Uranium nitricum

A heavy-metal nitrate salt whose toxicology (animal and human) is notable for glycosuria/polyuria with thirst and emaciation, fatty/degenerative change of liver, kidney and heart, ulceration of gastric/duodenal mucosa, and sexual debility. Homœopathic preparations are made by trituration of the salt followed by dilution/potentisation. Classical authors repeatedly emphasise a diabetic–ulcerative–degenerative triad: ravenous appetite with loss of flesh and strength; copious, saccharine urine progressing to albuminuria; gnawing/burning epigastric pains with haematemesis or melaena; and a cachectic, oedematous decline when hepatic–renal damage advances [Hughes], [Hale], [Allen], [Clarke], [Boericke].

The picture is drawn from poisonings, physiological experiments (glycosuria), and clinical experience, gathered chiefly by Hale and Allen; later portraits by Hering, Clarke, Farrington, and Boericke establish the spheres of diabetes, gastric/duodenal ulcer, fatty liver, nephritis/albuminuria, heart degeneration, sexual failure, and diabetic pruritus/ulcers [Hale], [Allen], [Hering], [Clarke], [Boericke], [Farrington].

Uranium nitricum is the metabolic–ulcer–degeneration remedy. Its essence is a ravenous yet wasting patient with intense thirst and copious saccharine urine, whose stomach burns and gnaws, easing for a moment with food only to return 1–2 hours later—and whose organs (liver, kidney, heart) show an early fatty/degenerative slide. Around this axis gather the satellites of sexual failure, burning soles and pruritus, slow ulcers, oedema, and a weak, quick pulse. Night aggravates—nocturia, emissions, burning pains—and the morale sinks with the body. The prescription declares itself when glycosuria/polyuria + ulcer rhythm + cachectic decline sound together, especially if warmth/food briefly palliate and sugars/starches plainly aggravate. Among gastric remedies Uran-n. is darker—haematemesis, melaena, post-prandial torment—and among diabetic remedies it is deeper—organ degeneration and trophic ruin, not sugar alone [Hale], [Allen], [Clarke], [Boericke].

• Metabolism / Pancreas–liver axis — Glycosuria with polyuria, intense thirst, ravenous appetite yet emaciation; fatty liver; later albuminuria and oedema [Hale], [Allen], [Clarke]. (See Stomach, Urinary, Generalities.)
• Gastric & duodenal mucosa — Ulcerative gastritis/duodenal ulcer: gnawing–burning pain, haematemesis, melaena, post-prandial aggravation [Allen], [Clarke], [Boericke]. (See Stomach, Abdomen.)
• Kidneys — Nephritis with albumin/casts; high specific gravity urine in glycosuric phase, then dropsical decline [Allen], [Clarke]. (See Urinary, Fever/Generalities.)
• Heart & vessels — Fatty/degenerative heart, quick weak pulse, breathlessness on slight effort [Clarke], [Boericke]. (See Heart, Chest.)
• Peripheral nerves/skin (diabetic) — Burning soles, numbness, pruritus, slow-healing ulcers and eczema; carbuncular tendency in diabetics [Phatak], [Clarke]. (See Extremities, Skin.)
• Sexual organs — Sexual debility: emissions, impotence, prostatic/urethral burning; scanty erections [Hale], [Clarke]. (See Male/Female.)

Apathetic, mentally dull from metabolic drain; memory poor; indifferent by day yet anxious and restless at night when burning, thirst, or gastric pains predominate [Allen], [Hering]. Hypochondriacal worry over health and decline; low spirits from impotence and hair loss/skin changes (diabetic cachexia) [Clarke]. Irritability with hunger; relief on eating is short-lived [Hale]. Children in glycosuric states are peevish, drowsy by day, excitable at night from thirst and urination [Allen].

Broken by nocturia, thirst, burning feet, and epigastric pains; unrefreshing; morning languor [Allen], [Hering]. Dreams anxious; wakes with hunger or dryness of mouth [Clarke].

Of business or loss; sexual dreams with emissions and exhaustion [Allen], [Clarke].

A degenerative cachexia: ravenous appetite yet emaciation, thirst with polyuria (sugar → albumin), gnawing/burning epigastric ulcer pains, weak heart, oedema, pruritus/ulcers, and night aggravations. The case declines along a metabolic–ulcerative–renal axis unless checked; transient relief from food and warmth, relapse after 1–2 hours post-prandial, and a striking intolerance of sugar/starch are practical guideposts [Hale], [Allen], [Clarke], [Boericke].

