Homeopathy & Chronic Disease

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Homeopathy & Chronic Disease JoAnn Guest

Jun 02, 2006 14:43 PDT

 

http://www.camaweb.org./library/homeopathy/

Homeopathy & Chronic Disease

 

Luc Chaltin , N.D., D.I. Hom.

 

http://www.camaweb.org./library/infectious_disease/antibiotic_crisis.

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The German doctor Samuel Hahnemann discovered Homeopathy more than

two

hundred years ago. The medicine is made in a special way by

successive

dilutions, and is so diluted that it cannot cause any harm to the

metabolism, making it very safe to prescribe.

 

Hahnemann was the first to test medicinal substances in so-called

" provings. " In order to define the real action of the homeopathic

medicine he tested it with healthy people. In order to identify the

action of the remedy, part of the test persons received an inert

substance such as lactose. He coined the term " placebo " for the

substitute medicine.

 

The rule for the selection of the test persons was that they should

be

" healthy but sensitive. " This definition excludes people with

chronic

symptoms. The limitation that was created by the nature of test

persons

was not a big problem at that time because chronically ill people

were

rare in the beginning of the ninetieth century. Most diseases were

acute, and high fever caused by acute infections was the most

dreadful

illness. Homeopathy was very effective in curing these fevers, and

therefore it became the medicine of choice during the entire

nineteenth

century.

 

The problem with the provings was that it was entirely based on the

observation of symptoms. At that time, scientific knowledge,

especially

about biology, metabolism, immune reaction and organic cell

chemistry,

was non-existent, and the complete diagnostic tool of homeopathy was

based on symptoms experienced by the patient and symptoms that were

detectable by the homeopath. Consequently, the recordings of the

provings, called " pathogeneses, " contained and still contain only

symptoms.

 

There are no indications in the Materia Medica about chronic

affections

except for those remedies that are poisons and for which the

symptoms of

the poisoned victims were added to the pathogenesis. The most

impressive

example of this kind in the Materia Medica is the pathogenesis of

Mercurius vivus (mercury).

 

No information related to functional problems other than those that

are

discernable through direct observation is contained in the

pathogenesis.

The most used symptoms are the indication of pain, and pain in

different

places and organs. For the respiratory system it is breathing,

cough,

pain, and discharge. For the digestive tract it is indigestion,

pain,

diarrhea and constipation. For the circulatory system it is

palpitation,

" overfilled " blood vessels, pain in the chest. For the limbs it is

mostly pain. Many other indications resist interpretation and

identification with modern pathological concepts.

 

Because of this limitation, studying homeopathy is not an easy task

and

is almost impossible for a doctor that has been formed by the

scientific

approach of today's medical schools.

 

For the health practitioner that has been able to learn the

difficult

language of the homeopathic pathogeneses and is able to prescribe

homeopathic medicine accordingly, the results are impressive. But

the

classical homeopath still struggles with chronic diseases.

 

This happened also to Hahnemann himself when he remarried a much

younger

French noble woman and moved to Paris. Here, his patients were the

people of the upper class. They had become sick because of their

abundant meals with lots of meat and wine. These people were

chronically

ill and did not react to his approach that had been successful in

Germany with the simple peasants, that lived a healthy life, worked

hard, and ate a simple diet. (See " A Homeopathic Love Story " by Rima

Handley.)

 

Hahnemann changed his approach completely, prescribing homeopathic

medicine more often, up to every day, seeing patients every few days

or

every week, and giving all the patients Sulfur as an " anti-psoric "

and

detoxifying medicine. He never wrote about this approach but some of

the

French homeopaths knew about it and used it in their practice.

 

The problem of the chronic diseases became serious by the end of the

ninetieth century when the refined food and the higher consumption

of

meat started causing more problems with rheumatoid arthritis and

arteriosclerosis. But homeopathic diagnosing did not change.

 

The American Homeopath Dr. Kent compiled a book (the Kent Repertory)

of

more than 1500 pages with symptoms and " corresponding " remedies.

Homeopaths can find in the Kent Repertory rubrics for pain recorded

for

every part of the body but when the right part is found, the list of

remedies that is connected with that place can be as long as 50 or

more

names. Which one of the remedies should be chosen?

 

The French homeopaths solved an early chronic problem in the

ninetieth

century. Because of the abundance of wine, many French patients

suffered

from cirrhosis of the liver, which is a chronic disease, not an

infectious one. When the important functions of the liver became

known,

the French homeopaths started to use homeopathic remedies to help

the

liver excrete toxic substances. This technique is widespread among

the

contemporary French homeopaths, and it is an enigma to me why they

are

not followed by all other homeopaths because the benefits are real.

 

But treating chronic diseases successfully with homeopathy had to

wait

until the beginning of the twentieth century, when a French

homeopath,

Dr. Vannier, discovered a method to treat tuberculosis successfully.

In

the introduction to his book " Les Tuberculiniques " he states that he

had

been able to cure tuberculosis, the most dreaded disease of his

time,

since 1912. To do so, he had to use more homeopathic remedies at

once,

more often.

 

Because tuberculosis was considered a " constitutional " disease by

Dr.

Vannier and many French homeopaths, the fact that it was also a

chronic

disease was not deemed important and ignored. It was assumed that

the

hereditary factors played the most important role in the evolution

of

tuberculosis. The similarity to other chronic diseases such as

rheumatoid arthritis was not seen, and the fact that the underlying

causes of all diseases are exactly the same was ignored. A

hereditary

disease such as tuberculosis follows the rules of the chronic and

also

the infectious diseases: as long as the immune system and the

metabolic

system are intact, no disease will manifest itself. The results of

Dr.

Vannier's approach to the treatment of tuberculosis were not given

the

attention that they deserved.

 

It is impossible to eradicate a hereditary disease, just as it is

impossible to be completely free of pathological bacteria and

viruses.

The way nature has created us is that we are able to live healthy

lives

as long as we have perfectly functional metabolisms, which

automatically

gives us a perfectly functional immune system. This healthy

situation

depends on the kind of lifestyle we follow and the kind of food we

eat.

Medicine, even homeopathic medicine, cannot take the place of these

two

basic conditions.

 

 

 

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Luc Chaltin is President of Newton Laboratories, a major producer of

homeopathic remedies based on the European clinical approach to

homeopathy. He is Founder of The American Academy of Clinical

Homeopathy

and has written two booklets about Homeopathy for First Aid and

Common

Ailments. He earned a N.D. from Clayton College and a D.I. Hom. from

the

British Institute of Homeopathy. He can be reached at 770-922-2644.

 

JoAnn Guest

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