Category Archives: Disease

PANDAS/PANS – The Bigger Picture

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Recently, on our Facebook group for parents of children on the autism spectrum, a question was asked about PANDAS, and how Heilkunst can address this issue. The answer to the question is a simple one, but it also requires some explanation. And while the question may be a particular one for parents of ASD children, the issue and the answer should be of interest to anyone struggling with some kind of microbial infestation.Microbe

PANDAS is the acronym for “Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal infections”. Like most things these days, it is a fancy name attached to a group of symptoms and then linked to a microbe that is supposed to be responsible.

This is consistent with the prevailing ‘germ theory’ of disease ever since Louis Pasteur proposed it over 150 years ago. There are two problems with the germ theory of disease: one, not everyone who comes in contact with the germ gets sick, so there is another factor operating, namely, the immune system; two, not everyone who gets the symptoms has the germ.

The first problem was raised by eminent scientists at the time, most notably Antonine Béchamp and Claude Bernard in France, contemporaries of Pasteur, who argued that the more important factor in disease was one’s ability to resist any infectious microbial agents – immunity. Béchamp also argued that there were exogenous microbes that could invade a body if weak enough, but that most microbes (bacteria, viruses, fungi) were actually produced by the body as part of a normal cycle of healing and metabolic function, and were not outside invaders. For example, in children who have so-called ‘ear infections’ (otitis media – which really just means inflammation of the middle ear) bacteria are produced by the body to clean up dead cells (acting like garbage collectors) and using antibiotics only serves to stop this process and results in a soggy mess, known as ‘fluid in the ear’. This necessitated, in many cases, surgery to drain the fluid and put tubes in. Most ‘infections’ are really just inflammations started by the body to try get rid of damaged cells and tissue, build new tissue and restore a balance upset by something.

However, Pasteur’s more simplistic ‘germ = disease’ mantra won the day as it provided the appearance of a scientific basis for medical diagnosis and also for treatment (not to 200428732-001mention that it is the basis for a multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry).

The second problem – how to know if a microbe is really the cause of a disease or part of the body’s own healing effort – was recognized and addressed by Koch’s Postulates, which effectively state that for a germ to be considered the cause of a disease, it must be isolated in then identified in all disease cases and then shown to cause the same disease consistently in persons or animals injected with it. However, this standard has more or less gone by the board these days. The SARS epidemic in Toronto a number of years back, a sudden respiratory condition that struck a large number of people, showed how low the standard had become. While the outbreak was blamed on a highly infectious microbe, actual tests and results later published in medical journals showed that only about 40% of people diagnosed with SARS – sudden acute respiratory syndrome – had the virus, and of those who did, there were only traces, often which had to be searched for, compared to the the teeming viral numbers usually associated with an infectious disease. But the virus still is declared guilty for the outbreak.

Today, we face much the same dilemma. We are taught to fear microbes, that microbes are bad, and that if we can make any kind of link, whether circumstantial or even just hypothetical, we need to kill the microbes deemed responsible. There are certain microbes that cause disease, but the list is a short one. Most microbes are there because of a disease condition, not the cause of it. However, once there, they can trigger a number of symptoms that then get labelled as as disease, but is really just a secondary condition or syndrome resulting from a deeper issue or problem.

So, let’s look at the condition called PANDAS. The microbe involved is commonly found in people’s throat, but is kept under control by a healthy immune system; if not, due to too much stress and other factors weakening the immune system, it can result in strep throat. Again, this is not really an infection as much as a battle between the microbe and the immune system over control and territory. Usually this can be resolved without recourse to antibiotics. As Dr. Robert Mendelsohn, the former associate professor of paediatrics at the 514fQqhVjFLUniversity of Illinois College of Medicine wrote in his book, How to Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of Your Doctor, antibiotics are to be avoided and he almost never used them in his over 30 years of practice. Most conditions will resolve readily on their own with no ill effects to the child. He said the same about so-called ‘ear infections’.

So, there is a tenuous causative link between strep and other related microbes and the behavioural symptoms collected under the name PANDAS. This is even recognized by the fact that more recently, PANDAS is being replaced by the term PANS, Pediatric Acute Neuropsychiatric Syndrome. The link with microbes has disappeared.

