Acidum Nitricum
Generalities: Great general weakness; feeble reaction; extreme sensitivity, and nervous trembling, are marked features in this remedy.

Acidum Nitricum

Patients greatly broken by long suffering, pain and sickness, physical more than mental suffering, finally anemia and emaciation are marked.

Sensitive to cold; always chilly. Symptoms are aggravated from becoming cold, and in cold air. Always taking cold.

The walls of blood vessels are relaxed and bleed easily; profuse dark blood. Pains as if flesh were torn from the bones and a sensation as though a splinter felt in inflamed parts, in ulcers and in nerves. Inflammation of the periosteum, in bone, and in the nerves. Syphilitic bone pains. Caries of bone, and exostoses.

The margins of orifices bleed and grow warts. Old scars become painful in cold weather and when weather changes to cold; pains like splinters. Inflammation of glands after the abuse of mercury in syphilitic subjects. Prolonged suppuration in glands, with no tendency to repair, when there are sticking pains.

The discharges are thin, bloody, offensive and excoriating; sometimes a dirty yellowish green. Suppuration where there is no tendency to repair. This is often the case when the patient is syphilitic and has been surcharged with mercury. For suppuration and ulceration in cancerous affections with bloody, watery, offensive discharges and sticking pains. It has often been observed that the patient requiring Nitric acid is more subject to diarrhea than constipation.

It has cured many complaints in patients who are never so comfortable as when riding in a carriage. Twitching of muscles in all parts of the body. Many complaints are aggravated from a jar, and from noise. Even his pains are aggravated from noise.

Nitric acid patients are often extremely sensitive to medicines, especially high potencies indeed, they prove every remedy given too high. Fissures form in many places; canthi, corners of the mouth, above the anus; the skin cracks - and all these have the splinter sensation.

He finally becomes dropsical, especially in the extremities. Offensiveness is a marked condition of this patient, often putrid odors. The urine smells like that of a horse. Offensive leucorrhoea, offensive catarrh, and breath; foetid foot sweat. Strong odors from the body. Too much weight must not be given to the dark, swarthy complexion so often mentioned as the one most likely to need this remedy. Nitric acid will cure blondes as often as brunettes, if the symptoms agree.

Mind: Prostration of mind.

Any effort to reflect on certain things causes the thoughts to vanish. A general indifference to all matters; tired of life; has no enjoyment in anything; aggravated before menses.

Mental depression in the evening. Anxiety about his failing health, with fear of death. Anxiety after loss of sleep; vexation and sorrow. He is angered over his own mistakes. Anger with trembling. Obstinate and refuses to be comforted about his misfortune. He is weary of life but fears death.

Excitable and weeps. Despair of recovery. Hopelessness. Easily startled, frightened. Starts from fright on falling asleep. Cannot comprehend what is said to him. The whole mental state is better when riding in a carriage.

Head: Suffers much from vertigo in the morning; must lie down.

His headaches are violent, aggravated from noise of wagons on the paved streets, but often ameliorated from riding in a carriage on a smooth, country road.

The noise and jarring increase the pain, Pain as if in a vise from car to car. The biparietal syphilitic pain is often cured by this remedy. Pain as though the head were bound up. Painful drawing in head extending to eyes, with nausea. Stitching pains in the head. Hammering pain in the head. Pain in morning on waking, ameliorated after rising, aggravated by a jar, motion and noise, ameliorated riding in a carriage. Heat often ameliorates the head pains and cold aggravates.

Wrapping up ameliorates. Pain as if constricted by a tape. Extreme sensitivity of the scalp and skull to combing the hair, and to the hat. The hair falls out in profusion, as in syphilis. Eruption on the scalp with sharp sticking pains as from splinters; moist, itching, offensive eruptions. Caries of bones of skull. Exostoses.

Eyes: The eyes have lost their lustre, the pupils are dilated, and there is diplopia.

