Sulphuricum acidum

A strong, corrosive mineral acid with the chemical formula H₂SO₄, Sulphuricum acidum is produced by oxidising sulphur and combining it with water. It is colourless to slightly yellow, oily, and extremely reactive.

First proved by Hahnemann; symptoms confirmed by Allen, Hering, and Clarke. Much clinical use based on slow destructive states and “hurry-with-exhaustion” themes.

Sulphuricum acidum represents the collapse of tone, tissue, and time. The organism is burning out—racing forward while falling apart. Suited to people worn down by disease, grief, excess, or age, it acts as a restorer of dignity and structure amidst corrosion. Its theme is one of internal trembling masked by outward haste, and its keynote is breakdown—ulcers, haemorrhage, exhaustion, and bruising. It brings healing where fire, friction, and fatigue have hollowed the system.

• Mucous membranes – especially of mouth, throat, and gastrointestinal tract
• Stomach and digestion – acid dyspepsia, ulcers, heartburn
• Circulation – bruising tendency, venous congestion, haemorrhage
• Skin – ulceration, ecchymosis, chemical burn-like states
• Nerves – exhaustion, tremor, shaking, internal weakness
• Right side – several complaints are more right-sided
• Aged and broken-down constitutions – suited to people “burned out” or prematurely old

Marked hurry and restlessness, yet physically weak and easily exhausted. The mind races faster than the body can follow. Mental impatience: tasks feel too slow, others too sluggish. Forgetfulness, mental dullness, aversion to talking or company. Depression with internal trembling and coldness. Pessimistic, despondent, fears disease or decline. Suited to persons who have suffered grief, loss of vital fluids, or overwork, becoming prematurely old and sour in temperament [Kent, Clarke].

Restless, disturbed. Cannot sleep from internal tremor. Wakes with a start. Night sweats. Better sleeping with head high.

Dreams of death, decay, fire. Frightful or anxious dreams. May dream of falling, sinking, or darkness.

Hurry with weakness is the hallmark. Feels old, prematurely aged, used up. Trembling inside. Easily bruised or ulcerated. Skin and mucosa break down easily. Burning pains in internal organs. Symptoms often one-sided (right). Adapted to people run down from chronic illness, alcoholism, grief, or long-standing worry. Used in cancer, ulcers, aphthae, and senility.

Low-grade fever with great exhaustion. Alternating heat and chill. Internal coldness with external heat. May feel feverish after minor exertion. Trembling during febrile episodes.

Chill predominates. Chilly even in warm room. Trembles with chill. Heat in face or head. Cold, clammy sweat. Night sweats with debility.

Head feels full, heavy, or bursting. Vertigo on rising or moving quickly. Sensation of looseness in the brain, as if it shook with every step [Hering]. Frontal headache with cold sweat and trembling. Neuralgia with tearing, burning pains—worse right side. Pressing pain over the eyes. Headaches accompanied by great prostration. Worse from jar, motion, cold.

Sunken, dull, with bluish circles around them. Smarting and burning in lids and conjunctiva. Lids stick together in morning. Weakness of vision after loss of fluids. Photophobia during headache. Twitching or trembling of eyelids.

Tinnitus, particularly a buzzing sound. Cold sensations around the ears. Diminished hearing in old people. Sensitive to noise when exhausted. Occasional burning or tearing in ears.

Bleeding from nose (epistaxis) in debilitated persons or during fevers. Ulceration or dry crusts inside nose. Discharge of blood-streaked mucus. Loss of smell in chronic catarrh.

Pale, sallow, or yellowish with sunken cheeks. Skin of face feels thin or drawn. Blue rings under the eyes. Flushed face during gastric distress. Wrinkled prematurely. Neuralgia of face with burning pains and trembling of lip.

A keynote remedy for stomatitis, especially with aphthae, burning ulcers, and offensive breath. Gums bleed easily. Mouth and tongue feel raw, sore, or smarting. Dryness and acidity in mouth. Tongue may be red, cracked, or have ulcers. Saliva profuse, sour, or metallic. Speech can become slow from oral weakness. Used in cases of oral cancer or post-radiation ulceration [Boericke].

Painful, loosened, or decayed. Sensitive to cold air or touch. Tendency to bleed from gums. Neuralgic pain extending to jaw or ear. Pain may be better from warmth.

Burning and smarting, worse on right side. Feeling of constriction or rawness. Ulcers or aphthae extending from mouth. Swallowing painful. Mucous membrane dry and sticky. Suited to cancerous or pre-cancerous throat states with slow erosion.

Constriction, rawness, or burning in chest. Cough dry, hacking, or with acrid expectoration. Stitching pain under ribs. Voice weak or trembling. Pain may extend to shoulders or scapula. Sometimes used in cancer of oesophagus or mediastinum.

Palpitations with tremor, weakness, or faintness. Heart feels tired or strained. Pulse weak, small, and rapid. Used in aged with arterial degeneration. Coldness or cyanosis of extremities with heart symptoms.

