096 - ALLOPATHY-HOMEOPATHY-NAUROPATHY- YOGIC INSIGHTS,

My problem with discussions on the group site is that they tend to be superficial without getting into details. 

I am all for critical thinking and the scientific approach, but this requires a more detailed understanding of what exactly is being critiqued. Critical thinking cannot be applied at the top of the pyramid of consolidated opinion - it requires application further down the pyramid of what exactly was the study or procedure followed. 

So when we say homeopathy is good and science bad (or more likely vice versa), it is simply a judgmental statement. 

It is far more useful to ask the question, what is it good for, or what is it bad for? 

The discussion that follows is then raised to the proper level of discrimination. It is with this in mind that, in trying to explain how homeopathy works, I have also included a discussion on naturopathy as well as yogic insights into holistic healing, in addition to modern medicine.

Allopathic medicine without doubt is the mainstream system today. It is a leader for the treatment of emergencies, in infectious diseases, for genetic molecular insights, and ailments that require surgical intervention. Modern developments in surgery are in fact quite amazing. 

However, most of the troubles that humans face are functional disorders of the biological systems. By this I mean things like respiratory disorders (like common cold/cough etc), skin disorders (rashes, psoriasis etc), body pains (headache, stiff joints and back pains), digestive disorders, urinary disorders etc. 

These functional disorders account for over 80% of the ailments that an average human is likely to get over a lifetime. For this modern medicine seems to have no effective remedy. 

For example, you can count on getting a cold every winter, even after you were supposedly cured of the last winter's cold. In all these disorders, doctors and modern medicine only provide temporary relief. They are not able to remove the root cause of the ailment. Their treatment is mostly of the nature of suppressing the symptoms. It is from this perspective that an alternative system of medicine finds its relevance and significance.It is useful to understand the principles on which these alternative healing systems function. 

Homeopathy and Naturopathy are based on the laws of nature and are also scientific in their approach. The basic premise is - life is governed by the (spirit-like) vital force. This force animates the material body and enables all parts of the organism to operate in perfect harmony. This harmony and resulting balance produces the state of good health in a man. When this balance is disturbed, it is manifested in the form of symptoms of a disorder or disease. 

In the alternative systems such as homeopathy and naturopathy, the belief is that you are responsible for your health because the body does the primary healing, and that the doctor's job is to correct imbalances in your system that led to the disorder taking place. In modern medicine, it appears as though the doctors are the saviors as they are equipped with modern drugs and chemical-based equipment and medicines - not to speak of doctor/ drug induced diseases. 

In modern medicine, the assumption is that disease is caused by viruses and germs that come from the outside. Therefore, the body has to be protected against these outside invaders. This allows doctors to become the 'gatekeepers' to people's health and subsequently sets the basis for the 'commercialization' of modern medicine through the setting up of an elaborate (and expensive) healthcare infrastructure.

These different systems of medicine also have fundamentally different assumptions. 

For example, in naturopathy, disease is caused by the presence of 'toxins' in the body, leading to a state called 'toxaemia'. The naturopathic insight is that if you remove all the toxins in the body, you are naturally healthy. (Modern medicine accepts the idea of toxins as negative for health, but does not see it as the primary cause of disease). 

Naturopathic doctors say if you had no toxins, you don't attract germs in the first place. By way of analogy, let's say instead of throwing out kitchen garbage, you let it pile up in your living room. It will naturally attract flies and other pests who love garbage, that is why we keep our houses clean. 

Similarly, if you allow toxins to accumulate in your body, it will naturally attracts germs and viruses. But for lifestyle reasons, we tend not to keep our bodies as clean as our living rooms and we allow toxins to accumulate. 

This intensifies acidic conditions in the body which allows germs and viruses to breed. We get rid of toxins through digestive evacuation, sweating and breathing out. 

Normally, the proper flow of the vital force controls the elimination of toxins through the processes of digestion (converting food and drink into material that the body can use), assimilation (transforming digested food into tissue or oxidizing it to generate energy) and elimination (removing waste products). 

