Ammonium carbonicum affects the mental sphere through physical exhaustion, oxygen deprivation, and irritability. The patient is forgetful, dull, anxious, and often indifferent. The mind becomes cloudy, especially during fevers or breathlessness. There is confusion upon waking, irritability when disturbed, and depression in chronic illness. [Clarke] notes a peculiar intolerance to contradiction and a tendency to be mentally sluggish under physical strain. In acute states, fear of dying, restlessness, and even delirium may appear. Apathy during menses or weakness is marked.
Sleep
Drowsy during the day, sleepless at night. Frequent waking with anxious dreams. Sleep disturbed by suffocation or coughing. Startling during sleep. Waking with dullness or heaviness.
Dreams
Dreams anxious or of falling. Dreams of fire, quarrels, or loss. Wakes with fright or weakness. Dreams that seem very vivid but confused on waking.
Generalities
Craves vinegar, pickles, acids. Aversion to meat and milk. Appetite irregular. Thirst increased during heat or fever. Worse after eating bread, pastry, or heavy food.
Fever
Chilliness in back or limbs. Heat without thirst. Alternating heat and cold. Fever with great weakness and sleepiness. Sweating during sleep or after coughing.
Chill Heat Sweat
Chill worse from movement or open air. Flushes of heat in face and chest. Sweat mostly at night, cold and clammy. Offensive odour. Worse from exertion or suppressed eruptions.
Head
Fullness and congestion with throbbing pain, worse from stooping or exertion. Frontal headache worse in warm rooms and better in cold air. Pulsation in temples. Face may feel hot while feet are cold. Chronic headache from anaemia or menstrual suppression. Head feels as if it would burst. Cold sweat on the forehead with weakness.
Eyes
Burning and pressure in the eyes. Lids red, swollen, and stuck together in the morning. Dim vision with black spots floating before eyes. Photophobia with hot tears. Eyes feel tired and ache after reading. Eyelids twitch. Worse in warm room.
Ears
Itching in the ears. Ringing and roaring. Hearing diminished, especially during catarrh. Discharge of pus or blood possible in otitis media. Cracking noise when chewing or swallowing. Pain extending into temples.
Nose
A key location of action. Nose is stopped up at night, especially when lying down. Alternates with fluent coryza by day. Discharge is acrid, watery, or thick, and often bloody. Offensive smell. Epistaxis in the morning or during menses. [Hering] emphasised the peculiar night-time nasal obstruction with daytime flow.
Face
Pale, bloated, with dark rings under the eyes. Redness during fever or flushes. Face feels hot while limbs are cold. Twitching of facial muscles. Lips dry and cracked. Cyanosis in severe cases.
Mouth
Gums spongy, swollen, and bleed easily. Tongue coated white, later yellow. Taste sour or bitter. Offensive breath, especially in the morning. Burning in mouth and tongue. Ulcers on gums or inside cheeks. Increased salivation during sleep or in fevers.
Teeth
Looseness and sensitivity of teeth. Bleeding gums when brushing. Drawing or tearing toothache at night or from cold air. Worse during menses or in damp weather. Teeth feel elongated.
Throat
Dryness and rawness in throat, especially in the morning. Much phlegm collects, causing frequent hawking. Throat feels constricted. Tonsils swollen with thick yellow mucus. Sensation of lump when swallowing. Worse from talking or swallowing saliva. Chronic catarrhal throat conditions.
Chest
Oppression and tightness in chest. Dyspnoea worse lying down, especially at night. Patient must sit up to breathe. Cough with bloody or purulent expectoration. Chronic bronchitis in the aged or weakened. Emphysematous patients who are worse from heat and motion. Palpitation and constriction, as if chest bound. Cough worse at 3 a.m.
Heart
Palpitation from exertion or emotional upset. Pulse weak, rapid, and irregular. Sense of fluttering. Cyanosis and collapse in advanced stages. Fainting spells from anaemia or suppressed discharges.
Respiration
Laboured, especially on ascending stairs or lying flat. Shortness of breath with need to sit up. Cough dry or rattling, worse from warmth or during menses. Suffocative catarrh. Cough from tickling in throat.
Stomach
Nausea in the morning or after eating. Eructations that relieve pressure. Craving for pickles, vinegar, and acidic food. Aversion to milk. Stomach feels heavy after meals. Digestion sluggish. Sour regurgitation, especially at night. Tendency to bloating with flatulence.
Abdomen
Fullness, flatulence, and colicky pains, especially in hypogastrium. Worse at night or from walking. Pressure and stitching pains. Distension with rumbling and a desire for loose clothing. Cramping before stool or menses.
Rectum
Constipation alternating with diarrhoea. Stools hard, dry, crumbling. Ineffectual urging. Diarrhoea early in the morning, sometimes involuntary during sleep. Painful haemorrhoids that bleed and itch. Offensive flatus.
