Ammonium phosphoricum
Quick Facts
- What it is: A minor homeopathic remedy made from the salt ammonium phosphate and watered down until almost none of it remains.
- Main uses: Hard lumps on finger joints in long-term gout, Aching, stiff joints, Thick mucus in the chest or throat
- Best for: People already working with a homeopath who want it alongside, not instead of, medical care
- Active ingredients: Ammonium phosphate (present in name only at 30C)
- Forms: Sugar pellets, Tablets, Liquid drops, Low-strength powders (3X, 6X)
- Time to effect: Not established; any change is likely natural recovery or placebo.
- Side effects: Almost none expected; the real risk is delaying treatment that works.
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What is Ammonium phosphoricum?
Ammonium phosphoricum is a homeopathic remedy. It is made from a salt called ammonium phosphate. Its Latin name is Ammonii phosphas, and it is also known simply as Ammonium phosphate.
Homeopaths reach for it most often in joint complaints. The old texts link it to hard lumps on the finger joints in long-term gout (joint swelling caused by uric acid crystals), and some also use it for thick mucus in the chest or throat.
The salt is watered down step by step, so at 30C almost none of it is left. Trials do not show it works better than a placebo (a dummy treatment). A long record of use is not proof that a remedy works.
How does Ammonium phosphoricum work?
There is no known way for this remedy to act on the body, and that is the honest answer.
Homeopathy rests on the idea of "like cures like". A substance that could cause symptoms in a well person is said to ease similar symptoms when it is watered down a great deal.
The maker grinds the salt with milk sugar, then dilutes it in steps, shaking hard at each step. Homeopaths say this leaves an "imprint" of the salt behind. Chemistry does not support that idea.
At 30C the odds of even one molecule of the salt remaining are close to zero. Studies of homeopathy have not told it apart from a dummy treatment.
What forms does Ammonium phosphoricum come in?
You will most often see small sugar pellets or tablets that dissolve under the tongue.
Other forms include liquid drops in alcohol and water, and low-strength powders made by grinding the salt with milk sugar (marked 3X or 6X).
Common strengths on the label are 6C, 12C, 30C and 200C. The higher the number, the more the salt has been watered down.
Where it comes from:
The remedy comes from 19th-century homeopathy in Europe. It was written up in homeopathic materia medica (reference books of remedy pictures) of that era, including work by Clarke and by Hering.
It has always been a minor remedy. It never became a household name like Arnica, and it is used by a small number of practitioners for a narrow set of joint and mucus complaints.
Who should avoid Ammonium phosphoricum?
- Do not use it in place of medicine your doctor has prescribed for gout (joint swelling caused by uric acid crystals), infection, asthma or any other condition.
- Do not use it to treat a hot, red, swollen joint with fever: see a doctor the same day, as this can be an infected joint.
- Do not give it to a baby or young child instead of seeing a doctor for a cough, fever or breathing problem.
- Do not take the pellets or tablets if you cannot digest milk sugar (lactose) or you have the inherited condition galactosaemia, as they are usually made with lactose.
- Avoid the liquid drops if you are avoiding alcohol, are pregnant, or take disulfiram or metronidazole, because the drops are usually made with alcohol.
- Do not use it for chest symptoms if you have a long-term lung disease such as COPD (a long-term lung disease that makes breathing hard) without talking to your doctor first.
- Do not count the sugar in the pellets as nothing if you have diabetes — check with your pharmacist.
When should you see a doctor?
See a doctor straight away if a joint is hot, red, very swollen and you have a fever. That can be an infected joint, which is an emergency.
Also get medical help if you cough up blood, become short of breath, have chest pain, or run a fever above 38C for more than a couple of days.
Make an ordinary appointment if joint pain or a cough lasts more than two weeks, if your voice stays hoarse for more than three weeks, or if you have been told you have gout and your attacks are getting more frequent.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
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