However, if the toxin levels get too high, the system gets overburdened, and the vital force gets depleted, and digestion does not do its job of assimilation and elimination properly. Under these conditions, toxins accumulate and illness (diseased state of body) results. 

When the vital force is restored, the digestive processes resume their normal functioning level, toxins are eliminated from the body, and improved health results. If you went to a naturopathy clinic like Jindal in Bangalore, they will spend at least two weeks getting the toxins out of your system, mostly by a fasting diet.

I want to switch over now to how the ancient yogis looked at the human body. 

They introduced the idea of 'prana' or vital force that animates all of life on earth. Modern science totally rejects this idea because it is not something they can touch or measure through instruments. However, if you are willing to be open-minded and look around, there is evidence of the vital force everywhere. 

Take water for instance. There is a world of difference between fresh water and stale stagnant water, even though both are chemically h2o. 

The freshest water is to be found in mountain rivers (which is why there is a big business selling premium mountain water in bottles). When mountain water tumbles over rocks, it gets aerated and has a higher pranic quality. 

[A digression - you can create your own pranic water by putting normal tap or still water into a blender for a few minutes and letting it get aereated]. Similarly, we open our windows for fresh air because it has more prana compared to the stale air inside the house. There is nothing to scientifically prove here - people know the difference between what is fresh and what is stale.

All prana comes from the Sun, which the source of all life on earth. On earth, the prana is available through the air we breathe. Prana is absorbed into the body through the breath, and it animates the body. (Modern scientists attribute the body's vital force to chemical processes in the body through the process of Darwinian evolution). 

The ancient practice of pranayama and its benefits is now known to the world, not just the ancient yogis. It is also the basis for practices such as surya-namaskar. In the yogic view, prana not only animates the body, but maintains its various functions through organs, muscles, tissues, glands as well as blood and other fluids. 

However, these body parts and plumbing fall into a 'diseased' state when the normal prana levels get depleted or blocked, and is not allowed to flow properly. Prana or the vital force tends to get depleted when there is a physical or emotional disturbance in our lives.

Before addressing how homeopathy and biochemic salts work, some background on their evolution is useful. 

Homeopathy was created around 1800 by Hahnemann. The basic principle is that if a substance is poisonous to a healthy person or causes disease, it can be transformed to effect a cure on sick people exhibiting the same symptoms. This principle or doctrine is called "like cures like". Homeopathy is very individual-specific and requires life-long study to cover various substances that can cover all known ailments. (It did create some problems and side effects when it got commercialized in the form of over-the-counter remedies, since the original person-specific approach was removed). 

However, its second principle was "potentization" through dilution. The dilution can be to the extent that there is no active ingredient present, which led to scientific criticism. (This potentization will be explained in more detail later on). 

About 80 years later, Schuessler, also a homeopath, reacting to scientific criticism about the lack of active ingredients, started to look at body health from a more physical perspective. Scientific studies at the time had discovered human cells and shown that they consisted of balanced quantities of water, organic and inorganic substances. They also showed that it is the inorganic substances that are the really vital elements. 

This led Schuessler to study the ash content of human bodies and identify 12 inorganic tissue salts that are essential for healthy functioning of cells. 

A deficit of the inorganic substance leads to cellular dysfunction. In addition, Schuessler significantly reduced the potency of the salts to 6x. This led to relative ease in self-administering the salts without facing severe side-effects. As a result, the use of Schuessler's 12 tissue salts has greatly increased because of its wide range of application.

It is useful to consider how the various systems of healing place the role of cellular health in their thinking. Allopathy and biochemic tissue salts schools think in terms of cells, whereas homeopathy, naturopathy and yoga talk in terms of vital force or prana. 

Cellular health is very fundamental for the body's health and the extent/level of immunity that the body exhibits. As mentioned earlier, modern medicine sees cellular dysfunction as due to external agents such as germs and viruses, and in more recent times, has explained 'auto-immune' diseases as due to attacks on healthy cells by the body's own immunity cells. 

