Letra Homeopatica

Understanding Rhus tox.

Dr. Claudio C. Araujo MD. FFHom. (Lon.) et al.

When the patient Rhus tox. came to awareness, what he first perceived from the world around and from oneself?

He is anxious and apprehensive. Or should we say that his anxiety is a consequence of his apprehensiveness? It seems to us that there is something coming towards him, something not well defined but threatening and harming. And then he becomes anxious, due to this probable suffering that will be reaching him soon. There is in Synthesis repertory this symptom: Rhus tox. has dreams that the world is on fire.

Irritability and anxiety as if he had met with some misfortune, restlessness, anxiousness and nervous in the extreme in acute and chronic complaints.

Inexpressible anxiety, with pressure at heart and tearing at small of back.

Anxiety at night; he would flee from bed and seek help on account of an indescribable distressing sensation,

Anxiety, with loss of strength, as if he would die, more after midnight than before,

Great apprehension at night; cannot remain in bed,

Real anxiety at the heart, more in the afternoon than in the forenoon; she did not sleep more than half the night on account of great apprehension and was so anxious that she perspired.

Frightful anxiety with mental uneasiness, with dryness in the throat.

Help will not come. He can seek for it but at the same time he knows, deep inside himself, that he can’t count on the others.

Melancholy, ill-humor, and anxiety, as if a misfortune would happen, or as if she were alone and all about her were dead and still, or as if she had been forsaken by a near friend; worse in the house, relieved by walking in the open air,

The combination of the two, his sensation of a upcoming misfortune altogether with the absence of help from his friends, his sensation of solitude and abandon, will provide the basis of Rhus tox. sufferings.

The misfortunes are unclear. It’s a non-defined sensation that is in the air. The proving tried to define, but again, is uncertain.

He is frightened by a trifle (on falling asleep) as if he had dreaded the greatest misfortune,

We may also assume that this sensation of misfortune can be extended to such a state like a calamity. It means, could be moved into a more collective aspect:

Melancholia after suppression of menses by fright and sorrow; great restlessness and anguish as if she had committed a crime, or as if she thought some terrible calamity impended; these feelings drove her from one place to another; could not rest quietly at night in bed; was robbed of sleep and all desire to live; slight pain in temples; a little vertigo; head cool; much depressed in mind; spoke but little.

Kent defines Rhus tox. mental state as someone burned out. And we can assume that Rhus arrives at this mental state due to his apprehensions and fears. Here is what Kent says:

Kent: The chronic mental symptoms of Rhus are despondency, mental prostration, inability to sustain a mental effort, disgust for life and thoughts of suicide. He wants to drown himself, yet he is afraid of death. He desires to die yet he has not the courage to commit suicide.

In many instances he is filled with suicidal- thoughts; sadness and weeping yet he knows not why.

“He knows not why” is probably the key to understand Rhus tox. It’s just only a sensation that tortures him year after year. The patient will try do “materialize” his fears and there’s a lot of things in our world were he can cling himself on, using it to express his fears and his anxiety:

Fear: that he will die; with anxiousness and sighing; of being poisoned.

Intense fear at night.

Disgust for life: thoughts of suicide; wants to drown himself; with fear of death; with desire to die, without sadness.

He thought an enemy wished to poison him,.

Feels despondent; don't like to be spoken to; nervousness; starts suddenly at every slight noise.

Fearful dreams, for example, that the world was on fire, with palpitation on waking,

And what is his strategy to survive? Rhus will work. Day and night, relentlessly. He will develop and increase his aptitudes for reasoning, studying, for mathematics, for business and for sports.

That’s one of his most strong characteristics. Rhus is on the move, he is working hard, doing exercises, that’s the way he found out to get some relieve for his internal anxiety. It’s not dancing or travelling, it’s not related to leisure. It’s an occupation. It is there only to alleviate his sufferings. And he will run, work, always with the apprehension and anxiety as a leit motif.

Mathematical and mechanical calculations (thirteenth night),

Impatient desire to accomplish several kinds of business, chiefly intellectual, with the fullness and pain in the forehead..

As soon as he wished to fall asleep his business came to him in anxious dreams, [1].

Though naturally inclined to melancholy, she felt merry and disposed for work as soon as she swallowed the infusion.

Dreams of great exertion; rowing, swimming, walking, climbing, or working hard.

He is very keen to his work or his exercises.

He was severe to every, even slight occupation,

As soon as he wished to fall asleep his business came to him in anxious dreams.

Light dreams at night, concerning what had been considered and accomplished the previous day,.

