Understanding Fluoricum acidum

Symptoms from Kent, Allen, Hering & Sankaran MM

Dr. Claudio C. Araujo M.D. F.F.Hom. (Lon.) et al.

“(Fluoricum acidum) takes this form of being a sort of rake, running after all sorts of things to tickle his imagination, but it takes another form: that of a man who stays at home with his good wife. He has an aversion to children and dearest friends and wife, that is, he has lost that true and noble and orderly affection, friendship and companionship which ought to be, and he fights against it.”

This observation, present in Kent's Materia Medica, may serve as an introduction to a better understanding of this remedy. Fluoricum acidum is dominated by his sexual passions and has lost control of his own loves and feelings. As Kent says, he's fighting his own desires. His sexual impulses do not originate in the affective part of his mind, there is a clear understanding and healthy direction of his affections towards others. What we can see in this medicine is that his passions, associated with his physical strength, are taking control over him. There is this symptom that can demonstrate it better:

While he was thinking perfectly chastely and pleasantly of a girl he considered beautiful, a few drops of prostatic fluid passed,

A simple and chaste thought can unleash your uncontrolled sexual appetite. It appears that this patient has no control over his intense sexual desires. In his mind, he fights his own impulses. He is a loving father, but he couldn't control himself and now he needs to destroy his family ties, he needs to stay away from his loved ones to follow his sexual impulses.

Kent continues:

There is a state where a man is never satisfied with a woman, but continually changes and goes from bad to worse until he becomes a rake. If a young man can't stay away from women, he wouldn't be so bad if he stayed with just one, but he goes from one to many, until he gets to street corners and, in his lust, he craves the innocent women who line the street.

As we can see, there is this conflict in his life, there is a struggle between what he loves – his family and children – and his tormenting sexual compulsions. It becomes clear that his difficulty is not loving his family, his children, but containing his sexual impulses.

The Fluoricum acidum patient is losing the battle with his sexual urges. But who is he? There are some symptoms - arising from experimentation - that can show us who this person is: someone responsible and zealous for the family. He once had a strong sense of responsibility towards his family, but now his sexual urges are perverting him and taking over his mind.

He dreams of the sudden death of his young son, and also of the son of one of his friends; he thinks that in both cases he was to blame, because he neglected physical examination and mechanical remedies; he reproaches himself a lot and cries bitterly, and when he wakes up he is very happy that it is not true.

Fluoricum acidum is a responsible parent with his own family; he wants to provide for them and feels responsible for whatever happens to them. But his desires and compulsions are taking him away from his loved ones, to the point that being married becomes an impediment to his sexual fantasies and yearnings. He must follow his strong sexual desires, becoming someone haunted by his own sexual addictions and compulsions. His sexual urge has taken over his mind and he has no control over her anymore

There is a state where a man is never satisfied with a woman, but continually changes and goes from bad to worse until he becomes a rake. If a young man cannot stay away from women, he is not so badly off with one, but goes from one to many, until he reaches street corners, and in his lust he longs for the innocent women who walk along the street.

Satyriasis.

Nymphomania.

Sexual passion increased, with erections at night during sleep.

Strong sexual passion, with violent erections all night and desire to cohabit.

Extremely excessive fun and pleasure during intercourse, which did not happen before. Strong sexual passion, with violent erections all night and desire to cohabit

Great excitement of sexual desire.

Attack of almost irresistible lust, more in the case of the old than the young. Extremely excessive fun and pleasure during intercourse, which did not happen before.

The Fluoricum acidum patient is someone who has been struggling with his sexual compulsions. On one side of his mind, he is the responsible father and husband or an affectionate mother and wife, looking after his family. But he has this uncontrolled sex drive, taking him on all kinds of sexual adventures until he's exhausted. The most common diseases that will be happening in this patient will be related to his intellectual and memory activities, both are affected and altered.

He has great difficulty fixing his attention on anything.

A more difficult understanding of philosophical works; on the other hand, all the facts seem clear to him.