On the other hand, naturopathy sees disease as due to the presence of toxins. Traditional yoga sees disease as due to depleted levels of prana in them. Actually, both the naturopathic and yogic approaches are complementary because the depleted levels of prana is what eventually allows toxins to accumulate in the cells, and makes the body susceptible to illness. 

Homeopathy uses the principle of "like cures like" to create potentization in their treatments, which is complementary to increasing depleted levels of prana in the affected parts. For example, poison ivy causes rashes in the healthy person. The same poison ivy can be used to create a potentized medicine that cures these rashes. Finally, biochemic tissue salts use a combination of replenishing depleted inorganic salts and lower potentization to bring about cures for functional disorders.

With the above background, it is now possible to get into a more in-depth understanding of how homeopathy and biochemic tissue salts work. As a broad introductory overview, biochemic tissue salts works at two levels 

(a) at the physical level to restore depleted salts, and (b) at the vital level to restore depleted prana or vital force. 

On the other hand, homeopathy works only at the second level of restoring the vital force. 

To provide greater clarity, I will use an actual example. Given we are in the time of the coronavirus, I will start by trying to cure a familiar respiratory ailment, the common cold. 

We start with a suitable drug, then (a) explain the reasons for its chemical composition, (b) what are the underlying principles that make it work, (c) what the homeopathic maxim "like cures like" actually means, and (d) how it is made to increase the vital force in the body. 

 Since I am more familiar with Schuessler's biochemic tissue salts, I will choose one of them - Ferrum Phosphoricum, which is normally prescribed at a potency of 6 times the basic salt (6x). This salt is the first remedy usually prescribed for the common cold. The material in the following paragraphs is unfortunately quite technical, but it has it own science behind it and I am not able to simplify it any further.

First, we address the physical level, and introduce some basic facts about the human body. The average male adult body is about 65-70kg. About 70% of the body is water. Blood, which is a key fluid that supplies oxygen and nutrients through the arteries and removes waste products through the veins, constitutes about 10-15% by volume. If you burn the blood, get rid of the water vapour and examine the ash content, it primarily consists of salts of iron. Iron is present in the blood only in trace amounts - it is estimated that in a man weighing 65kg, there is 2.8 grams of iron contained in the entire blood of the body (refer Boericke & Dewey, who translated Schuessler's work). 

A disturbance in the equilibrium of iron causes certain types of functional disorders in the blood itself, as well as muscles, blood vessels, and the very cells themselves, all of which need iron to function. 

Now iron and its salts have the property of attracting oxygen (that is why iron rusts). Since the blood interacts with the lungs to extract oxygen, the presence of the right amount of iron is quite critical to allow the lungs to do their job properly. However, the depletion of vitality weakens this oxygen extraction function (and waste disposal function) and subsequently allows toxins to accumulate. 

Toxins in the blood lead to inflammations, which in turns affects the mucous membranes. You eventually have symptoms of a cold because the mucous membrane is trying the throw the toxins out of the body. (This process is how the presence of toxins eventually lowers your immunity).

Ferrum Phosphoricum is basically iron phosphate, which is one key salts identified in the ash content of blood. By ingesting iron phosphate, the equilibrium in the iron level in the blood and cells can be restored. However, this is only the physical part of the biochemic/homeopathic solution, and by itself it will not yield desired results. 

This is because the vital force or prana is significantly depleted from dealing with the effects of the common cold, as a result of the accumulated toxins in the blood and the cells.

Second, we address the vital force level. This starts with a discussion on how biochemic salt medicines are made, with the objective of increasing prana. 

