Lacticum acidum

An organic α-hydroxy acid (CH₃–CH(OH)–COOH) produced by fermentation of lactose and as a physiological product of anaerobic glycolysis in muscle and blood. In crude states it is sour, corrosive, and in excess provokes hyperacidity, gnawing epigastric pains, salivation, sour eructations and vomiting; longer disturbance of carbohydrate handling leads to thirst, polyuria and wasting—features that stamp its medicinal picture of gastric irritability and diabetic states [Hughes], [Allen], [Clarke]. Pharmacy: prepared by trituration and dilution from the chemically pure acid. Clinical tradition highlights two principal fields—gastric/oesophageal hyperacidity with morning nausea relieved by eating and glycosuric states with thirst, emaciation, and gastric concomitants; a lesser but useful sphere lies in kinetosis (car and sea-sickness) with persistent nausea and salivation [Clarke], [Boericke], [Phatak].

Knowledge derives from small provings collated by Allen with abundant [Clinical] confirmations in morning nausea (especially of pregnancy) better for eating, sour hyperacidity, salivation, diabetes mellitus with thirst and polyuria, car/sea-sickness with persistent nausea, and aphthous mouth/throat states [Allen], [Hering], [Clarke], [Boericke], [Phatak], [Nash].

Lac-ac. is the morning-stomach remedy. Its patient wakes with a mouth full of saliva, a sour taste, dull frontal heaviness and a deathly nausea that is quieted by eating. The entire organism runs on an empty-tank sensation: motion—especially travel or simply rising—turns the stomach; thinking before breakfast clouds the brow; the oesophagus burns with heartburn and sour waterbrash; yet a few mouthfuls of dry food or a small breakfast make the head clear and the stomach still. This polarity—worse fasting / better eating—is constant, threading Mind, Head, Stomach and the special field of pregnancy nausea, where salivation and sour regurgitations are notable, and small frequent meals give relief. A second plane is glycosuria: thirst, polyuria, pruritic dry skin and weight-loss coexist with the same gastric axis. These diabetics are morning-worse and diet-dependent; mental dulness and peevishness tilt toward ease as the stomach settles and urine output diminishes. The third plane is kinetosis: motion stirs a persistent nausea with ptyalism; stillness and air help, but again food steadies the centre.

Kingdom and miasm show a functional (psoric) medicine with tubercular lability: symptoms flare with emptying and movement, subside with feeding and rest. There is little destructive pathology at first; rather a regulative influence on acid secretion and carbohydrate handling. Micro-comparisons crystallise it: Robinia burns at night with fiercely acrid vomit; Iris burns all along the track and carries bilious migraine; Nux-vomica is the irritable over-driven dyspeptic who may not feel notably better after food; Symphoricarpus in pregnancy is obstinate and not relieved by eating; Phos-acid holds the apathetic diabetic without Lac-ac.’s gastric morning key; Uran-nit. and Syzygium move sugar but do not settle the stomach. Prescribe Lac-ac. where breakfast is medicine: if a biscuit in bed converts nausea to capacity, if the head clears with eating, if a thin, thirsty dyspeptic wakes sour and cross yet grows human after food. Dietary discipline—plain, dry, frequent small meals; avoid sweets, rich milk, pastry—is not ancillary but part of the simile, and when woven with the remedy, the arc bends toward clear mornings and quieter metabolism.

• Stomach and oesophagus—sour hyperacidity, heartburn, sour waterbrash, persistent morning nausea relieved by eating (see Stomach/Throat) [Allen], [Clarke], [Boericke].
• Pancreas–carbohydrate handling—glycosuria, polyuria, thirst, emaciation; gastric symptoms prominent in diabetic states (see Urinary/Generalities) [Clarke], [Phatak], [Nash].
• Mouth and salivary glands—ptyalism, sour taste, aphthæ; gums tender (see Mouth/Teeth) [Allen], [Hering].
• Head—frontal/supraorbital headache with morning nausea; better after breakfast (see Head) [Clarke], [Boericke].
• Female generative—morning sickness; nausea on waking, better after food; excessive salivation of pregnancy (see Female) [Clarke], [Phatak].
• Vestibular/kinetic apparatus—car/sea-sickness with salivation and deathly nausea; food steadies (see Generalities/Sleep) [Boericke], [Clarke].
• Skin/pruritus—dryness and itching in glycosuric states; boils in thin dyspeptics (see Skin) [Clarke], [Phatak].
• Extremities—fatigue and muscular heaviness from lactic loading; morning weakness improves after food (see Extremities/Generalities) [Hughes], [Boger].