When making his notes, he confuses right and left, a circumstance that does not happen to him easily.

Every morning, a peculiar surge of memory, so that a series of symptoms that he had had the day before, during the whirlpool of practice, came to him.

Although his memory (for symptoms etc.) is good, he writes every December instead of August.

Forgotten; he sometimes doesn't remember the most ordinary things.

He forgets every night to wind the clock.

If his ideas are interrupted by other thoughts, he is unable to remember the first ones, or at least only slowly and stupidly.

It is very important to understand Fl-ac's mind: His well-known “loathing for his loved ones” happens not because he has no affection within him for his family; he really has it very strong - a deep affection and responsibility for them within him. But he's plagued by his own sexual demons that drive him to do all kinds of unsavory things, dragging him into this dark place inside his mind. Fl-ac.'s mind is hostage to its own strong energy and uncontrolled sexual force.

Great disposition, when alone, to repulsive fantastic imaginings, particularly towards persons with whom he is in close relations, or with whom he is connected; it seems, for example, that he must get rid of all servants, the children must leave the house, the engagement must be broken, the marriage must be dissolved, etc.

During the fourth week, very irritated with people, even to the greatest hatred, which he does not hesitate to express in words, but as soon as he sees them, everything is forgotten and he has a completely different opinion about them. This does not arise from hypocrisy or cowardice, but is a suddenly altered view; mentally, the same sensation that occurred to him physically during the runny nose.

He stays on the street looking at women.

Even in old age, it increases sexual desire and excessive pleasure.

The patient becomes irresponsible and indifferent towards his own family, but is pleasant and cheerful with strangers and will appear careless, cheerful and exuberant on the outside.

Fluoricum acidum groups

Symptoms from Kent, Hering, Allen and Sankaran’s MM

Dr. Claudio C. Araujo M.D. F.F.Hom. (Lon.)

With one’s surroundings

Work

Now, if we take into consideration its great depth of action, we will see furthermore that it is suitable in some brain diseases. In persons who have overworked, who have been working day and night to establish a business, or to keep it up, and when there has been constant use of the brain it is suitable.

Aversion to his business.

Fear

Sensation as if danger menaced him, but without fear.
Felt certain that something dreadful would happen, with dullness in head, mostly in front, left side, extending into middle of brain.
Feeling as if in an earthquake.

Sensation as if dangers did menace him but without being afraid; particularly during the pressure in the occiput, during the staggering, the pain in the bladder, etc.

Dreams, particularly towards morning, and generally of a frightful character, 

Soon after falling asleep, anxious, frightful dreams, with waking up at midnight; the rest of the night, many dreams of distant acquaintances; in a person who almost never dreams

Vivid dreams

All his dreams were very lucid, as if they really happened; although sometimes disagreeable, were never vexatious.

Very vivid and detailed dream at night, which he thought he remembered, but which he forgot; it consisted of the thoughts of the day, with a character of Chinese circumstantiality and useless precision.

With Oneself

Cheerful gay disposition

He is more cheerful and vigorous. 

Uncommonly gay disposition of the mind, the next morning. 

Feeling of perfect happiness within and without. 

Feeling of an interior happy state never experienced before, next morning after the remedy.

Feeling of highly enjoying everything. 

Satisfaction, he desires no better state of things; all is right.

Strong energy and erythrism

Fluoric acid has with this state an overwhelming sexual erythrism.

He is kept awake nights by erections. This state of desire forces itself upon him, not only when he is with the opposite sex, but at all times. At times, in the beginning of a gonorrhea, this condition of priapism and intense uncontrollable sexual desire, with swelling of the foreskin is overcome by Fluoric acid. There are times when this priapism demands Canth., but that remedy differs wholly in its nature from this.

Happy

All nature seems to smile, in the morning (after sixteen hours)

Gay disposition, everything is satisfactory.
Excessive hilarity; great buoyancy of mind, happy, serene.
 

