Description of all drug details regarding the study of Homoeopathic Materia Medica along with common name, family, habitat, part used, preparation, constituents, sphere of action, causations, symptomtology, comparative study and applied materia medica,

1. RHUS TOXICODENDRON
DR SAROJ R. SAWANT
M.D.(HOM.)

2. Rhus toxicodendron
COMMON
NAME
POISON OAK
POISON IVY

3. HISTORY AND
AUTHORITY
Introduced in Homoeopathic practice in 1816
by Hahnemann, under a common name Rhus.
Allen’s Encyclop. Mat. Med. Vol. VIII, 330

4. • POISON OAK.

5. FAMILY
Anacardiaceae.

6. HABITAT
The Poison Ivy grows in thickets and low
grounds in North America, flowering in
June.

7. PART USED
Tincture of fresh leaves gathered
at sunset just before flowering
time

8. PREPARATION
 Mother Tincture φ Drug strength 1/10
Rhus Toxicodendron in coarse powder 100 g
Purified Water 200 ml & Strong Alcohol 824 ml
Mix to make one thousand milliliters of the Mother
Tincture.
 Potencies: 2x to contain one part tincture, three parts
Purified Water and six parts Strong Alcohol. 3x and
higher with Dispensing Alcohol.
 Old method : Class III
 Caution : Poison; handle with care. Not to be
prescribed below 3x.

9. ACTIVE
PRINCIPLES
The tincture contains Rhoitannic acid
(C18H28O13) and Toxicodendric acid, a
poisonous, volatile principle

10. A peculiarity of the plant is that it is more poisonous
during the night, and when bursting into leaf, or at
any time in June or July when the sun is not shining
upon it. Absence of sunlight, together with dampness,
seems to favor the exhalation of Toxicodendric acid.
"An acrimonious vapour, combined with carbureted
hydrogen, exhales from a growing plant of the Poison
Oak during the night. It can be collected in a jar, and
is capable of inflaming and blistering the skin of
persons of excitable constitution who plunge their
arms into it"

11. SPHERE OF
ACTION
It acts prominently on the mucous membranes, on the
lymphatic glands, on the organs of animal life, and on the
skin and the tissues which compose the joints.
Upon the system of nutrition it acts as a depressant, retarding
all the functions. Emaciation is produced.
The secretion of the mucous membranes is altered and
increased,
The lymphatic glands, are affected throughout the body, as,
for example, the cervical, the inguinal and the mesenteric,
which are all enlarged and inflamed.
Rhus affects the composition of the blood.

12. The action of Rhus may be summed up
as follows :
It produces a kind of rheumatic affection of the muscles and
ligaments, alleviated by motion;
 Paralysis aggravated by motion;
 Apparent passive congestion of head, relieved by repose;
 Debility of the organs of nutrition, marked by deficient and depraved
appetite and by tympanitis;
 Serous infiltration of the cellular tissue in various parts, as face,
fauces,
genital organs, feet;
 Vesicular eruption generally;
 Acrid state of the secretions generally, as tears, nasal mucus, gastric
mucus, intestinal mucus, urine, menstrual flow, contents of
cutaneous
vesicles;
 General depression of sensorium.

13. CAUSATIONS
Adapted to persons
of a rheumatic diathesis;
Bad effects of getting wet, (
Calc)
especially after being
overheated.
Ailments:
 from spraining or straining a
single part, muscle or tendon
(Cal., Nux);
 overlifting, overexertion
particularly from stretching
high up to reach things;
( Phos.)
 lying on damp ground;
 Too much summer bathing in
lake or river.
 Beer

14. SYMPTOMOLOGY
MENTAL
GENERALS
PHYSICAL
GENERALS
PARTICULARS

15. The great characteristic or Rhus is
that with few exceptions the pains
occur and are < during repose and
are > by motion.

16. GENERALS
Affects the fibrous tissue,
Especially
(Rhod. - serous, Bry.);
the right side more
than the left.

17. PAINS
 as if sprained;
 as if a muscle or tendon
was torn from its
attachment;
 as if bones were scrapped
with a knife;
worse after midnight and
in wet, rainy weather;

18. SORENESS
Affected parts
sore to touch.
Lameness,
stiffness and pain
on first moving
after rest, or on
getting up in the
morning,
> by walking or
continued motion.

19. RESTLESSNESS
Great restlessness,
anxiety, apprehension
(Acon., Ars.); cannot
remain in bed; must
change position often to
obtain relief from pain
(from mental anxiety,
Ars.).
Restless, cannot stay
long in one position.

20. BACK SPRAINS
Back: pain between
the shoulders on
swallowing;
pain and stiffness in
small of back
< sitting or lying,
> by motion or lying
on something hard.

21. SENSITIVENESS
Great sensitiveness
to open air;
putting the hand
from under the
bed-cover brings on
cough (Bar., Hep.).

