Mechanics of Disease Suppression.
At a talk by a very experienced Homeopathic Doctor I was impressed
by two factors. [One] was his great knowledge of the repertory , and [two]
, the foggy uncertainty of his views on constitutional medicine and homeopathic
as well as allopathic suppression of disease. It is only possible to understand
suppression and 'constitutional' medicine if one accepts S. Hahnemann's
concept of a life force. ... " In the state of health the vital force animating
the material human organism reigns supreme ... without the vital force
the body dies and decomposes, reverting to its chemical constituents...
when man falls ill it is this self sustaining vital force that is untuned
by the dynamic force of the hostile disease agent " ( Organon. para 9/I9/lI
) or " Life is a vital principle , a self moving force , a vital power
which if acting in harmony preserves our bodies as a harmonious whole,
a disturbance of which is disease, a lack of which is death." Only if this
principle is accepted and understood can one make sense out of the term
constitutional medicine. It is the genetic material that shapes our bodies
in the womb and after birth develops family likeness. Our environment may
bring individual character traits into prominence, and emphasize weakness
, 80 that a "weak chest " may be said to run in families, yet not affect
every member of that family. What is clear in the works of Hahnemann, Kent,
Dudgeon, J.H. Allen etc. is that a tendency to certain types of disease
is part of our genetic inheritance. That eczema, hemophilia , ulceration
t nerve disorders and catarrhal complaints can be shown to be amongst the
predominant affect in genetically related groups. It must be emphasized
that only the above types of illness where the tendency is genetically
transmitted , can be considered constitutional. All other illness. All
other illness is a sudden acute self-limiting manifestation of one small
facet of the latent constitutional condition. < so in order to consider
suppression as an orderly process in a logical framework , we must accept
that there is a vital force, life force, vitality , whose constant urge
is to drive symptoms of illness downward and outward in accord with Hering's
Law, This constantly fluctuating balance takes place in a more or less
flawed pressure vessel , which we call the constitution of the individual.
Under normal conditions there will be enough life force to contain the
flaws of the hereditary constitution and leave an abundance of energy for
the enjoyment of life. when there is stress the surplus energy is mopped
up and when there is illness pressure builds up internally until the pressure
vessel ( constitution ) gives way at the weakest point to create a vent
and relieve the excess pressure. Normally the first sign of pressure is
a disturbance of function , pathological come later and can be averted
with proper homeopathic treatment . It may be informative at this point
to ask why allopathic treatment seems to work , and how that takes place
in the context of the model now proposed . Allopathic treatment is almost
always suppressive. It seeks to drive symptoms off the surface of the body
and imagines that a cure has taken place . What actually happens is that
the symptoms which are acting as a vent for an acute phase of a constitutional
problem , are driven deeper into the body and the drug (or surgical procedure
) rouses the vitality to furious activity in order to throw off the effects
of the drug, ( or surgery) , which causes great problems. Paradoxically
, due to the violent activity of the life force , the original condition
is cured almost incidentally . It was in any event the acute facet of a
latent constitutional problem. - The above only happens where theme is
a strong constitution capable of a very vigorous reaction. Where there
is a weak constitution the banished symptoms will cause a build up of pressure
and create a new vent or symptom pattern to relieve the now increased internal
pressure. this may be nervous, cancerous , or ulcerative and will in any
event damage the immunological system. Homeopathic suppression happens
more often than most would care to admit. It happens when homeopathic remedies
are used in an allopathic fashion, so that badly selected low potencies
(3x- 30c) are used and no consideration is given to the constitution and
the miasm presenting itself at the surface; or to the recent (2 yr. ) history
of the case which should reveal the triggering cause. If for instance the
patient , as so often these days , has been treated for some sycotic class
of disorder such as inflammation, catarrhal discharge, warts or fibroids,
herpes , acidity etc. and these have been driven inwards then no anti sycotic
, however well indicated , will be effective. It is likely that one must
look to the anti psoric grouping and give due weight to disturbances of
function , which might be indicated by such signs as light sensitive glasses
indicating photophobia , or sluggish iris reaction; volubility, heavily
psoric people are often chatterboxes; an excessive desire for sugary Substances;
an inability to lift even moderate weights h dislike of milk , allergies
and eczema also fall into this group. In my early days as a homeopath and
acting on what I mistakenly saw as like cures like, I used Candida Im to
cure an awkward case of thrush. It worked. the patient however returned
at a later date complaining of a series of vague symptoms. A further study
made me see that the patient was in a psoric mode and an anti psoric brought
back the thrush plus an old discharge and finally the case cleared. I had
been guilty of suppression and had given the vitality or life force an
extra problem with the result that there was a general worsening of health
without any particular symptom pattern to indicate what might be wrong.
If the vitality were strong enough the thrush would have been controlled
by the body. It was not so it was necessary to act and raise the vitality
which then threw off the thrush which I had suppressed and the vaginal
discharge that had been allopathically suppressed. the case was then totally
cleared and cured.