– Pierce W.I.
MAGNESIUM CHLORIDE.
Introduction
Mag. mur. is the other salt of Magnesium proved by Hahnemann and it is similar in many respects to Mag. carb., but with this essential difference, that while with the latter we expect to have diarrhoea, with Mag. mur. constipation is the rule.
Symptoms
In the head we have severe neuralgic headaches, which involve the eyes, with aggravation from motion (96) and while in the open air (93). The sensation in the head, in these neuralgias, is as if the skull would burst (104), with relief from lying down and from tying the head up tightly (92) or pressing on it with both hands (93). We also have headaches due to liver troubles (95), associated with the constipation of the remedy and soreness and sensitiveness in the region of the liver. In the stomach we find Mag. mur. of value in gastralgia, recurring perhaps several times a day, and for indigestion of infants and children from drinking milk (6), which causes pain and passes undigested (60). Mag. mur. is a great liver remedy, being indicated in many conditions, including enlargement and congestion, induration and cirrhosis (127), with, in general jaundice (122), tenderness over the region of the liver and pain extending from here to the spine and pit of the stomach, aggravation immediately after eating (177), flatulent colic, constipation, and haemorrhoids (86), and with aggravation of all pains from lying on the r. or affected side (8). We may have in addition, scanty, albuminous urine and swelling of the feet and legs (63), bloated abdomen (11), swelling of the tongue, which shows the imprint of the teeth (192) and always, and of prime importance, the obstinate constipation of the remedy. Usually there is little or no inclination for stool and a great deal of effort is required for a very small result. The stools may be of large, dry masses that crumble as they appear at the anus, or small and knotty and covered with mucus (35), but, as a rule, the stools are smell and hard, like sheep-dung (35), and crumble as if burnt. Think of the remedy in the “constipation of infants (34) during dentition” (Hering). In the urinary organs we find micturition scanty, unsatisfactory, because some urine always to remain behind (200) and difficult, because they can only urinate by effort of the abdominal muscles (200) or must press the hands on the abdomen in the attempt to empty the bladder. Mag. mur. seems to be a remedy adapted to women, not only on the English surgeon’s definition of a woman-“a constipated person with a pain”-but especially where uterine troubles are associated with hysterical symptoms, such as spasmodic flatulence, or a sensation of a ball rising from the stomach into the throat (189), and relieved by eructations (175). It is useful for fibroids (202) and for scirrhous indurations of the uterus (202), with discharge of black blood and pains extending down the thighs (139). Menstruation is preceded by great mental excitement and nervousness, and whether it is too early or too late, the flow is profuse and of thick, black blood (136) and associated with the constipation of the remedy. The leucorrhoeal flow is thick and increased after every attempt at stool. A symptom of the third grade, as found in the Handbook, is raised to the second grade by Hering and to the first by Farrington and Lilienthal, and that is, palpitation worse when sitting (111), better moving about (110). I use Mag. mur. 3d.