Osmium


Osmium signs and symptoms of the homeopathy medicine from the Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica by J.H. Clarke. Find out for which conditions and symptoms Osmium is used…


      ***OSMIUM. The Element. Os. (***A. W. 190.3). Trituration of the precipitated metal. ***OSMICUM ACIDUM. Osmium tetroxide. OsO4. Dilutions with absolutely pure water.

Clinical

Asthma. Bronchitis. Cold, liability to. Coryza. *Cough, spasmodic. Eczema. Erections. Glaucoma. Headache. Hernia. Herpes iris. Larynx, pain in. Penis, sores on. Pollutions. Post-nasal bleeding. Post-nasal growths. Spermatic cords, pains in. Sternum, pain in. Syphilis. Syphilitic eruptions. Testicles, pains in. Tongue, sore. *Trachea, *pain in.

Characteristics

*Osmium is a metal of the *Platinum group, in association with which it is always found. It is the heaviest of them all and the most refractory, having never been fused. It derives its name *(orun, odour) from the pungent odour of the fumes of *Osmic acid, which are evolved in the process of separating *Platinum from its ore, and the effects of which have supplied a number of valuable symptoms in cases recorded by ***J. G. Blackley (*C. D. P.). In the arts it is used in the alloy with Iridium (*Iridosmium or *Osmiridium) for making the tips of gold pens. Triturations of the pure metal have been proved. The symptoms of the metal and of the acid are taken together. The odour of *Osm. closely resembles that of *Chlorine, as also do its irritating effect on the respiration mucous membrane. The odour imparted to the secretions is various, it makes the urine smell like violets, the eructations like radishes, the axillary sweat like garlic. The respiratory tract is irritated from beginning to end, and not only irritated but pained. The nostrils and larynx are sensitive to cold air. There is pain in larynx, trachea, and in and under sternum on coughing. Even talking causes pain in larynx. Cough convulsive in paroxysms, hollow sounding as if one coughed into an empty tube, caused by irritation in larynx or low down in chest. A with so many remedies causing cough and asthmatic symptoms, *Osm. is no less irritating to the skin, producing all degrees of irritating eruptions, eczematous and herpetic. In one of Blackley’s cases a child born during the time that his father was under the influence of *Osm. *ac. developed eczema, though none of the previously born children were eczematous. In one of the provers the eruption proceeded from above downwards, the eruption disappearing from the upper part of the body and becoming worse on the lower. The downward direction of the symptoms also appeared in the male generative sphere, which was profoundly influenced, “Weakness in both groins towards cords.” ***C. M. Boger (*Medorrhinum *Couns., xvi. 264) cured a case in which there was pain in both directions: “Stitching pain upward in left spermatic cord. Creeping sensation downwards in left spermatic cord. Weakness in calves, they give out while walking.” (Shootings in the sternum are “up and down.”) In another case (man, 44, syphilitic) he cured: “dull, steady pain in hypogastrium, sore to pressure. Steady aching in glans penis.” In the provings the erections were severe almost to priapism, and the ejaculations were longer-lasting and more copious than normal. The kidneys were affected in one of Blackley’s cases, incipient nephritis being set up. The headaches of the provings were of a violent description, many of them affecting the base of the brain. A woman, 62, to whom I once gave *Osm. 2x for a spasmodic cough with pain in the head had a severe aggravation, the headache taking this form: “Sharp pain in center of forehead going through to back, better by hard pressure on forehead.” She discontinued *Osm., and in two or three days that pain went away, leaving only an ordinary headache. The cough was not relieved. ***G. S. Norton (*H. W., xviii. 263) suggests that *Osm. may be a remedy in may cases of glaucoma. Among the *peculiar *sensations are: As of a band round head. As if he had swallowed broken stones. Cough as if caused by resonance of contiguous parts. As if insects crawling on back and shoulders. Legs and feet as if too full. The symptoms are worse by touch (tongue, sternum). worse Riding (hoarseness). worse Coughing, talking (pain in larynx). Most symptoms are worse evening (cough, skin, restlessness). Cough worse till midnight. Open air worse (coryza, cough). (One prover was less liable to taking cold in November than usual.) Open air better (smarting in eyes).

Relation

*Antidoted by: Sulfuretted hydrogen, Phos-ac., Sil (swollen gums), Hepar and Pso. (pain in larynx), Belladonna and Mercurius (laryngeal catarrh). *Compare: Iridium, Selenium, Tellur., Thall., Platina, Pallad. In eyes and lungs, Chlorum, Bro. Skin of nails, Flu-ac. Itch, Sul. Coryza, cough with pain in larynx, Cep. (but Cep. has better in open air). Eruptions, Arsenicum, Rhus.