Dreams of accomplishing the plans that had been projected the day previous,

And will feel miserable, if not working:

After fright heavy feeling in forehead; a week later she told her mother not to look at her; seemed to be distrustful and did not wish to see any one; she came running in from the street and said people were looking at her; sat quietly alone; her eyes dim, shunned the light; since this time the symptoms have returned three times, lasting six weeks each time; this time eight weeks, symptoms as before but without the complaint of the eyes; cries without cause, imagines people are finding fault with her because she is earning nothing, acts in a childish manner (…)

To stop means to be reached by his anxiety and his apprehensions. There’s something coming in his direction. A calamity, a bad omen, he can’t express it, he just feel it. And he soon found out that getting busy and being in motion somehow alleviate his sufferings. And in this state comes Rhus tox. to our praxis. Kent’s given definition is probably the Rhus tox. patient now in an extreme state, when he is no more able to “run away” from his anxiety. And from the MM we have these symptoms:

Inaptitude to mental labor, at 9 and 10 P.M., preceding an itching from the middle of left leg to the ankle, more on the skin and outside of it..

Great averse to any kind of labor, for eight years,.

If disagreeable thoughts came into her mind she could not free herself from them,

He was exhausted, thought was difficult, and talking irksome, or he was quite averse to it,.

Finally, there’s this symptom, related to Rhus tox. general state. It combines everything altogether. It’s a simple symptom that characterizes the remedy, embodying its general aspects.

Great restlessness: inclination to move affected parts; at night; must change position frequently; it seemed as if something forced him out of bed; could not sit still on account of internal uneasiness but was obliged to turn in every direction on chair and move limbs.

Groups in Rhus toxicodendrum

Symptoms from Hahnemann, Allen, Hering & Kent

Dr. Claudio C. Araujo M.D., F.F.Hom. (Lon.)

Humor

Anxiety

Anxiety, timidity; < at twilight; restless change of place; wants to go from bed to bed.

Inexpressible anxiety, with pressure at heart and tearing at small of back.

Anxiety and hot skin (after eighteen hours), [98].

Anxiety at night; he would flee from bed and seek help on account of an indescribable distressing sensation, [10].

Anxiety, with loss of strength, as if he would die, more after midnight than before, [1].

Anxiety and apprehension as if he wished to take his own life, for an hour in the twilight, towards evening, [1].

Great apprehension at night; cannot remain in bed, [1].

(The anxiety which she had before taking the drug disappeared, but at times she was obliged to weep), [27].

Inexpressible anxiety, with pressure at the heart and tearing in the small of the back,

Frightful anxiety with mental uneasiness, with dryness in the throat, [1].

Real anxiety at the heart, more in the afternoon than in the forenoon; she did not sleep more than half the night on account of great apprehension and was so anxious that she perspired (after twelve days), [1].

Anxiety; while sitting she was obliged to take hold of something because she did not think she could keep up on account of the pain (beating and drawing pains in the limbs), [1].

Fretful

Fretful; general unhappiness of temper.

Impatient and vexed at every trifle; she does not endure being talked to.

Fretfulness in the open air, he could fall asleep while walking, [3].

Fretful, [1].

Depression, sadness

Ill-humored, depressed; could easily begin to weep, [1].

Ill-humored, depressed, and in despair, [1].

Ill-humored, depressed; easily moved to tears.

Depression and discouragement and dissatisfaction with the world, in the evening.

Sad, begins to weep without knowing why, [1].

She seldom had a joyful thought, [1].

Satiety of life, with desire to die without sadness, [1].

Involuntary weeping without a weeping mood, with rumbling in the abdomen, [1].

Great despondency, for eight years, [54a].

Extremely low-spirited, with sense of great prostration; she could not prevent herself from crying, every morning after the dose (after some days), [52].

Depression of spirits with the aching over left eyebrow (twenty-second day), [57].

Discouragement and apprehension, followed by short cough, from severe tickling and irritation behind the upper half of the sternum after a siesta, from noon to 3 P.M. (sixth day), [58].

Apprehensive, anxious, and tremulous (from tenth to twenty-seventh day), [1].

Grief; inclination to weep; melancholy; extreme irritability even from his own thoughts, or from the slightest cares, [44].

Full of sad thoughts, anxious and fearful, wherewith she gradually lost strength, and was obliged to lie down for hours in order to regain vigor, [1].

Restlessness

Very restless mood, with anxiety and apprehension, that constantly clawed at her heart (at the pit of the stomach), with difficult breathing, [1].

With Oneself

Misfortune and loneliness

Melancholy, ill-humor and anxiety, as if a misfortune would happen, or as if she were alone and all about her were dead and still, or as if she had been forsaken by a near friend; < in house, > walking in open air.

Melancholy, ill-humor, and anxiety, as if a misfortune would happen, or as if she were alone and all about her were dead and still, or as if she had been forsaken by a near friend; worse in the house, relieved by walking in the open air, [1].

Irritability and anxiety as if he had met with some misfortune, restlessness, anxiousness and nervous in the extreme in acute and chronic complaints.

