Oxalicum acidum 200c
- VERMEULEN Frans
Ox-ac.
Our life is what our thoughts make it.
[Marcus Aurelius]
Signs
Oxalic acid. Ethanodioic acid [dihydrate].
SUBSTANCE Oxalic acid is present in many plants and vegetables, notably in those of the Oxalis and Rumex families, where it occurs in the cell sap of the plant as the calcium or potassium salt. It is a product of the metabolism of many moulds. Several species of Penicillium and Aspergillus convert sugar into calcium oxalate. Oxalic acid was formerly made by fusion of cellulose matter, e.g. sawdust, with sodium hydroxide [caustic soda] or by oxidation with nitric acid; it is now made by passing carbon monoxide into concentrated sodium hydroxide or anhydrous sodium bicarbonate. 1 Oxalic acid was discovered by Scheele, in the year 1783, by the decomposition of sugar with strong nitric acid. Oxalic acid reacts with silver, sodium chloride, and sodium hypochlorite. Contact with oxidizing materials may result in an explosive reaction. Carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide may form when pure oxalic acid is heated to decomposition. The human body synthesizes oxalic acid from ascorbic acid [vitamin C]. Oxalic acid may combine with calcium, iron, sodium, magnesium, or potassium to form less soluble salts known as oxalates. The most common form of kidney stone is composed of calcium oxalate. Oxalates form tiny little insoluble crystals with sharp edges, which are irritating to tissue. Calcium oxalate crystals [raphides] occur, for example, in Arum, Caladium and Dieffenbachia and are responsible for the irritating properties of such plants.
USES As analytical reagens; in calico printing and dyeing; for bleaching straw [hats] and leather; removing paint or varnish, rust or ink stains; cleaning wood; manufacture of oxalates; manufacture of blue ink, celluloid, intermediates and dyes; in metal polishers; in indigo dyeing; in ceramics and pigments; in the paper industry [production of paper pulp]; in photography; in process engraving; in the rubber manufacturing industry; in making glucose from starch; as condensing agent in organic chemistry; for removing calcium in water. 2 Also used to destroy Varroa [parasitic mite] in honeybee colonies. Produced in large quantities as a by-product from processing bauxite in the aluminium industry.
TOXICOLOGY Oral ingestion of oxalic acid may be deadly. Ingestion causes gastrointestinal tract burns and haemorrhages, severe pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and shock. When ingested, oxalic acid removes calcium from the blood, forming calcium oxalate which can cause kidney damage. The arrest of coagulation of the blood by alkali oxalates and citrates through removal of calcium ions is known. Contact with skin causes irritation and possible burns, esp. if the skin is wet or moist. Chronic exposure results in kidney damage, dermatitis, cyanosis of the fingers, and possible ulcerations. Christison found oxalic acid "a substance of great interest". He examined its properties extensively and has this to say about them: "It is a poison of great energy, and in this country [United Kingdom] is in common use for committing suicide, and has been often taken by accident for Epsom salt. It is certainly ill adapted for the purposes of the murderer; for although it might be easily given to a sick person instead of a laxative salt, yet its real nature would betray itself too soon and too unequivocally for the chief object of the prisoner - secrecy. ... The action of oxalic acid on the animal economy is very peculiar. When injected in a state of concentration into the stomach of a dog or cat, it causes exquisite pain, expressed by cries and struggling. In a few minutes this is succeeded by violent efforts to vomit; then by sudden dulness, languor, and great debility; and death soon takes place without a struggle. Such are the effects of the concentrated acid. When considerably diluted, the phenomena are totally different. When dissolved in twenty parts of water, oxalic acid, like the mineral acids in the same circumstances, ceases to corrode; nay it hardly even irritates. But, unlike them, it continues a deadly poison; for it causes death by acting indirectly on the brain, spine, and heart. The symptoms then induced vary with the dose. When the quantity is large, the most prominent symptoms are those of palsy of the heart; and immediately after death that organ is found to have lost its contractility, and to contain arterial blood in its left cavities. When the dose is less the animal perishes after several fits of violent tetanus, which affects the respiratory muscles of the chest in particular, causing spasmodic fixing of the chest and consequent suffocation. When the dose is still less, the spasms are slight or altogether wanting, and death occurs under symptoms of pure narcotism like those caused by opium; the animal appears