It is true that some children benefit from treatment for strep, yeast, etc., to the extent these aggravate a situations, as antibiotics, anti-fungals, etc. will kill microbes. However, this improvement tends to come at a high cost, weakening the immune system further and is only really a temporary solution at best. My father likened it to selling sand while living on a sand bar. I liken it to shooting the messenger and avoiding the message (that something deeper is going on and needs to be addressed).

Where does Heilkunst stand on all this?

For Heilkunst, there can indeed be infectious microbes. The good news is that these, such as malaria, cholera, measles, chickenpox, tetanus, yellow fever, hepatitis A and B, etc. can be effectively treated with energy medicine. We also accept that when certain microbes either in the gastrointestinal track or inside the body are out of balance, such as strep or candida, these may need to be addressed acutely, again with energy medicine, but that the real problem here lies in why the immune system is so out of balance that such problems arise. Energy medicine aimed at a secondary microbial problem avoids the problem of side-effects (really the disease causing or iatrogenic effects of drugs), but unless you also address the deeper issues behind the microbial problem, it will keep coming back.

Thus, PANDAS/PANS is the name of a complex condition with various underlying disease causes – traumas, drugs, vaccinations, inherited disease factors, etc. These deeper causes need to be addressed, and in a systematic, logical manner, each case being somewhat different. In some cases, the roots are not too deep and early results can be seen; in other cases, the roots are much deeper and progress is much slower and even for a time seemingly not there. However, our experience over more than 20 years is that consistent, systematic treatment of the underlying causes (based on a broad map we have developed of potential causes in any given case) does produce good results even in the most difficult of case, even where such cases have been labelled ‘non-responders’.

UPDATE: The HCH has posted a video of Rudi discussing this issue on our YouTube channel.

 

 

Removing Traumas and Shocks as Disease-causing Agent

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Did you know…

that most people are suffering from a multitude of diseases, and the conditions that these diseases create seem to be complex and difficult to treat? Difficult, that is, if there is not a clear idea as to what is a disease and what is simply the expression of a disease (condition).

The conventional system emphasizes ‘diagnosis’. True diagnosis should point to the true cause of a disease. But what the medical “authority” is really doing in most cases is giving a name to an obvious and often arbitrary complex of symptoms. In this kind of labelling of an arbitrarily selected mix of symptoms, the cause of this so-called ‘disease’ is either unknown (termed ‘idiopathic’) or is multiple. If a person has painful inflammation of the joints, this main symptom is given a name, such as arthritis, which is simply a Greek term that means ‘inflammation of the joints’. The Greek term sounds more impressive, however. It used to be called ‘gout’, but that is now generally reserved specifically for inflammation of the foot joints. Well now, many things are claimed to cause gout. But since the ‘diagnosis’ says the condition is due to inflammation, the conventional ‘solution’ is to kill the symptom, the messenger, namely the inflammation. This seems simpler to the materialistic mind-set which looks at things rather mechanically. And it fits the tendency to see all symptoms as linked to some drug that can remove them – a drug for every ailment. In those cases where a person has a multiple of conditions, each symptom is treated/suppressed by a given drug, ignoring the underlying cause which generally can’t be ‘seen’ with the allopathic approach.

We have seen endless cases where children with a skin eruption are treated with drugs to suppress this, then later, they develop lung problems, which is really the original cause(s) manifesting deeper in the body. In the conventional system the lung problems are instead considered as a new ‘disease’ and a new drug is prescribed. And this can continue until kidney problems arise, which are then treated with further drugs, without considering the disease-causing effects of the drugs themselves (such as kidney damaging), the iatrogenic diseases. In a case we mentioned in a previous blog, the initial symptoms (high blood pressure) were suppressed without treating the underlying cause, and the drug caused ‘side-effects’, which required a second drug, and this continued until eventually the patient was on 14 different medications.

