The ABC Homeopathy Forum
Discontinuing Rhus Tox. . . How?
Hi! I started taking Rhus Tox for poison ivy just over a week ago. This has been my first experience with homeopathy. Normally, I'm a 'systemic' responder to poision ivy. By that I mean my symptoms usually include aches and pains, fever, headache, disorientation, walking into walls and blue lips. The rash is not relieved by hydrocortisone or other topical treatments. It spreads all over my body and turns purple, so my doctor has me take predisone at the first sign of poison ivy reaction. Which causes a whole spate of other problems, as we all know. So I was delighted to find my poision ivy reaction was nullified by the remedy.I tolerated the treatment well, but I don't know how to discontinue it. When I try to go longer than a few hours without the remedy, my face breaks out in a red, burning rash and hives.
In the morning when I wake up after not taking the remedy for several hours, I also have aches and pains in my joints.
Any suggestions about stopping the remedy without getting more symptoms?
sorer on 2011-08-03
This is just a forum. Assume posts are not from medical professionals.
You must stop right away, you are suppressing your condition with the Rhus-tox and this means that you are driving it deeper in to your system. It will eventually relocate to other organs of the body - the problems that could result from that might even be catastrophic.
The only way to deal with this homoeopathically is to stop the Rhus-tox and have the case retaken. I am happy to do this for you.
I will attach my intake form. It is standardized for chronic cases but it can still be used as a guide for providing information.
GUIDELINES FOR GIVING HOMOEOPATHIC CASE INFORMATION
It is important to describe all your problems in as much detail as you are able. One word answers and short sentences are not particularly helpful. Discuss each problem one at a time, providing (as a minimum level of detail) the following information.
Please do not answer each of the following questions by placing all your problems in each one. Each of these questions needs to be answered for each problem eg. For you headaches answer 1-7, then for your reflux answer 1-7 and so on.
1. What exactly happens?
2. Describe all sensations and pains. Each pain or sensation should be described in such a way that allows us to imagine having the same pain.
3. What causes the problem to get worse after it has started occurring?
4. What creates some relief for the problem?
5. What triggers the problem into occurring?
6. What time of the day or night does the problem occur?
7. When did the problem start? What was happening in your life at that time? Did some specific event or treatment take place just before the problem started?
Move from one problem to the next, doing the same thing. IT IS VITAL THAT YOU GIVE A COMPLETE PICTURE OF YOUR HEALTH BY PROVIDING ALL PROBLEMS YOU HAVE, EVEN IF NOT CONNECTED TO THE MAIN ONE, AND EVEN IF YOU CONSIDER IT OF LESS IMPORTANCE. You should address each problem separately using the above 7 questions as a guide.
As well as this, please describe any traumatic incidents that have taken place in your life. Discuss anything that has had a lasting impact on you mentally, emotionally or physically.
Discuss the way that you manage or deal with your problems, or any problems that occur in your life.
Discuss any patterns you have noticed in your behavior especially concerning your disease.
Discuss any part of your life where you feel stuck or unable to change and grow, especially where this occurred around the beginning of your disease, or as the disease evolved.
Describe your childhood and the kind of environment you grew up in, with reference to your relationships with your family, your school experiences, and any serious childhood diseases. Your parents may need to help you answer these questions.
If your earlier discussions have not mentioned these already, please describe:
1. The specific foods that you crave (not just like) or hate
2. The specific drinks that you crave or hate
3. What your sleep is like
4. How the weather and the temperature affects you
5. What kinds of things in the environment you are particularly sensitive to
6. What your general level of energy is like
7. What your level of sexual energy or desire is like
8. Describe your menstrual cycle
I will probably have more questions for you after that.
I also need to know what homoeopathic remedies you have taken in the past, and what the results were.
In my experience, any kind of chronic allergy or sensitivity can be cured by looking at the whole case, and prescribing a remedy on that basis. On the other hand, prescribing purely on the basis of the allergy symptoms is usually not very successful in the long term.
Homoeopathy works by aggravating the symptoms first, then curing them. The remedy should not need to be frequently repeated to keep you well.
The only way to deal with this homoeopathically is to stop the Rhus-tox and have the case retaken. I am happy to do this for you.
