The body is made of cells. Different kind of cells build different tissues and organs. The difference in cells is mainly due to difference in cellular constituents where inorganic salts play an important role.

Most of the initial research can be traced back to 1873, the birthday of biochemistry, and its father, German physician Willhelm Heinrich Schussler.

After practicing homeopathic medicine for over 15 years, he developed an interest in the inorganic salts that make up portions of the human body.

Dr. Schussler’s first publicized work was “An Abridged Therapy on the Basis of Physiology and Cellular Pathology.” The main thesis of the work was to explain “The inorganic substances found in the blood and tissues are sufficient to cure all diseases that can be cured.”

Schussler proposed that the body was made up of 12 cell salts, or inorganic substances, that are present in extremely small quantities, and that any change in their proper quantitative relations will disturb normal cell function and cause disease.

Conventional physicians will traditionally prescribe aspirin or ibuprofen for muscle pain or cramps. But these have side effects. Aspirin is an analgesic, or an anti-inflammatory pain medication. Like all drug medications, it comes with its list of side effects, ranging from heartburn, nausea, stomach ulcers, bleeding and stomach upset. Also, it should not be given to children or teenagers for flu symptoms or chickenpox due to its association with Reye’s syndrome. Aspirin is promoted to treat minor pain, fever, stroke and heart attack, but this is hardly a treatment or a cure.

So why would we take something, when our body is giving us clear symptoms that something is wrong, by masking it when we can simply address the cause of the symptoms naturally by giving the body what it is lacking?

Magnesia phosphorica, or (mag phos) is that tissue salt. In biochemistry mag phos is designed as an antispasmodic and analgesic. It is found in the muscles, the nerves, the brain and the marrow, the bone and blood cells. Lack of mag phos causes gnawing and searing pains in nerves and muscles, and muscle cramps.

Its main targets are the central nervous system, the peripheral nerves, the unstriated muscles and all hollow organs.

Homeopathic physicians typically refer to it as homeopathic aspirin, but is actually what the body is screaming for and is safe for all ages, even breastfeeding mothers. That’s how I want to gauge if I want to put it in my body. If a breastfeeding mother can have it, then its safe for me, too.

The drug picture, if we want to call it that, since we have this picture of anything now in days titled as “drug” or “medicine,” has to be handled with care, but lets go back to the days when medicine was safe and natural for a moment. The drug picture of mag phos is as follows: Nervous and restless patients. Exhaustion and spasmodic diatheses. Violent spasmodic intestinal colics accompanied by gas. Tendency to cardiac spasms. Intestinal and particularly sphincter spasms. Pertussis-like and asthma-like coughs. Shooting nerve pains, accompanied by muscular spasms.

Mag phos’ indications would then be: spasms of the unstriated muscles of all hollow organs and the blood vessels, cramp neuroses such as writer’s cramp. Neuralgia accompanied by muscular spasms.

We’ve all heard at some point, that if we were to dry up, all that would remain is a pile of minerals, as if a cup of sand were dumped on the ground. Chemically pure salts, homogeneous to the cell-minerals in the human body. By the aid of these minerals disturbed molecular motion in the cells can be rectified, when taken for a short period, these salts will compensate the losses incurred during a disease. Eventually, the cells will recover and will be able to produce cure of the disease.

Natural medicine can be simple and has limitless resources on the Internet if you know what to look for and where to look. I recommend further reading on Willhelm Heinrich Schussler, the subjects of biochemic tissue salts and homeopathy.

Thomas Coffman has been practicing homeopathic medicine for more than 11 years and teaches for the British Institute of Homeopathy. He practices in Albert Lea.