[H] Depth of Disease 1
Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 8:34 am
Dear Colleagues and Students,
The "Depth of Disease" brings a number of ideas to mind. First of all,
there are functional disorders and pathological states. Initially all
diseases are the mistuning of the vital force producing a change in vital
operations. At this time, there is no organic pathology in the systems,
organs and tissues of the organism. After a period of time, this change in
vital operations produces organic pathology of a very serious nature. One
can easily see that in terms of seriousness a functional disorder is more
superficial than the deeper changes found pathological disease. A
functional disease cannot be treated in the exact same manner as a
pathological complaint. This has a great ramification on the selection of
the remedy, potency, dose, repetition, etc.
Disease are also divided in to acute and chronic disorders. These also
relate to the depth of the disease but this is only relative. For example,
an acute disease is self limiting complaint the reaches its crisis and
lysis quickly. Hahnemann's examples for acute disease includes individual
disorders, sporadic diseases and epidemic miasms. A chronic diseases is a
life long disorder that reaches crisis slowly and has no lysis. An acute
disease is thought of as more superficial than a chronic disease.
Hahnemann spoke of three types of long lasting diseases, those that are
kept up by a maintaining cause, those caused by improper medical treatment,
and those caused by a chronic miasm. Therefore, one may think that a acute
disease is more superficial and a chronic disease is more deep. The above
distinction of an acute disease as superficial, however, is relative to
functional and pathological. A acute cold is usually superficial and
harmless. An acute miasm like Ebola will produce serious organic pathology
in a few days that kills the patient. That makes the cold much more
superficial than Ebola!
The depth of disease may also be used to analyze the time and
progression of a disease. For example, the chronic miasms all have 3 stages
i.e., the primary, latent and secondary symptoms. The primary symptoms
involved the superficial lesions like the itch of psora, the discharges and
venereal growths of sycosis, and the chancre of syphilis. The latent stage
represents the period after suppression when the constitutional symptoms
are more functional than pathological. The secondary stage is when the
constitutional symptoms become centered in the systems, organs and tissues
producing organic pathology. So one can see that the primary stage is
superficial, the latent stage more deep, and the secondary stage the
deepest. This is both in terms of time and seriousness of symptoms.
The depth of disease also brings up the ideas of layers and complex
disorders. In aphorism 38 of the Organon Hahnemann taught that a new
stronger dissimilar disease suspends an weaker older disease until it is
cured or has run its course. In the case of an new strong acute disease it
will repress the symptoms of an older, for the moment, weaker chronic
disease. After the acute disease resolves itself the older chronic symptoms
will resurface. In this sense the new acute layer is more superficial than
the old chronic disease layer.
A new stronger chronic disease will suspend the older chronic diseases
as long as it is truly stronger. This makes the new stronger a active layer
more superficial and the chronic repressed layer deeper. More than one old
chronic diseases that act on the organism for a long time may form a
complex disorder where they all show symptoms in the areas they rule. This
represents the depth of disease in terms of time of exposure and strength
at the moment. This represents the time-line of the disease progression.
The reversal of disease layers is discussed in Hahnemann Direction of
Cure commonly called Hering's laws. The layers or strata of the disease
state tend to peal off in the reverse order of their development. Even in
complex diseases the component parts tend to disengage and resolve in
relationship to the time-line by which they developed. Hahnemann offered
exceptions to the rules such as diseases seriously mismanaged by drugs and
surgeries and old one-sided local pathologies that are not removed until
the patient is healthy in most other regards. Hahnemann's direction of cure
is a system of postulates with variables not a fixed dogma.
The layers of disease come in different forms depending on the nature
and strength of the disease and time and circumstances. For example, there
are active, latent and dormant diseases. An active disease is one that is
often the most recent in terms of time and strongest in terms of strength.
A latent disease is often a bit older and only shows a few fleeting
symptoms, which are intensified depending on the time and circumstances. A
dormant disease is a state whose symptoms are only found in the case
history although certain old one-sided affects may show as signs that are
not active.
