Ammonium carbonicum

A chemical salt made by sublimation of ammonium chloride and calcium carbonate, forming a pungent, alkaline compound. Often used in commercial smelling salts.

Widely used as a respiratory stimulant in syncope or fainting; in baking powders and fire extinguishers; as a pharmaceutical expectorant.

First proved by Hahnemann and contributors, and included in Chronic Diseases. Strong toxicological and clinical confirmation, especially in respiratory and circulatory systems.

• Respiratory system – bronchial membranes, dyspnoea, asthma
• Circulatory system – weakness, collapse, fainting
• Venous system – sluggish circulation, cyanosis
• Mucous membranes – especially nose and throat
• Skin – eruptions, ulcers, pallor
• Blood – deficient oxygenation, toxic or anaemic states
• Right side – many symptoms are predominantly right-sided

• Open air (generally)
• Sitting upright (especially during asthma or breathlessness)
• Eructation or expectoration
• Rest
• Cold applications (for headache)

• Warm, closed rooms
• Physical exertion
• Lying down (especially at night)
• Washing or exposure to water
• Suppression of menses
• Night and early morning
• During menses or menstruation suppressed

• Carbo vegetabilis – Also collapse, cyanosis, but more air hunger and distension
• Antimonium tartaricum – Rattling chest but little expectoration, more in children
• Nux vomica – Irritable, oversensitive, but stronger digestion and reaction
• Arsenicum album – Restless, anxious, burning, more thirst and fear of death
• Lachesis – Cyanosis and suppression symptoms, but left-sided and loquacious

• Complementary: Arnica, Arsenicum, Bryonia
• Antidotes: Camphora, Coffea
• Follows well: Aconite in collapse, Pulsatilla in menstrual suppression
• Precedes well: Carbo veg in chronic debility
• Inimical: Chin., Ferrum (in some patients)

Ammonium carbonicum embodies the collapse of vitality, especially in anaemic, obese, or weakened individuals. There is a striking polarity: physical oppression with mental dullness, warmth aggravating yet patient is cold, breathlessness requiring the patient to sit upright, yet exhausted by movement. The paralysis of venous circulation and oxygen transport defines its clinical and emotional profile. It suits persons overwhelmed by minor exertion, chilled by the air yet worse in warmth, desiring air but suffocated by their own constitution. Suppressed discharges or catarrh are central triggers.

• Invaluable for asthma with cyanosis, especially when better sitting upright and worse in a warm room
• Useful in chronic nasal catarrh with night-time obstruction
• Excellent for collapse during menses or fevers, particularly in anaemic women
• Consider in chronic bronchitis in the elderly, especially obese patients
• Indicated when cough or sleep is disturbed by dyspnoea or congestion

Nose

• Obstruction at night
• Coryza alternating with stoppage
• Epistaxis during menses

Chest

• Oppression, worse lying down
• Cough with bloody mucus
• Asthma better sitting up

Skin

• Urticaria from exertion
• Ulcers slow to heal
• Cold, flaccid skin

Generalities

• Worse warmth, better open air
• Fainting from exertion
• Exhaustion with cyanosis

• Samuel Hahnemann – Chronic Diseases: Provided initial proving and chronic usage guidelines
• T.F. Allen – Encyclopaedia of Pure Materia Medica: Extended proving and clinical observations
• John Henry Clarke – Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica: Offered rich repertorial detail and clinical comparison
• C. Hering – Guiding Symptoms: Key symptoms for asthma, fainting, and sleep
• William Boericke – Pocket Manual: Clinical insights into respiratory and menstrual collapse states