A Note on mercury
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 2003 Jan / Feb VOL V NO 1.
Dr Dilip Bhaskar Dikshit
In our day to day practice we use a multitude of remedies. Most of them we have studied from standard books on Materia Medica which list thousands of symptoms. They are derived from proving and clinical symptoms. But in reality we use only fraction of that information while prescribing. Mercury is best example. We use it most frequently in Apthous ulcers,glossitis, tonsillitis, throat infections, ear infections, tooth and gum boils etc..
Mercury is a heavy metal so obviously it must be a deep acting constitutional remedy. We know that most of the symptomatology belongs to syphilitic miasm (punched out ulcers, tissue destructions etc), but in reality we use it mostly as acute remedy for tonsillitis, gingivitis, pharyngitis etc.
We hardly encounter the mental state of Mercury (or we fail to see) in practice.
Accidentally I had encountered a case of Mercury constitution. A 38 yr male, Westerner Engineer staying in one of the ashrams, came to me for acute toothache >cold water. There was increased salivation with tongue coated yellow (posterior half). I prescribed him Merc-iod-flav 200 4 hourly. After the first dose the patient became violent and in rage he destroyed upholstery and threw even heavy furniture, was shouting expletives. He even threatened menancingly to others who went to pacify him. The entire episode lasted for 1½ hours and then he quitened down. This man was known to be very peaceful and sober. In the past he had never lost his cool in public. Surprisingly not only his toothache was better, but many of his chronic complaints of yrs of standing disappeared in a flash. . He expressed a sense of internal relief, bliss and well being. He had little recollection of his violence; He was free of his chronic headaches, colitis and chronic depression.
He happened to repeat the remedy after eight months for toothache and an identical violent reaction followed by general relief. One can safely conclude that 200 was too crude for the patient’s susceptibility and sensitivity hence he encountered Homoeopathic proving or overflow of symptoms. This must be the Mercury constitution.
I have used Mercury very frequently in leprosy for prolonged periods to deal with syphilitic block of symptoms with tremendous success.Many use Merc-iod-flav for dealing with problems after dental amalgamation. In that sense Mercury is a vey commonly used remedy. And must be doing something for the constitution.