Reticence

Reticence and silence; sitting and saying nothing. This reticence is like Puls., and often belongs to the insane who will sit in the corner and say nothing all day, never uttering one single word, and hardly answering when spoken to.

A patient sits in the corner and says nothing and does nothing, eats when food is offered, is led to her room when the time comes, resists nobody, answers nothing; such a state is found in Pulsatilla, and is closely allied to this remedy.

There is some insanity in it, but especially the fatigue and mildness of the brain. 

Mental exhaustion from overwork or from vices. It takes a long time for this remedy, in the proving, to develop its symptoms. It is a very deep-acting medicine, and an antipsoric, antisyphilitic and anti-sycotic.

ill-humor

Greatly depressed in mind. θ Ascites.

Fear of apoplexy.
Irritable, disagreeable mood.
Moodiness in evening, > in morning.
Very ill humored. θ Ascites.
Discontent and excessive ill humor followed by indifference and forgetfulness, and finally by perfect contentment and uncommonly gay disposition of mind.

Sexual passion

While thinking in a perfectly chaste and pleasant way about a girl whom he considers beautiful, there passed some drops of prostatic fluid,

Satyriasis.
Sexual passion increased, with erections at night during sleep.
Sexual passion strong, with violent erections all night, and desire to cohabit.
Highly excessive enjoyment and pleasure during coition, which was not the case before.
Seminal discharge not so quick and early as usual, but free and without any bad after-feeling.
Increased sexual desire in old men, with violent erections at night.
Pollutions without erection.
Sudden loss of sexual power ; impotence.

Erections, with desire and voluptuousness 

Sexual desire increased during the action of Fluoricum acidum.

Sexual passion increased, with erections at night during sleep

Increase of sexual desire with a complete erection, which, however, soon disappeared 

Elderly persons had often attacks of venereal desire and erections, and the exercise of this function seemed not to be injurious to them

Sexual passion strong, with violent erections all night, and desire to cohabit

Great excitement of the sexual desire.

Almost irresistible attack of lasciviousness, more in the case of old than young men.

Lascivious thoughts now and then during fifth and sixth weeks, so that he must force himself to think of other things

Highly excessive enjoyment and pleasure during coition, which was not the case before.

Nymphomania.

Anxiety

Disposition to anxious ideas, frequently to such a degree that a perspiration breaks out 

He does not become anxious so easily as formerly.

During the tottering sensation he has a decided though not anxious expectation, as if there was to happen something awful, but he feels no anxiety.

Disposition to be exceedingly anxious causing sweat - > in morning than in evening.
Anxiety. θ Ascites.

Displeased, angered

Whilst considering what might happen, he gets into a most ungovernable anger, but only in his thoughts; several times during the first days.

Easily displeased for half a day. 

In the evening he is very discontented; he looks at everything in the worst light; in the morning after a restless night, his temper is very cheerful and joyous. 

The least trifle is with him sufficient to show a bad temper in his features and motions, in ten hours; disappears during the next twelve hours. 

Difficult concentration

He has great difficulty in fixing his attention upon anything,. 

A more difficult comprehension of philosophical works; on the other hand all facts appear cleared to him, [1c]. 

*On making his notes he mistakes right and left, a circumstance that does not easily happen to him. 

Memory

Every morning a peculiar rush of memory, so that a number of symptoms come to him which he had had the day before during the whirl of practice.

Though his memory (for symptoms, etc.) is good, yet he daily writes December instead of August.

Forgetful; he does not recollect sometimes the most common things.

He forgets every evening to wind up his watch.

If his ideas are interrupted by other thoughts he is unable to recall the former, or at least only slowly and stupidly, [1c].

His own death

Dreams that he was dead and orders the rapid removal of the corpse out of the house.

With the others

Changing partners

In mental depression and melancholy, with great sadness, in young men who have destroyed the nervous system by vicious practices, by secret vice. It is particularly suitable for that disorder of the human economy where men have continuously changed their mistresses.

