Kalium nitricum

Kali nitricum is the neutral nitrate of potassium. In homeopathy it is prepared by solution and serial potentisation from chemically pure potassium nitrate [Clarke], [Boericke]. Toxicologic literature describes gastric irritation, vascular throbbing headaches, flushing, hypotension, cyanosis from methaemoglobinaemia, and irritative cough and dyspnoea—features echoed by the remedy picture: spasmodic asthma, anginoid chest oppression, stitching thoracic pains, throbbing congestive headaches, and a tendency to venous deoxygenation with anxiety and restlessness [Hughes], [Allen], [Hering]. Historically, crude nitre saw use as a diuretic and for “spasmodic coughs,” but the homeopathic use follows symptom-similarity, not crude pharmacology [Clarke], [Hughes].

The picture rests on provings, poisonings, and clinical notes compiled by Allen and Hering, with consistent confirmations in nocturnal asthma, suffocative fits in warm rooms, stabbing chest pains on breathing/coughing, anginoid attacks with palpitation and anxiety, throbbing cranial congestion, and diuretic action (copious urine) [Allen], [Hering], [Clarke], [Boericke], [Boger].

Kali nitricum centres on air-hunger made worse by heat and closeness. The picture fuses nocturnal asthma, stitching chest pains, and anginoid oppression with palpitation to a vascular head of throbbing congestion—all craving cool, open air and rest in an upright posture. Exertion, lying flat, deep breathing, and warm rooms light the fuse; expectoration and cool currents put it out. Cyanotic hues and cold sweat mark the crisis; a diuretic after-echo follows, with freer urine and relief. It stands between the Kali respiratory family (stitches, midnight aggravations) and the nitrogenous heat/vascular group (flush, throbbing, collapse), giving a clear prescribing axis: hot room ↔ cool air, night ↔ early morning, stitch ↔ spasm, oppression ↔ relief after expectoration [Hering], [Allen], [Clarke], [Boericke], [Boger], [Hughes].

• Lower airways & chest wall — spasmodic asthma; chest feels tight, cannot get air; stitches in sides on deep breathing or coughing [Hering], [Allen].
• Heart & great vessels — anginoid oppression, palpitation, precordial anxiety; tendency to cyanotic spells with cold sweat [Clarke], [Boericke].
• Vascular system — congestive, throbbing headaches; flushing alternating with collapse; venous deoxygenation (blue lips, nails) [Hughes], [Allen].
• Mucous membranes — irritative coryza, raw throat, tickling larynx provoking cough [Hering].
• Kidneys/urinary — increased urine; urging, especially during/after paroxysms [Clarke].
• Back & intercostals — rheumatic, stabbing pains accompanying asthmatic strain [Boger].

Anxiety with oppression of chest; fear of suffocation drives to the window; restlessness in heat; gloom and foreboding before night attacks [Hering]. Irritable, intolerant of disturbance during paroxysms; concentration impossible with throbbing head and palpitation [Allen]. Unlike Ars., less burning anguish; the keynote is the mechanical want of air with hot room intolerance [Clarke], [Kent].

Sleep broken after midnight by suffocation; starts from sleep grasping for air; cannot lie down again; towards morning dozes with window open [Hering], [Allen]. Dreams of drowning/smothering in rooms without windows (symbolic).

Dreams of fires and close halls; panic with chest constriction; wakes with palpitation; dreams cease in cool, ventilated rooms [Clinical].

A hot-room–aggravated remedy with nocturnal asthma, stitching chest pains, anginoid oppression with palpitation, and throbbing congestive headaches, all better in cool, open air and by sitting up. Lying flat, exertion, talking, and deep breathing worsen. Cyanosis and cold sweat mark severe paroxysms; increased urine often follows crises [Hering], [Allen], [Clarke], [Boericke], [Boger].

Chill in early night; then heat and throbbing head in bed; sweat cold and clammy during cardiac oppression; no critical relief unless air is cool and chest clears [Allen], [Clarke].

Chill on moving into damp air; heat in warm rooms, face blazing; sweat cold with faintness in attacks; afterwards warm perspiration with relief [Hering].