Breathing short, especially from weakness. Air hunger in advanced cachexia. Breath offensive. Worse lying down or at night. Used in conditions like emphysema, phthisis, or ulcerated larynx.

Extremely acid stomach—a keynote. Heartburn with sour eructations and nausea. Gnawing, burning pains better from eating. Cannot tolerate empty stomach. Vomiting of sour or black contents. Craves alcohol, which strangely relieves stomach distress. Used in chronic gastritis, ulcer, and alcoholism [Clarke]. Trembling internally before or after meals.

Distended with gas. Cramping, dragging, or burning pains. Bruised soreness over liver or spleen. Flatulence extremely offensive. Pain worse on motion or after eating. Sensitive to pressure. Indicated in liver degeneration, splenic pain, and chronic debility.

Tendency to haemorrhoids—bluish, bleeding, with a raw burning sensation. Anal fissures with pain during and after stool. Stool may be watery, black, or sour-smelling. Diarrhoea worse in morning, with exhaustion. Rectal ulcers in weak, cachectic patients.

Dark, offensive urine. May be copious or scanty. Dribbling or involuntary urination in aged or weakened persons. Burning in urethra. Occasionally enuresis or straining. Albuminuria in advanced cachexia.

Craves alcohol, acidic foods, stimulants. Aversion to milk and meat. Nausea from fasting. Worse from vinegar, cold drinks, and fruit.

Sexual weakness or loss of desire after excesses or illness. Erections weak or incomplete. May be used in advanced prostatic enlargement with rectal pressure. Gonorrhoeal discharge ulcerates or burns.

Weak, irregular menses with dragging pain and backache. Leucorrhoea thin, acrid, or excoriating. Vaginal aphthae. Prolapsus uteri from weakness. Uterine bleeding in elderly or exhausted women. Post-menopausal ulceration or cancer with corrosive discharge.

Lame, sore feeling in back, especially sacrum. Burning between shoulders. Weakness worse standing. Pain extends down thighs. Coldness in lower spine. Suited to spinal decay or degenerative nerve conditions.

Trembling of hands and limbs—a central keynote. Limbs feel bruised, lame, or tired. Paralytic weakness, especially in elderly. Numbness or tingling in fingers. Legs cold, blue, or swollen. Gouty nodes or chronic rheumatism with general exhaustion.

Ulceration, ecchymosis, burns, and slow healing wounds. Skin bruises easily. Used in purpura, bedsores, and diabetic ulcers. Skin thin, wrinkled, or discoloured. Cancerous growths, old scars ulcerating. Useful in cracked skin of elderly.

• Muriatic acid – Similar oral ulceration but more severe prostration and haemorrhagic diathesis
• Phosphoric acid – Weakness after grief or loss, but more mentally dull than hurried
• Carbo vegetabilis – Extreme debility, but more coldness and gas
• Nitric acid – Acrid, sharp ulcers; more stabbing pains, intolerance to touch
• Arsenicum album – Burning pains, prostration, and anxiety, but with more restlessness and fear of death

• Complementary: Phosphoric acid, Carbo veg., Arsenicum album
• Antidotes: Nux vomica, Pulsatilla
• Follows well: After abuse of alcohol or stimulants
• Precedes well: Constitutional remedies after acute restoration
• Inimical: Sepia (generally does not follow well)

• Excellent for oral ulcerations, aphthae, and stomatitis, especially in elderly or cancer patients
• Valuable in gastric ulcers with burning pain and sour eructations
• Top remedy in haemorrhoids, especially with burning and prostration
• Useful in purpura, bruising, and senile skin ulceration
• Consider in tremor, especially with internal coldness and restlessness
• Apply in debility from alcoholism, chronic wasting, or convalescence

Mouth

• Aphthae, ulceration, painful
• Tongue, cracked, red
• Saliva, profuse, sour

Stomach

• Heartburn, acid
• Nausea, fasting, from
• Craves alcohol

Skin

• Ulcers, slow healing
• Bruising, tendency
• Ecchymosis, spontaneous

Extremities

• Trembling, internal
• Weakness, general
• Paralysis, senile

Generalities

• Old people, suited to
• Collapse, after haemorrhage
• Internal coldness

• Samuel Hahnemann – Materia Medica Pura: Original proving symptoms including oral ulcers and gastric complaints
• James Tyler Kent – Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica: Mental themes of hurry and prostration
• William Boericke – Pocket Manual: Keynotes for aphthae, alcohol craving, and skin ulceration
• John Henry Clarke – Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica: Extended physical generals and clinical insights on haemorrhage, cachexia, and weakness
• C. Hering – Guiding Symptoms: Provided modality detail and skin/tremor symptom elaboration
• T.F. Allen – Encyclopedia of Pure Materia Medica: Documented extensive gastric, mucosal, and mental symptoms