Therefore, the depth of disease can be thought of as active, latent and
dormant. When an active layer is removed the latent layer becomes active.
When the layers repressing a dormant layer are removed it may become more
latent or active depending on the nature of the disease involved and the
time and circumstances. Once again this shows the time-line of the whole
disease state and the direction of cure. Understanding what composes the
parts that make up the "depths" of disease is an import part of understand
the case management strategies and the direction of cure. Layers and
complex disorders is not a monolithic state based only one cause.
Understanding how dissimilar causes layer and form complex disorders is
very important in treating chronic degenerative disorders.
In the footnote to aphorism 246 in the 5th Organon, Hahnemann points
out three areas that are extremely important in terms of the treatment of
disease. It was in this work that the Founder pointed out for the first
time what he called the "middle path'. This was that in any *obviously
progressive and strikingly increasing amelioration* the dose should not be
repeated as long as this state lasts. In disease that show only a *slow
improvement* where it may 40 to 100 days to show significant amelioration
the remedy may be repeated at suitable intervals to speed the cure to 1/2,
1/4 or less the time of the old method. To speed the cure in this fashion
it is extremely important to study three critical areas. These are the
nature of the medicine, the condition of the constitution of the patient,
and the nature and stage of the disease state.
"I perceived that, in order to discover this true middle path, we must
be guided as well by the nature of the different medicinal substances, as
also by the corporeal constitution of the patient and the magnitude of the
his disease, so that-"
All the aphorism of the Organon are based on three areas of study in
sequence. These are knowledge of disease, knowledge of medicine, and
knowledge of how to apply the medicine to the disease in a safe and
effective manner. To assist this process it is important to review the
following areas. The nature of the medicine includes the remedy's source
such as plant, mineral or animal and whether it is acute, chronic or both;
fast acting or slow acting; gentle or heroic and has any contraindications,
etc. The nature of the patient's constitution includes age; sex;
predispositions; sensitivity; vitality and the stability of the vital
force, etc. The magnitude of the disease includes whether it is acute, half
acute or chronic; strong, moderate or weak virulence'; non-miasmic or
miasmic; functional or pathological; singular, layered or complex; and
whether is it curable or not, etc.
Just as it takes three vectors to locate a point in space, knowledge of
the medicine, knowledge of the patient, and knowledge of the disease
provides the data necessary for clinical treatment. These three factors are
essential in choosing the correct remedy (true Similluimum); potency (C or
LM, low-medium-high); the delivery system (dry pills, oral medicinal
solution, olfaction); size of the dose (number of pills, drops, teaspoons,
etc.); and the repetition of the remedy (single dose, infrequent doses, or
rapid repetition to speed the cure). Hahnemann created an open source
system that can be individualized to suit the exact time and circumstances.
What is necessary to operate this process is an understand of the formulae
and how to enter the data and reach an conclusion.
Lastly, one might say that the deepest depth of disease if death!
There is no state past death for us mortals when it comes to organic life.
Birth and death are doors in and out of human existence. So much energy is
dedicated to the maintaining life at any cost and so little time is spend
on the processes of death, which usually takes place in stages. What is
important is relieving pain, offering counseling and allowing the patient
to pass away in peace. Death counseling very important. In modern culture
the thought of death is repressed while in traditional cultures it is part
of life. In yoga one learns how to "die daily".
Homeopathic euthanasia is not taking the patient's life by assisted
suicide. It is giving remedies that assist in a peaceful transition.
Homeopathic remedies reduce pain as well as the struggling to hold on to
life when life is already lost. Homeopathic euthanasia allows the vital
force to decide whether it is time to leave or stay. I once gave Arsenicum
LM 0/'1 to a dying baby sent home from the hospital to help with his
suffering and the infant recovered! The hospice turned into Hosanna and
all rejoiced.
Simila Minimus
Sincerely, David Little
PS. Please excuse the topographical errors in my posts. They are made very
quickly in the moment and I do not have the time or energy to proof read
and edited them.
