Sulphur

Sulphur is a naturally occurring non-metallic element, atomic number 16, commonly found around volcanic regions and hot springs. Its bright yellow crystalline form is the basis for the homeopathic preparation, usually triturated with lactose and potentised. It is an ancient alchemical substance known for its volatility, and in homeopathy, it serves as a deep constitutional, acute, and intercurrent remedy.

Proved by Samuel Hahnemann, first published in Materia Medica Pura, and later expanded by Hering, Kent, Clarke, and others.

Sulphur is the spiritual rebel and philosophical flame, seeking truth while neglecting the mundane. It rules the mind that burns, the body that itches, and the soul that forgets to wash. It is the burning archetype of psora, manifesting in disorganisation, neglect, and brilliance. Sulphur embodies ego, passion, and the collapse of internal structure, inviting us to clear the fire without extinguishing the light. It cleanses, disrupts, and regenerates. A truly universal remedy, touching every layer of existence.

1. • Skin: chronic eruptions, itching, heat, burning
   • Mind: pride, abstraction, philosophical detachment, disorder
   • Digestive tract: early morning diarrhoea, haemorrhoids
   • Circulation: flushes, congestions, portal system
   • Spine: lumbar weakness, burning
   • Feet and extremities: offensive sweat, cold feet with burning soles
   • Eyes: photophobia, redness, burning
   • Right side, especially liver and eye

Sulphur is the philosopher-king of homeopathy—intellectual, proud, speculative, and distracted. The mind soars into abstraction, but the body is neglected. Forgetfulness, absent-mindedness, and aversion to business dominate. Thinkers who philosophise endlessly yet leave dishes unwashed. The ego is inflated: pride, indifference to others’ opinions, and spiritual arrogance may be present [Kent]. There is intense selfishness, often masked by disorganised benevolence. They appear careless, yet are obsessed with ideas and universal truths. Discontent, procrastination, and aversion to work arise despite mental capacity. Delusions of grandeur: thinking oneself a genius, a prophet, or deserving of recognition. Child may draw “circles in the air,” speak in dreams, or discuss theology. Despair, religious melancholia, and fear of damnation occur in deeper states [Clarke].

Unrefreshing sleep. Frequent waking. Dreams vivid, anxious, of fire, falling, flying, or danger. Sleeps with hands over head. Difficulty falling asleep from thinking. Child wakes crying or talking.

Dreams of falling, flying, fire, danger, or philosophy. Recurrent dreams of being scolded, humiliated, or failing. Prophetic or cosmic dreams. Dreams of being lost, dirty, or exposed.

Extreme heat, especially of vertex, palms, and soles. Aversion to bathing. Symptoms ascend: skin > mucosa > circulation > brain. Suppressed eruptions lead to mental, respiratory, or cardiac disease. Dirty appearance, despite hygiene. Burning sensations throughout body. Disorganisation, self-neglect, laziness, and restless brilliance.

Flushes of heat with red face, especially in afternoon. Burning internally. Heat follows suppressed eruptions. Alternating chill and heat. Sweat offensive and profuse. Fever with delirium in children. Chronic intermittent fevers.

Chilliness in open air. Heat in flushes. Burning of vertex, palms, soles. Night sweats, sour or offensive. Sweating from slight exertion. Cold, clammy feet.

Vertigo on standing, with faintness and heat. Headaches are burning, pressing, or bursting—worse from stooping, heat, and reading. Sensation as if the brain were on fire. Scalp dry, itches, or is covered with dandruff and boils. Hair falls out in spots. Pain begins in vertex or occiput and radiates forward. Head congestion during rush of blood. Children may suffer from open fontanelles, sweaty scalp, or cradle cap. Worse from warmth, better in cold air.

Burning, smarting, and redness of eyes; often bloodshot. Lids stick together in morning, or are dry and scaly. Lachrymation in wind. Photophobia, especially in morning. Vision blurred from mucus or discharge. Recurrent styes and iritis with burning. Aversion to sunlight, yet better in open air. Eyes feel like sand is in them.

Itching, dryness, or heat in ears. Discharges thick, yellow, offensive. Humming, roaring, or ringing in ears. External ear red, hot, or covered in eruptions. Painful boils or eczema behind ears. Hearing diminished during colds or from chronic catarrh.

Dry, crusted nostrils, bleeding easily. Thick, yellow-green discharge. Chronic catarrh, anosmia, or polypi. Nose red and bulbous in drinkers. Sensitive to odours. Children rub nose constantly. Tip of nose cold despite general heat.

Complexion is dirty, unhealthy, and pale, despite cleanliness. Cheeks flushed, especially with heat or emotion. Itching, redness, pustules, and acne—especially in adolescents and philosophical adults alike. Lips cracked, especially lower lip. Facial neuralgia or twitching worse heat.

Tongue white-coated, dirty, or dry. Burning or tingling on tongue. Ulcers on gums, cheeks, or palate. Offensive odour; bad breath in morning. Dryness, with desire to drink small quantities. Metallic taste. Blisters and heat in mouth.

Gums bleed easily. Toothache worse at night, from warmth or sweets. Teeth feel elongated or loose. Dental caries, especially near roots. Teeth covered with mucous in morning.

Sensation of burning, dryness, or plug in throat. Worse from empty swallowing. Hawking of thick, yellow mucus, especially in morning. Throat red, dry, raw, often without thirst. Chronic sore throat from digestive disturbance or suppressed skin issues.

