Rhus Toxicodendron – Poison Oak

The mother tincture is prepared from the fresh young leaved shoots of the plant Tox- icodendron quercifolium (Michx.) Greene, a native of North America and Eastern Asia. N.O. Anacardiaceae.

Rhus Toxicodendron contains rhoitannic acid and the sap, urushiol, is a strong skin irritant. It also contains the dye fisetin, and rhamnose.

In Rhus Toxicodendron we see typical complaints and typical aggravations which make it one of the most important anti-rheumatic remedies. The complaints are worse at rest and on first movement. They are better for continued movement. There is also a tpyical aggravation of the complaints from cold, damp weather and from becoming thoroughly wet, and also at night and from over-exertion.

In the provings of Rhus Toxicodendron we have a multiplicity of symptoms, which not only suggest a rheumatic origin, but also are characteristic of a wide vari- ety of inflammations. Thus we have the symptom: “Mentally confused, understands with difficulty and replies slowly, is absent-minded”. There may possibly be shiver- ing and a sensation of pressure behind the eyes, and possibly also a numbing headache, as if there were a plank in front of the forehead, amelioration coming from movement and warmth. There is also a sensation in the head as though the brain were loose, particularly on ascending or on shaking the head. The scalp may be sensitive, particularly on the side on which one is not lying. In the eyes there may be violent conjunctivitis with severe photophobia, spasmodic closing of the lids and excoriating tears, giving rise to pimples on the cheeks. The tip of the nose may be red and sensitive, in many cases with a greenish-yellow, offensive nasal discharge.

There may also be cold-sores around the mouth, and pains in the bones of face and cheeks, as well as wandering toothache, which is better from pressure of the hand.

The tongue has a typical appearance in Rhus Toxicodendron; dry, red and fis- sured, possibly coated yellowish with a red triangle at the tip. Or there may be a mapped tongue (cf. Arsenicum Album, Taraxacum). There may also be stomatitis with bloody saliva which runs from the mouth during sleep. There may be gastroen- teritis with watery, bloody, mucous stools and tenesmus, and also a tormenting, dry cough with bloody, purulent sputum.

There are also palpitations in the picture of Rhus Toxicodendron with a rapid weak, irregular and fluttering pulse. The slightest exertion may be followed by a feeling of weakness in the heart, associated with palpitations. Also characteristic of Rhus Toxicodendron are fissures on the back of the hand and violent itching on the lower leg, possibly also an eruption like measles all over the body, or a vesicular eruption (herpes), and also a crusty eruption on the head. Spasmodic yawning may also be an indication for Rhus Toxicodendron.

Nash gives as the main symptoms of Rhus Toxicodendron the restlessness and the aggravation on first movement with amelioration on continued motion, and also dis- turbances of consciousness such as occur in febrile conditions, e.g. dysentery, peri- tonitis, pneumonia, scarlatina, rheumatism, diphtheria, and other febrile illnesses, for which otherwise Baptisia and Arnica might be considered. Nash considers the cough during the chill of malaria to be typical, likewise erysipelatous eruptions of a vesicular nature with restlessness and consciousness symptoms such as occur in poi- soning with Rhus Toxicodendron, and are also characteristic of many forms of scar- let fever. Rhus Toxicodendron is particularly indicated when the eruptions are bluish-grey in colour, e.g. in smallpox, and thus it is one of the main remedies for herpes zoster.

However, Rhus Toxicodendron is also valuable in chronic skin diseases and espe- cially in eczema with vesicle formation, but also in all chronic inflammations of a dark red colour. Rhus Toxicodendron may be used in parotitis, mastitis, phlebitis, whitlow, and orbital cellulitis, also in other inflammations of the connective tissue and the periosteum, in furunculosis, appendicitis, peritonitis and carbuncles. It may also be used in the abdominal symptoms of typhus and pneumonia, and particularly in influenzal conditions with very painful limbs, especially if there is a recent histo- ry of rheumatic symptoms or of having been wet-through.

Rhus Toxicodendron is also indicated in myelitis with paresis, particularly after lying on wet ground or becoming chilled after profuse sweating (sports) with paraes- thesias in the affected limbs, or in ptosis with the same aetiology. Rhus Toxicoden- dron is also of assistance in conjunctivitis, especially the tubercular variety, and in serious cases of keratitis, and possibly also when attempts to open the eyelids are ac- companied by a thick, purulent discharge with welling up of tears. Rhus Toxicoden- dron is also a main remedy for facial and frontal impetigo, if there is violent itching. It is the main remedy for eruptions on the genitalia and on the scrotum, in erysipelas, in pruritus vulvae, in pemphigus and particularly in herpes zoster, but it may like- wise be given for cardiac hypertrophy, particularly in sports-people.

If we now put together the main symptoms of Rhus Toxicodendron, we arrive at the following list:

1. Special anti-rheumatic remedy with aggravation at rest and on first movement, and amelioration on continued movement (cf. Rhododendron).
   1. Complaints which occur after being wet-through and before damp, cold weather.
   1. Occipital, brachial, intercostal and sciatic neuralgias, and also other rheumatic and neuralgic complaints, whatever the location, which are better for warmth and worse on first movement, but are relieved with continued movement.
   1. Conjunctivitis with swelling of the eyelids and muco-purulent discharges.
   1. Other inflammations such as parotitis, mastitis, whitlow, carbuncles, with dark redness and suppurative tendency. Erysipelas with fiery redness. Cradle-cap.
   1. Typhoid delirium with restlessness and weakness, and also pains in the limbs.
   1. Myelitis after lying on damp grass, with paraesthesias and possibly pareses. Sports injuries.
   1. Herpetic conditions with neuralgia and bluish-red discolouration, also impetigo and smallpox.
   1. Spasmodic yawning. Uncoordinated imagination and thinking, with heaviness of the head and states as if drugged, possibly violent headaches, and a sensation as if the brain were wobbling to and fro inside the skull when walking or ascending.
   1. Creaking in the joints and arthritis.

The German Monograph-Preparation Commission for the Homoeopathic Field of Therapy has, under the Preparation Monograph for Toxicodendron quercifolium, published the following indication(s) in the German Bundesanzeiger (German Fed- eral Gazette) for rhus toxicodendron: pruritic skin diseases; feverish infections with drowsiness or stupor; inflammations of the respiratory passages; inflamma- tions of the gastrointestinal tract; eye inflammations; paramenia; headaches; neural- gia; lameness; paralysis; vertigo; rheumatic pain in bones, periosteum, joints, ten- dons, and muscles; sequelae from traumata and overexertion; states of anxiety, rest- lessness, emotional discord, or upset.