Irritable and despondent in the morning, dreading movement lest nausea come; the day brightens with food, reflecting the amelioration from eating already stated [Clarke], [Allen]. Anxious about health, counting symptoms, yet lethargic to act until breakfast steadies the stomach; the emotional tone is flat in long-standing glycosuric states with mental dulness and want of initiative (Mind ↔ Urinary/Generalities) [Phatak], [Nash]. Noise or bustle at breakfast excites nausea and impatience; he prefers quiet and small tasks until the first meal is over. Motion-sensitivity in travel produces apprehension before journeys (Mind ↔ Generalities). The diabetic patient is apathetic, thirst-ridden, and peevish from skin-itch and constant micturition; mental clarity returns as polyuria lessens. Children are cross on waking, cry for food, then brighten after eating; this morning polarity runs through the remedy.

Sleep unrefreshing; wakes early with nausea and salivation; better after a little food and a second sleep (Sleep ↔ Stomach) [Allen], [Clarke]. Travellers sleepless from dread of motion-sickness; sleepiness after meals in diabetics.

Of food and eating; of journeys ending in sickness; of thirst and searching for water; dreams cease as morning nausea subsides with breakfast (Dreams ↔ Stomach/Urinary).

The axis is morning aggravation with gastric acidity and salivation, relieved by eating—headache, nausea, faint sinking, and even irritability lift after breakfast [Allen], [Clarke]. Motion aggravates (car/sea-sickness), yet open air and quiet help; fasting is the enemy, small frequent meals the friend (modalities echoed in Mind, Head, Stomach, Female). In chronic cases glycosuria frames the picture: thirst, polyuria, emaciation, itchy dry skin, and dyspepsia—the diabetic is a morning sufferer whose day steadies with food (Urinary ↔ Skin ↔ Stomach). Compare Robinia (violent night acidity; acrid sour vomiting), Iris (burning, bilious, acrid, migraine), Nux-v. (irritable, over-stimulation; not better decidedly by eating), Symphoricarpus (pregnancy vomiting worse food), Phos-ac. (diabetes with apathy and grief rather than strong gastric keynote), and Uran-nit. or Syzygium (powerful diabetic remedies without Lac-ac.’s morning-gastric nexus) [Clarke], [Boericke], [Phatak], [Nash], [Boger]. Direction of cure is outward from morning to midday, and from stomach to skin/urine; as breakfast is tolerated and acidity wanes, the polyuria lessens and the patient’s irritability softens.

Little fever; heat of face on waking with cold hands from emptiness; night-sweats in diabetics; thirst predominates over heat (Fever ↔ Urinary) [Clarke], [Nash].

Chilliness before breakfast; heat flush after eating; sour-smelling sweat in anxious mornings; motion in warm rooms worsens nausea (Chill/Heat/Sweat ↔ Generalities) [Allen].

Dull, heavy frontal headache on waking, with sour taste and salivation; better after breakfast or after a biscuit in bed (Head ↔ Stomach), a keynote micro-comparison with Iris (burning, acrid sour) and Nux-v. (irritable, coffee, late hours) [Clarke], [Allen], [Boericke]. Supraorbital ache with a sense of brow-weight; reading before breakfast aggravates. In travel, there is a deathly head-swim with saliva flowing and desire to lie perfectly still. The head feels empty and tremulous when fasting; food “fills it up.” In diabetics, a dull vertex ache attends thirst and frequent urine; relief follows a regular, simple diet.

Dimness on rising with nausea; a film over vision till food is taken; letters blur if reading before breakfast (Eyes ↔ Head/Stomach) [Clarke]. Lachrymation slight; lids heavy in fasting states. Motion in carriage aggravates ocular swim with salivation.

Noise in the morning kitchen irritates and hastens nausea; a humming accompanies head-swim in fasting (Ears ↔ Mind/Head). No specific otic catarrh.

Sour smell in the nose; morning dryness with a constant desire to swallow saliva, which is copious (Nose ↔ Mouth) [Allen]. Travel-sick subjects dislike odours of food or smoke in close rooms.

Pale, drawn in the morning; lips dry though saliva is abundant; in diabetics, a dry, fine skin and drawn cheeks are common (Face ↔ Urinary/Skin) [Clarke]. During nausea, a sour sweat may pearl on the upper lip.

Profuse saliva with sour taste on waking; gums spongy and tender; aphthous patches in acid states and pregnancy [Allen], [Hering], [Clarke]. Tongue coated white or yellowish in the morning, clearing after food. The mouth waters on seeing or smelling food when fasting; yet eating relieves the nausea (Mouth ↔ Stomach).