He is frightened by a trifle (on falling asleep) as if he had dreaded the greatest misfortune, [1].

Anxiety of conscience

Restlessness and anxiety about heart as if she had committed a crime or as if some great misfortune was in store for her, is driven from one place to another; deprived of sleep and all desire to live; always depressed, speaks little, no appetite, sometimes belching which relieves; slight vertigo and pain in temples. θ Amenorrhœa from fright.

Fear

Apprehensive, anxious and tremulous.

Great apprehension at night; cannot remain in bed.

Fear and despair on account of sad thoughts, which she could not get rid of.

Fear: that he will die; with anxiousness and sighing; of being poisoned.

Intense fear at night.

Fear and despair on account of sad thoughts, which she could not get rid of, [1].

Suicide

Anxiety: while sitting was obliged to take hold of something because she did not think she could keep up on account of the beating and drawing pains in limbs; and apprehension as if he wished to take his own life; with loss of strength as if he would die.

Disgust for life: thoughts of suicide; wants to drown himself; with fear of death; with desire to die, without sadness.

Kent: The chronic mental symptoms of Rhus are despondency, mental prostration, inability to sustain a mental effort, disgust for life and thoughts of suicide. He wants to drown himself yet he has fear of death. He desires to die yet he has not the courage to commit suicide.

In many instances he is filled with suicidal- thoughts; sadness and weeping yet he knows not why.

Confusion of mind, he thought he would die, [26].

In the morning after falling asleep the second time, it seemed to her that the head was hanging out of bed and the blood was streaming into it, so that she could hear it flow; together with the appearance of a horrible image which she was obliged to accompany, [27].

With the others

He thought an enemy wished to poison him, [1].

Disposition to criticize and find fault, from 7 to 9 P.M. (seventeenth day), [57].

Impatient and vexed at every trifle; she does not endure being talked to, [1].

Great despondency, with prostration; inclination to weep, especially in evening, with desire for solitude.

Sadness; loved to be alone (after ten hours), [1].

Feels despondent; don't like to be spoken to; nervousness; starts suddenly at every slight noise (after seventy-two hours), [54].

Depression of spirits and indisposition to conversation, with the pain above superciliary ridges (sixteenth day), [57].

Dreams of subjects that during the previous evening had been listened to and talked about (after seventy-two hours), [3].

With the Environment

Fearful dreams, for example, that the world was on fire, with palpitation on awaking.

Fearful dreams, for example, that the world was on fire, with palpitation on waking, [1].

Dreams of fire, [1].

Depression and discouragement and dissatisfaction with the world, in the evening (eighth day), [58].

Work

Mathematical and mechanical calculations (thirteenth night), [58].

Impatient desire to accomplish several kinds of business, chiefly intellectual, with the fullness and pain in the forehead (twenty-third day), [57].

He was severe to every, even slight occupation, [1].

As soon as he wished to fall asleep his business came to him in anxious dreams.

Dreams of great exertion; rowing, swimming, walking, climbing or working hard.

Light dreams at night, concerning what had been considered and accomplished the previous day, [3].

As soon as he wished to fall asleep his business came to him in anxious dreams, [1].

Dreams of accomplishing the plans that had been projected the day previous,

Though naturally inclined to melancholy, she felt merry and disposed for work as soon as she swallowed the infusion, [71].

Low, mild delirium, thinks he is roaming over fields, or hard at work.

Inaptitude to mental labor, at 9 and 10 P.M., preceding an itching from the middle of left leg to the ankle, more on the skin and outside of it (fourth day), [58].

Can not be satisfied, is indifferent to business, [1].

Great averse to any kind of labor, for eight years, [51a].

Male Sexuality

Erection in sleep, at 2 A.M., without amorous dreams, and followed at different times for several hours by mathematical and mechanical calculations (thirteenth night), [58].

Violent erections towards morning, with frequent desire to urinate, [3].

Erection, without amorous desire (twenty-first day), [58].

Frequent erections at night, with frequent micturition, [3].

The scrotum felt like a thick hog's hide (eleventh day), [4].

Profuse nightly emissions (after six hours), [1].

Irresistible inclination to an emission after 3 A.M. (after twenty hours), [1].

Female Sexuality

Pain in the vagina, in the evening, as if sore, soon after being touched, [1].

Pregnancy, labor

On third day after a natural labor, the mother being only thirteen years and six months old, right side became entirely paralyzed; there was an apparent total abolition of functions, of voluntary motion and special sensation; could not articulate so as to be understood.

Epilepsy after childbirth, brought on by a fall immediately before delivery.

Intellectua

Languor of the mind is unable to hold an idea.

Incoherent talking; answers hastily or reluctantly, thought seems difficult; answers correctly but slowly.

Very slow ideas, [10].