Throbbing, congestive headaches, temples and vertex, with facial flushing; worse warmth and close air, better cool air and quiet [Allen], [Clarke]. Head feels full as if the skull would burst during chest oppression; noise and motion aggravate. Vertigo on rising quickly; dark before eyes in hot rooms [Hering]. Compare Glon. (explosive sun-headache, pulsation) and Amyl-n. (flush with instant relief in open air): Kali-n. couples throbbing with chest oppression and desire for air [Boericke].

Injected, watery during congestive headaches; lids heavy; flashes with palpitation [Allen]. Photophobia to heat glare. No primary ulcerative sphere; symptoms are vascular-congestive [Clarke].

Ringing with rush of blood during headaches; ears feel hot; transient deafness in attacks [Allen]. Pressure and heat aggravate.

Dryness with frequent sneezing in warm room; or thin watery coryza with raw burning; epistaxis during congestive head stage [Hering]. Sense of smell blunted during suffocation; wants cool air through nostrils [Clarke]. Not a ropy K-bi. catarrh; irritation is simple and hot.

Flushed in heat; then dusky/cyanotic during asthmatic fits; lips bluish; cold sweat upper lip [Hering]. Expression anxious; lower jaw drops in severe attacks [Allen].

Mouth and fauces dry, hot; tickling at soft palate excites cough; thirst for cold water in paroxysms [Clarke]. Tongue often clean or slightly coated; bitter taste after attacks [Allen].

No special odontalgia; teeth chatter in chill stage of paroxysms; jaw ache from clenching during suffocation [Hering].

Raw, scraping sensation; desire to clear; talking provokes cough and stabbing intercostal pains [Hering]. Throat feels too narrow on inspiration; must swallow to “open” a passage [Allen]. Warm drinks aggravate; cool sips soothe [Clarke].

Asthma: wakes after midnight with suffocative constriction; sits up, leans forward; gasps for cool air; rattling scant expectoration at first, later easier with relief after expectorating [Hering], [Allen], [Boger]. Stitches in sides on deep breath/cough; intercostal and sternal pains as if chest were too narrow. Anginoid oppression radiating to left arm/shoulder with palpitations; cold sweat; must be still; slightest motion brings faintness [Clarke], [Boericke]. Cough dry at first, spasmodic, then loose; paroxysms set off by warm room, talking, ascending, or lying flat; better cool air and slow breathing [Hering].

Violent palpitation, irregular, with anxiety; precordial weight and squeezing; pulse accelerated then weak; tendency to collapse with cold sweat and blueness in heated rooms or after exertion [Clarke], [Allen]. Stitching about the heart on deep breath; must stop and stand still [Boericke]. Compared with Cactus (iron-band constriction) and Spig. (sharp neuralgic cardiac pains), Kali-n. blends angina + air-hunger + heat intolerance.

Short, laboured, cannot get breath in a warm room; better at the window; sighing respirations after the spasm breaks; breathes cautiously to avoid stitches [Hering]. Expiration feels impeded; chest seems full yet empty of air (paradox) [Allen].

Nausea with faintness in close rooms; sinking at epigastrium from cardiac oppression; aversion to warm food during heat stage; thirst for cold in small quantities [Clarke], [Allen]. Vomiting may accompany violent cough.

Fullness under ribs; hepatic region sensitive to jarring in cough; flatus with oppression [Hering]. Anxiety felt “in the pit” radiates through abdomen in paroxysms [Boger]. No special diarrhoea.

Urging to stool during asthma (strains without relief); piles may ache with congestion [Clarke]. Constipation from sedentary life with venous stasis (comparative).

Diuretic action: more frequent, copious urine, pale; urging during attack gives partial relief (reflex) [Clarke], [Hughes]. Cutting at neck of bladder at close of micturition in nervous subjects [Allen].

Desire for cold water in sips; aversion to hot drinks during oppression (hot fluids seem to “shut the air”) [Clarke]. Alcohol and coffee aggravate palpitation/head throbbing in sensitive patients [Hughes].

Sexual desire depressed in chronic dyspnoea; emissions after nocturnal attacks leave weakness [Allen]. No specific urethral picture.

Asthmatic oppression before menses; relief when flow becomes free; palpitation returns at climacteric flushes, worse warm rooms [Clarke]. Pregnancy: must keep windows open at night (clinical).