Teeth sensitive with sour saliva; gums bleed easily; toothache dull and throbbing when fasting or after sweets; better after plain food (Teeth ↔ Mouth/Food) [Clarke].

Oesophagus feels raw with sour waterbrash; frequent swallowing of saliva; heartburn mounts to throat, worse on empty stomach, better after eating and eructation (Throat ↔ Stomach) [Allen], [Clarke]. Aphthous patches on fauces in pregnancy; liquids cause a brief, sour regurgitation.

Heartburn felt behind sternum; oppression from sour gas rising; palpitations only from weakness in fasting; better after food (Chest ↔ Stomach) [Clarke]. No specific cardiac pathology belongs here.

Functional palpitations with emptiness at stomach and anxiety before breakfast; subside when the stomach is steadied (Heart ↔ Stomach/Mind). Pulse soft in emaciated dyspeptics.

Short breath on exertion in fasting states; open air during travel helps, but motion itself aggravates nausea (Respiration ↔ Generalities). Slight laryngeal rawness from regurgitated acid.

The axis of Lac-ac. Constant morning nausea on waking; better after eating; worse by motion; with sour eructations, heartburn, waterbrash, salivation, and sinking at the epigastrium [Allen], [Clarke], [Boericke]. Vomiting of thin, sour fluid or only of saliva; food is retained better than water; a little dry food steadies. Craving for cold water in sips; wine and sweets aggravate; rich milk or pastry provoke acidity (Food & Drink) [Phatak]. Gnawing, empty pain if breakfast is delayed; warmth to epigastrium soothes cramp. In pregnancy, the gravid morning sickness picture is classic: salivation, sourness, aversion to motion, and marked relief from little, frequent meals (Stomach ↔ Female) [Clarke].

Sour rising gases; a sense of fermentation; occasional colic before stool after sweets or fruit (Abdomen ↔ Food) [Phatak]. Hepatic region feels heavy in dyspeptics; wind improves after breakfast; the abdomen is not particularly tender.

Stools may be constipated with hard, dry fragments in fasting states, alternating with sour, offensive loose stools in acid dyspepsia [Allen], [Clarke]. Morning urgency sometimes follows coffee (if taken), with sour sweat. Pruritus ani occurs in glycosuric subjects (Rectum ↔ Skin/Urinary).

Polyuria, pale copious urine, intense thirst, emaciation; sugar present—diabetes with prominent gastric symptoms [Clarke], [Boericke], [Phatak], [Nash]. Frequent night rising with dry mouth and itching skin; urine causes smarting at meatus in acid states; weakness after micturition. Improvement in stomach symptoms often parallels reduction of urine quantity—useful clinical barometer (Urinary ↔ Stomach/Generalities).

Desire for cold water in sips; worse sweets, pastry, rich milk; wants plain, dry, small quantities; better for eating (Food ↔ Stomach/Generalities) [Phatak], [Allen], [Clarke]. Aversion to greasy foods; acids may aggravate acidity paradoxically.

Sexual power depressed in diabetics; emissions rare; pruritus about genitals in acid perspiration (Male ↔ Skin/Urinary).

Morning sickness of pregnancy: persistent nausea and salivation directly on waking, relieved by eating small quantities frequently; sour waterbrash; faintness if breakfast is delayed [Clarke], [Phatak]. Menses may be early with increased morning nausea; pruritus vulvæ noted in diabetic subjects (Female ↔ Urinary/Skin).

Dorsal weariness and heaviness before eating; sacral aching in diabetics; better after meals and gentle movement (Back ↔ Generalities).

Tired, heavy limbs in the morning, improving with food; trembling on standing to dress before breakfast (Extremities ↔ Generalities/Stomach) [Hughes]. Hands dry in diabetics, or alternately moist with sour sweat; cramps in calves at night after dietary errors.

Dry, itchy skin with scratch-marks in glycosuric cases; tendency to boils in thin acid dyspeptics; perspiration may be sour in odour (Skin ↔ Urinary/Generalities) [Clarke], [Phatak]. Aphthous corners of mouth and fissured lips in pregnancy.

Aetiology—Kinetosis / motion sickness

• Cocculus: nausea from motion with vertigo and weakness; not distinctly better by eating; more nervous collapse. Lac-ac. adds salivation and breakfast amel. [Clarke], [Boericke].
• Tabacum: deadly pallor, cold sweat, better cold air; food rarely relieves; sinking extreme. Lac-ac. is steadied by food. [Clarke].
• Petroleum: nausea from vehicles with hunger pains; eruptions; less ptyalism. [Boger].