to sleep away. ... It is probable that oxalic acid, when not sufficiently concentrated to occasion death by the local injury produced, acts on the nervous system through the medium of the blood. Nevertheless it is a remarkable circumstance that it cannot be detected in that fluid. ... In man the most prominent symptoms hitherto observed have been those of excessive irritation, because it has been almost always swallowed in a large dose and much concentrated. It is the most rapid and unerring of all the common poisons. The London Courier [Feb. 1, 1823] contains an inquest of the body of a young man who appears to have survived hardly ten minutes; an equally rapid case of a young lady, who poisoned herself with an ounce, is mentioned in the St James's Chronicle [August 17, 1826]; and few of those who have died survived above an hour. ... Very few persons have recovered where the quantity was considerable. In every instance in which the dose was considerable, and the solution concentrated, the first symptoms have been immediate burning pain in the stomach, and generally also in the throat. But when the dose was small, more particularly if the solution was also rather diluted, the pain has sometimes been slight, or slow in commencing. In general, violent vomiting follows the accession of pain, either immediately, or in a few minutes; and it commonly continues till near death. Some, however, have not vomited at all, even when the acid was strong and in a large dose; and this is still more apt to happen when the poison has been taken much diluted. ... The tongue and mouth occasionally become inflamed if the case lasts long enough. ... The signs of depressed circulation are always very striking. In general the pulse fails altogether, it is always very feeble, and the skin is cold and clammy. ... In the slower cases various nervous affections have been observed. A girl, who swallowed by mistake about two drams, and did not vomit till emetics were given, complained much at first of pain, but afterwards chiefly of great lassitude and weakness of the limbs, and next morning of numbness and weakness there as well as in the back. This affection was at first so severe that she could hardly walk up stairs; but in a few days she recovered entirely. Analogous effects took place in Mr Hebb's patient and in Dr Arrowsmith's case. The first thing the former complained of was acute pain in the back, gradually extending down the thighs, occasioning ere long great torture, and continuing almost till the moment of death. Dr Arrowsmith's patient had the same symptoms, complained more of the pain shooting down from the loins to the limbs than of the pain in the belly, and was constantly seeking relief in a fresh change of posture. Mr Frazer's patient had from an early period a peculiar general numbness, approaching to palsy. Dr Babington's patient, who took two scruples by mistake for tartaric acid in an effervescing draught, suffered, after the first twenty-four hours, chiefly from headache, extreme feebleness of the pulse, and a sense of numbness and tingling or pricking in the back and thighs. In a recent case described by Mr Tapson, violent symptoms of irritation in the alimentary canal came on as usual, but soon afterwards a sense as if the hands were dead, loss of consciousness for eight hours, and then lividity, coldness, and almost complete loss of the power of motion in the legs; which symptoms were not entirely removed for fifteen days. In Dr Arrowsmith's case two symptoms occurred, which I have not seen mentioned in any other. The first was an eruption or mottled appearance of the skin in circular patches, not unlike the roundish red marks on the arms of stout healthy children, but of a deeper tint. The second was the poisoning and death of leeches applied to the stomach. 'They were healthy,' says Dr Arrowsmith in the notes with which he obligingly furnished me, 'small, and fastened immediately. On looking at them in a few minutes I remarked that they did not seem to fill, and on touching one it felt hard and immediately fell off, motionless and dead. The others were all in the same state. They had all bitten and the marks were conspicuous; but they had drawn scarcely any blood. They were applied about six hours after the acid was taken.'"3
FOOD Oxalic acid binds with important nutrients, making them inaccessible to the body, and possibly leading to the formation of urinary or arthritic calculi. [It is debated whether oxalic acid robs calcium or removes excess calcium after the body is replenished.] Foods and beverages with high levels of oxalic acid include spinach, purslane, rhubarb [mainly in leaves], buckwheat, cocoa and chocolate, coffee and tea, berries [chiefly strawberries and cranberries], peanuts and beans, bell peppers, black pepper, almond and cashew, ginger, banana, pumpkin, poppy seed [moonseed], [unripe] tomatoes, and wine.
