Rhus toxicodendron
as Cyrus Maxwell Boger recorded it in A Synoptic Key of the Materia Medica, 1931
This is one author on one remedy. A compressed key — the generals and the characteristic modalities, with very little narrative. Read Rhus toxicodendron in every book at once →
Keynotes
Variola. Sore, bruised or STIFF. Flesh feels beaten or torn loose. Dislocative sensation. Twitching muscles. Crawling. Numbness. Trembling. Burning, swelling and lividity. Cellulitis. Acrid, rusty-red, meat water or musty secretions; causing eruptions. Scraping, gnawing or tearing loose in periosteum. .................... Sad, anxious, depressed or beclouded. Slow answers. Low delirium. Whirling vertigo; then headache. Shattering or loose feeling in brain; < jar. Board-like pressure in forehead. Painfully stiff scalp, > lying on it. Pain behind eyes; < motion. Eyelids, stiff; adherent; dry; firmly closed. Profuse, hot, gushing tears. Photophobia. Vertical diplopia. Saccular conjunctivitis. Red, sensitive tip of nose; it drips water. Roseola. Nose-bleed; at night. Violent aching in bones of nose. Face-ache. Maxillæ crack; easily dislocated; pains in. Red spot on l. cheek. Swelled, stiff face. Dry, cracked, crusty lips; herpes on. Sordes. Bloody saliva runs during sleep. Teeth feel loose. TONGUE; RED TRIANGLE AT TIP; coated diagonally or on one side only; dry red center; cracked, stiff, sore. Coppery or straw-like taste. Red, puffy, itching fauces. As of chamois skin stuck on tonsils. Sorethroat (l) in A.M.; with swelled glands. Craves cold drinks, although they < cough, chill, etc. Vomits from coughing, lying on back, etc.; fecal. Abdomen sore; swashing in; as of a lump in. Ileocæcal symptoms. Stools watery, frothy or bloody; foul; brick red; slimy; gelatinous; involuntary or with tenesmus, < drinking. Piles, < lifting. Genitals, œdema, < prepuce; itching; swelled. Nephritis. Metritis; septic. Chest pains on using arms. Dry, hoarse, tearing, tormenting cough, from tickling behind upper sternum; with bloody taste. Sudden hypostasis or œdema of lungs. Palpitation; > motion. Heart; feels tired; hyper-trophy; pains going down l. arm. Shingles. Stiff neck. Inter-scapular pain, < swallowing. Contractive or breaking backache, > hard pressure, walking about or bending backward. Lumbago. Coccyx aches into thighs. Numb, prickling limbs. Arms nervous and shaky, (l). Paralytic pain in elbows. Rhagades on backs of hands. Palms, dry, hot, cracked and sore; washing causes burning. Pains down back of thighs; < stool. Sciatica. Legs feel dead, wooden; cramp in calves; gangrenous ulcer, runs bloody water; itching. SKIN; stiff; thick; dry; hot; itching; burning; < warmth; painful to cold air. Fine VESICULAR, crusty, eczematous, moist or ERYSIPELATOUS ERUPTIONS, < genitals; alternating with dysentery. Pus erodes the hair. Rhus poisoning. Milk-crust. Baker's itch. Vesicles over abscess. Weeping ulcers. Dreams, laborious; of blood; awakes tired or nervous. Weak, rapid, sharp, tremulous or irregular pulse. Easily chilled; < least uncovering; with pains in limbs; < cough, etc. Chill as if dashed with cold water or cold water in veins; preceded by cough; alternating with heat; in single parts. Heat with busy delirium. Sweat, < during pain; with sleepiness.
Worse
EXPOSURE TO: WET; cold. Air. WASHING. Chill or draft. When hot or sweaty. Uncovering; hands, etc. BEGINNING MOTION. REST. Before storms. SPRAINS. Overexertion. AFTER MIDNIGHT.
Better
Continued motion. HEAT: Wraps. Bath. If heated. Rubbing. Nose-bleed. Holding abdomen. An infectious irritant, exciting TYPHOID, RHEUMATIC OR PARETIC EFFECTS. NIGHTLY SHOOTING, STITCHING, TEARING PAINS; CAN'T REST IN ANY POSITION. Grippe.
Region
SKIN: Face. Scalp. Genitals. Blood. Tissues: Cellular. Ligaments. Fibrous. Joints. Mucous membranes. GLANDS: Pyer's. Parotid. NERVES: CORD. Sciatic. Left side or left to right.
Relationships
Complementary: Bry. Calc-c. Mag-c. Med. Phyt. Related: Arn. Bry. Dul.
What the other books say about Rhus toxicodendron
The same remedy read by a different author. They disagree, and the disagreements are where the remedy becomes recognisable.
- Rhus toxicodendron in Boericke — The concise clinical Materia Medica that most Indian colleges teach from, in full.
- Rhus toxicodendron in Allen's Keynotes — The few symptoms that, when genuinely present, point at one remedy and not its neighbours.
- Rhus toxicodendron in Farrington — Lectures that teach remedies in families, by comparing them with each other.
- Rhus toxicodendron in Kent — Kent teaching a class, one remedy at a time — fewer remedies, far more on each.
Search every book at once, take rubrics from Kent and Bönninghausen, and practise on a patient who answers back — free account.
Create a free accountCite this page. Cyrus Maxwell Boger. A Synoptic Key of the Materia Medica. 1931. Rhus toxicodendron — Keynotes. HomeopathyWorld, https://homeopathyworld.in/materia-medica/books/boger/rhus-toxicodendron. Author died 1935: public domain in India. The catalogue records 1931; a 1931 edition is public domain in the US from 1 Jan 2027 at the latest — the edition this transcription follows is not stated in the file. Reproduced as the author wrote it; a historical reference for students and practitioners, not medical advice.