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1.3.
Homeopathic Concepts of Disease
Up one level
This lesson presents the relation of patient and disease, and discusses
some of the deeper, more subtle and less apparent causes of acute and chronic
ailments so frequently met with and so seldom understood. These are problems
which have baffled physicians since the days of Hippocrates, Paracelsus and
Galen. But in a course of this character the importance of these considerations
warrants close attention on the part of the student in order that he may better
understand the depth of action and special application of the remedies to be
studied in future lessons.
In Lesson One the
homeopathic concept of disease was presented. This may have seemed new and
revolutionary and quite at variance with prevailing opinions. Nevertheless, it
was made plain that there was no actual discrepancy between prevalent science
and homeopathic concepts. The homeopathic concepts are broader and more
applicable to the art of healing.
We now come to the consideration of
the difference between acute and chronic disease; the causes of susceptibility,
dyscrasias and recurrence of acute morbid processes. This is necessary in
determining the basic nature of the case to be treated and in choosing the
remedies to be employed.
The philosophy of Homeopathy is laid down in
Hahnemann's Organon of the Art of Healing, a work replete with much
wisdom and cold logic, written after he had put his principles and methods to
the test for a period of twenty years. Although the first edition was published
in 1810, many of his teachings are only now being accepted, in principle at
least, by the medical profession at large.
"If the physician clearly
perceives what is to be cured in disease, that is to say, in every individual
case of disease; if he clearly perceives what is curative in medicines; and if
he knows how to adapt, according to clearly defined principles, what is curative
in medicines to what he has discovered to be undoubtedly morbid in the patient
... if, finally, he knows the obstacles to recovery in each case and is aware
how to remove them so that the restoration may be permament; then he understands
how to treat judiciously and rationally, and he is a true practitioner of the
healing art." (Hahnemann's Organon, par. 3)
Whether or not the
student can accept all that is taught therein, the Organon contains
certain fundamentals which are indispensable to success in homeopathic
prescribing.
To clearly perceive what is curable in each case of
disease, one must know the underlying causes of chronic diseases, their
intrinsic quality, their course and manner of manifestation and the part they
play in the production of many acute morbid manifestations.
To clearly
perceive what is curative in each individual medicine one must possess a
knowledge of the homeopathic materia medica and the genius and therapeutic
action of remedies.
To know how to adapt these remedies to the morbid
states of the patient one must have at his command a knowledge of how to examine
the patient and how to elicit symptoms, how to interpret the various changes
that follow the administration of a remedy; of dosage, repetition and sequence
of remedies.
The knowledge of what each remedy will do is contained in
the lessons on materia medica which constitute the major portion of the
Course.
One of the principle reasons why Homeopathy has not been more
generally accepted is that many of those who essayed it disregarded these
essentials. Many conscientious physicians have undertaken to use remedies
prepared according to homeopathic formulae, only to cast them aside as worthless
because of failure to appreciate the importance of homeopathic
fundamentals.
Disease naturally falls into two classes, acute and
chronic. The acute diseases run through a certain limited course and may
terminate favorably without remedial measures if the patient possesses
sufficient vitality and resistance. Chronic ailments are not self limited but
persist throughout life unless successfully treated in accord with the Law of
Similars. Any remedy acting curatively in a chronic disease acts
homeopathically.
Hahnemann practiced for a number of years before he
fully realized the fundamental differences between acute and chronic diseases.
However, with his usual sagacity, he noticed that although he was able to
overcome such ailments as common colds, croup, whooping cough, pleurisy,
pneumonia, dysentery, scarlet fever, in many patients he observed recurrences of
groups of symptoms which disappeared after treatment only to return in the same
or different form, and that the patient's general health was not permanently
improved. This led him to the conclusion that there must be some unrecognized
underlying factor responsible for chronic disease in general as well as these
apparently acute manifestations and that they were only the outcroppings of some
sub-latent chronic miasm.
He made a thorough search of the history of
disease and the recorded experiences of others, seeking some common dyscrasias
that were more or less universal.
There existed at that time a fairly
good knowledge of the venereal diseases, syphilis and gonorrhea. To each of
these, as we do now, Hahnemann attributed many chronic ailments. The basic cause
of syphilitic manifestations he called the miasm "syphilis"; that of gonorrheal
sequelae, "sycosis"; that of chronic diseases (except those due to drugs or
poisons) of non-venereal origin, "psora". {Vide: Hahnemann's Chronic
Diseases, Vol. 1, p. 19.}
We do not attempt to explain the
Hahnemannian concept of disease causation in terms used in modern medicine. The
language of today's accepted hypotheses may seem quaint a hundred years hence.
Nevertheless, Hahnemann's concept of miasms is fundamentally substantiated by
present day research.
Whether or not we use the terms "miasm", "psora"
or "sycosis", and whether or not we accept or reject Hahnemann's explanation of
them, there still remains the fact that the conditions he attributed to them
actually exist. No other theory or explanation offers as clear an understanding
of the underlying elements of chronic states.