HYPEROXALURIA Hyperoxaluria, and its accompanying oxalosis, has several forms: primary hyperoxaluria [three types], acquired hyperoxaluria, and absorptive or enteric hyperoxaluria. The common factor among all of these forms of hyperoxaluria is an excessive excretion of oxalate in the urine. Oxalosis is the excessive accumulation of oxalate in the body. Primary hyperoxaluria is a rare metabolic disease [autosomal recessive] caused by the liver making too much oxalic acid that is excreted in the urine. The excess oxalic acid combines with calcium inside the kidneys, causing calcium oxalate stones in the urinary tract. While the kidney continues to function, the excessive oxalate is eliminated through the urine. If the kidneys fail, the diseases progresses to oxalosis, when oxalate crystals are deposited elsewhere in the body such as the eyes and other major organs. In the later stages of oxalosis, crystals may be deposited in the bones and joints causing painful bone disease. Acquired hyperoxaluria occurs from ingestion of unusually large amounts of oxalate such as certain foods [see above] or another substance that is converted to oxalate by the liver. These substances include: ethylene glycol [antifreeze], xylitol, piridoxilate, or vitamin C in doses in excess of 4 grams per day. Additional causes of acquired hyperoxaluria include pyridoxine or thiamine deficiency. Absorptive hyperoxaluria occurs in about ten percent of people who have had surgical removal of a portion of the bowel. The disorder is due to a variety of other enteric conditions as well: chronic inflammatory bowel disease, chronic pancreatic or biliary disease, primary small bowel disease with malabsorption, cirrhosis, bacterial overgrowth syndromes, or after ileojejunal surgery. Absorptive hyperoxaluria causes unabsorbed fatty acids to combine with calcium, leading to the absorption of too much oxalate by the intestine. The first sign of hyperoxaluria [any form] is commonly kidney stones, blood in the urine, or even kidney failure. This typically appears from infancy to mid-twenties. The severity of the disease varies widely from a complete absence of symptoms and late development of kidney stones to an extremely serious and progressive disease. It is generally believed that the earlier kidney failure occurs, the more severe the disease. 4
PROVINGS •• [1] Reil - 2 [male] provers, 1849; method: repeated and increasing doses of 2nd dil., 1st dil. and of concentrated solution.
•• [2] Hering - collection of provings by 11 males and 1 female, c. 1844-45; method: solution, 1x, or 2x; manner: not stated for most provers; for the four or five provers taking a single dose the observation period was 1-2 days.
[1-2] Merck Index. [3] Christison, A Treatise on Poisons. [4] Oxalosis and Hyperoxaluria Foundation; www. ohf. org/
Affinity
Digestive tract. Navel. Nerves [spinal cord; heart]. Left side; lung.
Modalities
Worse: Thinking of it. Cold. Touch. Shaving. Mental exertion. Sour fruits.
Better: After stool.
Main symptoms
M THINKING about COMPLAINTS <. • "As soon as he thinks about the pains they return ... And not only that, thinking of pains and conditions will bring them on when they are not actually present. If the patient thinks about urinating he must go instantly and relieve the bladder." [Clarke] M NERVOUS and sleepless. Neurasthenia. M ANIMATION, HIGH SPIRITS. [In 5 provers!] • "Great increase of animation through the day with playfulness and mirthfulness, which had not of late years been natural to him. ... Great disposition for play and mischief." • "Nervous and vascular excitement, as from alcohol, constituting a feeling of hilarity." • "Seems in its primary action to diminish the power of concentrating his ideas, and afterwards to increase it. Greater presence of mind; the relations of the world seem to be clearer to him. He feels more composed than usual, and very much exhilarated. Great cheerfulness of mind, quicker in thought and action. Whole forenoon unusual vivacity and power of concentration, which is still more decided in afternoon." • "Unusual power of concentration of mind. Hilarity and cheerfulness." • "Greater love of his children, in one in whom this feeling always predominated; a decidedly expressed and clearly distinguished symptom, it being not traceable to any other cause." [Hughes] M Anxiety and feeling as if all the blood has left the head. G Very CHILLY. G Ailments from eating [sour] fruits. Especially STRAWBERRIES, cranberries, apples, tomatoes, grapes, rhubarb. [Sour fruits, but esp. vegetables like rhubarb, purslane and spinach contain more than average amounts of oxalic acid.] • "When I eat tomatoes, my bunions go red." Fact, not fiction! I heard this spontaneous observation for the first time, after 45 years in practice! ... For two years she had pain in her feet and a firm swelling the size of a pigeon's egg at the back of one ankle, between the Achilles tendon and the bone. Strawberries brought her out in a rash and tomatoes gave her lumbago. She also suffered from food intolerance and migraine, but has avoided the trigger