I will attach my intake form. It is standardized for chronic cases but it can still be used as a guide for providing information.
GUIDELINES FOR GIVING HOMOEOPATHIC CASE INFORMATION
It is important to describe all your problems in as much detail as you are able. One word answers and short sentences are not particularly helpful. Discuss each problem one at a time, providing (as a minimum level of detail) the following information.
Please do not answer each of the following questions by placing all your problems in each one. Each of these questions needs to be answered for each problem eg. For you headaches answer 1-7, then for your reflux answer 1-7 and so on.
1. What exactly happens?
2. Describe all sensations and pains. Each pain or sensation should be described in such a way that allows us to imagine having the same pain.
3. What causes the problem to get worse after it has started occurring?
4. What creates some relief for the problem?
5. What triggers the problem into occurring?
6. What time of the day or night does the problem occur?
7. When did the problem start? What was happening in your life at that time? Did some specific event or treatment take place just before the problem started?
Move from one problem to the next, doing the same thing. IT IS VITAL THAT YOU GIVE A COMPLETE PICTURE OF YOUR HEALTH BY PROVIDING ALL PROBLEMS YOU HAVE, EVEN IF NOT CONNECTED TO THE MAIN ONE, AND EVEN IF YOU CONSIDER IT OF LESS IMPORTANCE. You should address each problem separately using the above 7 questions as a guide.
As well as this, please describe any traumatic incidents that have taken place in your life. Discuss anything that has had a lasting impact on you mentally, emotionally or physically.
Discuss the way that you manage or deal with your problems, or any problems that occur in your life.
Discuss any patterns you have noticed in your behavior especially concerning your disease.
Discuss any part of your life where you feel stuck or unable to change and grow, especially where this occurred around the beginning of your disease, or as the disease evolved.
Describe your childhood and the kind of environment you grew up in, with reference to your relationships with your family, your school experiences, and any serious childhood diseases. Your parents may need to help you answer these questions.
If your earlier discussions have not mentioned these already, please describe:
1. The specific foods that you crave (not just like) or hate
2. The specific drinks that you crave or hate
3. What your sleep is like
4. How the weather and the temperature affects you
5. What kinds of things in the environment you are particularly sensitive to
6. What your general level of energy is like
7. What your level of sexual energy or desire is like
8. Describe your menstrual cycle
I will probably have more questions for you after that.
I also need to know what homoeopathic remedies you have taken in the past, and what the results were.
In my experience, any kind of chronic allergy or sensitivity can be cured by looking at the whole case, and prescribing a remedy on that basis. On the other hand, prescribing purely on the basis of the allergy symptoms is usually not very successful in the long term.
Homoeopathy works by aggravating the symptoms first, then curing them. The remedy should not need to be frequently repeated to keep you well.
♡ brisbanehomoeopath last decade
Ohboy. I have a pretty complex history.
I have a very sensitive skin which easily breaks out in blotches and red spots. When it does, it itches and burns. The sting is like the lash of a tiny whip cutting into my face. I was told I have dermatitis, seborrhea, hypersensitive skin, rosacea, and urticaria. The problem seems to be worse from chemical exposures or too much heat. Cool air seems to help. Triggers seem to be environmental; any change of environment seems to bring it on. The less control I have of the environment, the more it seems to happen. I may be fine at home, but once I get to work, my face starts flushing and itching. Or vice versa.
Day or night does not seem to be an issue.
The facial rash started when I was in my teens. I was going through the usual angsty teen stuff. I had a difficult home life and things were no better for me at school. I survived childhood with my nose in a book. By my late teens, I became involved with art, but the chemicals I was exposed to were hard on me. I had mononucleosis following a significant exposure to petrochemicals when I made silkscreen posters for the school. I had an enlarged spleen and was out of school for the last six weeks of my senior year. I was thought to have some sort of chronic fatigue syndrome.
Around this time, I was also told I had a Vitamin B deficiency and had to take shots for it. I haven't really followed up on this, although I do take Vitamin B sublingually with a B complex when I get a long-lasting depression.
The rash was treated with a cortisone cream with variable success. I used the treatment up until I became pregnant with my first child, and I have not used it since.
I also have high blood pressure (real high: there have been several years at a time when 240/120 was average) which has been difficult to treat. It led to heart failure before it was finally brought under control.