SYMPTOMS.

Mind

Morose, irritable, impatient. Weeping mood, screaming with cough. Weak, gives up. Consciousness of mental weakness, misplaces words. Thoughts of accidents having happened to others, these thoughts grow upon him as if he were to do the same injuries to others Disinclination for work.

Head

Dull, heavy headache. Violent headache above and under the eyes, one-sided, extending to the ears, worse below the eyebrows, the eye waters. Headache in right upper forehead, a tearing to and fro deep in, at same time similar pains in bones of limbs, deep in, evening. Sharp bewildering pain center of forehead going through to back, better by pressing on it. Aching: in base of brain and jaws at night, extending from base of brain into jaws, worse temples, with pain in larynx and hoarseness, nearly preventing sleep, like a band around head above ears. Pain in vertex and occiput all the afternoon, worse throwing head backward, with fullness. Falling off of the hair.

Eyes

Sharp pain in orbit (as if in bones), lids spasmodically closed. Burning pain in eyes, with profuse lachrymation. Weakness of sight ( worse right eye). Dimness of sight, letters run together as from a fog. Smarting, better open air, but leaving eyes weak, so as to prevent reading, all objects surrounded by a coloured halo, eyes red and swollen. Flame of candle surrounded by a bluish-green or yellow circle, or a rainbow ring, the flame looks larger or less distinct, at a distance it seems enveloped by dust or smoke. Veins at fundus large and tortuous. (Glaucoma.).

Ears

Ringing in right ear. Tingling and pain in right ear. Earache evenings, first right then left ear. Severe pains in left petrosum. (Perforations with irritation of meatus (both sides), sneezing, catarrh, sore throat, pasty posterior nares. Itching in the ears, profuse nasal catarrh. Meatus and membrane look red, and latter is perforated, thin but stringy discharge from nose. Deafness, ears pain when nose is blown, mouth open, sleep noisy. Girl of 14 with post-nasal growths improved rapidly under Osmic acid, 3x, but was seized with exhaustion, then under *Hydroc. *ac., got quite well. (Cures by Cooper)).

Nose

Sensation as if blood rushed into nose from head. Coryza with sneezing. Sneezing and fluent coryza, with tickling in larynx, with difficult respiration. Discharge from posterior nares of loose mucus. Burning irritation in nose. Nostrils sensitive to cold air. Sense of smell diminished. (Post-nasal growths: adenoids. ***R. T. C.).

Teeth

Jerking pain in a right upper hollow molar, often preventing speech, afterwards the pain returned but was drawing, better sucking it with tongue. Sudden swelling of gum above root of an upper left incisor after eating pears, with pain and numbness, better by *Silicea

Mouth

Aching in jaws, pain in muscles of mastication. Tongue: coated, and bad taste to coffee, fissured and one spot denuded, edges rough (and covered with pimples), red stripe in middle (paining as if sore). Tongue sensitive to touch when eating and drinking. Mouth sticky and pasty. Copious salivation. Taste of blood; metallic; unusual to tobacco, it causes scraping in throat, – cigars cannot be smoked, because they provoke cough and worsen the rawness in larynx; taste blunted.

Stomach

Aversion to cocoa. Eructations, nausea, vomiting. Qualmishness and extreme discomfort, with dull pain and heaviness in pit of stomach. Aversion to coffee and tobacco, disgust at their odour. Eructations of odour of radishes. Nausea: in morning, with discomfort in pit of stomach, on coughing, after eating, with pain and heaviness in pit of stomach when riding in open air, better empty eructations. Vomiting of watery mucus of the odour and taste of the acid, with blackish-grey flakes of mucus. Paroxysmal vomiting of water, afterwards of yellowish and tenacious substances. Distension of stomach and abdomen in evening, with difficult passage of flatus. Constriction in forenoon, in epigastrium before dinner (which I take at 12.30), with weight and often a feeling in stomach as if I had swallowed stones. Chronic vomiting, with pressure in stomach.

Abdomen

Abdomen distended and sensitive, much rumbling. Pain in groins, that on coughing extended into testicles. Pressure on inguinal rings. Weakness in groins towards spermatic cords.

John Henry Clarke
John Henry Clarke MD (1853 – November 24, 1931 was a prominent English classical homeopath. Dr. Clarke was a busy practitioner. As a physician he not only had his own clinic in Piccadilly, London, but he also was a consultant at the London Homeopathic Hospital and researched into new remedies — nosodes. For many years, he was the editor of The Homeopathic World. He wrote many books, his best known were Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica and Repertory of Materia Medica