22. Muscular
rheumatism,
sciatica, left side
(Col.); aching in
left arm, with heart
disease.

23. FEAR
Great
apprehension at
night; fears he will
die of being
poisoned; cannot
remain in bed.

24. VERTIGO
Vertigo, when
standing or walking;
worse when lying
down (better when
lying down, Apis); <
rising from lying, or
stooping (Bry.).

25. DREAMS
Dreams of great
exertion;
rowing, swimming,
working hard at his
daily
occupation (Bry.).

26. HEAD SENSATION
Headache: brain feels
loose when stepping or
shaking the head;
sensation of swashing in
brain; stupefying; as if
torn; from beer; returns
from least chagrin; <
from sitting, lying, in
cold, > warmth and
motion.

27. MOUTH
Corners of
mouth
ulcerated,
fever blisters
around mouth
and on chin
(Nat. m.).

28. TONGUE
Tongue: dry; sore,
red, cracked;
triangular red tip;
takes imprint of teeth
(Chel., Pod.).

29. DRY MOUTH
Great thirst, with
dry tongue, mouth
and throat.

30. MALE
External
genitals
inflamed,
erisiplatous,
oedematous.

31. COUGH
A dry, teasing
cough, before and
during chill, in
intermittent fever;
cough, with taste
of blood.

32. INDICATION
When acute diseases assume a typhoid
form.
Diarrhoea: with beginning typhoid;
involuntary, with great exhaustion;
tearing pain down the posterior part of
limbs during stool.

33. INDICATION
Paralysis: with numbness of affected
parts; from getting wet on lying on
damp ground; after exertion,
parturition, sexual excesses, ague or
typhoid; paresis of limbs; ptosis.

34. INDICATION
Erysipelas, from
left to right;
vesicular, yellow
vesicles; much
swelling,
inflammation;
burning, itching,
stinging.

35. MODALITY
AGGRAVATION-
 Before a storm;
 cold, wet rainy
weather;
 at night, especially
after
midnight;
 from getting wet while
perspiring;
 during rest.

36. MODALITY
 Warm, dry weather,
 Wrapping up;
 Warm or hot things;
 Motion;
 Change of position;
 Moving affected
parts

37. PARTICULARS WITH
COMPARISON

38. MIND SUMMARY
• Listless, sad.
• Thoughts of suicide.
• Extreme restlessness, with continued change
of position.
• Delirium, with fear of being poisoned (Hyos).
• Sensorium becomes cloudy.
• Great apprehension at night, cannot remain
in bed.

39. Fear of being poisoned,
Glo., Kali-bro., Hyo.,
Bap
Flesh feels beaten off the
bones,
Thuj
• Averse to be uncovered,
Ars., Hep.
• Aversion to darkness,
Am-m., Bar. c., Calc.,
Carb-a., Stro., Val.,
Stram.
• Averse to be washed,
Ant. c., Clem., Hep.,
Sep., Spi., Sul.

40. HEAD
Feels as if a board were strapped
on the forehead. Vertigo when
rising. Heavy head. Brain feels
loose and as if struck against skull
on walking or rising. Scalp
sensitive; worse on side lain on.
Headache in occiput (Rhus rad);
painful to touch. Pain in forehead
and proceeds thence backward.
Humid eruptions on scalp; itching
greatly.

41. Vertigo-
worse lying down
(Apis ameliorates),
worse rising from lying or
stooping,
Bry.

42. EYE
• Swollen, red, œdematous; orbital cellulitis.
• Pustular inflammations. Photophobia; profuse
flow of yellow pus.
• Œdema of lids, suppurative iritis. Lids inflamed,
agglutinated swollen.
• Old injured eyes. Circumscribed corneal
injection.
• Intensive ulceration of the cornea.
• Iritis, after exposure to cold and dampness, and
of
rheumatic origin.
• Eye painful on turning it or pressing, can hardly
move it, as in acute retro bulbar neuritis.
• Profuse gush of hot, scalding tears upon opening

43. Granular ophthalmia,
Arg-n.
(Rhus has more spasm,
if lids are forced
open scalding tears
gush out and cause
pimples round the
eye ).
Profuse gushing
tears excoriating
cheek, Euphr.
(Rhus worse right
eye, pus thinner).

44. Ptosis or any ocular
paralysis,
Gels.
(Rhus rheumatic patient,
from wetting, Gels.
with sluggish thought
and suffused face).
• Conjunctivitis from
getting wet,
Calc.
• Glaucoma,
Caust.
• Eye symptoms, better
by motion,
Comoc.
(Rhus better by warmth,
Comoc. worse).