foods by trial and error. As you may have guessed, she was treated with Oxalic acid 30c - three doses only - with welcome, but unforeseen results. Her circulation improved immediately, she felt calm and relaxed, and passed a small stone from the bladder. The ankle swelling subsided in three weeks and the bunions went white and shrank so much that she was able to wear shoes she had discarded as too tight."1 • "Many years ago I gradually realized that in mid-summer I would have several patients with acute lumbago. They were usually farmers, and I imagined that they had stripped off their flannel shirts and thick vests and caught a chill. But that didn't tally because they were the hard, wiry type, and dismissed the notion. Their story was always the same - 'I only' - lifted a galvanized sheet, moved a stone or log, jumped off the tractor, twisted round and collapsed. The physical effort made was slight, and the pain out of all proportion. One year we had a glut of strawberries and the local 'pick your own' fruit farms were practically giving the fruit away. It all coincided with a run of lumbago cases; and then the penny dropped! Muscle spasm, etc., due to calcium oxalate crystals in the tissues. Once the mechanism was explained, the patient chose not to eat excessive amounts of strawberries, and then only with evaporated milk instead of cream."2 G < SUGAR, sweets. • "As I had already noticed on taking my sweetened morning and afternoon coffee, the sugar in my tea seemed to increase the pains in the stomach." [Hughes] G Sleep disturbed by: Sounds [can't sleep again after being awakened by a noise]. Abdominal cramps. Starting as from fright. • "Several times raised himself up in bed in alarm, and looked around room; but on recollecting where he was, lay down again, to repeat same action in an hour or so after." [Hughes] G Violent, excruciating pains. In streaks, like lightning [neuralgic]. In SPOTS, burning, etc. • "No remedy produces more violent pains." [Kent] G Pain in SMALL SPOTS. Sore pain in spots. G NUMBNESS, MOTTLED skin. Coldness of surface, blue nails. G Numbness externally, of whole body. Paraesthesias; crawling, prickling. G Sensation of STREAMING of BLOOD. • "When lying a movement in the upper body, esp. the head, like a fine rippling as of a stream. It seems to observe a rhythm, but not that of the pulse, than which it is three times faster. It is as if the blood was streaming through the smaller vessels, from below upwards and from within outwards. This feeling becomes plainer the more the thoughts are directed to it." [Hering / Hughes] P Headache from wine. P Sharp pains through the lower lobe of the left lung. • "It matters not what the name of the disease may be - pleurisy, pneumonia, phthisis - when that pain is present Ox-ac. will do its work." [Clarke] P HEART. c ANGINA PECTORIS. Sharp shooting pain in left lung and heart. Extending down to epigastrium, and lasting some seconds. c Angina pectoris - pain shooting down left shoulder, arm to fingers. c Heart complaints. And Icy coldness of hands, blueness of fingers and nails. c Palpitation or other cardiac complaints, ALTERNATING with HOARSENESS or loss of voice. Palpitation < at night on lying down. c When thinking about the heart, the pulse intermits. [1-2] Shuttleworth, Oxalic Acid; Homoeopathy, July/August 1985. Rubrics Mind Affectionate [1]. Anxiety, with faintness [1*], with sensation as if all the blood had left the head [1*]. Easy comprehension [1]. Confusion, knows not where he is, at night on waking [1*], < thinking of it [1], after wine [1]. Occupation > [1]. Playful [1]. Teasing [1*]. Rapid thoughts [2].
Vertigo
When looking out of a window, as if he would fall through [1*].
Vision
Objects seem distant [1]. Objects seem larger [1].
Nose
Epistaxis with loss of vision [1].
Stomach
Disordered, after strawberries [1/1]. Pain, after sugar [1].
Abdomen
Pain, after sugar [1]; umbilical region, at night [2].
Rectum
Diarrhoea, after coffee [1], after sugar [1], on thinking of it [1/1]. Urging, as soon as he lies down [1*], > motion [1*], while sitting [1*].
Bladder
Urging to urinate when thinking of it [2].
Male
Violent sexual desire at night [1*].
Chest
Palpitation, alternating with aphonia [1/1], after coffee [1].
Limbs
Toes of right foot spasmodically drawn downwards, without pain [1*]. Sensation of trembling of hands [1*], and of feet [1*].
Sleep
Sleeplessness after waking by a noise [1/1].
Generals
Increased activity [2]. Sensation of streaming of blood [2; Alumn.]. Aversion to tobacco smoking in morning [1/1], desire for tobacco in evening [1/1].
* Repertory additions [Hughes].
The repertory erroneously mentions for Ox-ac. 'delusion is swimming when lying down'. The symptom, recorded by Hering, is: "On lying down also vertigo, like a swimming in the head towards left."
Food
Aversion: [1]: Coffee; smoking; strawberries; water.
Desire: [1]: Strawberries; tobacco.
Worse: [1]: Chocolate; coffee; dry food; farinaceous; fruit; fruit, sour; purslane; rhubarb; strawberries; sweets; wine.
 |
| Oxalicum acidum |
Our life is what our thoughts make it.
