- Common Name: Nitric Acid
- Chemical Formula: HNO₃
- Source: A powerful mineral acid prepared for homeopathic use through potentization.
Sphere of Action
Acts deeply on mucous membranes, skin, blood, gastrointestinal tract, and urinary system. Notably indicated in ulceration, fissures, warts, and pains like splinters.
Constitutional Indications
- Dark complexioned, cachectic, broken-down constitution
- Thin, emaciated, exhausted, with poor healing capability
- Syphilitic, sycotic, or cancerous diathesis
- Tendency to bleed easily from mucous surfaces
Mind
- Irritable, vindictive, and discontented
- Fear of death; anxious about health
- Nervous, easily excited
- Weak memory; slow comprehension
Head
- Vertigo on walking or rising
- Bursting headache with pressure on vertex
- Hair falls out from temples or vertex
- Headache from noise or exertion
Mouth & Throat
- Mouth ulcers that bleed easily
- Foul, offensive breath
- Tongue shows ulcers or is mapped
- Gums swollen, ulcerated, and bleeding
- Throat pain like from splinter or fishbone
Respiratory
- Hoarseness with dry, sore throat
- Raw feeling in chest
- Painful dry cough; expectoration streaked with blood
- Larynx sensitive to pressure
Stomach & Digestion
- Craving for fat, salt, chalk, earth, or indigestible things (pica)
- Sour eructations, nausea in the morning
- Burning in stomach with bloating
- Ulcers in mouth and stomach, with bleeding tendency
Stool & Anus
- Constipation with fissures, painful, bleeding stools
- Fissures of anus with splinter-like pains
- Hemorrhoids, painful, bleeding, and itching
- Diarrhea in old debilitated persons with offensive odor
Urinary
- Urine strong-smelling, like horse’s urine
- Bloody urine, or dark brown, scanty
- Painful urination with sharp, splinter-like pain in urethra
- Tenesmus of bladder, urging without relief
Genitals
- In men: Gonorrhea with thin, foul discharge; ulcers on glans
- In women: Offensive leucorrhea; ulcers on cervix
- Useful in syphilitic, sycotic, or gonorrheal histories
Extremities & Bones
- Bone pains at night, especially in long bones
- Painful cracks and fissures on heels, between toes
- Rheumatic pains with stiffness and weakness
- Nails deformed, cracked, or painful
Skin
- Warts, especially moist and bleeding easily
- Ulcers with irregular edges, bleed easily, and are very painful
- Cracks at angles of mouth, fingertips, anus
- Foul-smelling skin eruptions with burning pain
Sleep
- Sleep disturbed by anxious dreams
- Sleeplessness due to burning pains
- Dreams of robbers, dangers, and death
Modalities
|
Worse From |
Better From |
|
Night, touch, pressure, cold |
Riding, warmth, after rest |
|
Slight causes, noise, jarring |
While lying on back |
Miasmatic Influence
- Acts on syphilitic, sycotic, and cancerous constitutions
- Especially important in chronic cases with a history of venereal disease or suppressed eruptions
Keynotes
- Splinter-like pains anywhere (throat, anus, ulcers)
- Offensive discharges — breath, stool, urine, ulcers
- Fissures and ulcers with bleeding and burning
- Suited to patients with broken-down health, emaciation, and exhaustion
- Dark, dirty-looking ulcers and warts, offensive and painful
Relationship
|
Complementary Remedies |
Follows Well After |
Antidotes |
|
Calcarea, Sepia, Thuja |
Mercurius, Hepar Sulph |
Lachesis, Camphor |
Potency & Dosage
- 30C to 200C commonly used in chronic complaints
- Lower potencies (6C–30C) used for local fissures, ulcers, warts
- Frequent repetition may be harmful due to deep acting nature
One-Line Summary
“Nitric acid is indicated in ulcerations, fissures, and warts with splinter-like pain and offensive discharges in broken-down constitutions.”
Tags
MATERIA MEDICA