There is inflammation of the conjunctiva with acrid tears. Ulceration of the cornea with pricking pain. Iritis with stinging, stitching pain, aggravated at night and changing from warm to cold room or in cold air. Spots on the cornea. Intense photophobia, burning, pressure and sensation as though sand in the eyes.

Ptosis. Swollen lids, which are hard and burn. Small warts on upper lids. Warts that bleed easily, with sensation of sticks.

Ears and nose: Deafness, ameliorated when riding in a carriage or train.

Catarrh of the Eustachian tubes. Pulsating in cars. Discharge from ear, foetid, brown, ichorous, purulent-since scarlet fever. The auditory canal nearly closed. Swelling of glands about the ear. Caries of the mastoid.

Subject to coryza every winter; no sooner does be get over one cold than he has another. The nose is obstructed in the night during sleep. Sneezing in cold air, from every draft, must keep the room very warm. Bad smells in the nose, and the catarrh is offensive to others.

Nosebleed mornings and nights. Nasal catarrh, acrid, watery at night, yellow, offensive, excoriating, bloody, brownish, thin - since scarlet fever or in mercurio-sypbilitic patients. The nose feels as if there were splinters in it. Large crusts from high up in nose. Green crusts blown out every morning. Ulceration high up in nose. Warts form in and about the nostrils. Red, scurfy tip of nose. Crusts form on the wings of the nose. Cracked nose.

Face: Deep lines of suffering characterize the Nitric acid face.

The face is pale, yellow, sallow and sunken. The eyes are sunken. Dark rings about the eyes, mouth and nose. The face is bloated. The lids are tumid in the morning. There are brown spots. Pigmented warty' spots on the forehead. The right parotid is large. The skin feels drawn over the face. Crusts and pustules form on the face, Cracking in-jaw when chewing.

Corners of the mouth cracked, ulcerated and scabby. The lips raw and bleeding. Painful swelling of the sub maxillary gland. The expression is anxious, haggard, sickly.

Teeth and mouth: Pain in the teeth, tearing, aggravated from cold or warm things.

Pulsating evening and night, after mercury. Caries of teeth. Teeth become yellow. Gums bleed easily, scorbutic, swollen.

The tongue is excoriated, sore, red, yellow, white and dry, fissured, with sore spots. Ulceration of tongue with viscid mucus in mouth. Inflammation of the tongue.

Ulcers in mouth, on tongue or in throat, white, or dark and dirty, putrid, phagedenic, syphilitic, with sticking pains as from splinters. Sore mouth with stinging, burning pain. Excoriated, red, swollen membrane. Foul cadaveric odor from the mouth. Saliva flows from the mouth so acrid that it excoriates the lips.

Throat: Confusion of the muscular action in throat causes food to stop in throat and choking.

Difficult swallowing. Violent pain in throat, extending to ear on swallowing. Sticking in throat like a splinter (Hepar, Nat. mur. Alum., Arg. n.) on swallowing.

Viscid mucus in throat. Mucus drawn from posterior nares. Inflammation of throat, tonsils, uvula and soft palate. Uvula and tonsils oedematous (Apis, Rhus t.).

Great swelling of the throat and tonsils. Ulceration of tonsils, uvula and soft palate. Inflammation of the oesophagus.

Stomach and liver: Longing for fats, pungent things, herring, chalk, lime, earth; and aversion to bread and meat.

Generally thirstless.

The stomach is disordered by milk. Food sours, and causes sour eructations and vomiting. Fats disagree. Nausea after eating, ameliorated by moving about or riding in a carriage. Vomiting bitter and sour, contents of stomach. Ulceration of stomach.

Pain in cardiac, opening of stomach on swallowing. Sticking pain in stomach. Catarrh of stomach. Weight after eating. Sensation of rawness in stomach after eating.

Chronic inflammation of liver.

Clay-colored stools. Enormously enlarged liver. Pain in region of liver with jaundice. Stitching pain in liver. Enlarged spleen.

Abdomen: Cramping pain in abdomen.