[Marcus Aurelius]
Signs
Oxalic acid. Ethanodioic acid [dihydrate].
SUBSTANCE Oxalic acid is present in many plants and vegetables, notably in those of the Oxalis and Rumex families, where it occurs in the cell sap of the plant as the calcium or potassium salt. It is a product of the metabolism of many moulds. Several species of Penicillium and Aspergillus convert sugar into calcium oxalate. Oxalic acid was formerly made by fusion of cellulose matter, e.g. sawdust, with sodium hydroxide [caustic soda] or by oxidation with nitric acid; it is now made by passing carbon monoxide into concentrated sodium hydroxide or anhydrous sodium bicarbonate. 1 Oxalic acid was discovered by Scheele, in the year 1783, by the decomposition of sugar with strong nitric acid. Oxalic acid reacts with silver, sodium chloride, and sodium hypochlorite. Contact with oxidizing materials may result in an explosive reaction. Carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide may form when pure oxalic acid is heated to decomposition. The human body synthesizes oxalic acid from ascorbic acid [vitamin C]. Oxalic acid may combine with calcium, iron, sodium, magnesium, or potassium to form less soluble salts known as oxalates. The most common form of kidney stone is composed of calcium oxalate. Oxalates form tiny little insoluble crystals with sharp edges, which are irritating to tissue. Calcium oxalate crystals [raphides] occur, for example, in Arum, Caladium and Dieffenbachia and are responsible for the irritating properties of such plants.
USES As analytical reagens; in calico printing and dyeing; for bleaching straw [hats] and leather; removing paint or varnish, rust or ink stains; cleaning wood; manufacture of oxalates; manufacture of blue ink, celluloid, intermediates and dyes; in metal polishers; in indigo dyeing; in ceramics and pigments; in the paper industry [production of paper pulp]; in photography; in process engraving; in the rubber manufacturing industry; in making glucose from starch; as condensing agent in organic chemistry; for removing calcium in water. 2 Also used to destroy Varroa [parasitic mite] in honeybee colonies. Produced in large quantities as a by-product from processing bauxite in the aluminium industry.
TOXICOLOGY Oral ingestion of oxalic acid may be deadly. Ingestion causes gastrointestinal tract burns and haemorrhages, severe pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and shock. When ingested, oxalic acid removes calcium from the blood, forming calcium oxalate which can cause kidney damage. The arrest of coagulation of the blood by alkali oxalates and citrates through removal of calcium ions is known. Contact with skin causes irritation and possible burns, esp. if the skin is wet or moist. Chronic exposure results in kidney damage, dermatitis, cyanosis of the fingers, and possible ulcerations. Christison found oxalic acid "a substance of great interest". He examined its properties extensively and has this to say about them: "It is a poison of great energy, and in this country [United Kingdom] is in common use for committing suicide, and has been often taken by accident for Epsom salt. It is certainly ill adapted for the purposes of the murderer; for although it might be easily given to a sick person instead of a laxative salt, yet its real nature would betray itself too soon and too unequivocally for the chief object of the prisoner - secrecy. ... The action of oxalic acid on the animal economy is very peculiar. When injected in a state of concentration into the stomach of a dog or cat, it causes exquisite pain, expressed by cries and struggling. In a few minutes this is succeeded by violent efforts to vomit; then by sudden dulness, languor, and great debility; and death soon takes place without a struggle. Such are the effects of the concentrated acid. When considerably diluted, the phenomena are totally different. When dissolved in twenty parts of water, oxalic acid, like the mineral acids in the same circumstances, ceases to corrode; nay it hardly even irritates. But, unlike them, it continues a deadly poison; for it causes death by acting indirectly on the brain, spine, and heart. The symptoms then induced vary with the dose. When the quantity is large, the most prominent symptoms are those of palsy of the heart; and immediately after death that organ is found to have lost its contractility, and to contain arterial blood in its left cavities. When the dose is less the animal perishes after several fits of violent tetanus, which affects the respiratory muscles of the chest in particular, causing spasmodic fixing of the chest and consequent suffocation. When the dose is still less, the spasms are slight or altogether wanting, and death occurs under symptoms of pure narcotism like those caused by opium; the animal appears to sleep away. ... It is probable that