45. EARS
Pain in ears, with
sensation as if
something were in
them. Lobules
swollen. Discharge
of bloody pus.

46. NOSE
• Sneezing; coryza from
getting wet.
• Tip of nose red, sore,
ulcerated. Swelling of
nose.
• Nosebleed on stooping

47. Nose-bleed at beginning of typhoid,
Ph-ac.
(with Rhus it better, not with Ph-ac.).
Epistaxis at night,
(Bry. morning).

48. FACE
• Jaws crack when chewing.
• Easy dislocation of jaw (Ign; Petrol).
• Swollen face, erysipelas.
• Cheek bones sensitive to touch.
Parotitis.
• Facial neuralgia, with chilliness;
worse, evening.
• Crusta lactea (Calc; Viol tric).

49. MOUTH
• Teeth feel loose and long; gums
sore.
• Tongue red and cracked; coated,
except red triangular space at the
tip; dry and red at edges.
• Corners of mouth ulcerated;
fever-blisters around mouth and
chin (Nat mur).
• Pain in maxillary joint.

50. THROAT
Sore, with swollen
glands
Sticking pain on
swallowing
Parotitis; left side.
Am. c., Aur., Merc.,
(Rhus left, Am. c. right).

51. STOMACH
• Want of appetite for any kind of food,
• Great thirst, with dry mouth and
throat, unquenchable thirst.
• Bitter taste (Cupr).
• Nausea, vertigo, and bloated abdomen
after eating.
• Desire for milk.
• Pressure as from a stone. (Bry; Ars)
• Drowsy after eating.

52. • Hunger in early morning,
Agar., Ant. c., Asar., Calc.,
Carb-a., Lyc., Ran. b., Saba.,
Zn.
• Semilateral coat of tongue,
Daph., Lob. (Rhus white).
• Hot breath,
Calc., Carb-s., Sul.
• Difficult swallowing of
solids,
Atrop., Bell., Bar. c., Calc.,
Chi., Dros., Lyc., Plb., Sil.
• Desires cold drink and
vomits it immediately,
Ars..
• Chokes easily when
swallowing,
Kali. carb.
• Better Warm food,
Lyc.
• Nocturnal salivation,
Cham., Nux, Pho.

53. ABDOMEN
• Violent pains, relieved by lying on
abdomen.
• Swelling of inguinal glands.
• Pain in region of ascending colon.
• Colic, compelling to walk bent.
• Excessive distention after eating.
• Rumbling of flatus on first rising, but
disappears with continued motion.

54. Enteritis, peritonitis, typhlitis,
Lach.
Colic better bending double,
Coloc.
(Rhus also better moving about).

55. RECTUM
• Diarrhœa of blood, slime, and reddish
mucus. Jelly-like stools, (Colch., Kali-bi)
• Dysentery, with tearing pains down
thighs. Stools of cadaverous odor. Frothy,
painless stools.
• Will often abort a beginning suppurative
process near the rectum.

56. URINARY SYSTEM
• Dark, turbid, high
colored, scanty urine, with
white sediment.
• Dysuria, with loss of
blood.
• Bloody urine discharged
in drops, (Pul).

58. MALE
Swelling of glands and Prepuce
dark-red erysipelatous;
scrotum thick, swollen,
œdematous. Itching intense.
Phimosis,
Can., Merc., Sul., Nit-ac., Sep.,
Thuj., Sabi.
Metastasis to testes,
Rhus, Pul., Bell., Kali-ca.

59. FEMALE
• Swelling, with intense itching of vulva.
• Pelvic articulations stiff when beginning to
move.
• Menses early, profuse, and prolonged,
acrid.
• Lochia thin, protracted,offensive
diminished (Puls; Secale), with shooting
upwards in vagina (Sep).

60. Empyema and
induration of
axillary glands,
Bell.
(Bell. at climaxis,
Rhus after
labor).
Bearing down
in
hypogastrium,
Puls

61. RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
• Tickling behind upper sternum.
• Dry, teasing cough from midnight until morning, during
a chill, or when putting hands out of bed.
• Hæmoptysis from overexertion; blood bright red.
• Influenza, with aching in all bones (Eup perf).
• Hoarseness from overtraining voice (Arn).
• Oppression of the chest, cannot get breath with sticking
pains.
• Bronchial coughs in old people, worse on awaking and
with expectoration of small plugs of mucus.

62. Cough excited by
cold drink,
sil.
(better by Caust.).
Cough worse from
evening to midnight,
Mez.
(Rhus also from
uncovering).

63. HEART
Hypertrophy from overexertion.
Pulse quick, weak, irregular,
intermittent, with numbness of
left arm.
Trembling and palpitation when
sitting still.

64. Hypertrophy of heart
from over-exertion,
Brom., Arn., Aco.
Heart affections with
numbness of left arm,
Aco. (tingling in fingers),
Kalm., Puls. (numbness
especially about elbow),
Act. right (as though arm
tightly bound to body),
Phyt. (right arm).