In the Heilkunst system it is relatively easy to identify true causes, even in complex cases. With the true causes identified, a scientific method can then be applied to systematically treat the complex diseases in the proper order. Our body is more than the flesh and blood material body and we know that by the fact that a memory of a horror in the distant past can still bring up shivers inside us, or the prospect of seeing someone who abused us long ago in childhood could be terrifying and create a bed-bound sickness. The body memory is long and traumatic, events in our life do leave negative imprints on our body–contractions, fear, rigidities, etc. In various degrees these events all contribute to our suffering today. Each shock and trauma needs to be treated appropriately to lift us free from the past. These traumatic experiences are part of the underlying causes of the disease conditions. By treating a timeline of various shocks and traumas, we have helped many people with complex conditions such as high blood pressure, Type II diabetes, autism, among many others. We treat the timeline events in the reverse order to their occurrence as the general law of healing tells us that our innate healing capacity seeks to address the most recent trauma first. The treatment of diseases due to traumatic events that occur since birth has a bio-logic.

Let’s consider a case of an autistic child. He or she could likely receive some or all of the following shocks:

– ultrasound(s)

– amniocentesis

– forceps, Pitocin, C-section

– vaccinations (upwards of 30 or more)

– antibiotics

– tylenol or other fever-suppressing drugs

– surgeries and various drugs following from that

– emotional traumas related to separation/divorce

– bullying and other forms of abuse

– blood draws and other invasive testing

– dental surgery

For more information on this Rudi addresses the topic at an Autism One conference in Toronto 2009.

Treating the symptoms of an autistic child is not only just temporary, but it can be suppressive, making things worse, and add additional drug diseases onto the existing ones. With the Heilkunst system, we treat the shocks and remove these initial layer of causes, which generally brings out sustaining health benefits and improvements. We then work at identifying deeper issues, such as inherited disease patterns and karmic and spiritual reasons for each individual, which will be discussed further in the future bogs. Stay tuned!

For more information about Heilkunst treatment and studies please visit our website.

Why do symptoms come back?

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Did you know…

that we mistake getting rid of symptoms for removing the cause?

There’s a human tendency to think that the symptoms we suffer are the disorder or disease and if we can only get rid of the symptoms, we’ve gotten rid of the problem. No pain, no problem. There’s nothing more vexing and stressful than the suffering of someone close to us. That was essentially the reason why blood-letting was so popular for so long – it drained so much life energy from a person that they stopped complaining – the body didn’t have enough energy to produce symptoms.

Symptoms are not the disease or disorder, but our body’s attempt to get rid of the problem. Symptoms are the message that we have a problem, “Houston, we have a problem.” At first, the message is given quietly, but if we ignore it, the body ramps up the volume, and if we keep ignoring the message and don’t correct the cause the symptoms are pointing to, it starts shouting at us.

Symptoms are really part of life’s game of ‘truth or consequences’: if we don’t follow natural law (and spiritual law) and live right we will suffer the consequences. So, symptoms are really good and faithful friends, telling us what we don’t really want, but need to hear. We don’t like to be told to stop overindulging in sweets or chocolate cake, or to start exercising regularly, or even to get out of a job we dislike and is stressing us. We know we need to do these things, but we often prefer staying with the familiar and comfortable to the unknown and often uncomfortable. We don’t generally like to change unless we are forced to. Symptoms effectively force us to consider changing the way we live, because that way is making us sick.

But our first tendency is to find something that will make the unpleasant, even painful symptoms go away, never mind the cause. It’s a ‘shoot the messenger’ response. The conventional system of medicine is essentially built around getting rid of symptoms, and it does this by forcefully suppressing them. We can see this in all the ‘anti’ drugs:

– antibiotics to suppress microbial life, whether good or bad, which are just the carriers for disease and are produced as part of the healing reaction; the microbial life are not the disease itself.

– anti-inflammatories that suppress the physiologically healthy fever the body produces in the effort to destroy disease germs, and repair tissue damage, and restore balance,

– anti-convulsants that suppress the discharge of energy built up in various organs,

– anti-hypertensive drugs artificially control high blood pressure which is the effect of a number of causes, etc.