oxalic acid, when not sufficiently concentrated to occasion death by the local injury produced, acts on the nervous system through the medium of the blood. Nevertheless it is a remarkable circumstance that it cannot be detected in that fluid. ... In man the most prominent symptoms hitherto observed have been those of excessive irritation, because it has been almost always swallowed in a large dose and much concentrated. It is the most rapid and unerring of all the common poisons. The London Courier [Feb. 1, 1823] contains an inquest of the body of a young man who appears to have survived hardly ten minutes; an equally rapid case of a young lady, who poisoned herself with an ounce, is mentioned in the St James's Chronicle [August 17, 1826]; and few of those who have died survived above an hour. ... Very few persons have recovered where the quantity was considerable. In every instance in which the dose was considerable, and the solution concentrated, the first symptoms have been immediate burning pain in the stomach, and generally also in the throat. But when the dose was small, more particularly if the solution was also rather diluted, the pain has sometimes been slight, or slow in commencing. In general, violent vomiting follows the accession of pain, either immediately, or in a few minutes; and it commonly continues till near death. Some, however, have not vomited at all, even when the acid was strong and in a large dose; and this is still more apt to happen when the poison has been taken much diluted. ... The tongue and mouth occasionally become inflamed if the case lasts long enough. ... The signs of depressed circulation are always very striking. In general the pulse fails altogether, it is always very feeble, and the skin is cold and clammy. ... In the slower cases various nervous affections have been observed. A girl, who swallowed by mistake about two drams, and did not vomit till emetics were given, complained much at first of pain, but afterwards chiefly of great lassitude and weakness of the limbs, and next morning of numbness and weakness there as well as in the back. This affection was at first so severe that she could hardly walk up stairs; but in a few days she recovered entirely. Analogous effects took place in Mr Hebb's patient and in Dr Arrowsmith's case. The first thing the former complained of was acute pain in the back, gradually extending down the thighs, occasioning ere long great torture, and continuing almost till the moment of death. Dr Arrowsmith's patient had the same symptoms, complained more of the pain shooting down from the loins to the limbs than of the pain in the belly, and was constantly seeking relief in a fresh change of posture. Mr Frazer's patient had from an early period a peculiar general numbness, approaching to palsy. Dr Babington's patient, who took two scruples by mistake for tartaric acid in an effervescing draught, suffered, after the first twenty-four hours, chiefly from headache, extreme feebleness of the pulse, and a sense of numbness and tingling or pricking in the back and thighs. In a recent case described by Mr Tapson, violent symptoms of irritation in the alimentary canal came on as usual, but soon afterwards a sense as if the hands were dead, loss of consciousness for eight hours, and then lividity, coldness, and almost complete loss of the power of motion in the legs; which symptoms were not entirely removed for fifteen days. In Dr Arrowsmith's case two symptoms occurred, which I have not seen mentioned in any other. The first was an eruption or mottled appearance of the skin in circular patches, not unlike the roundish red marks on the arms of stout healthy children, but of a deeper tint. The second was the poisoning and death of leeches applied to the stomach. 'They were healthy,' says Dr Arrowsmith in the notes with which he obligingly furnished me, 'small, and fastened immediately. On looking at them in a few minutes I remarked that they did not seem to fill, and on touching one it felt hard and immediately fell off, motionless and dead. The others were all in the same state. They had all bitten and the marks were conspicuous; but they had drawn scarcely any blood. They were applied about six hours after the acid was taken.'"3
FOOD Oxalic acid binds with important nutrients, making them inaccessible to the body, and possibly leading to the formation of urinary or arthritic calculi. [It is debated whether oxalic acid robs calcium or removes excess calcium after the body is replenished.] Foods and beverages with high levels of oxalic acid include spinach, purslane, rhubarb [mainly in leaves], buckwheat, cocoa and chocolate, coffee and tea, berries [chiefly strawberries and cranberries], peanuts and beans, bell peppers, black pepper, almond and cashew, ginger, banana, pumpkin, poppy seed [moonseed], [unripe] tomatoes, and wine.
