Kali phosphoricum

A chemical compound composed of potassium and phosphate, this neutral salt appears as a white, crystalline powder soluble in water.

Originally introduced through Schüssler’s tissue remedy system; later proven and confirmed by Allen, Hering, and others in more classical provings

Kali phosphoricum embodies the collapse of the nervous system under the weight of emotion, duty, and prolonged stress. It speaks to the weary student, the burned-out caregiver, the grieving widow, and the artist who has overreached his strength. There is a profound sensitivity—mental, emotional, and physical—paired with a loss of resilience and vitality. The essence is quiet despair, made worse by overstimulation and softened only by rest, warmth, and gentle care.

• Nerves and nervous tissue – exhaustion, neurasthenia, mental weakness
• Mind – anxiety, depression, mental overwork
• Muscles and spinal cord – weakness, trembling, fatigue
• Cerebrospinal axis – nervous debility, sensory-motor disorders
• Heart – palpitations from nervous causes
• Sleep centres – insomnia from overstrain

Kali phosphoricum is one of the deepest-acting nerve tonics in the materia medica. It is indicated in states of mental prostration following grief, overwork, or illness. The patient is often apathetic, indifferent, or hopeless, overwhelmed by their responsibilities, and lacking motivation or will. Memory is impaired—words are forgotten mid-sentence; names, facts, and thoughts vanish. [Kent] remarks upon the “mental weariness” after years of toil, particularly in students, scholars, and sensitive types.

There is irritability, anxiety, and hypersensitivity to impressions. The slightest noise unnerves them. The patient becomes isolated, withdrawn, and suffers from fear of people, fear of insanity, and inability to cope with daily life. Suicidal thoughts may arise, especially at night, though they are passive and unaccompanied by active intent. Depression alternates with nervous excitement, particularly in artistic or intellectual individuals.

Insomnia from worry or overexcitement. Sleep is light, broken by anxious dreams or physical twitching. Wakes feeling unrefreshed. Talks in sleep. Daytime drowsiness with aversion to exertion.

Dreams of business, school, deadlines, or failure. Nightmares of falling, losing loved ones, or being chased. Dreams are exhausting and vivid, leading to mental weariness on waking.

Exhaustion is the hallmark of Kali phosphoricum. Mind and body fail to respond after emotional, mental, or physical strain. Sensitive, thin, anxious, and overworked individuals respond well. Easily startled. Cold, pale, and oversensitive. Cannot bear pressure, noise, or confrontation.

Low-grade fever from mental or emotional exhaustion. Alternating chill and heat. Exhaustion out of proportion to fever intensity. Worse in the evening. Feverishness after grief or strain.

Chilliness in the back or extremities, especially with weakness. Heat flushes in face or neck with exhaustion. Sweats easily from exertion. Night sweats from nervous depletion.

Headaches arise from mental exertion, worry, or emotional strain. They are often pressing or heavy in nature, located in the forehead or vertex. The scalp feels sore and oversensitive, with a sensation as if the brain were shaking or too loose. Vertigo may come on from reading or thinking. [Clarke] mentions headaches that begin in the morning and worsen through the day. The pains are often accompanied by mental dullness or eye fatigue.

Vision becomes blurred or fatigued after short periods of use. Reading is difficult; letters swim or disappear. Photophobia and pain behind the eyes from overuse are common. Eyelids twitch, particularly under stress. Eyeballs feel sore or bruised. Black spots or flickering lights may appear in visual field. Eyelids may droop from muscular weakness.

Buzzing, humming, or ringing in ears, especially after mental exhaustion. Hearing may become dull or temporarily impaired. Sharp, neuralgic pains may shoot into ears from neck or jaw. A feeling of fullness or pressure is also observed.

Dryness and soreness in nostrils, or thin watery discharge from nervous catarrh. Coryza brought on by exhaustion or grief. Sensitive to odours. Nosebleeds may occur in anaemic or weak patients, especially during exertion.

Face appears pale, sunken, and drawn, with a yellowish-grey hue—“the face of exhaustion” [Hering]. Twitching of facial muscles, especially around the mouth and eyes. Expression is anxious or indifferent. In chronic fatigue states, the features look prematurely aged.

Dryness with bitter or metallic taste. Foul breath in the morning. Aphthae or ulceration in the exhausted, especially during fever or stress. Speech is slow and laboured. Tongue trembles or is coated yellowish-brown. Cracking at corners of mouth from nervous depletion.

Toothache from nerve exhaustion or during menses. Teeth may feel elongated or loose. Grinding of teeth at night in overworked children or nervous adults.