We may like the temporary relief we get, but the disorder or disease is still there. We may choose to believe that the pain is ’caused’ by inflammation and take the anti-inflammatory, but we ignore what is causing the inflammation. We may choose to believe that our depression is ’caused’ by a lack of a certain hormone or neuro-chemical, but we ignore what it is that then causes the hormone or chemical to go out of balance. The symptoms are reduced and we go on with our life, until the symptoms come back. At first we just take more of what made the symptoms go away the first time, and sometimes it works, but eventually it stops working or it requires stronger dosage and longer usage, which produce side-effects that are often worse than the initial problem they were meant to ‘solve’ (a case of ‘sweeping it under the rug’).

The goal of Heilkunst’s therapeutic approach is to find the true cause underlying the symptoms, not just to make the symptoms go away. A state of health is not about the superficial outer appearances but the living functions underneath. Identifying the true cause requires a thorough understanding of the nature of disorder and disease. In most cases, knowing the traumatic event, shock or accident that triggered the problem will lead to the cause. We can then prescribe the right remedy to remove the cause. Different types of causes need to be addressed according to their lawfulness.

On the one hand, some causes can be in the nature of life style and dietary considerations. If arthritic symptoms that are suppressed by drugs continue to persist, and the symptoms are due to chronic dehydration, as in one case we had, then the remedy is adequate water intake and cutting back on diuretic drinks like coffee and soda. If schizophrenia is due to a lack of a mineral or vitamin, then supplying that mineral or vitamin will resolve the problem, where anti-psychotic drugs only aggravate the problem (leaching vitamins and minerals out of the system).

On the other hand, if the cause is a disease or complex of diseases, then even the naturopathic approach of nutrition and supplements will only palliate (give temporary relief), but not remove the cause itself. Take the case of a woman who was quite sick and received good advice on nutrition and lifestyle changes, which helped initially. However, the symptoms returned, and this time, even worse than before. The previous treatment program was re-applied, but this time it no longer helped. The problem was that the previous treatment removed the various disorders in the sustentive power, but not the disease involving the generative power. In order to remove the disease(s) cause we had to identify the various diseases and treated them systematically. Once this was done, the symptoms disappeared – and were not to come back.

Next time we’ll look at how to identify the disease(s) a person has and how to treat them properly, and in the proper order.

For more information about Heilkunst treatment and studies please visit our website.

The True Meaning of Symptoms

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Did you know…

that the symptoms you suffer are not the disorder or disease itself, but your body’s attempt to fix the problem?

We know at one level that the symptoms are just that–indications of a disorder or disease, not the disease itself. Yet, we generally tend to think in terms of ‘no symptoms, no disease’. We think this in two ways: first, so long as we don’t have any symptoms, we think we are healthy; second, if we have symptoms and they then go away, we generally think the disease is gone, too.

Most treatments, whether conventional or alternative, are aimed at the symptoms. This is really just a case of ‘shooting the messenger’. Symptoms result from a disease, but they are not the disease. Symptoms are really our friend, telling us what we need, but we don’t want to hear. Without symptoms to tell us that we have a problem, we wouldn’t know and wouldn’t try to do anything about it.

Heilkunst distinguishes between the initial action and counteraction phases of the disease process. These two phases relate to the two sides of our life force – the generative power and the sustentive power. The initial action involves the engendering of the disease in the generative power of our life force. It is virtually imperceptible to us. As a sovereign entity, our body naturally initiates a battle against any  intrusion. This is the counteraction phase. The counteraction of the sustentive side of our life force produces symptoms, which point to  the struggle against the disease. So, the actual engenderment of the disease (initial action) and the counteraction of our healing (sustentive) power make up the two phases of the disease process.

The disease process is part of the natural law of action-reaction: the action of the disease agent produces a reaction on the part of our immune system. How soon and in what form the counteraction will take place depends on the nature of the disease, the individual makeup and the condition of the immune system. Usually the stronger the immune system, the more immediate the counteraction. Sometimes the immune system is able to overcome the disease with few if any perceptible symptoms. That is when someone might feel a little ‘off’ with ‘cold’ symptoms, while another person will have more pronounced displays of symptoms. It is, thus, important to have a healthy regimen to keep the sustentive power properly charged and able to resist incursions by disease agents. Relatively speaking, a disease of an infectious nature usually sets off the symptoms much sooner than a disease of a more chronic nature even though these might also have acute flare-ups. Some individual’s tend to express their battle against disease through fevers while others seem to always have a headache. (We will look at this in another post.)

