Tall, slender, narrow chested, phthisical patients, delicate eyelashes, soft hair, or nervous, weak persons who like to be magnetized. Waxy, half anaemic, jaundiced persons.
Anxious, universal restlessness, can’t stand or sit still. worse in dark or when left alone, before a thunderstorm.
Burnings prominent in everyplace, as in mouth, stomach, small intestines, anus, between scapulae, intense, running up spine, palms of hands, heat begins in hands, spreads to face.
Craving for cold things, ice-creams, which agrees, or cold water, which is thrown up as it gets warm in the stomach. Must eat often or he faints. Must get up at night to eat.
Cough worse twilight till midnight, worse lying on left side, better on right side. Right lower lobe most affected.
Diarrhoea, profuse, pouring out as from a hydrant; watery with sago like particles or dysenteric, with wide open anus.
Apathetic, unwilling to talk, answers slowly, moves sluggishly.
Constipation: faeces slender, long, dry, tough and hard like a dog’s; voided with difficulty.
Haemorrhagic diathesis; slight wounds bleed profusely, haemoptysis; metrorrhagia worse; vicarious, from nose, stomach, anus, urethra in amenorrhoea.
Cannot talk, the larynx is so painful; cough, going from warm to cold air, laughing, talking, reading, eating, lying on left side (DROS., STANN.,)
As a general characteristic, BURNING is almost as strong under this remedy as under ARS., and SULPH., There is no organ or tissue in which it may not be found, from the outer skin to the innermost surface of every tract or parenchyma. It may be subjective only without actual rise of temperature, or it may attend organic changes in malignant diseases, with great rise of temperature. The sensation of BURNING in an intense degree should always place PHOS., in the front rank for consideration. Again, there is perhaps no remedy having stronger action on THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. It attacks it in its very citadel of strength, the brain and spinal cord, producing softening or atrophy with all its attendant symptoms in their order, as prostration, trembling, numbness, and complete paralysis. It does this in both acute and chronic form of disease.
It will be found in acute typhoids as well as in that slowly progressive disease, locomotor ataxia. Its causes may be sudden, like pneumonia, typhus, exanthematic diseases, croup, bronchitis when vitality reaches its lowest ebb, or may arise in a condition undermined by grief, care, or excessive mental exertion; excess in venery or onanism.
Its action at the first may be characterized by a burning heat in various parts, and especially in the skin, with restless moving and anxiety, especially at twilight. Oversensitiveness of all senses, such as external impressions, light, odors, noises, touch, etc., and later when organic changes have taken place the other extreme, of loss of motion, sensation, and sensitiveness obtains.
In the former state there is one very characteristic symptom, THE PATIENT MOVES CONTINUALLY, CAN’T SIT OR STAND STILL A MOMENT. Instead of fidgety feet, like ZINC., he is FIDGETY ALL OVER. PHOS., affects every tissue. The blood becomes broken down or impoverished. Chlorosis and pernicious anaemia obtain. APIS and KALI-C., also each have anaemia or a pale waxy or what is called bloodless appearance of the patient. They all have oedema or bloating, and there is one peculiar difference in the face between them. In KALI-C., the upper lids bloat and hang down like bag of water. In APIS it is more in the lower lids, while in PHOS., they bloat all around the eyes; and the whole face bloats. Under PHOS., the blood becomes so broken down that it will not clot any more, and we have purpura haemorrhagica. Even in apparently healthy tissues we have this strong characteristic discovered by Hahnemann, viz., “SLIGHT WOUNDS BLEED MUCH. “This is what is called the haemorrhagic diathesis, and much to be feared, as many persons having it may bleed to death from any slight abrasion; and this same tendency to bleed extends to fungoid growths like fibroids, fungoids, cancers, etc., and are very dangerous and troublesome.
Then again PHOS., attacks the bones in the form of necrosis. It is so especially of the lower jaw, but is also true of other parts, as the vertebrae; and I once cured a very extensive and long standing case of caries of the tibia with it.
Fatty degeneration of heart, liver and kidneys, with the characteristic anaemic condition, should call attention to this remedy. General emaciation, rapid or slowly progressing like atrophy in children, also comes under its tissue destroying power.
