Synonym. Ammonium Chloride. Common name. Sal Ammoniac. Preparation. First decimal solution with water, subsequent dilutions alcohol. Also triturations.
GENERAL ANALYSIS.
Ammonium Muriaticum diminishes the plasticity of the blood, and promotes glandular secretion and the absorption of fibrinous exudations. It also increases the elimination of urea. Its most characteristic action is upon the mucous membranes, whose secretions are greatly increased.
CHARACTERISTIC SYMPTOMS.
Head. Vertigo and fullness of the head, as if it were heavy.
Eyes. Yellow spots before the eyes.
Nose. Coryza, with stoppage; great soreness and tenderness of the nose, and loss of smell. Watery, acrid coryza, corroding the lips (Arsenicum, Cepa, Mercurius cor.) Sneezing with crawling in the throat.
Mouth. Vesicles on the tip of the tongue, with burning pain (Arsenicum, Mercurius cor.).
Throat. Sore throat, with viscid phlegm, so tough that it cannot be hawked up (Alumina, Borax, Kali bichromicum). Throbbing in the tonsils. Swelling of the tonsils so that he can scarcely swallow, after taking cold.
Stomach. Gnawing feeling in the stomach. Hiccough; eructations; nausea; waterbrash.
Abdomen. Griping pains about the navel.
Stool and Anus. Much burning in rectum and anus during and for hours after stool (Aloe, Ars, Sulphur). Itching soreness of rectum; several pustules formed at side of it. Tearing pain in perineum, in evening or when walking. Constipation; stool hard and crumbling (Natr. mur.), requiring great effort to expel. Green slimy, diarrhoeic stool (Arsenicum, Mercurius), Glassy, tough mucus in stool (Causticum). Hard stool covered with mucus.
Urinary Organs. Profuse and frequent discharge of urine at night (Ambra, Phosphorus ac.).
Female Organs. Menses too early, with pain in abdomen and small of back; continuing at night, when the flow is more abundant. During menses a bloody discharge from the bowels. Leucorrhoea like white of egg (Borax, Bovis., Calcarea phos., Mez.); after pinching around navel; brown, slimy, unpainful; after urination.
Respiration Organs. Hoarseness, with burning in larynx. Dry cough from tickling in throat. Cough at night when lying on the back, preventing sleep. Rattling in chest (Ant. tart.). Pressure and stitches in the chest, as if morsel of food had lodged there. Oppression of chest mornings.
Back. Painful stiffness of neck (Aconite Agaricus); of small of back, even when sitting, worse when raising the body erect. Pain in small of back as if beaten and shattered. Coldness in the back and between the shoulders. Severe pain in limbs and sacral region. Bruised pain in coccyx, when sitting, worse when sleeping.
Upper Limbs. Right forearm heavy as if “asleep.”
Lower Limbs. Pain in left hip, as if tendons were too short: must limp when walking; when sitting, gnawing pain in bone. Tearing pain in front part of thighs, when sitting. Drawing tension in legs when sitting or lying. Hamstring painful when walking, as if too short (Ant. tart.). Tension in joints as from shortening of the muscles, obliging him to walk crooked. Cannot walk erect on account of as pain as from a sprain in the groins. Ulcerative pain in right heel.
Fever. Chilliness evenings, after lying down, and as often as she wakes, without thirst.
Conditions, Suitable to those who are fat and as often as she wakes, without thirst.
Compare. Alumina, Ammonium carb., Am. Causticum, Arsenicum, Argentum nit., Causticum, Kali carb., Acid Muriaticum, Natr. mur., Phosphorus, Silicea, Sulphur
Antidotes. Camph., Coffea, c., Hepar s., Nux v., bitter almonds. To large doses; vinegar or vegetable acids.
THERAPEUTICS.
Ammonium muriaticum is useful in catarrhal conditions in all parts of the body, characterized especially by increased secretion from the mucous membranes, and free discharge. In nasal catarrh the discharge is watery and acrid, making the inside of the nostrils a nd the upper lip sore; bronchial catarrh may be either dry, with dry, hacking cough, and stitches in the chest (kali c.), or three may be a profuse expectoration with much rattling of mucus in the chest (Stannum), especially in old people. The same symptoms indicate the drug in phthisis. In all chest affections a coldness between the shoulder blades is characteristic. Catarrhal aphonia with hoarseness, rawness and burning in the larynx. An excellent remedy for constipation, with the characteristic crumbling stools, or when the hard faeces are coated with mucus. Diarrhoea, greenish mucous stools. Chronic congestion of the liver if the symptoms correspond. Albuminous leucorrhoea is most characteristic, or else brown and slimy, after urination. With leucorrhoea and the characteristics stool, the drug may be indicated in uterine displacements, ovarian diseases, and in complaints during pregnancy. Sciatica. Neuralgic pains in stump of an amputated limb. Has been used in the treatment of chronic sprains.
ALLEN CORSON COWPERTHWAITE was born at Cape May, New Jersey, May 3, 1848, son of Joseph C. and Deborah (Godfrey) Cowperthwaite. He attended medical lectures at the University of Iowa in 1867-1868, and was graduated from the Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia in 1869. He practiced his profession first in Illinois, and then in Nebraska. In 1877 he became Dean and Professor of Materia Medica in the recently organized Homeopathic Department of the State University of Iowa, holding the position till 1892. In 1884 he accepted the chair of Materia Medica, Pharmacology, and Clinical Medicine in the Homeopathic Medical College of the University of Michigan. He removed to Chicago in 1892, and became Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College. From 1901 he also served as president of that College. He is the author of various works, notably "Insanity in its Medico-Legal Relations" (1876), "A Textbook of Materia Medica and Therapeutics" (1880), of "Gynecology" (1888), and of "The Practice of Medicine " (1901).