CALCAREA PHOSPHATE.
Symptoms
Calcarea phos., which was first proved by Hering about 1837, is a tissue or nutrition remedy, having many of the general symptoms of Calcarea, particularly the aggravation from wet (9), tendency to perspiration and glandular enlargement (82) but with, as the most prominent differentiation, flat or sunken abdomen.
There is a general lack of vital heat (114), exposure to a slight draft causes rheumatic stiffness of the neck (174) and “every cold causes pains in joints” (Hering).
Calcarea phos. is a valuable remedy in diseases of mal- nutrition (129), especially with a predisposition to diseases of the bones and it is not only of use in promoting the development of bone in the young but it is valuable for the healing of bone and for non-union after fracture.
In children the osseous system is badly developed and the fontanelles remain open for a long time (82), Farrington saying, Calcarea carb. “particularly the anterior;” Calcarea phos. “both anterior and posterior,” and in cholera infantum we may have the “skull very thin, crackling like paper when pressed upon” (Hering).
The teeth are late in appearing and decay early (186) and in young people you will find Calcarea phos. of value where the teeth seem soft, with the constant formation of new cavities or enlargement of old ones so that the filling loosens and drops out. (A dentist on being told of the excellent results obtained from a more or less continuous use of this remedy, said that he would advise anyone to have full life-insurance before making any such statement public.)
The Calcarea phos. child develops slowly and is slow in learning to walk (208), has weakness of the spine and cannot sit up unless the back is supported, or has curvature of the spine, Pott’s disease (152), lumbar abscesses and hip-joint disease (117).
It is of value in chronic irritation of the brain, resembling hydrocephalus, noticed in scrofulous children after exhausting diseases like cholera infantum (31). It is also of value in chronic hydrocephalus (119), with large head, open fontanelles, emaciation, etc., with pain in the head extending down the spine. Dr. von Grauvogl advises that if a woman has given birth to scrofulous children, with tendency to hydrocephalus, or if you fear such result, she shall be given Calcarea phos. One day and Sulph. the next during her pregnancy, he saying that he gives Sulph. “as a nutritive remedy favoring the formation of tissues, while Calcarea phosph. was to favor that of the bones.”
The headaches of Calcarea phos. are especially of the top of the head, perhaps with a sensation as if ice were melting there (90) and with aggravation from change of weather to damp (98). It is of value for headaches of school-girls (95) who are maturing and who are anaemic (93).
Allen tells us that Calcarea phos. is valuable “for acne of girls (Calcarea pic. more frequently for boys)” (14). Dearborn says: “The existence of a non-specific cachexia as the probable perpetuating cause of a skin eruption may be counted as a good indication for Calcarea phos.”
(As Calcarea picrata is not given separate mention in the Handbook we may say here that it is a good remedy to abort styes or furuncles of the ear (Dr. Houghton) (64). I use it low, 3rd, and it has a decidedly disagreeable taste.)
In the throat Calcarea phos. is of great value for mycosis tonsillaris (192). This condition you will sometimes hear miscalled chronic follicular tonsillitis. It is not often seen, but occurs in those who are anaemic and run-down. Old school authorities acknowledge their inability to cure it and declare that the whole treatment lies in the endeavor to build the patient up. Our knowledge of the value of Calcarea phos. here is purely the result of clinical experience and was first given to us by Dr. C. E. Beebe, of this city.
Calcarea phos. is to be thought of for dyspepsia, with pain after eating (177), or as Hering puts it, “at every attempt to eat, bellyache;” at any rate the trouble arises soon after eating, and is better temporarily from eructations (175); when fasting the pain goes backward from the stomach to the spine (180), with difficulty in eructating and temporary relief from eating (174). There is heartburn (114) associated with acid eructations (178).
There is noticed in Calcarea phos. and in cholera infantum especially, a longing for salted and smoked meats, bacon, ham, etc. (9), with the emaciation, sunken and flabby abdomen.
The diarrhoea calling for the remedy, is found especially in scrofulous or rachitic children (129) and during teething; there is an aggravation from fruit (57) and from cider. The stools are green (59), undigested (60) and expelled forcibly (59), with much offensive flatus.
Calcarea phos. may prove useful in nymphomania (146), with a voluptuous feeling as if all the parts were full of blood, heat of head and a sensation of weight on vertex (103) and with aggravation before the menses.
Menstruation is too early, i.e., too frequent, perhaps every two weeks, in young girls, with faint feeling in stomach (179) relieved by eating (174), while in older women menstruation is apt to be delayed (136). We may have labor-like pains during menstruation or pains like uterine spasms, after stool or micturition.
The leucorrhoea, which looks like the whites of eggs (126), is not as profuse as under Calcarea carb. It may be worse before menstruation or after it (126), increasing as the menstrual flow decreases.
It is of value in the exhaustion following prolonged nursing (146), with cough, weakness of voice and pain between the shoulders. Hering says, “child refuses breast, milk has a saltish taste.”
The cough for which we prescribe Calcarea phos. is usually a chronic one, even tubercular; it is short and dry and associated with dyspnoea and night-sweats (185). We also have a suffocative cough of children, perhaps with sensations of “contraction of chest” (Hering), the cough better when lying down (40), worse when sitting up.
Calcarea phos. is useful in chronic rheumatism of muscles or joints, worse from change of weather to dampness (9), “particularly when the snow melts and in east winds,” or for “rheumatism pertaining particularly to cold weather, getting well in spring and returning next autumn” (Hering).
I use Calcarea phos. 3rd.