Disease itself is invisible and silent. It comes like a thief in the night. It steals our health and we don’t know it until later when we discover something missing, things out of place or signs of forced entry. Symptoms point out that a disease is trying to get in or has somehow gotten in. Some symptoms are loud and noisy–when the pain feels like we are banging our head against a wall, or we want to, this is something we can’t ignore! Let’s take the classic case of infectious diseases. When our children contract a disease, like chickenpox, nothing is noticed for about 7-10 days. They have the disease, but we don’t know it yet. This is the initial action of the disease process. Then our healing or sustentive power rallies its forces (the immune system) and tries to get rid of the disease. This struggle is the counteraction and it is the struggle that produces symptoms, such as fevers and discharges.

We tend to consider the symptoms as being the disease itself, and thus, the enemy. Fevers, discharges, and rashes are generally considered bad and to be suppressed. Most treatments seek to provide medicines that work against the symptoms. We are given either synthetic or natural medicines to suppress fever (aspirin or white willow bark) or to suppress discharges (decongestants for mucous). However, these treatments are ‘symptomatic’; they do not address the underlying cause or the disease itself.

In Heilkunst, we can take the symptoms into account, but the treatment is aimed at the disease itself, not the symptoms. When the cause is removed, the symptoms also go away. Take the case of a woman who had been suffering from migraines several times a week for almost 30 years. She had changed her diet, taken various natural and over the counter drug treatments and finally ended up on prescription drugs. These blunted the symptoms somewhat, but did nothing to actually get rid of the migraines. These migraines had a number of underlying causes or diseases, and after treating for them systematically with Heilkunst her migraines finally ceased.

Heilkunst provides causal treatment. It does not ‘shoot the messenger’ (the symptoms), but seeks rather to get at the underlying cause. Symptoms are often unpleasant, but they are our friends in terms of letting us know there is a problem, and giving us clues as to the source of the problem. Suppressing the symptoms does not mean the cause is gone. The battle temporarily fades into the background but it will continue on or it will choose another outlet (a different set of symptoms from another part of the body), as the enemy (disease) is still in place. Removing the cause (the disease), however, does effectively get rid of the symptoms as well.

So, don’t be misled by symptomatic treatment – use the approach that actually gets rid of the underlying cause(s) of the symptoms – Heilkunst – and does it safely.

For more information about Heilkunst treatment and studies please visit our website.

Homeopathic vs. Homotonic

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Did you know…

that in Heilkunst, homeopathy is just one small part of a much more comprehensive system of healthcare?

What does ‘homeopathy’ mean and stand for as a therapeutic approach? We read about ‘homeopathy’, we use the word, and it is increasingly being used to ‘sell’ things, as it is becoming popular and associated with ‘safe’, ‘effective’ and ‘natural’. But what exactly is ‘homeopathy’, or for that matter, ‘homeopathic’ as in ‘homeopathic medicine’ or ‘homeopathic remedy’?

To fully experience light, we need to have experienced dark. To say ‘yes’ to something, we need to have the option to say ‘no’. Life is polarity and we understand by means of a polarity and choice. To understand ‘homeopathic’, we also need to understand ‘homotonic’. In previous posts, we talked about two types of disease – primary, or tonic disease, which had a constant nature, such as chickenpox or cholera; and secondary, or pathic disease, which has a variable nature. ‘Homeopathy’ involves a specific method for treating the secondary, pathic diseases using the natural curative law of similar; ‘homotonic’ is the method for treating the primary, tonic diseases.

