Magnesia phosphorica: keynotes and uses
Magnesia phosphorica — magnesium phosphate, one of the twelve Schuessler tissue salts — covers a clearly drawn slot in the materia medica: cramping, spasmodic, darting nerve pain eased by warmth and by firm pressure. Where Colocynthis covers colic relieved by bending double and Belladonna the throbbing congestive pain, Magnesia phosphorica is the remedy when pains are sharp, shooting, and spasmodic, change place quickly, and are reliably better for heat and for hard pressure on the part.
The substance
Magnesia phosphorica is a phosphate of magnesium prepared for homeopathic and biochemic use by trituration with lactose to render it soluble and dispersible. Like its companion Ferrum phosphoricum, it enters the tradition through two doors. The first is Wilhelm Schuessler's nineteenth-century biochemic system, in which magnesium phosphate is the tissue salt of nerve and muscle function and therefore the remedy of cramp and spasm. The second is classical homeopathy, which absorbed it into the full materia medica through provings and the casebook tradition recorded by Boericke and Clarke.
The low decimal potencies favoured in the Schuessler system — 6X, 12X — are the standard starting point for acute cramping pain in the biochemic tradition, often given dissolved in hot water and sipped, since heat is itself the chief modality of relief.
Keynotes
Magnesia phosphorica is a pain remedy whose modalities are unusually clear-cut: warmth and pressure ameliorate; cold and touch aggravate. Five features recur across the classical and biochemic sources.
| Keynote dimension | What the tradition records |
|---|---|
| Pain quality | Cramping, spasmodic, sharp, shooting, often darting from place to place |
| Chief relief | Warmth and firm, hard pressure on the painful part |
| Posture relief | Bending double eases the colicky and abdominal pains |
| Site | Neuralgias of the face, menstrual cramps, intestinal colic, writer's cramp |
| Aggravation | Cold, cold air, draught, touch, and night |
Boericke fixes the shorthand the tradition still uses: Magnesia phosphorica is the great antispasmodic of the tissue-salt group, marked by cramping pains relieved by warmth. The warmth-and-pressure relief is what separates it from pain remedies worse for heat.
Traditional indications
Menstrual cramps relieved by heat and bending double. Intestinal or trapped-wind colic. Facial neuralgia that darts and shoots. Muscle cramp. The writer's or musician's cramp of repetitive strain. Schuessler prescribers typically give 6X or 12X dissolved in hot water with frequent sips; classical prescribers may use 30C. Both patterns are recorded in the literature.
Differential
The antispasmodic pain remedies whose territories adjoin Magnesia phosphorica are Colocynthis and Belladonna. The tradition draws the lines as follows.
| Dimension | Magnesia phosphorica | Colocynthis | Belladonna |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pain quality | Cramping, shooting, darting, shifting | Cramping, griping, often after anger | Throbbing, congestive, comes and goes suddenly |
| Chief relief | Warmth and hard pressure | Bending double and hard pressure | Hard to relieve; worse from jar and touch |
| Worse from | Cold, draught, touch, night | Eating, drinking, indignation | Light, noise, jarring, lying down |
| Typical site | Face, abdomen, menstrual, muscle cramp | Abdominal colic, sciatica | Head, throat, acute inflammations |
Red flags
Sudden severe abdominal pain, chest pain, pain with fever, a first or unusually severe headache, or any pain with weakness, numbness, or loss of function are red-flag presentations needing prompt assessment. New, worsening, or disabling menstrual pain also warrants workup for a treatable underlying cause.
Using the repertory
A keynote phrase such as "cramping pain relieved by warmth" or "neuralgia better pressure" typed into the free repertory returns the rubric the classical tradition assigns to it and the remedies listed against the keynotes above.
References
Schuessler, W. H. (1898) An Abridged Therapy: Manual of the Biochemical Treatment of Disease, twenty-fifth edition, translated by M. Docetti Walker; entry on Magnesia phosphorica among the twelve tissue salts.
Boericke, W. (1927) Pocket Manual of Homoeopathic Materia Medica with Repertory, ninth edition, Philadelphia: Boericke & Tafel; entry on Magnesia phosphorica.
Clarke, J. H. (1900) A Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica, London: Homoeopathic Publishing Company; entry on Magnesia phosphorica.
Kent, J. T. (1905) Lectures on Homoeopathic Materia Medica, Philadelphia: Boericke & Tafel; chapters on Colocynthis and Belladonna.