Low-grade evening heat with thirst; sweats on slight exertion; chill with gastric pain spells; adynamia in advanced renal/hepatic disease [Allen], [Clarke].

Chilliness after meals; heat in epigastrium; sweat readily, especially at night, without relief; hands moist and cold [Allen].

Heaviness and dull frontal ache in glycosuria; vertigo on rising; face pale, pasty or sallow [Allen], [Clarke]. Headache from gastric irritation—post-prandial or with acidity/flatulence; better open air or eructation [Clarke]. Hair dry; scalp pruritic in diabetics [Phatak].

Dim sight during glycosuric weakness; black specks on rising; ocular fatigue; conjunctivae pale [Allen], [Clarke]. Diabetic blur fluctuating with blood sugar (clinical observation) [Clarke].

Tinnitus with heart weakness; external ear cold in cachexia [Allen].

Dryness; epistaxis in ulcer/anaemic states [Allen].

Sunken, cachectic, sometimes puffy beneath eyes (renal); lips dry, cracked; mouth emits acetone-like odour in severe cases [Clarke], [Allen].

Intense dryness and thirst; tongue red or mapped; edges indented; aphthous ulcerations in debilitated subjects [Allen], [Boericke]. Metallic taste; acidity; salivation scant [Clarke].

Sensitive, especially to cold; caries progresses rapidly (trophic failure) [Clarke].

Raw, burning down oesophagus after meals; constant desire to sip warm drinks [Allen], [Clarke].

Oppression, sighing respiration; palpitation from least exertion; breathlessness climbing stairs; intercostal neuralgia with acidity [Clarke], [Allen]. Cough dry, teasing at night in the weak [Allen].

Degenerative heart: soft, quick pulse; tendency to dilatation, feeble sounds; stitches and anxiety about the praecordia; oedema of feet by evening [Clarke], [Boericke]. Palpitation after meals or on walking a short distance [Allen].

Short wind; yawning and sighing; must loosen clothes after meals (gastric–cardiac link) [Clarke].

Cardinal sphere. Gnawing, burning epigastric pain; hunger immediately after eating; early satiety with subsequent faintness; ulcer signs—haematemesis, “coffee-ground” vomit, melaena; worse 1–2 hours after food, better warm drinks/temporary food [Allen], [Clarke], [Boericke]. Heartburn, sour risings, flatulence; nausea on least effort; epigastrium tender to pressure [Allen]. Appetite ravenous yet emaciates; thirst intense [Hale], [Clarke].

Right hypochondrial weight/soreness (fatty liver); abdomen distended with wind; borborygmi; colic with sudden watery stools in ulcerative gastritis [Allen], [Clarke]. Spleen sometimes enlarged in cachexia [Allen].

Diarrhoea—watery, offensive, sometimes bloody with tenesmus—during ulcer flares; otherwise tendency to constipation with hard, dry stools in diabetics [Allen], [Boericke]. Burning at anus; haemorrhoids in plethoric–glycosuric subjects [Clarke].

Glycosuria with copious, light-coloured urine, high specific gravity, incessant thirst; polyuria day and night [Hale], [Allen]. Later albuminuria with casts; dropsy of ankles; renal soreness; cutting/burning in ureters [Allen], [Clarke]. Nocturnal enuresis in children of diabetic diathesis [Boericke]. Urine sometimes offensive with acetone note in severe cases [Clarke].

Desire for bread, sweets, and cold water (aggravating); craves food soon after eating; milk and warm broths often soothe temporarily; alcohol and highly seasoned foods aggravate ulcer/heart [Clarke], [Allen], [Boericke].

Sexual debility: frequent nocturnal emissions with great prostration; impotence, scanty erections, cold genitals; prostatic irritation with burning urethra and post-void dribble [Hale], [Clarke]. Orchialgia, aching in spermatic cords; lascivious thoughts with physical failure (neuro-metabolic) [Allen].

Menstrual irregularity with wasting; pruritus vulvae (diabetic); vulvar/vaginal excoriations from glycosuric urine; sterility or early miscarriage in cachectic states (clinical note) [Clarke], [Boericke].

