Rhus toxicondendron Anhang
[remedia.at]
Die Beschwerden dieses Arzneimittels entwickeln sich durch die
Einwirkung von kaltem, feuchtem Wetter (Regen), besonders wenn der Patient vorher
erhitzt war und
geschwitzt hat. Kommt es dann zu einer Erkältung, zu Grippe und zu
Fieber, empfinden die Patienten Schmerzen in den Gliedern, als seien diese
lahm, gequetscht oder zerschlagen.
Typischerweise bessern sich die Beschwerden durch fortgesetzte
Bewegung, obwohl diese zu Beginn durchaus als unangenehm empfunden wird.
Diese Besserung durch Bewegung führt dazu, daß der Patient ständig in
Bewegung ist. So entsteht der Eindruck einer großen Unruhe, die aber nicht mit
der ängstlichen Unruhe von Ars. oder Acon. verwechselt werden soll.
Hat der Patient auch Rückenschmerzen, will er auf einer harten
Unterlage liegen.
Die Beschwerden > Wärme; <: Kälte/abends/nachts;
Der Schnupfen ist heftig und der Kranke muß häufig niesen (richtige Anfälle).
Die Absonderung aus der Nase ist dick, gelb und übelriechend.
Im Fieberfrost kann der Kranke das Gefühl von kaltem Wasser haben, das
über ihn gespritzt oder gegossen wird.
Husten: trocken, quälend und in nachts besonders schlimm (so daß der
Kranke nicht einschlafen kann, oder der Schlaf gestört ist). < Fieberschauer
oder wenn der Patient
sich abdeckt der auch nur eine Hand unter der Bettdecke herausstreckt.
Wirkt auch auf die Gelenke, Sehen und Bänder. Deshalb kommt es
besonders bei Verstauchungen und Zerrungen in Frage.
Wie bei den anderen Erkrankungen werden die Beschwerden durch warme
Anwendungen und durch fortgesetzte Bewegung gebessert (obwohl die Bewegung
anfangs nicht gut tut).
<: kalte Anwendungen;
Es ist gut geeignet für die Folgen von Überheben, zum Beispiel wenn
dadurch Rückenschmerz oder Ischias auftritt.
Wie Arn. passt es für Zustände nach körperlicher Überanstrengung. Arn.
hat im Gegensatz zu Rhus-t. <: Bewegung; >: im Freien;
[Gabriele Siemann nach Sankarans System]
General General
soaking too close
cold Difficulties
with close relatives
cold bathing
suffers from numbness
dislocation Lack of maintenance, does not know
where he belongs
distortion Lack of maintenance, feels pushed
out of position
sprain Lack
of maintenance, will be overwhelmed by feelings
fatigue cannot protect himself from
knowledge of his own
effort Attempts
to avoid any activity with knowledge
nerve agents has difficulties to get in touch
with the environment successfully separated
Sepsis.x Feels easily offended
Nail and nail bed infection Cannot
successfully resist
yawn Tries
to finally get clear view
true vitamin B2 deficiency Needs
more stability
especially bad when sitting feels
blocked fast
Urogenital tract Partnership
urination at night ashamed (coming closer to his own
feelings)
Genital: + Creativity
itchy blisters on the prepuce and glans Repent
feelings when he tried to express themselves
Menopause Conversion to one’s own perception
of interests
Respiration Give and Take
Whooping cough at night Violent
resistance, but which cannot be articulated, especially, when one’s sense of
life is affected
Yellow-green secretion Trying
to get rid of internal toxicity. Especially when it comes to one’s ability to
differentiate
Skin, glands, lymphatic system Protection arrangements, flowing
with life
“rough” skin feels rejected and rejects
symmetrical itchy eczema both
emotional and intellectual repentance
itchy blisters on the prepuce and glans Repent
feelings when he tried to express himself
fissured tongue does not know what he will decide
rash aggressive
rejection
Bone, muscle Stability and
mobility
Lameness of the left arm and shoulder cannot
fight back emotionally, wants to carry any load
lumbar pain finds it difficult to develop
rheumatism flowing stimuli, which cannot be
met. A current problem
stiffness immobile
exhaustion feels attacked and defeated
pain Current
Problems
Digestive tract Dealing with perception of one’s own
interests
tongue dry Life does not taste because it
contains too little emotion
tongue cracked Decision
problems
tongue occupied feels occupied by others
tongue red top is
already in cautious attempts to identify the own interests, aggressively
bloody diarrhea Fear leads to loss of vitality
Heart, circulatory system, circulatory Life
force, life keep going, to energize
heart failure own power has waned
nosebleeds
