RHUS TOXICODENDRON

RHUS TOXICODENDRON

(Poison Ivy)

Rhus-t.

This remedy is frequently indicated for its effects on the skin, mucous membranes, typhoid-type fever, and rheumatic pains. Rhus-t. notably affects fibrous tissue, including joints, tendons, and sheaths, causing pain and stiffness, often post-surgery. Pains are tearing, but motion relieves symptoms temporarily, making the patient feel better after changing position. It’s used for ailments from strains, overexertion, or getting wet while perspiring, as well as septic conditions, cellulitis, infections, and early-stage carbuncles (Echi.). It’s also beneficial for rheumatism, especially during cold seasons, and septicemia.

Mind: Listless, sad, with suicidal thoughts. Extreme restlessness leads to constant position changes. Delirium with fear of poisoning (Hyos.). Clouded sensorium, and great nighttime anxiety makes staying in bed unbearable.

Head: Feels as if a board is strapped to the forehead. Vertigo upon rising, heavy head, with a sensation of the brain being loose inside the skull when walking or standing up. Scalp sensitivity worsens when lying on the affected side. Occipital headache (Rhus-r.), tender to touch. Pain starts in the forehead and moves backward. Humid, itchy scalp eruptions (crusta lactea).

Eyes: Swollen, red, edematous; orbital cellulitis. Pustular inflammations, photophobia, and profuse yellow pus. Eyelid edema, suppurative iritis, and inflamed, agglutinated, swollen lids. Old eye injuries. Circumscribed corneal injection with intense ulceration. Iritis due to cold and damp exposure, often of rheumatic origin. Eye pain on movement or pressure, resembling acute retro-bulbar neuritis. Hot, scalding tears gush when opening the lids.

Ears: Ear pain (otalgia), with a sensation of something inside. Swollen lobules. Bloody pus discharge (otorrhea).

Nose: Sneezing, coryza after getting wet. Red, sore, ulcerated tip of the nose with swelling. Epistaxis when stooping.

Face: Jaw cracks while chewing. Easy jaw dislocation (Ign., Petr.). Swollen face, erysipelas, sensitive cheekbones. Parotitis and facial neuralgia, worse in the evening. Crusta lactea (Calc., Viol-t.).

Mouth: Teeth feel loose and long; sore gums. Tongue red, cracked, and coated except for a red triangular tip; dry and red at edges (glossitis). Ulcerated mouth corners, fever blisters around the mouth and chin (Nat-m.). Pain in the maxillary joint.

Throat: Sore with swollen glands. Sticking pain on swallowing. Parotitis, especially on the left side.

Stomach: Loss of appetite, coupled with extreme thirst. Bitter taste (Cupr.), nausea, vertigo, and bloating after eating. Desire for milk. Marked thirst with dry mouth and throat. A sensation of pressure as if from a stone (Bry., Ars.). Drowsiness follows eating.

Abdomen: Violent pains relieved by lying on the abdomen. Swollen inguinal glands and pain in the region of the ascending colon. Colic necessitates walking bent forward. Excessive distention after eating with rumbling of flatus on first rising, subsiding with motion.

Rectum: Diarrhea with blood, slime, and reddish mucus. Dysentery with tearing pains down the thighs. Stools with a cadaverous odor. Frothy, painless stools. Often halts the onset of a suppurative process near the rectum.

Urinary: Dark, turbid, high-colored, scanty urine with white sediment. Dysuria with hematuria.

Male: Swollen glands and prepuce (balanitis), dark red erysipelas, thick, swollen, edematous scrotum (hydrocele). Intense itching.

Female: Swollen, intensely itchy vulva (pruritus vulva). Stiff pelvic articulations, especially when starting to move. Early, profuse, prolonged, acrid menses (menorrhagia, metrorrhagia). Thin, protracted, offensive, diminished lochia (Puls., Sec.) with shooting pains extending upwards in the vagina (Sep.).

Respiratory: Tickling behind the upper sternum. Dry, teasing cough from midnight till morning, often during a chill or when hands are out of bed. Hemoptysis from overexertion; bright red blood. Influenza with aching bones (Eup-per.). Hoarseness from overstraining the voice (Arn.). Chest oppression with sticking pains (pleurisy). Bronchial cough in elderly, worse on waking with small mucus plugs expectoration.

Heart: Hypertrophy due to overexertion. Pulse quick, weak, irregular, intermittent, with left arm numbness. Trembling and palpitations when sitting still.

Back: Pain between the shoulders while swallowing. Pain and stiffness in the lumbosacral region, relieved by motion or lying on something hard, worsened by sitting. Stiff neck.

Extremities: Hot, painful joint swelling (osteoarthritis). Tearing pain in tendons, ligaments, and fasciae. Rheumatic pains spread across the nape, loins, and extremities, relieved by motion (Agar.). Bone condyles are sore. Limbs stiff and paralyzed. Cold fresh air is intolerable, making the skin painful. Pain along the ulnar nerve. Tearing pain down the thighs. Sciatica worsens in cold, damp weather at night. Numbness and tingling after overwork and exposure. Paralysis, trembling after exertion. Knee joint tenderness. Loss of power in forearm and fingers, with tingling in the finger tips and feet.

Sleep: Dreams of great exertion. Heavy, stuporous sleep. Sleepless before midnight.

Fever: Adynamic, restless, trembling, with typhoid symptoms: dry brown tongue, sordes, and loose bowels. Intermittent chills with dry cough and restlessness. During fever, urticaria and hydroa may occur. Chilly, as if cold water is poured over, followed by heat and limb stretching inclination.

Skin: Red, swollen, intense itching. Vesicles, herpes, urticaria, pemphigus, erysipelas, and vesicular suppurative forms. Swollen glands. Cellulitis. Burning eczematous eruptions with a tendency to scale formation.

Modalities: Worse during sleep, in cold, wet rainy weather, after rain, at night, during rest, after drenching, lying on the back or right side. Better with warmth, dry weather, motion, walking, change of position, rubbing, warm applications, and stretching limbs.

Relationship: Complementary to Bry., Calc-f., Phyt. (rheumatism). In urticaria, follow with Bov. Inimical to Apis.

Antidotes: Bathing with milk and Grindelia lotion is very effective. Ampelopsis trifoliata-Three-leaf woodbine (for toxic dermatitis due to vegetable poisons). It is similar to Rhus poisoning. Desensitizing against Ivy poisoning using ascending doses of the tincture by mouth or hypodermic injections is recommended by old school authorities, but homeopathic remedies, especially Rhus-t. 30 and 200 and Anac., etc., are more effective. Other antidotes include Anac., Crot-t., Grin., Mez., Cypr., and Plumbg. (eczema of vulva); Graph.

Compare: Rhus radicans has a nearly identical action, but with burning in the tongue, and semilateral pains in various and often remote parts, often worsening after a storm, especially an electric one. It has a pronounced yearly aggravation (Lach.). It also features occipital headache, nape of neck pain that draws the head forward. Rhus diversiloba-California Poison oak (antidote to Rhus-t.), with violent skin symptoms, intense itching, marked swelling of the face, hands, and genitals, sensitive skin, eczema, erysipelas, nervous weakness, and fatigue from minor efforts, often leading to exhaustion. Xero. (dysmenorrhea and skin symptoms) also compares.

Dose: Use the sixth to thirtieth potency. The 200th and higher potencies are antidotal to poisoning with the plant and tincture.