The "Depth of Disease" brings a number of ideas to mind. First of all,
there are functional disorders and pathological states. Initially all
diseases are the mistuning of the vital force producing a change in vital
operations. At this time, there is no organic pathology in the systems,
organs and tissues of the organism. After a period of time, this change in
vital operations produces organic pathology of a very serious nature. One
can easily see that in terms of seriousness a functional disorder is more
superficial than the deeper changes found pathological disease. A
functional disease cannot be treated in the exact same manner as a
pathological complaint. This has a great ramification on the selection of
the remedy, potency, dose, repetition, etc.
Disease are also divided in to acute and chronic disorders. These also
relate to the depth of the disease but this is only relative. For example,
an acute disease is self limiting complaint the reaches its crisis and
lysis quickly. Hahnemann's examples for acute disease includes individual
disorders, sporadic diseases and epidemic miasms. A chronic diseases is a
life long disorder that reaches crisis slowly and has no lysis. An acute
disease is thought of as more superficial than a chronic disease.
Hahnemann spoke of three types of long lasting diseases, those that are
kept up by a maintaining cause, those caused by improper medical treatment,
and those caused by a chronic miasm. Therefore, one may think that a acute
disease is more superficial and a chronic disease is more deep. The above
distinction of an acute disease as superficial, however, is relative to
functional and pathological. A acute cold is usually superficial and
harmless. An acute miasm like Ebola will produce serious organic pathology
in a few days that kills the patient. That makes the cold much more
superficial than Ebola!
The depth of disease may also be used to analyze the time and
progression of a disease. For example, the chronic miasms all have 3 stages
i.e., the primary, latent and secondary symptoms. The primary symptoms
involved the superficial lesions like the itch of psora, the discharges and
venereal growths of sycosis, and the chancre of syphilis. The latent stage
represents the period after suppression when the constitutional symptoms
are more functional than pathological. The secondary stage is when the
constitutional symptoms become centered in the systems, organs and tissues
producing organic pathology. So one can see that the primary stage is
superficial, the latent stage more deep, and the secondary stage the
deepest. This is both in terms of time and seriousness of symptoms.
The depth of disease also brings up the ideas of layers and complex
disorders. In aphorism 38 of the Organon Hahnemann taught that a new
stronger dissimilar disease suspends an weaker older disease until it is
cured or has run its course. In the case of an new strong acute disease it
will repress the symptoms of an older, for the moment, weaker chronic
disease. After the acute disease resolves itself the older chronic symptoms
will resurface. In this sense the new acute layer is more superficial than
the old chronic disease layer.
A new stronger chronic disease will suspend the older chronic diseases
as long as it is truly stronger. This makes the new stronger a active layer
more superficial and the chronic repressed layer deeper. More than one old
chronic diseases that act on the organism for a long time may form a
complex disorder where they all show symptoms in the areas they rule. This
represents the depth of disease in terms of time of exposure and strength
at the moment. This represents the time-line of the disease progression.
The reversal of disease layers is discussed in Hahnemann Direction of
Cure commonly called Hering's laws. The layers or strata of the disease
state tend to peal off in the reverse order of their development. Even in
complex diseases the component parts tend to disengage and resolve in
relationship to the time-line by which they developed. Hahnemann offered
exceptions to the rules such as diseases seriously mismanaged by drugs and
surgeries and old one-sided local pathologies that are not removed until
the patient is healthy in most other regards. Hahnemann's direction of cure
is a system of postulates with variables not a fixed dogma.
The layers of disease come in different forms depending on the nature
and strength of the disease and time and circumstances. For example, there
are active, latent and dormant diseases. An active disease is one that is
often the most recent in terms of time and strongest in terms of strength.
A latent disease is often a bit older and only shows a few fleeting
symptoms, which are intensified depending on the time and circumstances. A
dormant disease is a state whose symptoms are only found in the case
history although certain old one-sided affects may show as signs that are
not active.