I also had a couple of autoimmnune diseases following treatment for Hep B in my forties: glomerulonephritis and polyarteritis nodosa.
Last year I was diagnosed with diabetes.
I am fifty five years old and have been divorced seventeen years. The marriage was sixteen years of verbal abuse from a very jealous man who treated me like a possession. He also gave me herpes. I finally got a restraining order when he became violent. I don't date because I feel a realtionship will fail. It's not worth the pain it would cause me to try to start something up. I lack trust, and I have difficulty growing in this area.
I often deal with problems by focusing on something else. I compartmentalize or sometimes consciously suppress difficult issues.
My mother was, I think, insane. She sexually abused me (think bathtub, a five-, six-, or seven year old girl, the mother shoving a bar of soap where it will really hurt, saying 'Never let a man touch you here!' Her only motivation was to protect her family name--her father was a founder of a Bible College, a teacher of preachers, a raving fundamentalist. I think this is where my environmental chemical sensitivity began.
My mother was jealous of my relationship with my father, so she dressed me in hand-me-downs or clothes she had sewed herself without a pattern. At the same time, she expected me to be an extension of herself and never began to consider that I might have my own preference or point of view. The way she treated me made it even harder for me to fit in at school.
I crave fish and vinegary foods.
I hate beer and crave cold sugar-free drinks like iced tea.
I am particularly sensitive to heat in the environment, and that was true for a decade before menopause.
I love thunderstorms and have always felt an increase of energy before a storm.
My general level of energy is good, overall.
My level of sexual desire was nonexistent until just a few years ago. Maybe menopause helped. I have more interest, but I still avoid men. And I've never been into women.
Formerly, my menstrual cycle was long and irregular with sparse periods.
1. What exactly happens?
2. Describe all sensations and pains. Each pain or sensation should be described in such a way that allows us to imagine having the same pain.
3. What causes the problem to get worse after it has started occurring?
4. What creates some relief for the problem?
5. What triggers the problem into occurring?
6. What time of the day or night does the problem occur?
7. When did the problem start? What was happening in your life at that time? Did some specific event or treatment take place just before the problem started?
Move from one problem to the next, doing the same thing. IT IS VITAL THAT YOU GIVE A COMPLETE PICTURE OF YOUR HEALTH BY PROVIDING ALL PROBLEMS YOU HAVE, EVEN IF NOT CONNECTED TO THE MAIN ONE, AND EVEN IF YOU CONSIDER IT OF LESS IMPORTANCE. You should address each problem separately using the above 7 questions as a guide.
As well as this, please describe any traumatic incidents that have taken place in your life. Discuss anything that has had a lasting impact on you mentally, emotionally or physically.
Discuss the way that you manage or deal with your problems, or any problems that occur in your life.
Discuss any patterns you have noticed in your behavior especially concerning your disease.
Discuss any part of your life where you feel stuck or unable to change and grow, especially where this occurred around the beginning of your disease, or as the disease evolved.
Describe your childhood and the kind of environment you grew up in, with reference to your relationships with your family, your school experiences, and any serious childhood diseases. Your parents may need to help you answer these questions.
If your earlier discussions have not mentioned these already, please describe:
1. The specific foods that you crave (not just like) or hate
2. The specific drinks that you crave or hate
3. What your sleep is like
4. How the weather and the temperature affects you
5. What kinds of things in the environment you are particularly sensitive to
6. What your general level of energy is like
7. What your level of sexual energy or desire is like
8. Describe your menstrual cycle
I have a very sensitive skin which easily breaks out in blotches and red spots. When it does, it itches and burns. The sting is like the lash of a tiny whip cutting into my face. I was told I have dermatitis, seborrhea, hypersensitive skin, rosacea, and urticaria. The problem seems to be worse from chemical exposures or too much heat. Cool air seems to help. Triggers seem to be environmental; any change of environment seems to bring it on. The less control I have of the environment, the more it seems to happen. I may be fine at home, but once I get to work, my face starts flushing and itching. Or vice versa.
Day or night does not seem to be an issue.