The founder of Heilkunst, Dr. Hahnemann, initially developed a method to treat the tonic diseases based on identifying the cause (‘homotonic’), whether a given trauma (such as an accident or emotional shock), a drug, or a germ. However, once a tonic disease is within a person’s organism, it can give rise to other, secondary diseases. The secondary diseases in many cases will dissolve on their own once the underlying tonic disease is removed according to the tonic disease jurisdictions, as discussed in previous blogs. However, some secondary diseases can only be removed through another method, by looking more closely at the disease expressions and symptoms besides the cause itself. This is where the ‘homeopathic’ prescribing comes in. A secondary disease can be identified and a curative ‘homeopathic’ medicine can be found for it by analyzing the characteristic symptom image that it produces. Each secondary disease creates a unique symptom picture. While one disease may have some symptoms in common with others, the particular combination and sequence (pattern) is unique, like a barcode. We must be aware that it is not a mechanical process but rather an etheric capacity to ‘see’ the disease image expressed through the characteristic symptoms. All clinical health practitioners and physicians would appreciate the importance of cultivating the ability to observe patients. Once you have this symptom picture you can then match it to a ‘rogue’s gallery’ of disease pictures containing the characteristic disease image of each known secondary disease. This ‘rogue’s gallery’ is called the homeopathic materia medica. Most disease pictures are gathered through a method called a “proving”, that is, by giving relatively healthy persons very small, usually highly diluted doses of a given substance (mostly derived from plants, animals, minerals), and recording the characteristic symptoms that are produced (disease image). With the development and spread of homeopathy more and more disease symptoms in the materia medica books are now collected from clinical observations.

Now we can come to the understanding that ‘homeopathy’ means similar suffering: ‘homeo’ = similar; ‘pathic’ = suffering, from the Greek word ‘pathos’. It is in the suffering or symptoms of the patient that we are looking for the curative medicine or remedy with the ‘homeopathic’ method. So, homeopathy is that method of identifying and treating the secondary or pathic diseases according to the law of similars. That’s why its discoverer, Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, took the Greek words ‘homoios’ (similar) and ‘pathos’ (suffering or symptoms) to coin the term. We therefore may use the term ‘homotonic’ for the method that looks at the primary or tonic diseases by means of the causes directly instead of the symptoms/suffering and the remedy is found based on the similar cause/irritants/function.

Treating for the secondary or pathic diseases, is much like detective work. You have the description of a criminal from witnesses and the observation made by the detectives on the scene, and then you try to match this picture of the criminal in terms of his appearance, distinguishing markings, behaviour and M.O. (modus operandi), to a catalogue of known criminals in a police database.

In contrast, the primary or tonic diseases can be identified from their cause. For example, if you are sick or in pain, and this is in some way connected to or following an accident, then you don’t need to focus on the symptoms, but only on the cause – the accident. Take a very simple case – you have a pain and you know that it is there because you were stung by a bee. You don’t need to examine the symptoms; simply give yourself a dose of Apis mellifica, a medicine made from the honey bee, and the pain will be gone. If the pain does persist in some form, it might be because the sting traumatized a nerve ending and in that case you would take the remedy for nerve trauma, which is Hypericum perfoliatum. When a medicine is used to remove a tonic disease, it becomes a homotonic remedy, and when a medicine is used to remove a pathic disease, it is a homeopathic remedy.

Here’s a somewhat more complex example. A woman came to see us suffering from a mysterious rash. Many others had prescribed various drugs, creams, salves and potions – all focusing on the skin symptom itself – but to no avail. In the consultation she mentioned that the rash had appeared shortly after a fearful car accident. She had never had any skin problems prior to the accident. After ascertaining the nature of the shock (essentially emotional), we gave her the remedy for that type of shock and her skin symptoms disappeared within a few days. We could give many more such examples.

Each time when you suffer a tonic disease, this disease can engender one or more secondary or pathic diseases in you. To get at the pathic diseases, you need to examine the symptom picture or image produced and see if you can then find a medicine that produces this same picture in a healthy person. In the case of more than one pathic disease, you have to identify each one according to its characteristic symptom picture and match this disease picture to a medicinal agent that is known to produce a similar disease image in a healthy person. Testing of medicines on healthy persons, using safe, diluted doses is termed a ‘proving’. Once we know what symptoms a given medicine will produce in a healthy person, we can then use that medicine to remove a similar disease in a sick person. We all know that cutting onions produces various characteristic symptoms, like a hay fever condition or certain symptoms of a cold. If you then come down with something such as a cold that produces symptoms similar to that produced by cutting onions, you could take the homeopathic version, Allium cepa, and remove the secondary disease behind the symptoms.

To conclude, homeopathy only treats secondary diseases; it cannot really treat primary diseases. For that you need to use a different method or approach, ‘homotonic’ prescribing. In Heilkunst, we include both  the homeopathic and homotonic method and apply each according to the nature or type of disease in a given case.