Lumbar weakness; renal aching; small of back sore when standing or after nocturia; burning between shoulders with acidity [Allen].

Tired, heavy legs; numbness and burning of soles (diabetic neuropathy); cramps in calves at night; ankles oedematous towards evening [Phatak], [Allen]. Hands tremulous; small wounds ulcerate and heal slowly [Clarke].

Dry, itching, easily excoriated; diabetic pruritus (genitals, folds); boils/carbuncles and ulcers with indolent, undermined edges; acrid discharge; cellulitis slow to resolve [Clarke], [Boericke], [Phatak]. Eczema worse sugar/starch; fissures at commissures in the cachectic [Clarke].

Diabetes / Glycosuria

• Syzygium jamb. — Lowers sugar symptomatically; less cachexia/ulceration picture than Uran-n. [Clarke], [Boericke].
• Phos-ac. — Diabetes with mental apathy, grief, and debility; less gastric ulcer/burning; less organ degeneration [Farrington].
• Ars. — Thirst, restlessness, burning pains, emaciation; great anxiety and chilliness; not the classical post-prandial ulcer pattern; less glycosuric stamp [Kent].
• Cephalandra — Glycosuria with dryness and constipation; organ degeneration picture less defined than Uran-n. (clinical) [Clarke].

Gastric/Duodenal Ulcer

• Arg-n. — Gastric flatulence and craving sweets with anticipatory anxiety; ulcer signs less destructive; pains not classically post-prandial 1–2 h [Farrington].
• Kali-bich. — Punch-hole ulcer pains, localized, with stringy mucus; less glycosuria/metabolic axis [Clarke].
• Phos. — Vomiting of blood, burning, craving cold drinks; haemorrhagic tendency and fatty degeneration overlap but lacks glycosuric keynote [Kent].
• Ars. — Burning > heat, intense anxiety, small sips; ulcer picture vivid but without Uran-n.’s diabetes–renal axis [Kent], [Clarke].

Renal / Albuminuria

• Merc-c. — Nephritis with tenesmus and dysenteric stools; ptyalism; less diabetic cachexia [Clarke].
• Apocyn. — Dropsy with scanty urine and gastric irritability; more cardiac–renal oedema without glycosuria [Boger].

Sexual Debility

• Pic-ac. — Brain–spine exhaustion with emissions; less gastric/diabetic stamp [Farrington].
• Selen. — Emissions with great prostration and sexual thoughts; no glycosuria/ulcer axis [Clarke].

Diabetic Skin & Neuropathy

• Fl-ac. — Trophic ulcers, heat intolerance, venous weakness; not primarily glycosuric [Kent].
• Sulph. — Burning soles, itch, congestive habit; lacks organ degeneration + glycosuria hallmark [Kent].

• Complementary: Phos. (fatty degeneration, haematemesis), Ars. (burning pains, anxiety) — often needed in phases surrounding the Uran-n. core [Kent], [Farrington].
• Complementary: Syzygium (glycosuria control) — may support metabolic phase while Uran-n. answers the ulcer/degenerative terrain [Clarke].
• Follows well: Phos-ac. in post-febrile debility when glycosuria with ravenous appetite and ulcer pains declares [Farrington].
• Precedes well: Fl-ac. or Sulph. for lingering trophic skin/ulcer issues after metabolic axis is steadier [Kent].
• Antidotes/Adjuncts (clinical): Warm simple diet, avoidance of sugars/starches, graded rest; these echo Uran-n. modalities and steady decline [Clarke], [Boericke].

• Diabetes with ravenous appetite, thirst, weight loss, burning soles, pruritus (± nocturia): Uran-n. 6C–30C once or twice daily; taper as polyuria, thirst, and sleep improve. Track urine changes clinically [Hale], [Clarke].
• Gastric/duodenal ulcer with post-prandial 1–2 h pain, haematemesis/melaena, temporary relief from food/warm milk, and diabetic features: Uran-n. 30C t.d.s. for several days, then space. Compare Ars., Phos., Kali-bich. for shifts in picture [Allen], [Clarke], [Boericke].
• Albuminuria emerging in a glycosuric patient with evening ankle oedema and weak heart: consider Uran-n. and co-manage with rest, warm simple diet; compare Apocyn. if dropsy dominates [Clarke], [Boger].
• Sexual debility with emissions and prostration in a wasting, thirsty patient: Uran-n. (30C) nocte for a short course; compare Pic-ac., Selen. if neuro-psychic exhaustion exceeds the metabolic theme [Hale], [Farrington].
• Diabetic skin (itch, slow ulcers): add topical hygiene; consider Fl-ac. if venous/trophic failure persists after Uran-n. settles metabolism [Clarke], [Kent].