Gastric hyperacidity

• Robinia: night sour vomiting, acrid burning, sour stools; not a morning-breakfast remedy. Lac-ac.: morning acidity, breakfast amel. [Boericke], [Clarke].
• Iris versicolor: burning through GI tract, bilious; migraine; food less decisive. [Clarke].
• Nat-phos.: sour vomiting in children; yellow creamy tongue; broader antacid sphere without diabetes nexus. [Phatak].

Morning nausea (pregnancy)

• Sepia: morning nausea with aversion to smell of food; better after eating but with pelvic/mental features (indifference); complexion sallow. Lac-ac. is simpler—nausea + salivation + sourness. [Clarke], [Phatak].
• Symphoricarpus: intractable vomiting, often not relieved by food; motion aggravates; dry retching. [Clarke].
• Nux-v.: irritable, oversensitive, constipated; coffee/alcohol history; not distinct ptyalism. [Kent].

Diabetes (gastric form)

• Phos-ac.: diabetes after grief, apathy, debility; less gastric breakfast amel. [Nash], [Clarke].
• Uran-nit.: intense polyuria, gastro-hepatic irritation, emaciation; more destructive; less morning relief by food. [Clarke].
• Syzygium jamb.: lowers glycosuria numerically; lacks constitutional morning-gastric nexus. Use as adjuvant when indicated. [Boericke].

Aphthae / ptyalism

• Mercurius: drooling with fetor, thirstlessness, sweat; tongue flabby; not relieved by food. Lac-ac.: sour, cleanish ptyalism with gastric tie. [Hering], [Clarke].

• Complementary: Nat-phos.—both in sour states; Nat-phos. for acid balance and nocturnal acidity; Lac-ac. for morning nausea better eating. [Phatak], [Clarke].
• Complementary: Phos-ac.—diabetic apathy; follows Lac-ac. when gastric morning axis subsides but mental weakness persists. [Nash], [Clarke].
• Complementary: Syzygium—may aid glycosuria numerically while Lac-ac. covers gastric totality. [Boericke].
• Follows well: Nux-vom.—after diet/drug errors when the picture simplifies to morning acidity + breakfast amel. [Kent], [Clarke].
• Follows well: Cocculus—in travel cases when motion nausea persists at waking but yields to food. [Clarke].
• Precedes well: Lycopodium—if 4–8 p.m. flatulence and hepaticity emerge after gastric relief. [Clarke], [Boger].
• Antidotes: Nux-v., Carbo-veg., Puls.—for aggravations from diet or over-acidity (selection by totality). [Clarke], [Boger].
• Related: Robinia, Iris, Tabac., Coccul., Sep., Symph-r., Phos-ac., Uran-n., Syzyg., Nat-phos. (see differentials). [Clarke], [Boericke], [Phatak].

• Morning sickness with ptyalism and sour waterbrash, better after eating small, frequent portions—start 6C–30C, repeated as needed on waking; space as stability returns [Clarke], [Phatak], [Allen].
• Gastric hyperacidity: heartburn, sour eructations, nausea on waking, breakfast amel.—choose Lac-ac. over Robinia (night) and Iris (burning, bilious) [Clarke], [Boericke].
• Diabetes (gastric form) with thirst, polyuria, emaciation and morning acidity—use with diet reform; intercurrent Phos-ac. for mental apathy if gastric axis subsides [Nash], [Clarke], [Phatak].
• Travel-sickness with salivation and sourness—dose before journey; instruct stillness + air + dry food strategy; avoid close, warm cars [Boericke], [Clarke].
• In all cases, give dry food on waking (biscuit) before rising; this is both regimen and rubric.

Mind

• Irritability—morning, on waking; better after breakfast—gastric linkage. [Clarke].
• Anxiety—about health—with fasting and nausea; abates after food. [Phatak].
• Apathy—in diabetics; mental dulness with polyuria. [Nash], [Clarke].
• Aversion to motion—dreads movement before breakfast (kinetosis tendency). [Boericke].
• Better—quiet, undisturbed morning routine; worse bustle at breakfast. [Clarke].
• Concentration difficult before food; head clears after eating. [Clarke].

Head

• Headache—frontal, morning, better after breakfast. Hallmark. [Allen], [Clarke].
• Vertigo—on rising, with nausea and salivation; motion aggravates. [Boericke].
• Heaviness of brow with sour taste; eructation relieves. [Allen].
• Supraorbital ache in fasting; food steadies. [Clarke].
• Head—emptiness sensation—better eating. [Clarke].
• Headache—travel-induced—salivation; quiet amel. [Clarke].

