Highly sensitive and refined, the patient needing this remedy feels deeply the harshness of life, placing a protective wall around themselves.

They are known as closed and hard, but they can often appear more open. However, the case-taker will suspect they are hiding something, sometimes beneath an emotional awkwardness such as the laughing at serious matters keynote.

This is a complex remedy, easy to over prescribe as symptoms are widespread and commonly experienced. On the one hand Nat Mur struggles to hold everything in (aversion to company and consolation, dwelling on hurts of the past, physical dryness), but on the other there is a great need for connection (loneliness, sympathy for others, feeling left out).

Nat mur has particular affinities to the head, digestive tract, glands and the skin. Keynotes include cracks of the lips, in the middle or corners of the mouth, and a general aggravation from the sun and by the sea.

Symptoms are usually worse in a heated room, and when emotional; and better in the open air. There is often a great thirst for cold drinks and a craving for salt.