Violent pain in ilio-coecal region, sore and tender, aggravated from motion. Awakened at midnight with a crampy pain in abdomen; chilly; pain aggravated from motion.

Rumbling in abdomen. Abdomen distended and tender. Great soreness in abdomen. Inflammation and suppuration of inguinal glands.

The relaxed condition in weakly infant boys. that so much disposes to inguinal hernia, is often overcome by Nitric acid and the hernia cured (Lyc., Nux v.).

Broken down subjects who are disposed to suffer from frequent attacks of diarrhea, or from constipation alternating with diarrhea, often need this remedy when the urine smells strong like that of a horse, and he is pale and sickly, losing flesh and strength, subject to excoriation of orifices and excoriating catarrhs and ulcers.

The stool is bloody, putrid, undigested, green, slimy, excoriating, sour, curdled if milk is used as a diet, black putrid blood. In dysentery. Cold changes of the weather bring on diarrhea.

Anus excoriated, burning, fissured, covered with warts. Membrane comes with the stool. Much pure blood with the stool not even clotted, very offensive.

Ineffectual urging to stool. Sensation as if rectum were filled and he cannot expel it. Constipation, painful hard difficult stool. Drawing, cutting and pressing before stool; constant fruitless urging (Nux v.).

During stool there is colic, tenesmus, spasmodic contraction of anus, unsatisfactory straining. Splinters in rectum.

After stool there is still urging (Merc.), exhaustion; soreness of anus; cutting pain; burning and shooting in rectum; constriction of anus; great nervous excitement; palpitation.

The pain keeps her in bed for hours after every stool. Itching and burning in anus. Constant acrid moisture about the anus. Periodical bleeding of rectum and pain in sacrum. Fissures of anus. Painful prolapsus of rectum. This has been a most useful remedy in fistula. fissures, condylomata, polypi, caruncles, cancer of the rectum and hemorrhoids, when the symptoms agree. It has cured caruncles so sensitive that the patient would cry out when they were touched.

Hemorrhoids that are exquisitely painful to touch and at stool; that bleed, external or internal, with burning and sticking during stool. Piles that ulcerate and discharge copiously of blood and pus.

When piles are so painful that she breaks out in sweat, becomes anxious, and pulsates all over, on the slightest touch or at stool, this remedy has been useful (compare Paonia and Staph.). Foetid moisture at the anus.

Men: The male sexual organs are in a constant state of irritability.

Sexual desire is increased and erections troublesome at night. Painful spasmodic erections at night; stitching pain in the urethra and chordee. It has been a useful remedy in gonorrhea when the discharge is thin and bloody, later when it is greenish or yellow; burning and sticking on urination, and the urethra is swollen and very sore.

It has cured condylomata which have the "splinter" sensation, and bleed easily, and extremely sensitive to touch. Condylomata on genitals and around the anus.

Inflammation of the prostate gland with gonorrhea, especially when the discharge becomes scanty from taking cold or from strong injections. It cures old cases of gleet when the urethra has pain in it like a splinter on touch or when urinating.

Prolonged inflammation of the urethra with infiltration, making the urethra feel hard and nodular like a whip-cord (Arg. n.). Sore spots in the urethra, ulcers, with bloody pus, and the sensation of splinters. Itching in the urethra after gonorrhea (Petr.).

Pimples, vesicles, herpes and crusts on the prepuce. Small ulcers on the glans or prepuce. Spreading ulcers.

The ulcers discharge a brown, bloody water, offensive. Phagedenic ulcers (Ars., Aur. m. n., Caust., Merc. c.). Inflammation of the prepuce.

Ulcers that destroy the froenum. Inflamed and ulcerated parts have the splinter sensation and flow a bloody water. Paraphimosis and phimosis and great swelling. The hair falls off from the pubes.

Women: The female is greatly troubled by the constant itching and burning and sexual desire.

Excoriation of the parts from leucorrhoea and menstrual discharges. Every exertion brings on uterine hemorrhage (Calc.). The menstrual flow is dark and thick. Menses too soon and profuse, like bloody, water.