Therefore, the depth of disease can be thought of as active, latent and
dormant. When an active layer is removed the latent layer becomes active.
When the layers repressing a dormant layer are removed it may become more
latent or active depending on the nature of the disease involved and the
time and circumstances. Once again this shows the time-line of the whole
disease state and the direction of cure. Understanding what composes the
parts that make up the "depths" of disease is an import part of understand
the case management strategies and the direction of cure. Layers and
complex disorders is not a monolithic state based only one cause.
Understanding how dissimilar causes layer and form complex disorders is
very important in treating chronic degenerative disorders.
In the footnote to aphorism 246 in the 5th Organon, Hahnemann points
out three areas that are extremely important in terms of the treatment of
disease. It was in this work that the Founder pointed out for the first
time what he called the "middle path'. This was that in any *obviously
progressive and strikingly increasing amelioration* the dose should not be
repeated as long as this state lasts. In disease that show only a *slow
improvement* where it may 40 to 100 days to show significant amelioration
the remedy may be repeated at suitable intervals to speed the cure to 1/2,
1/4 or less the time of the old method. To speed the cure in this fashion
it is extremely important to study three critical areas. These are the
nature of the medicine, the condition of the constitution of the patient,
and the nature and stage of the disease state.
"I perceived that, in order to discover this true middle path, we must
be guided as well by the nature of the different medicinal substances, as
also by the corporeal constitution of the patient and the magnitude of the
his disease, so that-"
All the aphorism of the Organon are based on three areas of study in
sequence. These are knowledge of disease, knowledge of medicine, and
knowledge of how to apply the medicine to the disease in a safe and
effective manner. To assist this process it is important to review the
following areas. The nature of the medicine includes the remedy's source
such as plant, mineral or animal and whether it is acute, chronic or both;
fast acting or slow acting; gentle or heroic and has any contraindications,
etc. The nature of the patient's constitution includes age; sex;
predispositions; sensitivity; vitality and the stability of the vital
force, etc. The magnitude of the disease includes whether it is acute, half
acute or chronic; strong, moderate or weak virulence'; non-miasmic or
miasmic; functional or pathological; singular, layered or complex; and
whether is it curable or not, etc.
Just as it takes three vectors to locate a point in space, knowledge of
the medicine, knowledge of the patient, and knowledge of the disease
provides the data necessary for clinical treatment. These three factors are
essential in choosing the correct remedy (true Similluimum); potency (C or
LM, low-medium-high); the delivery system (dry pills, oral medicinal
solution, olfaction); size of the dose (number of pills, drops, teaspoons,
etc.); and the repetition of the remedy (single dose, infrequent doses, or
rapid repetition to speed the cure). Hahnemann created an open source
system that can be individualized to suit the exact time and circumstances.
What is necessary to operate this process is an understand of the formulae
and how to enter the data and reach an conclusion.
Lastly, one might say that the deepest depth of disease if death!
There is no state past death for us mortals when it comes to organic life.
Birth and death are doors in and out of human existence. So much energy is
dedicated to the maintaining life at any cost and so little time is spend
on the processes of death, which usually takes place in stages. What is
important is relieving pain, offering counseling and allowing the patient
to pass away in peace. Death counseling very important. In modern culture
the thought of death is repressed while in traditional cultures it is part
of life. In yoga one learns how to "die daily".
Homeopathic euthanasia is not taking the patient's life by assisted
suicide. It is giving remedies that assist in a peaceful transition.
Homeopathic remedies reduce pain as well as the struggling to hold on to
life when life is already lost. Homeopathic euthanasia allows the vital
force to decide whether it is time to leave or stay. I once gave Arsenicum
LM 0/'1 to a dying baby sent home from the hospital to help with his
suffering and the infant recovered! The hospice turned into Hosanna and
all rejoiced.
Simila Minimus
Sincerely, David Little
PS. Please excuse the topographical errors in my posts. They are made very
quickly in the moment and I do not have the time or energy to proof read
and edited them.