acute trouble with close relatives
at night Difficulties when the own being is
moved to the center
Nerves, sensations Dealing with life
Sadly, sadly Dealing with life
Tendency to cry (without reason), to be alone Dealing with life
Depressed, anxious about the future, family and
business Dealing with life
Ears: Ability
to listen and to take account of the circumstances
tubal deafness may
not obey
Modalities Circumstances
< Wet and cold weather When
it comes to emotions, which seem to be hard and repellent
< rest When
it is time to think about the own interests
< at night If you are honestly approaching the
inner core
< Pain drives out of bed The
acute problem is frightening and takes any protection
> Continued motion if you can avoid the problems
> Dry hot air when
feelings fade and you feel well thrived
> Sweat, dry heat if you can express your feelings to
be well thrived
[Elaine Lewis and Lowanna Hugall]
A Day in the Life of Rhus Toxicodendron
The person who needs Rhus tox has a sensitivity
that makes him very irritable. With Rhus tox, it’s all about having to move!
Anything that causes stagnation within the body such as cold or water or ice
will aggravate. Ice, for its hard, cold quality and the wetness of frozen
water, is what a Rhus tox hates the most, perhaps this is why Rhus tox is
easily comforted by anything that is warm and encourages a flow within the
organism, including vigorous massage.
The central idea of Rhus tox is stiffness. They
become all bound-up and unable to release the inner tightness they feel. This
is seen throughout the Rhus tox symptomatology on all three levels–mental,
emotional and physical.
Character is a picture of anxiety and
restlessness, they are unable to relax. Constantly needs to stretch. They feel
the urge to move to loosen up to keep from becoming the image of ice-cold and
hard.
Now, with Rhus tox constantly moving they
become anxious. The anxiety is from never being able to stay in one place for
very long (“Anxiety, House, in“), progressing into
a state where they think something bad is going
to happen (“Fear, superstitious“, “Ailments from anticipation, foreboding“).
These foreboding feelings come from delusions that something terrible is going
to happen (“Mind: Anxiety“, “Anxiety, future, about, Delusion: Murdered, will
be“); these are examples of the well-known Rhus tox “Restlessness” on the
mental plane (“Mind: Thoughts, rush, flow of; Mind: Suspicious“).
The Rhus Tox cycle:
Let’s see if we can find a Rhus tox or two! Now
where are those little Rhus tox people? I can hear them but I just can’t see
them, let us see if we can catch up with some of them. Look way over there!
What fun! All those children enjoying themselves at their school athletics
carnival. “BANG!” The starting gun fires and they all run off down the track.
They are having a beautiful day, the sun is shining. The children, with all
their might, race off down the track, it looks like a day full of racing and
getting many ribbons for their achievements. Let’s see if there is a Rhus tox
amongst them!
And there he is now!
Our Rhus tox boy has had a monumental day. “The
best day ever,” he remarks and he has ribbons to prove it. He got three 1st
, four 2nd and a 4th prize. Yes, you’re right he does
look over-heated. In fact he says that he’s been getting very hot and even
perspiring from all his fine effort. He has really over-exerted himself most of
the day and is
now looking forward to getting home to rest and
have a good night’s sleep.
Twilight finds him still hard at work, however;
packing away the equipment and carrying the podium back to the equipment shed.
For Rhus tox, twilight is not a good time and this is when many symptoms of the
tensing up start. FAST FORWARD PLEASE!!
Later that night Rhus tox now home drinking
tea. He starts to feel an anxiety within himself rising, no doubt because of
night coming on (“Fear, at night“), he has an emotional fear setting in and as
this begins to happen, he feels more stiff and tight. He explains to his mum that
he has a general bound-up sensation everywhere throughout his body. (“Generals:
Constriction“)
Mum can see he is emotionally irritable and to
touch he is cold, his limbs especially. This cold, tight sensation is making
him twist and stretch the muscles to stop the limbs from being so constrictive.