Urinary
Frequent urging, especially at night. Urine scanty, dark, and strong-smelling. Cloudy with mucous sediment. Burning and smarting in urethra. Involuntary urination on coughing or sneezing. Useful in senile incontinence.
Food
Craves vinegar, pickles, acids. Aversion to meat and milk. Appetite irregular. Thirst increased during heat or fever. Worse after eating bread, pastry, or heavy food.
Male
Weakness or exhaustion after coition. Emissions without dreams. Coldness of genitals. Impotence with aversion to sex. Gonorrhoeal discharges that are thick and yellow. Testicular pain or drawing in spermatic cords.
Female
Suppressed or delayed menses with faintness, breathlessness, and headache. Menses too early, too profuse, or too scanty. Leucorrhoea acrid and corrosive. Burning in vulva. Great exhaustion during and after menses. Labour-like pains in young girls. [Boericke] mentions its usefulness in women who feel suffocated during menstruation.
Back
Weakness in lumbar spine, especially on rising. Pain in sacrum when walking. Burning between shoulder blades. Tension or cramping along spine. Backache during menstruation.
Extremities
Hands cold, numb, or blue. Fingers stiff. Swelling of ankles. Cramps in calves at night. Heaviness and soreness in thighs. Pain in hip joint, worse at night. Chilblains. Numbness on waking.
Skin
Pale, flaccid, and cold. Urticaria, especially from heat or exertion. Eczema behind ears. Ulcers slow to heal. Itching, worse from warmth or water. Petechiae and small haemorrhages in feeble constitutions.
A chemical salt made by sublimation of ammonium chloride and calcium carbonate, forming a pungent, alkaline compound. Often used in commercial smelling salts.
Widely used as a respiratory stimulant in syncope or fainting; in baking powders and fire extinguishers; as a pharmaceutical expectorant.
First proved by Hahnemann and contributors, and included in Chronic Diseases. Strong toxicological and clinical confirmation, especially in respiratory and circulatory systems.
Respiratory system – bronchial membranes, dyspnoea, asthma
Circulatory system – weakness, collapse, fainting
Venous system – sluggish circulation, cyanosis
Mucous membranes – especially nose and throat
Skin – eruptions, ulcers, pallor
Blood – deficient oxygenation, toxic or anaemic states
Right side – many symptoms are predominantly right-sided
Open air (generally)
Sitting upright (especially during asthma or breathlessness)
Carbo vegetabilis – Also collapse, cyanosis, but more air hunger and distension
Antimonium tartaricum – Rattling chest but little expectoration, more in children
Nux vomica – Irritable, oversensitive, but stronger digestion and reaction
Arsenicum album – Restless, anxious, burning, more thirst and fear of death
Lachesis – Cyanosis and suppression symptoms, but left-sided and loquacious
Complementary: Arnica, Arsenicum, Bryonia
Antidotes: Camphora, Coffea
Follows well: Aconite in collapse, Pulsatilla in menstrual suppression
Precedes well: Carbo veg in chronic debility
Inimical: Chin., Ferrum (in some patients)
Ammonium carbonicum embodies the collapse of vitality, especially in anaemic, obese, or weakened individuals. There is a striking polarity: physical oppression with mental dullness, warmth aggravating yet patient is cold, breathlessness requiring the patient to sit upright, yet exhausted by movement. The paralysis of venous circulation and oxygen transport defines its clinical and emotional profile. It suits persons overwhelmed by minor exertion, chilled by the air yet worse in warmth, desiring air but suffocated by their own constitution. Suppressed discharges or catarrh are central triggers.
Invaluable for asthma with cyanosis, especially when better sitting upright and worse in a warm room
Useful in chronic nasal catarrh with night-time obstruction
Excellent for collapse during menses or fevers, particularly in anaemic women
Consider in chronic bronchitis in the elderly, especially obese patients
Indicated when cough or sleep is disturbed by dyspnoea or congestion
Nose
Obstruction at night
Coryza alternating with stoppage
Epistaxis during menses
Chest
Oppression, worse lying down
Cough with bloody mucus
Asthma better sitting up
Skin
Urticaria from exertion
Ulcers slow to heal
Cold, flaccid skin
Generalities
Worse warmth, better open air
Fainting from exertion
Exhaustion with cyanosis
Samuel Hahnemann – Chronic Diseases: Provided initial proving and chronic usage guidelines
T.F. Allen – Encyclopaedia of Pure Materia Medica: Extended proving and clinical observations
John Henry Clarke – Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica: Offered rich repertorial detail and clinical comparison
C. Hering – Guiding Symptoms: Key symptoms for asthma, fainting, and sleep
William Boericke – Pocket Manual: Clinical insights into respiratory and menstrual collapse states
Disclaimer: The content on this page is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Always seek guidance from a qualified healthcare professional before starting any treatment.
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