• Young people who look old
• Increased ability to exercise without fatigue
• Lascivious; oggling at women as they pass by
• Cold drinks aggravate toothache, but toothache is ameliorated by washing with cold water
• Desire for highly seasoned foods, cold drinks. Aversion to coffee
• Old cicatrices become red around and edges, threaten to become open ulcers

Source: Mineral kingdom
Synonyms: Hydrofluoric acid
Group: Acid
Prover: Dr. Constantine Hering
Duration of Action: As per Dr Clarke, 30 days
Miasmatic Background: Psora, syphilis and sycosis
Thermal Relationship: Neither hot nor chilly

Introduction and History: It is a colourless liquid obtained by distillation. It unites with water violently and dissolves all ordinary metals. However, heavy metals like platinum, gold, silver, mercury, lead, etc. are not soluble in fluoric acid. It is a strong irritant and causes burns. It is a very deep acting medicine and an antipsoric, antisyphilitic and antisycotic.

Preparation: It is prepared by distilling pure fluorspar in a state of fine powder with sulphuric acid.

Constitution and Physiognomy

1. It is suited to complaints of old age or the prematurely aged.
2. Suited to weakly constitutions with sallow skin and emaciation. Pale, miserable, cachectic, flabby and broken down patients.
3. Dropsy of limbs in old, feeble patients.

Seat of Action (Pharmacodynamics): It mainly acts on lower tissues of the body, bones especially long bones, teeth, nails, rectum, etc.

Physio-pathological Changes (Pathology)

1. It acts on lower tissues of the body causing destruction, ulceration, bedsores and varicose veins.
2. It acts on bones, especially long bones, causing decay and necrosis. It also favours the expulsion of the necrosed part.

Ailments From: Abuse of mercury and silica.

Characteristic Mental Symptoms (Psychology)

1. Patient has an impulse to walk fast, necessity to be always on the move.
2. Aversion to his own family, to those loved best.
3. Becomes interested and converses pleasantly with strangers.
4. Inability to realize responsibility.
5. Depression of mind.
6. He stands on the street looking at women as they pass by, so great is his lust.
7. He sits silently, does not utter a single word, nor answers anyone when questioned.

Characteristic Physical Guiding Symptoms

Constitution: It is especially suited to old people. For complaints of old age, young people who look old and attain premature age.

Cicatrices: Old cicatrices becomes red around edges and threaten to become open ulcers.

Ulcers: It is indicated in decubitus ulcers with red edges and vesicles with copious discharges; worse from warmth, cold.

Pains: Violent pains like streaks of lightening confined to a small spot.

Caries and necrosis: Caries and necrosis, especially of long bones, from abuse of mercury or silica.

Teeth: Rapid caries of teeth, fistula dentalis or lachrymalis, exostosis of facial bones.

Varicose veins: Varicose veins and ulcers of obstinate and long standing cases in women who have borne many children.

Naevus: Flat naevus of children on right temple and capillary aneurysm.

Craves: Patient craves for pungent, spicy, highly seasoned things.

Thermal sensitivity: Patient has increased ability to exercise without danger, is less affected by excessive heat of summer or cold of winter.

Important Characteristic Features

Ulcers: It is an excellent and useful remedy for varicose veins and varicose ulcers. Veins become varicosed anywhere, particularly upon the lower limb, following pregnancy. Varicose conditions with very old ulcers upon the lower extremities; varicose veins ulcerate.

Feebleness of circulation; tendency to create hard crusts and hardened, horny skin eruptions. Inflamed border of the ulcer becomes indurated, hard and greasy. Parts once broken will not close up. Union will not take place from the broken ends of the bones. From bones and from ulcers there is foetid, acrid, thin, watery discharge or at times scanty discharge which is acrid, burns all around, raising eruptions and scurfs around the ulcers.

It is useful in old cases of syphilis, with exostosis, caries and necrosis, cases that have been mercurialised and treated by other drugs until ulcers have developed.

Bone diseases: It is useful in bone diseases. There is necrosis of the long bones and bones of the ear. It creates an offensive acrid discharge from the ear and establishes an offensive ozaena, an acrid discharge with necrosis of the nasal bone.

It is also useful in various bone diseases and caries, in fistulous openings, fistula leading to teeth, fistula lachrymalis and fistula in ano, in calcareous degenerations, in deformity of the nails, hair, teeth, in affections of the thigh bones and leg bones, with chronic fistulous openings leading to bone discharging pus which excoriates the parts all around.

General Modalities

Aggravation: By warmth, heat of the room, alcohol, red wine, sour foods, night, morning, warm drinks.

Amelioration: Cold, while walking from cold bathing, rapid motion, sound sleep, bending head back, eating.

Remedy Relationships

Complementary: Sil.

Follows well after: Ars in ascites, Kali-c in hip disease, Ph-ac in diabetes.

Followed well by: Sulph, Nit-ac.

Comparison

Old cachectic people who suffer from gouty complaints: Bar-c, Fl-ac.

Indifferent, even to one’s family; to those whom one loves best: Fl-ac, Ph-ac, Sep.

First stage of gonorrhoea: Cann-s, Canth, Fl-ac.

Dosage: Sixth to thirtieth potency.

Repetition: Maybe repeated till a response is noticed.

Therapeutic Value: Abscesses, Alcoholism, Alopecia, Bedsores, Birthmarks, Bone disorders, Brain atrophy, Dropsies, Fistula, Gleet, Goitre, Gonorrhoea, Haemorrhoids, Headache, Hydrocoele, Liver induration, Locomotor ataxia, Nymphomania, Pityriasis, Strokes, Toothache, Varicose veins, Whitlow.