Mouth / Throat

• Salivation—profuse—morning; sour taste. [Allen], [Hering].
• Aphthae—acid states; pregnancy; tender gums. [Hering], [Clarke].
• Waterbrash—sour; oesophagus raw; worse fasting; better after food. [Allen], [Clarke].
• Tongue—white/yellow coat—morning; clears after breakfast. [Clarke].
• Throat—heartburn rising to fauces—fasting agg. [Clarke].
• Gum bleeding with sour saliva. [Allen].

Stomach / Abdomen / Rectum

• Nausea—morning—better eating (pregnancy, dyspepsia). Cardinal rubric. [Allen], [Clarke].
• Heartburn—sour; eructations—sour; waterbrash. [Allen], [Boericke].
• Vomiting—saliva or sour fluid; food retained. [Allen].
• Desire—cold water in sips; sweets/pastry [Phatak].
• Colic with sour ferment after fruit/sweets. [Phatak].
• Stools—alternating constipation and sour diarrhoea; pruritus ani. [Allen], [Clarke].

Urinary

• Diabetes mellitus—polyuria, thirst, emaciation; gastric symptoms prominent. [Clarke], [Nash], [Phatak], [Boericke].
• Urination—frequent at night; weakness after. [Clarke].
• Urine—copious, pale; sugar present. [Clarke], [Phatak].
• Pruritus in glycosuric subjects; skin dry and itchy. [Clarke].
• Improvement of urine parallel to gastric relief (barometer). [Clarke].
• Burning meatus from acid state. [Allen].

Female

• Morning sickness—ptyalism—sour waterbrash—better food in small quantities. [Clarke], [Phatak].
• Aphthous throat and gums in pregnancy. [Hering].
• Nausea intensifies at menses onset; settles with diet. [Clarke].
• Aversion to cooking odours—morning—improves after eating. [Clarke].
• Pruritus vulvae in diabetic states. [Clarke].
• Better—dry toast before rising. [Clarke].

Generalities / Extremities / Sleep

• Worse morning; worse fasting; better eating—master polarity. [Clarke], [Allen].
• Motion (car/sea); open air + stillness amel. [Boericke], [Clarke].
• Weakness—morning; limbs heavy; better after breakfast. [Hughes].
• Sleep—unrefreshing; wakes with nausea; second sleep after food. [Allen], [Clarke].
• Skin—sour perspiration; pruritus in diabetes. [Clarke], [Phatak].
• Diet—worse sweets, rich milk, pastry; better plain, dry fare. [Phatak].

Allen, T. F. — Encyclopædia of Pure Materia Medica (1874–1879): proving fragments; gastric acidity; morning nausea; ptyalism; waterbrash; modalities.
Hering, C. — The Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica (1879–1891): clinical confirmations—morning sickness with salivation; aphthæ; acidity.
Clarke, J. H. — A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica (1900): full remedy portrait—morning better by eating; diabetes with gastric symptoms; travel-sickness; dietary guidance.
Boericke, W. — Pocket Manual of Homœopathic Materia Medica (1901): keynotes—morning nausea, breakfast amel.; motion-sickness; acidity; relationships.
Hughes, R. — A Manual of Pharmacodynamics (late 19th c.): pharmacology—lactic metabolism; fatigue/heaviness; acid states; therapeutic notes.
Phatak, S. R. — Materia Medica of Homoeopathic Medicines (20th c.): condensed keynotes—worse morning/fasting; better eating; sweets/pastry aggravate; diabetes links.
Boger, C. M. — Synoptic Key of the Materia Medica (1915): generalities—morning aggravation; motion sickness; comparisons with Robinia/Iris.
Nash, E. B. — Leaders in Homœopathic Therapeutics (1899): diabetes group; apathy; clinical hints for Lac-ac. in glycosuric dyspepsia.
Dewey, W. A. — Practical Homœopathic Therapeutics (early 20th c.): pregnancy nausea management; diet and dosing strategies.
Farrington, E. A. — Clinical Materia Medica (1890): comparisons among gastric remedies; pregnancy indications and modalities.
Kent, J. T. — Lectures on Homœopathic Materia Medica (1905): miasmatic colouring; contrasts with Nux-v., Phos-ac., Robinia in gastric spheres.
Lippe, A. von — Keynotes and Characteristics (late 19th c.): selecting keynotes—morning nausea, breakfast amel.; sour state; salivation.