Dry, hacking cough, worse talking, morning, or from warmth. Oppression, burning, and weakness. Expectoration yellow, thick, offensive. Shortness of breath from climbing stairs. Emphysema, asthma, bronchitis

Palpitations from emotion, exertion, or warmth. Irregular pulse. Congestion to chest and head. Flushes of heat with faintness. Weak circulation with cold hands and feet. Heart may feel enlarged or dragging.

Oppressed breathing worse from exertion, indoors, or warmth. Asthma with burning and cough. Better in open air. Breath hot, offensive. Periodic sighing or yawning. Chest feels raw.

Hungry at 11 am, a keynote [Boericke]. Eructations, sour, offensive, or empty. Aversion to meat, milk, eggs, and fatty food. Heartburn and acidity. Vomiting of sour substances. Burning pain in epigastrium, better from warmth. Desire for sweets, spices, and alcohol.

Full, distended abdomen with loud rumbling, especially in left side. Sensation of something alive moving within. Liver region sensitive and enlarged. Flatulence, offensive and difficult to expel. Burning, stitching pains, worse standing or bending.

Keynote: diarrhoea drives the patient out of bed at 5 a.m. [Hering]. Stools painless, offensive, often watery or thin, or with undigested food. Alternate with constipation. Haemorrhoids burn, itch, and bleed; worse from standing or walking. Anal itching drives patient mad, especially at night. Fissures, fistulae, and prolapse common.

Frequent urging, even after urination. Urine burning, dark, or deposits red sand. Involuntary urination at night or on coughing. Wetting the bed. Sensation of drop remaining. Dribbling, especially in elderly men with enlarged prostate.

Craves: sweets, fat, spices, alcohol, eggs
Aversion: milk, meat, bread
Worse from: milk, beer, fat, sugar
Better from: warm food, bland food, stimulants (temporarily)

Erections frequent but weak. Seminal emissions without dreams. Itching of genitals, especially scrotum. Swelling of glans. Prostatic hypertrophy. Genitals moist, red, or raw.

Menses too early, profuse, or delayed. Leucorrhoea thick, yellow, acrid, causing burning. Dryness and burning of vagina. Nipples cracked, painful, or inverted. Aversion to coition. Pruritus vulvae worse at night.

Weakness in lumbar spine, worse standing. Burning along spine or between scapulae. Spine sensitive to touch. Cannot stand long due to back pain. Painful coccyx. Stiffness in morning.

Burning soles, must put feet out of bed. Cold feet with hot head. Offensive foot sweat. Hangnails, brittle nails. Rheumatism, especially knees, hips, and shoulders. Skin dry or cracked. Numbness or formication.

The greatest skin remedy in all of homeopathy. Itching, burning, scratching till raw. Eruptions dry, scaly, moist, pustular, or crusted. Worse night, warmth of bed, washing, and suppressions. Skin looks dirty, despite washing. Eczema, psoriasis, scabies, boils, urticaria, acne—all within scope. Scars that don’t heal. Ulcers with red, inflamed margins and offensive discharges. Recurring herpes. Suppressed eruptions lead to internal illness [Hahnemann].

• Psorinum – Also dirty, chilly, offensive, but Psor. is more depressed, suicidal, worse for bathing
• Calcarea carbonica – Both chilly and sluggish; Calc. more fearful, fleshy, domestic
• Lycopodium – Also intellectual, digestive, but Lyc. is more cowardly, right-sided, and domineering
• Natrum muriaticum – Shares reserved, cerebral traits; Nat-m. is refined, self-controlled; Sulph. is explosive, self-neglectful
• Arsenicum album – Both restless, burning; Ars. is clean, anxious, perfectionistic; Sulph. is careless and scattered

• Complementary: Acon., Nux-v., Lyc., Calc., Psor.
• Antidotes: Camph., Acon., Nux-v.
• Inimical: Merc., Sep.
• Follows well: Hepar., Puls., Bry., Bell.
• Precedes well: Tub., Sil., Graph., Nat-m.

• Always think of Sulphur in chronic skin diseases, especially after suppressions
• Use as an intercurrent remedy in stalled cases
• Use in psoric constitutions: thin, unclean, restless, brilliant
• Think of Sulphur in lazy children, slovenly geniuses, and neglected philosophers
• Low potencies (6C–30C) for acute skin, high (200C–1M) for constitutional
• Never repeat too often in dry constitutions
• Give after acute to remove residual pathology

Mind

• Philosophical, abstracted
• Lazy, aversion to business
• Egotism, selfish
• Delusion, great person
• Despair, religious
• Aversion to washing

Head

• Itching, burning scalp
• Hair falling, vertex
• Headache, vertex, heat

Eyes

• Burning, smarting
• Styes, recurrent
• Photophobia, morning

Rectum

• Diarrhoea, morning, 5 a.m.
• Itching, anus, night
• Haemorrhoids, burning

Skin

• Itching, burning, scratching till raw
• Eczema, chronic
• Suppressed eruptions, after
• Boils, recurrent

Generalities

• Burning, internal
• Aversion to bathing
• Heat, vertex
• Weakness, standing, after

Samuel Hahnemann – Materia Medica Pura: Original proving, exhaustive skin, digestive, and constitutional symptomatology

James Tyler Kent – Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica: Philosophical and mental insights, core essence, and remedy dynamics

C. Hering – Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica: Deep analysis of modalities, sleep, and psoric layers

William Boericke – Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica: Clinical keynotes and practical applications

John Henry Clarke – Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica: Rich commentary on skin, miasmatic implications, and remedy relationships