Mind

• Mind—Apathy—metabolic disorders, in—diabetes. [Allen], [Clarke]
• Mind—Anxiety—health—decline, about—night worse. [Clarke]
• Mind—Irritability—hunger, from—better eating (transient). [Hale]

Head

• Head—Heaviness—frontal—glycosuria, in. [Allen]
• Head—Vertigo—on rising—weakness from loss of fluids. [Allen]
• Headache—gastric—post-prandial—eructations relieve. [Clarke]

Stomach / Abdomen

• Stomach—Pain—burning—ulcer—after eating—1–2 hours—worse. [Allen], [Clarke]
• Stomach—Haematemesis—ulcer, with. [Allen], [Boericke]
• Appetite—ravenous—emaciation, with. [Hale], [Clarke]
• Abdomen—Liver—fatty degeneration—tenderness, right hypochondrium. [Clarke]

Rectum

• Diarrhoea—watery—offensive—ulcerative gastritis, with. [Allen]
• Constipation—diabetes, in. [Boericke]

Urinary

• Urine—sugar—glycosuria—polyuria—with thirst and emaciation. [Hale], [Allen]
• Urine—albumen—nephritis—oedema of ankles—albuminuria. [Allen], [Clarke]
• Enuresis—night—diabetic tendency. [Boericke]

Male / Female

• Sexual power—diminished—emissions—exhaustion after. [Hale], [Clarke]
• Prostate—irritation—burning—urination after. [Clarke]
• Female—Pruritus—vulvae—diabetes, in. [Clarke], [Boericke]

Heart / Chest

• Heart—Weakness—fatty degeneration—palpitation on slight exertion. [Clarke], [Boericke]
• Pulse—quick—weak—metabolic cachexia. [Allen]

Extremities / Skin

• Extremities—Burning—soles—diabetes, in—night worse. [Phatak], [Allen]
• Extremities—Numbness—diabetic neuropathy. [Clarke]
• Skin—Ulcers—slow healing—diabetic—pruritus—carbuncles. [Clarke], [Boericke]

Generalities

• Generalities—Emaciation—appetite increased—with thirst. [Hale], [Allen]
• Generalities—Weakness—after meals—post-prandial sinking. [Clarke]
• Generalities—Night—aggravation—nocturia, burning, emissions. [Hering], [Phatak]
• Food—sugar/sweets—aggravate—complaints. [Clarke]

Hale, E. M. — New Remedies (var. eds., 1864–1891): induction of glycosuria; clinical sphere in diabetes and gastric ulcer.
Allen, T. F. — Encyclopaedia of Pure Materia Medica (1874–79): provings/toxicology—polyuria, glycosuria, ulceration, organ degeneration.
Hering, C. — The Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica (1879–91): confirmations—nocturia, burning soles, cachexia, sexual debility.
Clarke, J. H. — A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica (1900): portrait—diabetes with organ degeneration; post-prandial ulcer rhythm; renal/heart decline.
Boericke, W. — Pocket Manual of Homœopathic Materia Medica (1901): concise keynotes—glycosuria, fatty liver, nephritis, gastric ulcer, emissions.
Hughes, R. — A Manual of Pharmacodynamics (1880): physiological notes—glycosuria induction; hepatic/renal changes.
Farrington, E. A. — Clinical Materia Medica (1887): differentials (Phos-ac., Ars., Arg-n., Kali-bich., Phos.) for diabetes/ulcer.
Boger, C. M. — Synoptic Key of the Materia Medica (1915): generalities—degenerative miasm, damp-cold aggravation.
Phatak, S. R. — Materia Medica of Homoeopathic Medicines (1977): diabetic pruritus, burning soles, neuro-cutaneous signs.
Kent, J. T. — Lectures on Homœopathic Materia Medica (1905): miasmatic colouring; relationships among degenerative/haemorrhagic remedies.
Tyler, M. L. — Homœopathic Drug Pictures (1942): comparative notes for gastric/diabetic states (context).

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