Minutus

this is the scourge of my existence every summer. this year is has started now. first with a small red eruption like a bug bite which is itchy a bit. scratching agg. after 1 or 2 days it becomes clear this is not a bug bite but the
'scourge.' the area around the eruption gets red and feels hot. the itching gets extreme. it feels like tiny pricks and spreads. it gets so intense that it begins to burn. where the itching/burning is most intense, i have learned, means this is the site of the next ourbreak.

the outbreaks start red and then form very small bumps and may get yellowish or whitish. so far this year, these outbreaks have not suppurated. in previous cases they will ooze a clear--honey yellow liquid. which runs.

this outbreak began on the inner side of the upper left arm which causes me extra anxiety because it is impossible to keep it off my body when working or sleeping. this constant body contact holds in the heat and ensures the spread of it to my armpits and breasts. this is no picnic.

very hot water amel altho ice or icey water will draw the heat. i much prefer the effects of scalding water which lasts longer.

salty foods agg the itching.

over the years i have used many remedies. it reporatorizes out as rhus t but that never works. sulph once worked paliatively for very short spurts (2-3 hours). about 3-4 yrs ago i used Rhus v. it seems to work quite well. i have used it successfully over the past few years but it is not working so well now and my anxiety is pretty high right now ove this. you need to know that once i get a small case of tPI, it can spread systemically and go on for months. in the past it would begin in april and continue till it got cold in september/october. it will cover every part of my body. usually there is one extraordinary outbreak that is superdramatic with other outbreaks being of a lesser nature but still extreme. the outbreaks begin early in the spring, start small and continue to get larger till the 'big' one hits. this outbreak is unusual in that it is bigger than the early ones usually are. it now covers a 5" x 3" area from my armpit to my elbow. the itchy keeps me awake at nite.

rhus v 30c did not help this year. am taking rhus v 200c several times a day now. it abates the itching while in my mouth and keeps it minimized. however, the Sx are spreading and the Rx is not doing its magic very well. my anxiety is that i will no longer be susceptible to the benefits of this Rx and will be suffering as i have in the past.

any thoughts well appreciated

tanya
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Just off the top of my head, I wonder about Apis -- starts looking like a
bug bite and extreme itching with heat (I've found apis works well with
rashes that look like bug bites and are accompanied by heat). Good luck
finding something!!

Rosemary Hyde

Dear Tanya, it might be worth a single dose of Belladonna to take the heat
and burning out of the skin. If you get this every spring (and Bell is a
'spring' rx) - Phatak says skin conditions returning every Spring - you
might need to approach this as a chronic state or miasmatically if it is an
allergy of some kind. The other reason Bell. interests me is that they have
to move around, very restless, which helps the condition. Worth a try. If
you are convinced about the Rhus maybe experiment with potency more - 12 or
30 - might work even better. Best wishes, Joy

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Tanya, ps to the Belladonna (if that message gets to you first) - there is
always arsenicum - the eruptions burn and itch >>> hot applications and
moving around. I use this when I get stung by the bees! Best wishes, Joy

Thanks Joy,

I have used Ars for severe burning in the past. It took out the burning but not the general condition. I have used Ars when I have had burning pains with lung problems, too, with the same effect The suggestion of Agar by another, was also tried once with no benefit. As was Apis when my face, one year, was so red and swollen, again with no benefit.

Bell might be interesting, too.

The Rhus seems to be doing a bit now, but I am taking 4-5 doses daily at the 200c level. The 30c wasnt working. I am just very concerned that I am losing susceptibility to the Rhus v.

tanya

Hi Tanya,

Anacardium is a very good remedy for the contact dermatitis that comes from poison ivy/poison oak exposure...its also botanically related, as a plant, to Rhus Tox.
You may want to give that a try; I do hope it helps!

Regards (and best wishes for a very speedy recovery)
Nancy

Tanya,

Can you provide us with any physical generals or concomitant
mental/emotional symptoms?

Arlene

Tanya,

check out rad-br. but, I agree with Arlene, more physical generals,
concomitants, etc. would be useful. this should be treated as an acute
exacerbation of a chronic condition (sounds psoric so far). I am concerned
that the rhus is suppressive and you might succeed in eliminating the skin
problem and replace it with a deeper symptom.

be well

russell swift, dvm

i never thought of ars for bee stings. that is a good suggestion. i always had people getting stung at work.

tanya

Russell,

you may be right about the supression, but the extremity of my reaction is so great that i MUST do something.

i realize i havent provided too many Sx. i was afraid of being too burdensome on this list. i could say,simply, that sx always change. i have had several 'itching' type of conditions that lasted for many years. two of them seem to have been dealt with successfully 1)itching on the body, mainly the scalp; 2) itching on the soles of the feeting--needing to scratch till skin was opened (there would be littlie pustules under the skin)--always worse on removing shoes as days end); 3)pruritis vulva--always worse on undressing; skin desquamating; clear viscid acrid ooze that burned skin and clothing. Poison ivy seems to be the last of the itching conditions. The ooze from the PI can also be excoriating and once it takes hold,it develops a life of its own and continues to erupt on all parts of the body. The ooze can be excoriating. It developed one summer when working in an overgrown garden that had deadly nightshade in it. at the time i didnt know what it was. i would scratch violently and seemed to have created a sensitivity that has never abated. all the itches have the same quality and all compel me to scratch deeply. it's as if one needs to open the skin to release the toxins--there is a sense of relief when the eruptions come to a head and burst as they did yesterday. the eruptions begin to spread and merge together into large areas and once they ooze they look like a burn healing. the skin is sore and can get tough and hide bound. one horrific case a few years ago covered about 100 sq inches on the inner thigh of each leg. the skin was so thick and tight that moving was painful.

i have a number of constitutional conditions that are debilitating to some degree or another. one of them is chronic contraction of ligaments, tendons and myofascia which prevents walking or moving easily. also chronic lower back problems which affect my hips and the lower part of my body. what i noticed yesterday is a noticeable improvement over the past 2 days with the rhus v. to date i have never been able to find a constitutional that gets to the core. remedies just seem to chip away at things very slowly. and remedies that seem like they should work, often do little to nothing. i have decided to be a guinea pig next month and have jeremy sher take my case in a clinic workshop. he often has very unique ways of seeing a case.

thanks for the advice

tanya