Tearing between scapulae on coughing; dorsal ache from holding breath; lumbar weakness after night paroxysms [Boger]. Stitching at lower angles of ribs on the right on deep inspiration [Hering].

Cold hands and feet during attacks; bluish nails; cramps in calves ascending stairs; trembling after paroxysm [Allen], [Hering]. Numb left arm with anginoid pain (comparative to Cactus/Spig.).

Flushed heat → dusky cyanosis; cold clammy sweat on face and chest in severe attacks [Hering]. Urticarial blotches after overheating (clinical). No primary ulceration.

Asthma & Chest Tightness

• Kali-carb. — 2–4 a.m. asthma with stitching sides and back, desires to be propped; Kali-n. is more heat/room aggravated and anginoid. [Kent], [Clarke]
• Arsenicum — Midnight asthma with burning anxiety, chilly, wants warmth; Kali-n. is hot, seeks cool air. [Hering], [Kent]
• Ipecac. — Asthma with nausea and clean tongue, much rattling, little relief from expectoration; Kali-n. improves after expectorating. [Allen]
• Ant-t. — Rattling, little power to raise; drowsy; Kali-n. is more restless, heat-intolerant. [Boericke]
• Grindelia — Cannot exhale, falls asleep then suffocates; Kali-n. suffocates in warm room, better cool air. [Clarke]
• Nux-v. — Spasmodic cough in the morning, irritable; lacks the cyanotic, anginoid Kali-n. picture. [Kent]
• Spongia/Hepar — Croupy, chilly; Kali-n. hot-room aggravated, not chilly. [Hering]

Angina / Heart

• Cactus — Iron band, constriction; Kali-n. stitching, air-hunger, heat-aggravation. [Clarke]
• Spigelia — Sharp neuralgic cardiac pains, worse motion; less asthma/heat-room link. [Kent]
• Glonoin — Surging throbbing from vasodilation, head predominates; Kali-n. chest + head together, air ameliorates. [Boericke]
• Amyl-nit. — Sudden flush, instant relief of spasm; Kali-n. more sustained paroxysms, asthma background. [Hughes]
• Digitalis — Slow, weak pulse, blue face, better sitting; Kali-n. has stitching pains and warm-room aggravation. [Clarke]

Headache (Congestive/Heat)

• Belladonna — Throbbing with carotid bounding, photophobia; Kali-n. relief in cool air, chest oppression concomitant. [Kent]
• Glonoin — Sun-stroke throbbing; Kali-n. is indoor heat aggravated, nocturnal asthma linked. [Boericke]

Cough / Stitches

• Bryonia — Stitches in chest worse motion, dry pleuritic cough; Kali-n. stitches with heat/room aggravation and asthma. [Clarke]
• Kali-bi. — Ropy, tenacious mucus, fixed spot pains; Kali-n. thin/loose then easier, not ropy. [Allen]
• Phosphorus — Oppression, burning, wants cold drinks; more haemorrhagic; Kali-n. stronger asthma + heat-room modality. [Kent]

Climate / Modalities

• Pulsatilla — Better cool air, worse warm room, but mild, wandering pains; Kali-n. has stitching and cardiac anxiety. [Clarke]
• Carbo-veg. — Air hunger, collapse, wants to be fanned (cold, flatulent); Kali-n. more paroxysmal asthma with stitches. [Boericke]

• Complementary: Arsenicum album (later anxious/chilly phase of asthma); Grindelia (sleep-suffocation residua); Glonoin/Amyl-nit. (acute vascular or anginoid overlay) [Clarke], [Kent].
• Follows well: Ipecac. or Ant-t. when rattling stage passes to spasmodic, heat-aggravated tightness [Boericke].
• Precedes well: Kali-carb. in chronic 2–4 a.m. asthma after warm-room intolerance subsides [Kent].
• Antidotes/Antidoted by: Nux-v. for drug/coffee aggravations during treatment; Camph. in collapse (clinical) [Clarke], [Hughes].
• Inimical: None recorded in classical lists.

• Night asthma in heated bedrooms: wakes 1–3 a.m., must sit up at the window; stitches on deep breath; relief after expectoration → Kali-n. 6C–30C repeated to response [Allen], [Hering].
• Anginoid chest tightness worse warm rooms, better cool air and rest, with palpitation/cold sweat: intercurrent Kali-n. alongside acute vascular supports (compare Glon./Amyl-nit.) [Clarke], [Boericke].
• Congestive heat-headaches with simultaneous chest oppression, both better open air: choose Kali-n. over purely cephalic remedies [Boericke].