In the case of Ferrum Phosphoricum (iron phosphate), we mix sodium phosphate with iron sulphate. The resulting precipitate is filtered, washed and dried, then rubbed down to a powder. The pure iron phosphate is put through a homeopathic process called trituration. Here, the active ingredient, iron phosphate, is mixed with sugar of milk (lactose in powdered form, which is neutral to the active ingredient). It is then put through the process of 'potentization'. A potency of 1x means that we take 1 part of iron phosphate and 99 parts of sugar of milk, mix it up, then shake vigorously in a manner that ensures aeration during the shaking, then set it aside for some time. This process creates a certain amount of prana or vital force in the active ingredient. 

A potency of 2x means that we take one part of the 1x potentized mixture, and mix it again with 99 parts of neutral sugar of milk. This new mixture is again put through the vigorous aerated shaking process, and set aside for some time. It is important to note that this does not mean that 2x potency contains exactly twice the level of prana, because prana by definition is not measurable. 

It simply means that 2x potency contains significantly more prana than does 1x potency. In modern scientific terms, 2x contains much less of the active ingredient compared to 1x, but the amount of prana is more because it carries over from the 1x mixture and is increased by further potentization. Finally, we need to note that prana or the vital force needs a vehicle to carry it, whether it is the air we breathe, or a neutral substance such as the sugar of milk.

It is important to note that biochemic tissues salts, such as Ferrum Phosphoricum are typically potentized to 6x. At this level there is still a trace amount of salt (active ingredient), so biochemic tissue salts work through a combination of supplementing corresponding salts in the body, plus helping to restore the flow of prana in the affected part. However, there are other homeopathic medicines that can be potentized to much higher levels. At these levels there is effectively no trace element or active ingredient, and all of the healing action is through restoring the flow of prana in the affected body part. But here, since the starting point was a substance adhering to the principle of "like cures like", the prana obtains its special quality to cure the affected part.

Ferrum Phosphoricum (and other biochemic tissue salts) are made into tiny tablets which are much smaller than the modern medicines that you see at a pharmacy counter. The patient is usually asked to take them 4 at a time, 3 times a day. The basic idea here is that prana is being ingested into the system and meant to go where the prana is depleted. By spreading out the dosage across so many tablets, it makes it easier for the mouth saliva, as well as stomach and intestinal walls to absorb the desired salt containing an elevated level of prana. This fresh supply of prana catalyzes the depleted prana, and helps it get back to its normal functioning level.

There is so much that can be written on this subject, but I have tried to compress it as much as possible while still getting into details that are important to the scientifically-minded. If you have managed to reach this para, I have sorely tested your attention and concentration!

I would like to conclude by addressing two more points. 

(1) Homeopathic treatment may take less or more time to show results. When the disorder has not gone beyond the acute stage, it can give quick results. In case of infants, I have seen symptoms fading away in as short as 10 minutes time. However, if the disorder has progressed to the chronic stage, it takes much longer to achieve successful treatment. 

(2) In modern medicine, there is pressure to give the patient immediate relief. However, the approach used is typically to get the result by suppressing symptoms, not curing the basic cause, and therefore the symptoms tend to resurface after some time. 

The homeopathic approach tries to get to the root causes by looking at the person as a whole (not just the affected part) and therefore tends to give surer and more long-lasting results. If properly administered, an additional benefit is that there are fewer side-effects.

In conclusion, a balanced perspective would assert that there is a validity and rationale to all the systems of medicine. However, the real problem with modern medicine is the level of complexity that makes it almost incomprehensible to the lay person. 

All medical knowledge is now based on specialization and sub-specialization, and even relatively simple procedures require the presence of multiple layers of specialists. Many of these specialists in turn really function as technicians, because the technical complexity is such that they simply follow instructions from the medical equipment and pharma companies. 

An additional worry is the effect of chemical drugs on other parts of the body and potential side-effects. In contrast, the alternative systems of medicine look at the patient in totality and their medical prescriptions seems to have a more natural basis. In terms of the likely efficacy of outcomes, none of the systems offers any guarantees of success. 

So from the patients point of view, no matter which system of medicine they choose, they are always taking some kind of chance. 

The idea of a more natural and simpler approach to solving one's health problems has an inherent appeal to many people, particularly when costs and time are factored into consideration.