Dryness and rawness from speaking. Voice weak or husky. Sensation of a plug or lump, especially when fatigued. Nervous hoarseness in teachers, singers, or public speakers.

Tightness, weakness, or burning sensation in chest, especially from fatigue or anxiety. Dry, tickling cough worse at night or on talking. Cough from nervous irritation. Pains in intercostal muscles from prolonged sitting or tension.

Palpitations after emotional excitement or mental strain. Fluttering or irregular pulse from anxiety. Faintness on standing. Constrictive feeling across precordium. May be indicated in neurasthenic tachycardia.

Short, sighing, or oppressed breathing, especially in nervous or hysterical patients. Dyspnoea during stress or sadness. Cannot take a full breath. Sensation of tight band around the chest. Voice weak or cracking from exhaustion.

Indigestion from worry or emotional strain. Nausea with weakness. Appetite poor or variable. Averse to milk, meat, and rich foods. Acid eructations and flatulence from nervous dyspepsia. Empty, sinking sensation even after eating. Weak digestion in students or those under prolonged mental strain.

Bloating and rumbling, especially in lower abdomen. Flatulence is copious and offensive. Colicky pains, worse before stool or during menses. Stitching pains in hypogastrium, worse with motion. Weak abdominal muscles may lead to prolapse symptoms.

Constipation with sluggish peristalsis in nervous individuals. Stool dry, hard, passed with difficulty. Alternate with loose, yellowish, foul-smelling stools. Tenesmus and soreness after stool in exhausted states. Rectal prolapse in children or the elderly.

Frequent urging with scanty urine. Urine dark, offensive, with sediment. Incontinence from weakened nerves, especially at night. Burning or stitching pain during urination in anxious individuals.

Aversion to meat, milk, and fatty foods. Desires refreshing things—cold drinks, fruits, acids. Digestion weak from mental strain. Symptoms often improve after eating briefly but worsen with large meals.

Sexual exhaustion from overindulgence or grief. Emissions during sleep leave the patient greatly prostrated. Loss of libido with irritability and spinal weakness. Erections weak, with premature emission.

Menses too early, too late, or suppressed from grief or overexertion. Menstrual flow is dark, thin, and offensive. Leucorrhoea yellow, acrid, and exhausting. Postpartum depression with extreme mental and physical fatigue. Suited to schoolgirls and sensitive women with delayed development or emotional fragility.

Spinal weakness and aching. Burning between the scapulae. Lower back dull and aching after standing or walking. Paralytic weakness in lumbosacral region. Back gives out easily under strain.

Trembling, twitching, or numbness from nervous fatigue. Weakness in limbs with heaviness or drawing pains. Feet cold and sweaty. Hands weak, tremulous when writing. Numbness and cramps from sitting too long.

Dry, thin, and pale skin. Ulcers or boils in exhausted individuals. Itching worse from warmth. Herpes, eczema, or urticaria during exams or after shocks. Skin slow to heal after minor injuries.

• Phosphoric acid – More apathy and physical collapse; less irritability
• Gelsemium – Drowsy, sluggish, trembling; more passive weakness
• Ignatia – More hysterical and changeable emotions; less nerve exhaustion
• Sepia – Indifference, prolapse, and exhaustion but with more hormonal pathology
• Aconite – Acute anxiety, panic, and fear of death; Kali-p. is chronic and worn-out

• Complementary: Gelsemium, Ignatia, Calcarea phos.
• Antidotes: Coffea, Nux vomica
• Follows well: Phosphoric acid, China
• Precedes well: Natrum mur., Sepia

• Indispensable in convalescence after grief, illness, or overwork
• Ideal for students during exam season
• Use for nerve exhaustion from caregiving, chronic illness, or emotional loss
• Suited to thin, sensitive types who break down under strain
• Excellent in post-viral fatigue and neurasthenia

Mind

• Apathy, indifference
• Anxiety, business
• Fear, insanity
• Weary of life

Head

• Headache, mental exertion, from
• Vertigo, reading, from

Sleep

• Sleeplessness, worry, from
• Dreams, vivid, exhausting

Extremities

• Weakness, trembling
• Cramping, fatigue, from

Generalities

• Weakness, nervous
• Debility, grief, from
• Oversensitive, noise, to

James Tyler Kent – Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica: Mental and emotional picture, exhaustion states

William Boericke – Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica: Clinical usage and keynotes in nervous exhaustion

John Henry Clarke – Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica: Exhaustion of students, neuralgias, and depressive states

C. Hering – Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica: Sensory weakness, insomnia, and cerebral fatigue

R. Schüssler – Abridged Therapy: Biochemical origin and affinity for nerve tissues