Synonyms

Potassium Sulphate. Kali Sulphas. Potassas Sulphas.

Common Name

Sulphate of Potash.

Chemical Properties

Formula, K SO4. Occurs native in lavas, etc. Crystallizes in short, permanent, colorless four-and six-sided prisms. It is soluble in ten parts of cold and three parts of boiling water. It is insoluble in alcohol. It has a sharp, bitter, saline taste.

Preparation

Pure sulphate of potash is prepared by trituration, as directed under Class VII, American Homoeopathic Pharmacopmia.

Physiologico Chemical Data

This remedy, according to Schussler, is the function remedy of the epidermis and of the epithelium. A deficiency of this cell salt causes a yellow, slimy deposit on the tongue, slimy, thin, or decidedly yellow or greenish discharge and secretions of watery matter from any of the mucous surfaces, and epithelial or epidermal desquamation. The yellowness is probably due to retrograde metamorphosis - fatty degeneration of inflammatory products and of effete epithelium, etc.

The sulphates in nature and the oxide of iron serve as oxygen carriers. If sulphate and iron oxide come in contact simultaneously with an organic substance in a state of decay they give off their oxygen, and sulphate of iron is formed thereby; this may again be decomposed by the oxygen of the air, forming sulphuric acid and iron oxide, which, under favorable conditions, become again carriers of oxygen. Similar processes may occur in the human organism. Therefore, of the sulphates, Kali suiph. probably plays an important role, because it is found in the cells and in the intercellular fluids, muscles, nerves, epithelium and in the blood corpuscles. It is the carrier of oxygen. The oxygen taken up by the iron contained in the blood corpuscles is carrried to every cell of the organism by the reciprocal action of Kali suipk. and iron. Every cell requires for its growth and development the vitalizing influence of oxygen. But its continued action oxidizes the organic basis of the cells. Hence, they disintegrate into their constituent elements.

A deficiency of Kali sulph. may, according to location and extent, occasion the following symptoms: Feeling of heaviness and weariness, vertigo, chilliness, palpitation, fear, melancholy, toothache, headache, pains in the limbs, which intermit and change location. These pains are worse in closed rooms, warmth and towards evening, and better in fresh, open air, that is rich in oxygen.

Epidermis and epithelial cells poorly fed with oxygen loosen and desquamate freely. If oxygen is brought to the suffering parts by means of Kali sulph. the formation of new cells is thereby furthered, and these hasten, by their activity, to promote the desquamation of the old ones.

General Action

It is applicable to the third stage of inflammation or to its stage of retrogression, the sulphates being characteristic products of the oxidation of tissue and the potassium having its special sphere in the solids, and the resulting salt becomes a prominent constituent of their ashes, whence we can infer its homosopathicity to the same stage. Ailments accompanied by profuse desquamation of epidermis. Yellow mucous discharges. Rise in temperature at night producing an evening aggravation. Another characteristic indication is amelioration in the cool, open air. Diseases caused by a retrocession of eruptions. To produce perspiration if Ferr. phos. fails.

Guiding Symptoms And Characteristic Indications. Mental Symptoms

Fear of falling.

Head And Scalp

Vertigo, especially on looking and rising. Headache, which grows worse in a warm room and in the evening, and is better in the cool or open air. Falling out of the hair, bald spots. Rheumatic headaches, beginning in the evening and in a heated atmosphere; worse moving head from side to side or backward. Copious scaling of scalp, moist and sticky. Dandruff and scaldhead.

Eyes

Cataract, opac lens, Yellow crusts on the eyelids, yellowish or greenish, purulent discharge from the eyes. Conjunctivitis, ophthalmia neonatorum. Abscess of the cornea. Hypopyon.

Ears

Deafness from congestion of the tympanic cavity, or with catarrh and swelling of Eustachian lining. Worse in a heated room, with a yellow, slimy coating on the tongue. Earache, with discharge of watery or yellow matter. Secretion of thin, bright-yellow, or greenish fluid after inflammation. (Thick, pus-like discharge, Calc. sulph.) Pain under the ear, sharp, cutting pain, tension, stitches and piercing below the mastoid process. Stinking otorrhcea. Polypoid excrescence closes the meatus.

Nose

Colds with yellow, slimy expectorations, or discharge of watery matter. Patient feels generally worse in the evening or in a heated room. Decidedly yellow or yellowish-green discharges from the nose. After Ferr. phos. in colds, if the latter does not produce free perspiration and the skin remains dry-. Old catarrh with yellowish, viscous secretion. Nose obstructed, together with yellowish discharge from the nares. Smell lost. Ozasna.

Face

Faceache aggravated in a heated room and in the evening, improved in cool or open air. Pallid face. Face red, features distorted. Epithelioma.

Mouth

Lower lip swollen. Dryness and desquamation of the lower lip, peels off in large flakes; epithelioma, burning heat in the mouth.

Tongue

Coating yellow and slimy, sometimes with whitish edge. Insipid, pappy taste. Lips, tongue and gums white. Taste lost.

Teeth

Toothache worse in warmth and evening, better in cool, open air. Chronic painfulness of the gums.

Throat

No symptoms that are noteworthy.

Gastric Symptoms

Burning heat in stomach; burning thirst, nausea and vomiting. Chronic catarrh of the stomach, with yellow, slimy, coated tongue. Indigestion with sensation of pressure as of a load and fullness at the pit of the stomach, painful, and water gathers in the mouth. Sensation of faintness in the stomach. Colicky pains in stomach, when Magnes. phos. fails. Deep-seated pain in stomach. Gastric fever with a rise of temperature in the evening and fall in the morning. Thirstlessness. Dread of hot drinks. Jaundice from gastro-duodenal catarrh.