Uterine prolapsus. Many and extreme nervous sufferings come during the menstrual period; flatulence, bruised pain in limbs, pain down thighs, "splinter" under the finger and toe nails, palpitation, anxiety, trembling, neuralgic pains in any part.

After the menses there comes a muddy, watery flow, lasting many days, and extreme excoriation of the parts. Thin, bloody, excoriating leucorrhoea at all times or at any time.

The vagina is excoriated and condylomata grow upon the genitalia. Erectile tumors. Caruncles at the orifice of urethra, exquisitely sensitive to touch. The itching is aggravated by cold. The parts are fissured and bleed easily.


Many troubles culminate during menses and lactation. Lumps in the mammae. The nipples are fissured and tender, are excoriated and have "splinters."

Tendency to abortion from general weakness and the ease with which a uterine hemorrhage may set in.

Larynx: Hoarseness, and ulceration of the larynx.

Voice lost. Laryngitis in old syphilitic subjects. Oppression of the chest, ameliorated by expectoration. Shortness of breath. Intermittent breathing.

The cough is aggravated in winter, yet aggravated in a warm room and from becoming warm. The cough is dry, barking, aggravated during the night, aggravated lying, aggravated before midnight; comes on during sleep. Cough with hectic fever and night sweats.

Paroxysmal cough with retching, like whooping cough, violent, racking cough. Hard, prolonged coughing spells with difficult expectoration. The irritation to cough is like a tickling in the larynx.

The expectoration is greenish, viscid or thin, dirty, watery, bloody mucus, or dark clotted blood. Loose cough in daytime, dry at night. Rattling in daytime, but no expectoration. Cough in broken-down constitutions, from liver and lung affections, in tubercular subjects.

The sputum tastes bitter, sour or salty. It is offensive, even putrid. He is covered with sweat during efforts to expectorate. Stitching in the chest. In typhoid pneumonia, with rattling in the chest, inability to expectorate, or when he can expectorate the sputum is brown and bloody, and the urine smells like that of a horse. In tuberculosis with night sweats and haemoptysis. Palpitation from excitement, on ascending stairs. The pulse is rapid, irregular, and every fourth beat is missed.

Swelling of glands of neck and axilla. Stiff neck. Stitching pains in back and chest. Burning spots in spine. Pain in back, nights, compelling him to lie on the abdomen. Sharp pains in back and limb in tabes dorsalis. Sharp pains in back on coughing.

Rheumatic pains in limbs. Emaciation of upper arms, and thighs. Weakness of limbs. Dropsy of limbs. Crippled nails. Rheumatic pains in upper limbs. Stitching. Sticking pains in limbs in cold weather. Numbness of arms and hands. Copper colored spots on arms. Chilblains on hands and fingers. Cold, sweaty hands. Numerous large warts on back of bands. Herpes between the fingers. Vesicles on the tip of the thumb that open into ulcers, felons, distorted and discolored nails.

Yellow curved nails, splintered sensation under nails. It is useful in wounds that inflame and have the "splinter" sensation. Tearing in the long bones of the lower limbs at night. The legs are weary and bruised. Pain in hip as if sprained. Sticking pains along the nerves as from splinters. Syphilitic nodes on the tibia with nightly pains. Chilblains on the feet and toes. Phagedenic blisters on the toes (Graph.). Extreme soreness of the tibia. Profuse, offensive sweat of feet.

Shocks on going to sleep (Agar., Arg. n., Ars., Nat. m.). The pain comes during sleep. Starting in sleep. Anxious, unrefreshing sleep, with frightful dreams.

Nitric acid is a very useful remedy in fevers. The thirstlessness during all stages has often called attention to it. Cold hands and feet. Chronic intermittent in cachectic constitutions, copious night sweats. extreme weakness, with the characteristic odor of the urine, and bleeding from some part a dark blood, this remedy will act well.


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