There is a state in which a man is never satisfied with one woman, but continually changes and goes from bad to worse until he is a debauchee. If a young man cannot keep away from women, he is not so bad off if he will only keep to one, but he goes from one to many, until he stands upon the street corners and, in his lust, craves the innocent women that go along the street.

Fluoric acid is suitable in that state, like Picric acid and Sepia, and these medicines are particularly suited to that condition of enfeeblement of the mind and that disorder of the human economy that makes man so low, that we have the state described as "low mindedness."

Aversion and indifference to his family and loved ones.

It takes that form in one who is a sort of debauchee, running after alt sorts of things to tickle his fancy, but it takes another form in a man who stays at home with his good wife. He takes an aversion to his children and to his dearest friends and his wife, that is, he has lost that true and noble and orderly affection and friendship and companionship which ought to exist, and he fights against it.

An orderly man considers his wife his best friend and he would rather stay with her than go anywhere else. To him there is no place like home. Now, when man arrives at the state when he wants to go somewhere else, that he wants to go away from home, that be is disturbed at home, that everything annoys him at home, that be no longer loves his children as he once did, he needs Fluoric acid.

"Feeling of indifference towards those he loves best."

"Doctor, there is one thing that I regret very much, and that is, I do not seem to enjoy my children, my home, my companions, my husband and my friends.

There is a sort of alienation."

Feeling of indifference towards those he loves best, has no objection to their presence but does not care to converse with them, yet it strangers or mere acquaintances come in will enter into animated conversation.
Aversion to his own family bordering on insanity.
Great disposition, when alone, to repulsive fantastic imaginations, particularly in regard to persons with whom he stands in near relations, or with whom he is connected; it seems, for example, as though he must get rid of all the servants, children must go out of the house, a betrothal must be broken off, a marriage should be dissolved, etc. 

During the fourth week very irritable towards people, even to the greatest hatred, which he does not hesitate to give vent to in words, but as soon as he sees them everything is forgotten, and he has an entirely different opinion of them. This does not arise either from hypocrisy or cowardice, but it is a suddenly altered view; mentally the same feeling which occurred to him physically during coryza. 

Indifferent, taking no interest in a very sick patient. 

In Fluoricum acidum we see a tremendous effort in the direction of breaking off the relationship. The situation of Fluoricum acidum is one where an incompatible marriage is causing the patient a great suffering. He needs to break away from this marriage. Hence he becomes irresponsible and immoral. 

The Fluoricum acidum person can perform a lot of feats without rest, and all he needs is a short afternoon nap to gain back his energy. The specific direction of this increased energy in the person is indicated by the increased sexual desire. He stands in the street and ogles at women. Fluoricum acidum persons talk very openly about their sexuality. Even in old age, there is increased sexual desire and excessive enjoyment. The patient becomes irresponsible and indifferent towards his own family but is pleasant and animated with strangers and will seem careless, cheerful and exuberant on the outside. All these features represent efforts that could help him break away from the incompatible marriage or relationship.

In the coped-up state however, the effort and the struggle are in the direction of not letting the relationship break. This is seen in the Fluoricum acidum dream: “Sudden death of his son, and also of the son of one of his friends; thinks that in both cases, he has been the one to blame, reproaches himself very much” (Allen’s Encyclopedia). This dream shows a sense of responsibility and guilt, and also of caring for their loved ones – the opposite pole of Fluoricum acidum.

Acquaintances

Dreams of distant acquaintances and things the whole night. 

Soon after falling asleep, anxious, frightful dreams, with waking up at midnight; the rest of the night, many dreams of distant acquaintances; in a person who almost never dreams.

A very vivid dream; sees his nearest relatives die.

Neglecting his duty towards his family

He dreams of the sudden death of his little son, and also of the son of one of his friends; thinks that in both cases he has been to blame, because he has neglected physical examination and mechanical remedies; reproaches himself very much and weeps bitterly, and on waking is very happy that it is not true.