Know Your Remedies: Nitricum Acidum (Nit-ac.)

Common Names: Nitric acid; HNO3; Acidum nitricum.

General Information

Nitricum Acidum (Nit-ac.) is a remedy for excoriating and offensive excoriating discharges (e.g. stool, urine, perspiration, saliva) and fissures and cracks where mucous membranes join skin, such as the mouth, anus, eyes and nose. Pains are stitching or splinter-like and worsen with cold air, jarring or when touched. The person needing Nit-ac tends to be restless, dissatisfied, sensitive and chilly, crave fat and salt, and constantly worry about their health. They are prone to motion sickness and milk disagrees.

Mental-Emotional Symptoms

  • Dissatisfied, negative and restless.
  • Pessimistic and easily depressed.
  • Selfish, resentful, bitter, accusing or cursing.
  • Bad tempered, especially in mornings.
  • Difficult social interactions – may be pleasant at start of relationships but easily irritated.
  • Quarrelsome and don’t forgive. Unmoved by apologies and hold a grudge.
  • Vindictive and vengeful.
  • Anxious about health and fear of death. Hypochondriacal.

Gastrointestinal

  • Cracks around the lips, especially the corners of the mouth.
  • Anal fissures or warts.
  • Haemorrhoids with sticking, splinter-like pains.

Urogenital

  • Offensive urine – ‘smells like horse’s urine’.
  • Genital warts or herpes.

Skin

  • Herpes.
  • Warts.
  • Chilblains.
  • Cracks on fingers and in the creases of joints.
  • Fissures, cracks, ulcers – especially at the margins of mucous membranes.

Where do I find it?

Nitricum Acidum (Nit-ac.) is available from our online store as a single remedy in either pills or liquid, and as part of the following Complexes (combination remedies): Chilblains; Mouth Ulcers; Sweat (Hand or Foot); Warts.

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.

Nitricum Acidum (Nit-ac.)

Has a particular affinity for mucous outlets, where skin and membranes join; cracks; rhagades fissures.

Pricking pains as of a splinter in the parts.

Urine strong smelling; like horse urine.

Hæmorrhages from all outlets of the body; blood bright red.

Pricking ulcers; excrescences; condylomata; figwarts (sycosis).

Nervous, irritable, dark complexioned persons.

Modalities: > riding in carriage.

* * * * *

Nitric acid is one of our most effective antidotes to the effects of allopathic dosing with mercury in syphilis.

For the other bad effects of the abuse of mercury other remedies are better, notably, Hepar sulphur. calc., Nitric acid have a particular affinity for the outlets of mucous surfaces, where the skin and membrane join, such as the mouth (corners), nose and anus. In the mouth we find the corners cracked, ulcerated and scabby, also aphthæ, stomatitis with ptyalism, swelling of the gums, fœtor oris, etc.

If Mercurius has already been used without avail Nitric acid follows well and will often cure.

This ulcerated, swollen and spongy condition of the gums will extend into the throat, and if it is the result of combined syphilis and mercurialization of the old school Nitric acid is the first remedy.

The action of this remedy is just as positive upon the other outlet of the alimentary canal.

The anus is cracked and fissured similarly (Ratanhia), and hæmorrhoids protrude, crack, bleed and are very sore.

No remedy has more decided action upon the anus, and one very characteristic symptom is, “great pain after passage of stool, even soft stool.” He walks the floor in agony of pain for an hour or two after a stool (Ratanhia).

In dysentery this symptom distinguishes this remedy from Nux vomica, which is relieved after stool and Mercurius, which has tenesmus all the time, or before, during and after stool.

Another very strong characteristic of this remedy in all these affection is, “Pricking pain as of a splinter in the part.”

Nitric acid has hæmorrhages from all outlets of the body, and the blood is generally bright red. It is especially so in typhoid and hæmorrhoids.

Nitric acid is one of our best remedies in chronic diarrhœa.

It is one of the celebrated trio viz.,: Thuja, Staphisagria. and Nitric acid for condylomata.

It is one of three remedies having very offensive odor to the urine, viz.: Benzoic acid, Nitric acid and Sepia.

Benzoic acid, urine is very dark with very intense urinous odor.

Nitric acid, dark, smelling like horse urine.

Sepia, offensive and sourish.