The facial rash started when I was in my teens. I was going through the usual angsty teen stuff. I had a difficult home life and things were no better for me at school. I survived childhood with my nose in a book. By my late teens, I became involved with art, but the chemicals I was exposed to were hard on me. I had mononucleosis following a significant exposure to petrochemicals when I made silkscreen posters for the school. I had an enlarged spleen and was out of school for the last six weeks of my senior year. I was thought to have some sort of chronic fatigue syndrome.
Around this time, I was also told I had a Vitamin B deficiency and had to take shots for it. I haven't really followed up on this, although I do take Vitamin B sublingually with a B complex when I get a long-lasting depression.
The rash was treated with a cortisone cream with variable success. I used the treatment up until I became pregnant with my first child, and I have not used it since.
I also have high blood pressure (real high: there have been several years at a time when 240/120 was average) which has been difficult to treat. It led to heart failure before it was finally brought under control.
I also had a couple of autoimmnune diseases following treatment for Hep B in my forties: glomerulonephritis and polyarteritis nodosa.
Last year I was diagnosed with diabetes.
I am fifty five years old and have been divorced seventeen years. The marriage was sixteen years of verbal abuse from a very jealous man who treated me like a possession. He also gave me herpes. I finally got a restraining order when he became violent. I don't date because I feel a realtionship will fail. It's not worth the pain it would cause me to try to start something up. I lack trust, and I have difficulty growing in this area.
I often deal with problems by focusing on something else. I compartmentalize or sometimes consciously suppress difficult issues.
My mother was, I think, insane. She sexually abused me (think bathtub, a five-, six-, or seven year old girl, the mother shoving a bar of soap where it will really hurt, saying 'Never let a man touch you here!' Her only motivation was to protect her family name--her father was a founder of a Bible College, a teacher of preachers, a raving fundamentalist. I think this is where my environmental chemical sensitivity began.
My mother was jealous of my relationship with my father, so she dressed me in hand-me-downs or clothes she had sewed herself without a pattern. At the same time, she expected me to be an extension of herself and never began to consider that I might have my own preference or point of view. The way she treated me made it even harder for me to fit in at school.
I crave fish and vinegary foods.
I hate beer and crave cold sugar-free drinks like iced tea.
I am particularly sensitive to heat in the environment, and that was true for a decade before menopause.
I love thunderstorms and have always felt an increase of energy before a storm.
My general level of energy is good, overall.
My level of sexual desire was nonexistent until just a few years ago. Maybe menopause helped. I have more interest, but I still avoid men. And I've never been into women.
Formerly, my menstrual cycle was long and irregular with sparse periods.
1. What exactly happens?
2. Describe all sensations and pains. Each pain or sensation should be described in such a way that allows us to imagine having the same pain.
3. What causes the problem to get worse after it has started occurring?
4. What creates some relief for the problem?
5. What triggers the problem into occurring?
6. What time of the day or night does the problem occur?
7. When did the problem start? What was happening in your life at that time? Did some specific event or treatment take place just before the problem started?
Move from one problem to the next, doing the same thing. IT IS VITAL THAT YOU GIVE A COMPLETE PICTURE OF YOUR HEALTH BY PROVIDING ALL PROBLEMS YOU HAVE, EVEN IF NOT CONNECTED TO THE MAIN ONE, AND EVEN IF YOU CONSIDER IT OF LESS IMPORTANCE. You should address each problem separately using the above 7 questions as a guide.
As well as this, please describe any traumatic incidents that have taken place in your life. Discuss anything that has had a lasting impact on you mentally, emotionally or physically.
Discuss the way that you manage or deal with your problems, or any problems that occur in your life.
Discuss any patterns you have noticed in your behavior especially concerning your disease.
Discuss any part of your life where you feel stuck or unable to change and grow, especially where this occurred around the beginning of your disease, or as the disease evolved.
Describe your childhood and the kind of environment you grew up in, with reference to your relationships with your family, your school experiences, and any serious childhood diseases. Your parents may need to help you answer these questions.
If your earlier discussions have not mentioned these already, please describe:
1. The specific foods that you crave (not just like) or hate
2. The specific drinks that you crave or hate
3. What your sleep is like
4. How the weather and the temperature affects you
5. What kinds of things in the environment you are particularly sensitive to
6. What your general level of energy is like
7. What your level of sexual energy or desire is like
8. Describe your menstrual cycle
sorer last decade
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