And so we find it to be a remedy of wide range and great power. But it is never enough for the homoeopathist to know simply the action in general upon any organs or set of organs. He must know it acts differently from other remedies when acting upon the same tissue or organs. Now while PHOS., acts upon the mind, to cause “great anxiety and restlessness” as in other remedies, ACON., ARS., etc., it must be remembered that it is the anxiety and restlessness that precedes another state.
It belongs to a stage of irritation in the brain and nervous system which if not checked will go on to organic changes, which will be attended with a very different set of symptoms, such as come for instance from actual brain softening in which appears APATHY, SLUGGISHNESS; TALKS SLOWLY, IS INDIFFERENT OR WON’T TALK AT ALL. There is one particular symptom worthy of note: THE PATIENT FEARS TO BE LEFT ALONE; is afraid; afraid of the dark, in a thunderstorm, etc. This is more during the irritable stage of which we have spoken. PHOS., is great remedy in typhoids, especially with lung complications, and here we often get stupor and low muttering delirium, like LACH., but while LACHESIS is worse after sleep, PHOS., is generally better, if he can get to sleep. In the late stage of brain or nervous troubles, calling for this remedy, we find the patient loosing all ambition to do anything; either mental or physical labor is shunned. There is great indifference. He cannot think with his usual clearness; cannot apply himself to study or mental operations, ideas come slowly or not at all. Again the patient is sometimes amative, or like HYOSCYAMUS., shamelessly exposes himself.
There is no remedy that covers a greater variety of mind symptoms arising from brain troubles then PHOS., No remedy produces greater vertigo, with a longer list of various connections. I have found it one of the best and oftenest indicated for VERTIGO OF THE AGED. Chronic congestion to the head is characteristic, and the sense of burning in the brain is prominent; the heat and congestion seems to COME UP FROM THE SPINE.
HEAT RUNNING UP THE BACK is more characteristic of this then any other remedy. Deafness is prominent and is peculiar, in that it is especially DEAFNESS TO THE HUMAN VOICE, a common symptom in the aged. The most frequent use I have made of the remedy in nose affections is in a chronic catarrh, in which the patient frequently blows SMALL QUANTITIES OF BLOOD FROM THE NOSE; the handkerchief is ALWAYS bloody.
As I said when writing upon the tissues, the face of PHOS., is characteristically pale and bloated around the eyes, but in pneumonia we often find circumscribed redness of the cheek upon the side of the lung inflamed. This is also true with SANG., About the mouth and tongue I do not know anything particularly characteristic. It has a peculiar symptom of the throat, THE FOOD SWALLOWED COMES UP IMMEDIATELY AS IF IT HAD NEVER REACHED THE STOMACH. This is supposed to be due to spasmodic stricture of the oesophagus.
Under appetite and thirst we have some very valuable indications for this remedy.
HUNGER is one, must eat often or he faints; right after or soon after a meal, he is hungry; hungry in the night; must eat. He is relieved by eating, but is soon hungry again. This calls to mind IOD., chelI., PETR., ANAC., etc.,
The thirst is also peculiar. He wants COLD THINGS LIKE PULS., BUT AS SOON AS THEY GET WARM IN THE STOMACH THEY ARE vomited.
Some people have an abnormal craving for salt or salt food, and eat too much of it. PHOS., is a good remedy to counter act the bad effects (NAT-M.,)
We have many kinds of vomiting under PHOS., but nothing characteristic except the one already mentioned.
We have already spoken of the hungry, faint feeling in the stomach. Sometimes this is described as an empty, gone feeling, and here we think of such remedies as IGN., HYDR., SEPIA., and others; but PHOS., does not stop here with this sensation, but extends through the WHOLE ABDOMEN. No remedy has this feeling in the abdomen so strong as PHOS., under stool and rectum occur some very characteristic symptoms also, for instance:stools profuse, watery, POURING AWAY AS FROM A HYDRANT, with lumps of white mucus, like grains of tallow. Stools bloody, with small white particles like opaque frog spawn. Stools involuntarily oozing from a CONSTANTLY OPEN ANUS, or dysenteric stools with wide open anus and great tenesmus. Constipation; faeces slender; LONG DRY TOUGH LIKE DOG’S STOOL. No remedy has a richer array of stool symptoms, and as we see by the above few select ones, some of them are very unique and have often been verified. It will repay any physician to carefully and frequently look them over.