Chronic cases present many
and varied manifestations as is well known. Sometimes, even with the appearance
of good health, the patient complains that he is "off color" and "lacks pep",
with no apparent or discoverable pathology and no pathognomonic signs or
symptoms. In this type the miasm is latent or quiescent, but the patient
nevertheless is chronically ill.
There are those with lowered vitality,
lowered resistive powers, increased susceptibility, anemic, who are neither sick
nor well; who are afflicted almost continually with one transitory ailment or
another. These get but little sympathy or attention. But each will present
symptoms which if rightly interpreted will guide to an individual remedy
selection applicable to the totality of the symptoms and the underlying cause of
the chronicity.
Other chronic cases will be definitely sick. Their
symptom syndromes indicate definite diagnosable diseases. Physical examinations
and laboratory tests are confirmative. They have arthritis, nephritis, diabetes,
broncho-spasm, gallstones, gastric ulcer, neurasthenia, and so on. These are of
the active chronic type.
How often have you met with a case in which the
cause of illness was obscure -- a case which has baffled every attempt at
diagnosis and case analysis? And how often have you exclaimed, "How I wish I
could get at the bottom of this?" It is hoped that this lesson will give you a
start toward the fulfillment of your wish.
* * *
All ailments are divided into two natural classes --
1. Acute
2. Chronic
Likewise, homeopathic remedies are classified as to their
application.
Acute remedies are more superficial in action and act for a
shorter time.
Chronic remedies are deep acting and chiefly applicable to
ailments of chronic nature although at times they may act wonderfully well in
acute ailments.
The chronic or deeper acting remedies are subdivided
into three groups --
1. Antisyphilltic
2. Antisycotic
3. Antipsoric
This division is made because these remedies are capable of producing on
healthy persons the miasmatic symptoms as well as correcting these symptoms in
the sick.
Suppression is not a cure of disease any more than it is of
crime. The natural tendency of the organism in health is to throw off waste
products from within outward. A similar tendency obtains in disease. Suppression
of natural excretions such as perspiration, urine or menses, gives rise to
serious systemic disorders. Skin eruptions usually are the result of nature's
efforts to throw out some toxin or local irritant. The dire results of the
suppression of the eruptions of scarlet fever or measles are well known.
Suppression of eczemas by local applications has been known to produce colitis,
asthma and bronchitis. Suppression of syphilis gives rise to a myriad of chronic
manifestations. The same is true of gonorrhea.
The suppression of any of
the above or like diseases is followed by changes in the resistance and
susceptibility of the individual, and new expressions of deranged vital force
instituted which differ from those of the original ailment and are frequently
mistaken for new ailments.
Symptoms due to suppression may not be
readily recognized by the novice, especially in cases where they are delayed for
months or years, as frequently happens in venereal and other diseases. That they
are in reality genuine effects of the suppression can be demonstrated by the
administration of the homeopathic remedy selected on the totality of the
symptoms and in accord with the Law of Similars. The correct remedy will cause
the original disease manifestations to return.
Illustrations: Thuja
Occidentalis has many times relieved rheumatism following suppressed gonorrhea
and caused the re-establishment of the urethral discharge. Sulphur has often
reproduced a suppressed skin eruption with relief of internal disturbances such
as bronchitis, asthma and diarrhea. Chronic headaches frequently follow the
application of local astringents to relieve offensive perspiration of the feet.
Silica relieves the head symptoms and restores the foot sweats.
The
considerations of this lesson have been introduced in order to emphasize the
fact that since the homeopathic prescription is made from the totality of the
patient's symptoms, objective and subjective, it is necessary that the important
symptoms attributed to miasmatic origin be given their proper
evaluation.
There is still another class of conditions which may be
acute or chronic -- those induced by the action of drugs and inoculations.
Inappropriate remedies or drugs, especially when taken in appreciable doses
(either by order of the physician by the patient on his own account, or by
accident) poison the system, even though they may effect the changes for which
they were taken. An artificial disease is produced which increases the task of
determining the proper homeopathic prescription. For instance, how could you
expect to get a true picture of the patient's symptoms from one who has for a
long time taken bromides, "physic", morphine, quinine, sulphur, aspirin, bromo
seltzer, and the like? It is therefore frequently necessary to discriminate
between those phenomena which are the result of drugs and those of the disease
itself. The indiscriminate use of sleep producers, pain killers, headache
remedies, rheumatism cures, blood purifiers, cathartics, and the many
self-administered drugs and nostrums must be taken into consideration by the
prescriber and discontinued by the patient in order to facilitate or make
possible the selection of the similimum.
This lesson is to be studied in
preparation for the messge of Lesson Four which deals with the taking of the
case, the evaluation of signs and symptoms, and the relationship of pathology
and diagnosis to homeopathic prescribing. As you will have observed in the study
of the lessons thus far, there are many prerequisites to correct homeopathic
prescribing. It is the purpose of the School to present to you these necessary
fundamentals and to guide you to accuracy of remedy selection and eventually
greater successes in your practice.