(“Generals: Position, change of, ameliorates“) This is frustrating him
immensely not to mention his Mum having to watch him squirm around the kitchen.
He keeps getting in Mum’s way so she tells him to go and relax in front of the
T.V. She is hoping this will take his mind off his discomfort, but once he goes
to watch TV with his older sister, he tries to settle down but he just can’t
sit still! He moves this way and that. The urgency that he must keep on moving
and changing position becomes too much for Rhus tox and he groans (“Mind:
moaning“) as he becomes more restless, and his sister’s complaints of “Sit
down, I can’t see the TV!” irritate him still further (“Mind: Irritability,
night“). He wants to sit still but “ggrrrr!” What an aggravation!
We see the dance of the Rhus tox begin. He gets
up and moves, he changes position. In doing so he stretches and contorts his
ligaments to stop the stiffening and the build-up of toxins in the muscles. The
lactic acid builds up and this causes a restlessness that spurs him on. To stop
moving now would mean an increase the toxins, not to mention the irritability.
The pain sensations of Rhus-t. includes
numbness and prickling (“Generals: Formication“). His legs also feel dead and
heavy like wood (“Legs: Wooden, sensation“). After much effort to continuously
move about, Rhus Tox begins to tire from all the activity. The dilemma now is
that he must rest. The relief he was experiencing from moving about is
diminishing as he is now being over-powered by the urge to rest his tired body.
Rhus-t. rests!! This rest causes again a build-up and intense irritability and
so he has the urge to move and here the cycle starts again and continues many
times.
Mum comes in to see what all the commotion is
about and sees her son squirming all over the TV room. She suggests to him to
go and have a hot shower. Finally, something that’s going to make Rhus-t. feel
better!
As he walks out, she asks him to stick out his
tongue. As suspected, there is a red area shaped like a triangle on the tip
that he says also is painful, but more importantly for us a good conformation
that Rhus-t. is needed (“Tongue: Red, tip, triangular“). Mum packs him off to
the shower by telling him that she has put on the heating lamp in the bathroom
and is warming his towel. Normally < for bathing but that is only if they
get cold and today everything is all set up for him to have a nice HOT soothing
shower. The shower will help him immensely as the heat will stimulate the flow
within the body, easing the discomfort he feels. While he is showering let’s
look at why he is suffering. The causations are many. He had a successful day,
nothing wrong with that!
However, on top of winning all those races, he
might also have won a medal for Over-Exerting, Heavy Lifting, and Going from
Hot to Cold rather suddenly. It’s the Rhus Tox Triple Crown! What he needs are
some warm clothes, a massage and anything else that will stop the stagnation he
feels within his body.
Now let’s look at some other Rhus tox aspects.
Henrietta Housewife;
she’s a Rhus tox too. She doesn’t have a lot of
energy and looks somewhat worn out (“Generals: Weariness). Henrietta becomes
exhausted easily and quickly (“Generals: Weakness, sudden“). She can only do a
little housework and then she needs to rest as her energy quickly depletes on
any exertion. The nature of her energy comes in fits and starts; she is
helpless in harnessing this erratic energy into a nice steady flow. Instead she
must just be content to work on her house chores when she has a burst of energy
and work until the energy is depleted and again she becomes exhausted. She has
no choice, but must wait to recharge her energy and then is off again trying to
clean the entire house before she again is exhausted.
Another factor is that she also has been very
irritable (like Nux-v.). She gets annoyed if anything gets in her way, so the
pets need to be extra diligent in these households!
Rhus tox, as said before, has many delusions
and so they are better if they are kept active. By keeping active they have
less time for reflection over what the future may bring. He or she is very
suspicious generally and has a great deal of hostility (“Mind: Reproaches
others“). She blames others and this quality has isolated her from society. Her
life is a struggle and she starts to have the sensations of drowning in more
ways than one. The metabolism slows down and liquid pools in the body. The
body’s tissues become oedematous eventually leading the Rhus tox patient into
congestive heart failure as their system is overwhelmed. As the body has slowed
down and become congested with fluid the mind too degenerates, making the Rhus
Tox confused and forgetful (“Mind: Confusion“).
