Know Your Remedies: Ferrum Phosphoricum (Ferr-p.)


Ferrum phos
Common Names: Ferrum phos; iron phosphate; ferrous phosphate.

General Information

This remedy is best known as the “no clear symptoms” remedy. Vague and general symptoms such as fever, pain or inflammation may be present but they don’t have the distinctive or identifying features seen with other remedies. For example, a headache worsened by movement points to Bryonia, and a pulsating headache points to Belladonna, but with Ferrum Phos, the headache is “just  a headache”. Even when a distinctive symptom does sit within the Ferrum Phos profile, such as the face alternating between pale and red, it is not often seen. As a result, Ferrum Phos is mostly used after a process of elimination – when symptoms are so vague that no other remedy suits. 

Head Problems

  • Headaches with fever.
  • Face colour alternates between pale and red.

 Eye Problems

  • Sensitive to light during fevers.

Ear, Nose, & Throat Problems

  • Ear pain and inflammation with no discharge (from nose or ear).
  • Deafness from colds, especially in children.
  • Bright nosebleeds in children.
  • Raw, painful sensation on soft palate (posterior nares) on inspiration.
  • Redness and swelling of the tonsils.

Gastrointestinal (Digestive) Problems

  • Thirsty, usually for cold drinks.
  • Vomiting of food soon after eating.
  • Heartburn or indigestion after eating meat.

Chest Problems

  • Early stages of bronchitis in children.
  • First stage of pneumonia with no clear symptoms.
  • Cough with bright, blood-streaked expectoration.

Fever

  • Fever, often high, but with no other distinctive symptoms.
  • Headache and light sensitivity with fever.

For Pets

  • Early stage of inflammation or fever when no other symptoms are seen.

 Where do I find it?

Ferrum Phosphoricum (Ferr-p.) is available from our online store as a single remedy, and in the following Complex (combination remedy): Common Cold – Watery. 

Home Treatment Guidelines

Acute, Self-Limiting Conditions

Conditions like colds or minor injuries, which are short-term and typically improve on their own, can be managed at home with homeopathy. However, in emergencies or if symptoms worsen, contact your healthcare provider.

Chronic Conditions

These home treatment instructions do not apply for ongoing issues, whether mentioned above or not, like persistent allergies or chronic pain. You should consult a qualified homeopath for a personalized treatment plan to achieve the best results with homeopathy for chronic conditions.

How to Take the Remedy for Acute Conditions

  • Take one pill or five drops of the remedy. The frequency depends on symptom severity. As examples:
    • For life-threatening symptoms, take every 1 minute and seek emergency help immediately.
    • For mild symptoms, take every 4 hours.
  • Stop taking the remedy once you feel better. Resume if symptoms return.
  • If no improvement after four doses, choose a different remedy or consult a professional homeopath.
  • For more details on dosing, refer to: How Often to Dose with a 30C Homeopathic remedy.
  • For information on the different potencies, read: Guidelines on which potency to use

Additional Notes From Past Masters

Homeopathy is a 200-year-old system of medicine.

Early homeopaths recorded detailed notes on how remedies worked, including initial tests, remedy relationships, and their experiences. These writings were shared to improve homeopathic practice and now offer fascinating insights into past uses of homeopathy.

Here’s an example, edited and modernised for clarity, from Leaders In Homoeopathic Therapeutics (1898) by E. B. NASH M.D.:

Leaders In Homoeopathic Therapeutics by E. B. NASH M.D.

FERRUM PHOSPHORICUM.

This one of Schuessler’s tissue remedies has proven a valuable remedy in some inflammatory diseases. In keeping with its element of Iron, it presents the local congestion tendencies of that remedy; and in its Phosphorus element its affinity for the lungs and stomach; and in its combination proves a great hćmorrhage remedy. The hćmorrhages are of bright blood, and may come from any outlet of the body. Further proving and clinical use will enable us to use it more scientifically then we now do. So far as I have observed, it is not adapted to the full-blooded, sanguine, arterial subjects, with an overplus of red blood that Aconite cures, but rather to pale, anćmic subjects, who with all their weaknesses are nevertheless subject to sudden and violent local congestions and inflammations, like pneumonia, or sudden congestions to head, bowels, or any other part, or to inflammatory affections of a rheumatic character. It is only useful in the first stage of such attacks, before the stage of exudation appears. It has been found useful also in the above-described weakened or anćmic subjects who have sour eructations occurring in stomach troubles, usually termed dyspeptic. In dysentery, in the first stage with a good deal of blood in the discharges, it is very valuable, and often cures in a very short time.

Again, it is often efficacious in the night sweats of the weak and anćmic. I am sorry not to be able to give characteristic indications for the use of this remedy, but I am fully persuaded that is a very valuable one and ought to receive a thoroughly Hahnemannian proving.