He could control the flow of ideas and unimpededly think of whatever he wished without being disturbed by any distracting thoughts, [1]. [Curative action. -Hahnemann.]

He is able to control his thoughts, and can reflect quietly as long as he wishes upon any subject that pleases him, and then can change to another train of thought, with quiet slow respiration, [1]. [Curative action. -Hahnemann.]

If disagreeable thoughts came into her mind she could not free herself from them, [1].

Loss of thought

Loss of thought; it seems as though he were thinking, yet he has no thoughts, [1].

Loss of thought; for example, if he wished to write twelve he put down one, but could not think of the two; when he held the paper in his hand he was first obliged to recall to mind what he really had in his hand, [1].

Loss of thought, like a swimming of the eyes, frequently like a vanishing of all thoughts, [1].

Thought at times vanished, and she became dizzy, [27].

Absence of thought, while walking, after a meal (after twenty-eight hours), [3].

He was exhausted, thought was difficult, and talking irksome, or he was quite averse to it, [10].

Mental exhaustion for several days, he could not at all collect his thoughts, and was almost stupid, [10]. [From moistening the finger with a strong tincture. -Hahnemann.]

Memory

Forgetfulness: he could not recollect what had just taken place, [10].

Memory is very dull; he can with difficulty recall things and names, even the most familiar, though sometimes the memory is quite clear and distinct, if he has no chill, [3].

Weakness of memory, [1].

Absence of mind; forgetfulness; difficult comprehension, cannot remember recent events; recalls with difficulty things and names.

Neurological

Stupefaction, with tingling in head and pains in limbs, >. in motion. 

Illusions of the fancy; visions.

The delirium is worse at night.

Delirium, [65], [93].

Kent: Most of the mental symptoms of Rhus are such as prevail during low forms of fever, especially in typhoid.

There is then incoherent talking; answers questions hastily.

Considerable coma, [53].

Great restlessness: inclination to move affected parts; at night; has to change position frequently; it seemed as if something forced him out of bed; could not sit still on account of internal uneasiness, but was obliged to turn in every direction on chair and move limbs.

Weakness: with desire to lie down; over whole body; weary as if deprived of sleep; of limbs, mostly during rest; in morning does not wish to rise and dress; feels as if sinking through bed; as if bones ached; constantly desires to sit or lie down; especially on walking in open air.

Great debility with soreness and stiffness, < on beginning to move; > from continued motion, but soon fatigued, requiring rest again.

Numbness: in extremities, with previous twitching and tingling in them; in the parts on which he lies.

Paresis of limbs with numb sensation and difficulty of moving the back, in consequence of a wetting.

Paresis of lower extremities, with commencing amaurosis so that patient could not distinguish large objects.

Painless paresis in legs in a girl æt. 14.

Paralysis: after unwonted exertion; after parturition; rheumatic, from getting wet or lying on damp ground; from sexual excesses; after ague or typhoid; parts painless, or painfully stiff and lame, with tearing, tingling and numbness.

Sudden paralysis of lower half of body, in a girl who was being treated by an extension apparatus for curvature of spine; obstinate constipation; legs numb, cold, emaciated.

Hemiplegia, right-sided; sensation as if "gone to sleep".

Paraplegia in a woman following an attack of apoplexy five years previously; she was unable to stand or rise up.

Acute spinal paralysis of infants.

Sits upon a stool and keeps it in constant motion; cannot remain quiet a moment; head and body hang forward, the former oscillating continually; violent trembling of extremities; cannot raise himself into erect sitting posture, or hold anything, so that he must be fed; on attempting to walk legs are extremely unsteady; although he can stand a short time, the knees meanwhile shaking constantly; if he takes a few steps falls over his feet and is not able to rise again without assistance; trembling > in horizontal position; during sleep, frequent spasmodic starting unnoticed by himself; muscles flabby; emaciation; constipation; urine clear as water; pulse small, soft, 70. θ Paralysis agitans.

After falling down steps the following condition gradually developed; lies upon abdomen, with head retracted so that it almost touches spine; face pale, distorted, covered with cold sweat; goitre-like swelling of neck due to tonic spasm of cervical muscles; spine drawn from normal position; crackling sound on bending lumbar vertebræ; great swelling of bone in region of sacrum; complete paralysis of lower extremities; retention of urine, or discharge of bloody urine in drops with vesical tenesmus; retention of stool; no appetite; great thirst; fever with evening exacerbation; but little sleep, and if he falls asleep is restless and disturbed by frightful dreams; violent jerks through body awake him frequently.

Twitching of limbs and muscles.

Chorea-like twitching; skin red, hard, itching, < from scratching; great anguish. 

Chorea with pruritus vulvæ with intense itching, redness and hardness.

Chorea caused by a cold bath, getting drenched or after repression of measles.

Estudos

RHUS TOXICODENDRUM