65. BACK
• Pain between shoulders on
swallowing.
• Pain and stiffness in small of
back; better, motion, or lying
on something hard; worse,
while sitting.
• Stiffness of the nape of the
neck.
• Backache better lying on hard
floor, Nat. m. Hydroa, Nat. m.

66. EXTREMITIES
• Hot, painful swelling of joints. Tenderness about knee-joint.
• Pains tearing in tendons, ligaments, and fasciæ.
• Rheumatic pains spread over a large surface at nape of neck, loins, and
extremities; better motion (Agaric).
• Soreness of condyles of bones. Limbs stiff paralyzed.
• The cold fresh air is not tolerated; it makes the skin painful.
• Pain along ulnar nerve. Tearing down thighs.
• Sciatica; worse, cold, damp weather, at night.
• Numbness and formication, after overwork and exposure.
• Paralysis; trembling after exertion.
• Loss of power in forearm and fingers; crawling sensation in the tips of
• fingers. Tingling in feet.

67. Rheumatic paralysis from
exposure to damp and cold,
Caust. (Rhus restless,
better by motion day and
night, Caust. restless only
at night).
Ulcers on legs in dropsy,
Ars., Lyc.
(Lyc. in dropsy from liver
disease).
Enables persons to with stand
muscular fatigue, Fl-ac.,
Ars., Coca.
Paralysis from rheumatic
meningitis (from rheumatic
myelitis,).
Dulc.
Acute spinal paralysis of
infants,
Sul. (complementary).

68. FEVER
 Adynamic; restless, trembling.
 Typhoid; tongue dry and brown;
sordes ; bowels loose; great
restlessness.
 Intermittent; chill, with dry cough and
restlessness. During heat, urticaria.
Chilly, as if cold water were poured
over him, followed by heat and
inclination to stretch the limbs.

69. Typhoid,
Pho. (follows Rhus well, pneumonia, stools yellow and
blood-streaked, at times like "flesh water"),
Ars. (irritable and anxious in spite of prostration),
Bapt. (face dark red, besotted, stool dark, fluid, very
offensive, drowsy, stupor, tossing about with
delusion that limbs are scattered about, bed feels
hard),
Arn. (complete apathy, involuntary stool and urine,
bloody sputa if lungs affected).
Sweat of body head dry (Sil. sweat of head, body dry).

70. SKIN
Red, swollen; itching
intense.
Vesicles, herpes; urticaria;
pemphigus; erysipelas;
vesicular suppurative forms.
Glands swollen. Cellulitis.
Burning eczematous
eruptions with tendency to
scale formation.

71. Scarlatina, erysipelas with
drowsiness and oedema, Apis
(Rhus dusky red,
bodily restlessness, Ap.
rosy red, fidgetiness Rhus
itching preponderates, Ap.
less tendency to form pus).
• Acne from getting wet, or
ice-cold drinks, when
heated,
Bellis.
• Punctured wounds as if
stepping on nails, Hyper.,
Led.
• Eczema, Sepia, often
quickly > itching and
burning of Rhus, the
vesciles drying up in a few
days
Mez.,

72. SLEEP
• Dreams of great exertion.
• Heavy sleep, as from
stupor.
• Sleepless before midnight.
Dreams of business of day,
Bry.
(Rhus and Bry. have opposite
Conditions, and Rhus
menta. state is hopeless
and despondent, Bry.
fretful, peevish, irritable.)

73. APPLIED MATERIA
MEDICA

74. Rhus Toxicodendron, is the No. 1 remedy
for sprains and strains, joint stiffness &
pain, inflammations, rashes, hives and
urticaria.
It is also used primarily as a remedy for
skin and joint disorders.

75. It can help musculoskeletal problems including
rheumatic or arthritic pain, sciatica, restless legs,
cramps, sprains and strains.
Rhus tox earned the title “Rusty Gate Remedy” by
relieving joint and back pains that hurt on initial
movement but improve after limbering up– just like
an old gate that squeaks at first but quiets down
after a bit. Also like the rusty gate, these joints do
not like cold damp weather– they can be great storm
predictors

76. Rhus tox is also beneficial in helping
restless worried nerves, headaches
and nervous fatigue.

77. It applies best when symptoms
improve with heat and worsen at
night and in damp cold weather.

78. Thrapeutic application
• cramps.
• strains.
• sprains.
• restless leg
syndrome.
• flu.
• viral infections.
• arthritis.
• Pain.
• Rheumatoid arthritis.
• Menstrual period
problems.
• Swelling.
• Itchy skin disorders.
• Other conditions.

79. Rhus Tox is best antidoted by the
simillimum; the potentized remedy
given internally. The dermatitis should
never be treated by topical medicated
applications; they only suppress, never
cure.