HYPEROXALURIA Hyperoxaluria, and its accompanying oxalosis, has several forms: primary hyperoxaluria [three types], acquired hyperoxaluria, and absorptive or enteric hyperoxaluria. The common factor among all of these forms of hyperoxaluria is an excessive excretion of oxalate in the urine. Oxalosis is the excessive accumulation of oxalate in the body. Primary hyperoxaluria is a rare metabolic disease [autosomal recessive] caused by the liver making too much oxalic acid that is excreted in the urine. The excess oxalic acid combines with calcium inside the kidneys, causing calcium oxalate stones in the urinary tract. While the kidney continues to function, the excessive oxalate is eliminated through the urine. If the kidneys fail, the diseases progresses to oxalosis, when oxalate crystals are deposited elsewhere in the body such as the eyes and other major organs. In the later stages of oxalosis, crystals may be deposited in the bones and joints causing painful bone disease. Acquired hyperoxaluria occurs from ingestion of unusually large amounts of oxalate such as certain foods [see above] or another substance that is converted to oxalate by the liver. These substances include: ethylene glycol [antifreeze], xylitol, piridoxilate, or vitamin C in doses in excess of 4 grams per day. Additional causes of acquired hyperoxaluria include pyridoxine or thiamine deficiency. Absorptive hyperoxaluria occurs in about ten percent of people who have had surgical removal of a portion of the bowel. The disorder is due to a variety of other enteric conditions as well: chronic inflammatory bowel disease, chronic pancreatic or biliary disease, primary small bowel disease with malabsorption, cirrhosis, bacterial overgrowth syndromes, or after ileojejunal surgery. Absorptive hyperoxaluria causes unabsorbed fatty acids to combine with calcium, leading to the absorption of too much oxalate by the intestine. The first sign of hyperoxaluria [any form] is commonly kidney stones, blood in the urine, or even kidney failure. This typically appears from infancy to mid-twenties. The severity of the disease varies widely from a complete absence of symptoms and late development of kidney stones to an extremely serious and progressive disease. It is generally believed that the earlier kidney failure occurs, the more severe the disease. 4
PROVINGS •• [1] Reil - 2 [male] provers, 1849; method: repeated and increasing doses of 2nd dil., 1st dil. and of concentrated solution.
•• [2] Hering - collection of provings by 11 males and 1 female, c. 1844-45; method: solution, 1x, or 2x; manner: not stated for most provers; for the four or five provers taking a single dose the observation period was 1-2 days.
[1-2] Merck Index. [3] Christison, A Treatise on Poisons. [4] Oxalosis and Hyperoxaluria Foundation; www. ohf. org/
Affinity
Digestive tract. Navel. Nerves [spinal cord; heart]. Left side; lung.
Modalities
Worse: Thinking of it. Cold. Touch. Shaving. Mental exertion. Sour fruits.
Better: After stool.
Main symptoms
M THINKING about COMPLAINTS <. • "As soon as he thinks about the pains they return ... And not only that, thinking of pains and conditions will bring them on when they are not actually present. If the patient thinks about urinating he must go instantly and relieve the bladder." [Clarke] M NERVOUS and sleepless. Neurasthenia. M ANIMATION, HIGH SPIRITS. [In 5 provers!] • "Great increase of animation through the day with playfulness and mirthfulness, which had not of late years been natural to him. ... Great disposition for play and mischief." • "Nervous and vascular excitement, as from alcohol, constituting a feeling of hilarity." • "Seems in its primary action to diminish the power of concentrating his ideas, and afterwards to increase it. Greater presence of mind; the relations of the world seem to be clearer to him. He feels more composed than usual, and very much exhilarated. Great cheerfulness of mind, quicker in thought and action. Whole forenoon unusual vivacity and power of concentration, which is still more decided in afternoon." • "Unusual power of concentration of mind. Hilarity and cheerfulness." • "Greater love of his children, in one in whom this feeling always predominated; a decidedly expressed and clearly distinguished symptom, it being not traceable to any other cause." [Hughes] M Anxiety and feeling as if all the blood has left the head. G Very CHILLY. G Ailments from eating [sour] fruits. Especially STRAWBERRIES, cranberries, apples, tomatoes, grapes, rhubarb. [Sour fruits, but esp. vegetables like rhubarb, purslane and spinach contain more than average amounts of oxalic acid.] • "When I eat tomatoes, my bunions go red." Fact, not fiction! I heard this spontaneous observation for the first time, after 45 years in practice! ... For two years she had pain in her feet and a firm swelling the size of a pigeon's egg at the back of one ankle, between the Achilles tendon and the bone. Strawberries brought her out in a rash and tomatoes gave her lumbago. She also suffered from food intolerance and migraine, but has avoided the