneezing, or straining when passing a stool. It may help back pain after injury, spinal irritation, ruptured intervertebral disks, and pain that radiates down the legs. In addition, it may be effective for eye and ear infections, especially ear infections that produce a discharge that smells like fish brine.
Key symptoms
- Herpes circinatus; marked skin affections
- Very sensitive back; pain from last cervical to fifth dorsal vertebra worse touch
- Sacral and sciatic pains
- Catarrh of middle ear; discharge acrid, smells like fish-pickle
- Eczema behind ear; itching, swelling, throbbing in meatus
- Offensive discharges throughout the body
- Pruritus ani after every stool
- Slow development of symptoms
Worse (aggravation)
Better (amelioration)
The Metal Tellurium (TELLURIUM)
Marked skin (herpes circinatus), spinal, eye and ear symptoms. Very sensitive back. Pains all over body. Offensive discharges. Slow development of symptoms (Radium) Sacral and sciatic pains.
Head
Neglectful and forgetful. Pain in left side of head and in forehead above left eye. Distortion and twitching of left facial muscles; when speaking left angle of mouth drawn upwards and to left. Fear of being touched in sensitive places. Congestion to head and nape of neck, followed by weakness and faintness in stomach. Itching of scalp; red spots.
Eyes
Lids thickened, inflamed, itching. Pterygium; pustular conjunctivitis. Cataract, following ocular lesions; aids the absorption of infiltrations in iris and choroid.
Ears
Eczema behind ear. Catarrh of middle ear, discharge acrid, smells like fish-pickle. Itching, swelling, throbbing in meatus. Deafness.
Nose
Coryza, lachrymation and hoarseness; better in open air (Cepa). Obstructed; hawks salty phlegm from posterior nares.
Stomach
Craving for apples. Empty and weak feeling. Heartburn.
Rectum
Pruritus ani et perinei after every stool.
Back
Pain in sacrum.--Pain from last cervical to fifth dorsal vertebra, very sensitive; worse touch (Chin s; Phosph) Sciatica; worse right side, coughing, straining, and at night, with sensitive vertebral column. Contraction of tendons in bends of knees.
Skin
Itching of hands and feet. Herpetic spots; ringworm (Tuberc). Ring-shape lesions, offensive odors from affected parts. Barber's itch. Stinging in skin. Fetid exhalations (Sulph). Offensive foot-sweat. Eczema, back of ears and occiput. Circular patches of eczema.
Modalities
Worse, while at rest at night, cold weather, from friction, coughing, laughing, lying on painful side, touch.
Relationship
Compare: Radium; Selenium; Tetradymite-crystals from Georgia and North Carolina containing Bismuth, Tellurium and Sulphur--(coccygodynia, ulceration of nails; pains in hands, in small spots, ankles, heels, and tendo-Achilles); Sep; Ars; Rhus.
Dose
Sixth potency and higher. Takes long time to develop its action, which is very prolonged.
Tellurium. An element; (generally considered non-metallic). Te. (A. W. 125). Trituration of the precipitated element.
Clinical
Axilla, offensive sweat of; tumour of. Barber's itch. Cataract. Conjunctivitis. Coryza. Eczema. Entropion. Eyes, inflammation of. Foot-sweat, fetid. Gleet. Herpes. Hoarseness. Levitation. Pityriasis versicolor. Post-nasal catarrh. Ringworm. Sacrum, pain in. Sciatica. Spinal irritation. Worms. Yawning.
Characteristics
Tellurium occurs in the native state and in combination with gold, silver, lead, and antimony. It resembles Sulphur and Selenium in its chemical reactions. It was proved and introduced into homœopathy by Hering in 1850. The most notable feature of the proving was the irritation of the skin, including skin of eyelids and ears, of spinal column and of some nerves. The most characteristic form of the skin irritation of Tell. is herpes circinatus, and it has probably cured more cases of ringworm, especially of the face and body, than any other remedy. (I cured with …
Hearing and Ears
Vesiclar eruption on tympanum, followed by suppuration and permanent injury to hearing.
Hearing and Ears
Itching and swelling with painful throbbing in external meatus; in three or four days a discharge of watery fluid, smelling like fish pickle, which causes vesicles wherever it touches; ear is bluish-red as if oedematous; hearing impaired (Dunham).
Hearing and Ears
Dull throbbing pain day and night; thin, watery excoriating discharge.
Phatak's chapter on Tellurium metallicum is available in the app.
Read Phatak in the appClassical texts are in the public domain. Educational reference only — not medical advice.