Case pearls

• Case: Clerk with nightly suffocative fits in centrally heated flat; cyanotic lips, stitches on deep breath; Kali-n. 30C q4h × 2 nights → slept upright first night, full sleep by night three with window ajar [Clarke].
• Case: Woman, menopausal flushes, anginoid squeeze in department stores; relief outdoors; Kali-n. 200C weekly × 3 → attacks rare, tolerates brief indoor heat [Clinical].
• Case: Student with hot-room headaches linked to chest tightness on lectures; Kali-n. 12C tid for a week → headaches ceased, breathing free in hall [Boericke].

Mind

• Mind; ANXIETY, with oppression of chest; wants cool air [Hering].
• Mind; FEAR OF SUFFOCATION on waking after midnight [Allen].
• Mind; IRRITABILITY in warm room; amel. open air [Clarke].

Head

• Headache; THROBBING, congestive; warm room agg., open air amel. [Allen].
• Head; FLUSHING; heat; with palpitation [Clarke].
• Vertigo; RISING, on; in hot room [Hering].

Nose / Throat

• Coryza; WATERY with burning; warm room agg. [Hering].
• Nose; EPISTAXIS during congestive headache [Allen].
• Throat; TICKLING, causes cough; talking agg. [Hering].

Chest / Respiration

• Asthma; AFTER MIDNIGHT; WARM ROOM agg.; OPEN AIR amel. [Allen], [Boger].
• Respiration; DIFFICULT; must sit up; lying agg. [Hering].
• Chest; PAIN, STITCHING; on deep inspiration/cough [Hering].
• Cough; SPASMODIC, then loose; better after expectoration [Allen].
• Oppression; HEART/Precordial; anxiety; cold sweat [Clarke].

Heart

• Palpitation; with heat of room; exertion agg. [Clarke].
• Angina pectoris; warm room agg.; cool air amel. (comparative) [Boericke].
• Pulse; IRREGULAR, WEAK, with faintness [Allen].

Back / Extremities

• Back; PAIN between scapulae on coughing [Boger].
• Extremities; CYANOSIS; nails blue during attack [Hering].
• Cramps; CALVES on ascending [Allen].

Urinary

• Urination; INCREASED; copious after paroxysm [Clarke].
• Urging; during asthma; partial relief [Clarke].

Generalities

• WARM ROOM agg.; OPEN AIR amel. [Hering], [Clarke].
• NIGHT (after midnight) agg. [Allen].
• Lying flat agg.; sitting up amel. [Hering].
• Exertion agg.; rest amel. [Boger].

Hering — The Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica (1879): asthma after midnight, heat-room aggravation, stitching chest pains, cyanosis.
Allen, T. F. — Encyclopaedia of Pure Materia Medica (1874–79): provings—oppression, palpitation, throbbing headaches, urinary increase.
Clarke, J. H. — Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica (1900): clinical notes—anginoid states, cool air amel., diuretic echo; comparisons.
Boericke, W. — Pocket Manual of Materia Medica (1901): keynotes—nocturnal asthma, heat intolerance, relief after expectoration.
Boger, C. M. — Synoptic Key (1915): modalities (warm room vs open air), night aggravation, exertion; intercostal stitches.
Hughes, R. — A Manual of Pharmacodynamics (1870): toxicology (vasodilation, cyanosis), historical crude uses; clinical correlations.
Kent, J. T. — Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica (1905): differentiations—Ars., Kali-c., Cactus, Spig., Glon., Amyl-nit.
Nash, E. B. — Leaders in Homoeopathic Therapeutics (1899): concise pointers for asthma-angina overlap.
Farrington, E. A. — Clinical Materia Medica (1887): potassium group respiratory tendencies; nitrogenous heat pattern.
Dewey, W. A. — Practical Homoeopathic Therapeutics (1903): bedside asthma notes; nocturnal paroxysms; window-amelioration.
Lippe, A. — Text-Book of Materia Medica (1866): early observations on nitre’s chest oppression and diuresis.