trigger foods by trial and error. As you may have guessed, she was treated with Oxalic acid 30c - three doses only - with welcome, but unforeseen results. Her circulation improved immediately, she felt calm and relaxed, and passed a small stone from the bladder. The ankle swelling subsided in three weeks and the bunions went white and shrank so much that she was able to wear shoes she had discarded as too tight."1 • "Many years ago I gradually realized that in mid-summer I would have several patients with acute lumbago. They were usually farmers, and I imagined that they had stripped off their flannel shirts and thick vests and caught a chill. But that didn't tally because they were the hard, wiry type, and dismissed the notion. Their story was always the same - 'I only' - lifted a galvanized sheet, moved a stone or log, jumped off the tractor, twisted round and collapsed. The physical effort made was slight, and the pain out of all proportion. One year we had a glut of strawberries and the local 'pick your own' fruit farms were practically giving the fruit away. It all coincided with a run of lumbago cases; and then the penny dropped! Muscle spasm, etc., due to calcium oxalate crystals in the tissues. Once the mechanism was explained, the patient chose not to eat excessive amounts of strawberries, and then only with evaporated milk instead of cream."2 G < SUGAR, sweets. • "As I had already noticed on taking my sweetened morning and afternoon coffee, the sugar in my tea seemed to increase the pains in the stomach." [Hughes] G Sleep disturbed by: Sounds [can't sleep again after being awakened by a noise]. Abdominal cramps. Starting as from fright. • "Several times raised himself up in bed in alarm, and looked around room; but on recollecting where he was, lay down again, to repeat same action in an hour or so after." [Hughes] G Violent, excruciating pains. In streaks, like lightning [neuralgic]. In SPOTS, burning, etc. • "No remedy produces more violent pains." [Kent] G Pain in SMALL SPOTS. Sore pain in spots. G NUMBNESS, MOTTLED skin. Coldness of surface, blue nails. G Numbness externally, of whole body. Paraesthesias; crawling, prickling. G Sensation of STREAMING of BLOOD. • "When lying a movement in the upper body, esp. the head, like a fine rippling as of a stream. It seems to observe a rhythm, but not that of the pulse, than which it is three times faster. It is as if the blood was streaming through the smaller vessels, from below upwards and from within outwards. This feeling becomes plainer the more the thoughts are directed to it." [Hering / Hughes] P Headache from wine. P Sharp pains through the lower lobe of the left lung. • "It matters not what the name of the disease may be - pleurisy, pneumonia, phthisis - when that pain is present Ox-ac. will do its work." [Clarke] P HEART. c ANGINA PECTORIS. Sharp shooting pain in left lung and heart. Extending down to epigastrium, and lasting some seconds. c Angina pectoris - pain shooting down left shoulder, arm to fingers. c Heart complaints. And Icy coldness of hands, blueness of fingers and nails. c Palpitation or other cardiac complaints, ALTERNATING with HOARSENESS or loss of voice. Palpitation < at night on lying down. c When thinking about the heart, the pulse intermits. [1-2] Shuttleworth, Oxalic Acid; Homoeopathy, July/August 1985. Rubrics Mind Affectionate [1]. Anxiety, with faintness [1*], with sensation as if all the blood had left the head [1*]. Easy comprehension [1]. Confusion, knows not where he is, at night on waking [1*], < thinking of it [1], after wine [1]. Occupation > [1]. Playful [1]. Teasing [1*]. Rapid thoughts [2].
Vertigo
When looking out of a window, as if he would fall through [1*].
Vision
Objects seem distant [1]. Objects seem larger [1].
Nose
Epistaxis with loss of vision [1].
Stomach
Disordered, after strawberries [1/1]. Pain, after sugar [1].
Abdomen
Pain, after sugar [1]; umbilical region, at night [2].
Rectum
Diarrhoea, after coffee [1], after sugar [1], on thinking of it [1/1]. Urging, as soon as he lies down [1*], > motion [1*], while sitting [1*].
Bladder
Urging to urinate when thinking of it [2].
Male
Violent sexual desire at night [1*].
Chest
Palpitation, alternating with aphonia [1/1], after coffee [1].
Limbs
Toes of right foot spasmodically drawn downwards, without pain [1*]. Sensation of trembling of hands [1*], and of feet [1*].
Sleep
Sleeplessness after waking by a noise [1/1].
Generals
Increased activity [2]. Sensation of streaming of blood [2; Alumn.]. Aversion to tobacco smoking in morning [1/1], desire for tobacco in evening [1/1].
* Repertory additions [Hughes].
The repertory erroneously mentions for Ox-ac. 'delusion is swimming when lying down'. The symptom, recorded by Hering, is: "On lying down also vertigo, like a swimming in the head towards left."
Food
Aversion: [1]: Coffee; smoking; strawberries; water.
Desire: [1]: Strawberries; tobacco.
Worse: [1]: Chocolate; coffee; dry food; farinaceous; fruit; fruit, sour; purslane; rhubarb; strawberries; sweets; wine.
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