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Course provided by Anahata Software
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.
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