If they live in a cold, wet climate these
conditions will come on faster for the sufferer Rhus tox. Activity, warmth and
dryness are the answer.
[Tom Whitmarsh]
Rhus tox produced from the plant commonly known
as poison ivy which grows as a shrub or a woody vine, spreading all over the
countryside as a weed in the Eastern USA and Canada.
The remedy was introduced into homeopathy by
Hahnemann, who performed a proving which he published in the second volume of
his Materia Medica Pura. The proper botanical name is now Toxicodendron
pubescens, but homeopaths will stick to the well known name and its
abbreviation until all the anomalies in the naming of homeopathic remedies (and
there are many) can be ironed out. It is a member of the anacardiaceae or
sumach family of plants. Anacardium is really the only other commonly used
member of this family in homeopathy, although there are quite a few others in
the materia medica which are not so well known.
Poisoning
A cardinal feature of many of the sumachs is their
production of sticky oils, which dry on contact with air to a black lacquer. In
Anacardium, this gives the name “marking nut”, as it is produced from the
ink-like substance just below the rind of the covering of the nut which has
been used to mark clothes for laundry. In Rhus tox, the lacquering oil induces
allergic skin reactions in previously sensitised individuals. Up to 50% of the
population of the USA, where poison ivy is endemic, is sensitive to the oil and
much advice is available (for example on the internet) about avoiding rhus
poisoning.
The oil, which binds to skin after even the
slightest contact (even stroking a dog that has brushed past a poison ivy plant
is enough) is called urushiol, after the Japanese word for lacquer. In Japan,
another toxicodendron tree produces a lacquer used, for example, under
applications of gold leaf to the Golden Temple in Kyoto. The oil is extremely
potent, with only a nanogram needed to induce reaction in an individual, so
just a quarter of an ounce would be enough to cause itching in every person on
Earth! It is normal for the oil to stay fully active for five years even from
dead plants. Samples of urushiol several centuries old have been found to cause
at least an itch in some people.
Most people do not have a skin reaction to
first exposure. In those who do, it can take seven to ten days to develop.
Subsequent exposure, after this initial priming of the immune system to
“recognise” the oil, induces a strong skin reaction within half a day to two
days. There is inflammation, intense blistering and intolerable itching of the
skin which continues for several days before healing and resolving.
Burning the plant releases urushiol into the
air and can induce severe reactions in the lungs and eyes, so firefighters at
bush fires can be at serious risk without protective equipment in regions where
rhus is common. Notice that urushiol itself is not actually poisonous, except
insofar as it induces an allergic response. The damage is done by the
sufferer’s own immune system!
Rhus tox is a very “big” homeopathic remedy. By
this I mean that it has many symptoms recorded in the homeopathic literature
(repertories and materiae medicae).
Out of 1600 remedies described in a large
repertory -The Complete Millennium- Rhus tox is at number 11 when the remedies
are listed by number of symptoms described, with 11,400 entries. The areas
which stand out for the remedy in the repertory are concerned with the limbs,
with disturbed sleep, with fevers and with the skin.
Restlessness
Describing the plant and its oil leads on to
the ideas or themes in the illnesses that the remedy made from it might be
homeopathically used to treat. The plant spreads rapidly across uncovered
ground and up supports such as trees, via long stems and aerial rootlets. It
takes many different forms, as a vine, a shrub or a bush and even produces
different forms of stem and leaf from the same root-stock. Dr Gibson, in his
Studies of Homeopathic Materia Medica describes Rhus tox as a “restless plant”.
This shows a major characteristic theme of the remedy; it is one of the most
restless of remedies.
People who might be helped by Rhus tox for
example, have joint pains which have to be relieved by very regular movements.
They cannot sit in the chair in the consulting room for more than a few minutes
before getting up for a short walk and a stretch. They toss and turn all night,
unable to find one position comfortable for long. When they are still for a
while and do get some sleep, waking up is very painful as the relative immobility
of the night has quickly rendered them extremely stiff. Thus the first few
minutes of the day are spent “limbering up”. Once a little flexibility is
restored to the joints, the pain lessens considerably and they can continue
their restless search for comfort through the day – the right balance of action
and rest.
There is a particular kind of restlessness
caused by a stiffness of the neck which can only be relieved by stretching it
and moving the head about. There may be accompanying headache relieved by the
stretching. Pains in general are better for heat (eg a hot bath or shower) and
worse for cold and damp. Similar modalities apply to the severe lower back pain
experienced by some who are helped by Rhus tox. This also has the
characteristic of being better from lying on a hard surface.
As a “general” symptom, this restlessness can
feature in areas other than the purely physical. If a constant need for motion
suggests an external restlessness, so we can talk of the restless mind that
just can’t settle, there is an internal restlessness. Part of the picture in
someone helped by Rhus tox might be restless dreams of great exertions like
swimming or rowing, or of working hard in their occupation or of “roaming over
fields”. Sleep is interrupted too by pains and by anxieties or illogical
apprehensions that something bad is going to happen. Anxiety might drive
someone out of bed and there may even be fear of going to sleep. In fact all
symptoms are worse at night, another important general feature. This must in
some part be responsible for the recorded moroseness at night, when bad things
from the past come back to haunt the sufferer.
The restlessness can be seen in tossing and
turning during fevers. Rhus tox is disproportionately highly represented in the
sections of the repertory that deal with chills, fevers and perspiration (which
mostly date from the pre-antibiotic days when the exact pattern of fever was an
important observation to make in a sick person). It should be thought of when
restless states with a high fever particularly worsen at night, for example in
’flu.
Stiffness
A few moments reflection on the nature of the
poison ivy oil might help to explain the very well known joint and muscular
stiffness associated with illnesses which are helped by Rhus tox. On contact
with air and with the skin, a lacquer is produced. A lacquer is an inflexible,
shiny, stiff film. One could image a joint coated in a lacquer being very
difficult to get moving at first, but becoming freer with repeated movements. This
is exactly the Rhus tox situation. Whenever initial movement is difficult,
stiff and painful, but continued movement eases, Rhus tox is likely to be
helpful.
In arthritis, this easing will often be
followed (perhaps later in the day) by a worsening again as tiredness begins to
take its toll. Rhus tox pain is classically worse in the cold and especially
the damp and better for warmth. This sounds like an awful lot of sufferers’
arthritis and so Rhus tox is very widely successful in joint problems. It has often
been said that it is too easy to give Rhus tox in arthritis. The detail is the
important thing. Careful attention to the story might show most of these
features, but actually the pain is better immediately on movement, rather than
there being an initial aggravation before relief. The remedy Rhododendron might
turn out to be more appropriate in this situation. Really extreme damp
sensitivity in the joints (“I can predict the rain the day before it comes”)
could well be best helped by Dulcamara.
If we go on to think about what the general
characteristic of “stiffness” might mean on a mental plane, we can see that
some people who do well with Rhus tox can be emotionally unbending, with a
tendency to hold feelings back; they find it difficult to respond to others. In
the end, when they are worn out by all the pains, this can turn into fixed
ideas and superstition.
Skin
A very frequent use of Rhus tox is to help
blistering skin diseases. The analogy is with the itchy, painful rash produced
by contact of the plant sap with the skin of a sensitive individual. Thus, it
is
a major remedy to help the pain of shingles,
which is caused by a herpes virus. Many homeopathically trained GPs use Rhus
tox as their first line treatment for cold sores around the lips, also herpetic
in origin, but any inflamed, intensely itchy rash, especially if there are
fluid-filled blisters (like some forms of eczema) can benefit. The itch is
often better from bathing with scalding hot water.
There are other features which are hard to fit
into this analogical approach (looking at the characteristics of the way the
remedy substance fits into the natural world and comparing it with the way a
disease fits into a human life). A feature of Rhus tox is said to be that there
may be a bright red tip to the tongue. On the food desires front, there can be
a craving for cold drinks and especially cold milk.
Vorwort/Suchen Zeichen/Abkürzungen Impressum