The term ‘homeopathic’ is also often used for various ‘natural’ formulas that contain herbs, vitamins, and other ingredients in a highly diluted form. But neither the ‘natural’ aspect, nor the dilution makes something ‘homeopathic’. It is only homeopathic when it is applied to a secondary or pathic disease according to the law of similars (in this case similar suffering or symptoms = pathos), which involves a substance that has been proved or tested in its effects on healthy persons (‘provers’) and these negative effects (only temporary in the provers) are then matched to a similar disease picture in a sick person.

Thus, Heilkunst includes homeopathy, but goes far beyond simply homeopathic treatment, as this only is able to treat secondary, pathic diseases, not the deeper primary or tonic diseases.

For more information about Heilkunst treatment and studies please visit our website.

Ideogenic Jurisdiction

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Did you know…

that there are natural diseases, but also specific diseases of the mind?

Within Heilkunst, we distinguish between primary, tonic diseases and secondary, pathic diseases. (See previous blog: Two Types of Disease) For primary, tonic diseases, we can view them in four groups based on the principles of causes:

– irritant actions – involving some form of shock or trauma, forming the basis for the treatment of most accidents (first-aid) and emotional traumas.

– microbial actions – involving the various germs carrying certain infectious and contagious diseases, such as the childhood and tropical diseases

– drug actions – involving various drugs which are at base poisons and can all engender their own form of disease (termed ‘side-effects).

– actions based on ignorance –  involving various layers of false beliefs that compromise our health

We call the last group of diseases from mind/belief actions, ideogenic diseases. The ideogenic diseases arise from within the soul of man. The origin of all ideogenic disease is ignorance, or man’s lack of knowledge about himself and the world. Our separation from the Divine Source means that we struggle to know what is the right action, to know what is real and what is an illusion or delusion. In the face of uncertainty and doubt, we fill the vacuum created by our un-knowing with beliefs. These beliefs are assertions of the mind as to what we believe to be true, but do not know to be so. We use these beliefs as stand-ins for knowledge and base our actions upon them. The problem with beliefs is that they are often false, and thus, our actions are also false and harmful.

By its very nature, belief is based on a degree of fear (because we don’t actually know, we only think we know). We become very defensive if such beliefs are challenged in any way. Instead of being open to the truth, when our beliefs are challenged, we work very hard to defend them. Often we are not aware that we are defending a (false) belief, as we ‘believe’ it was true! The problem is that a rigid mind-set goes hand in hand with false beliefs. But with that our health certainly suffers the consequences. An example is the belief that eating meat is unhealthy, or conversely, that you have to be a vegetarian to be healthy. Regardless of one’s personal views on the raising and killing of animals, it is a matter of science whether meat or vegetables might be needed or beneficial to a certain person. I remember one case of a woman complaining of chronic fatigue who was a vegetarian, and yet based on our analysis should have been eating some form of fish or meat, at least in small quantities. Despite her improvement in other areas with treatment, her fatigue remained. When she finally agreed to try a small amount of organic, grass-fed beef, her energy level went up significantly. While we can choose to act based on beliefs, as is our individual prerogative, we must be aware of the health consequences that go along with them. We may not ‘like’ natural laws, but they are laws nonetheless and have consequences for our health if we ignore them.

There are various layers in the ideogenic diseases. The secondary and tertiary layers can be treated with remedies that match the state of mind of the disease/belief that is distorting our ability to perceive reality and act accordingly. However, in the original layer, to dismantle the various false beliefs we will need to replace ignorance with science. We mean science not in the narrow, materialistic sense, but in the sense of the method for approaching and understanding the world and its various laws so that we can act according to truth. These laws involve laws of mother nature (such as the law of gravity, conservation of energy, of motion, but also of biological life), laws of human nature (such as laws of economics – e.g. supply and demand, diminishing return, division of labor), and spiritual laws (e.g. Ten Commandments, but also other laws such as the Golden Rule (what you do to others will be done unto you), the laws of love and of forgiveness). This is a vast area to deal with and takes us into the world of philosophy, epistemology and science in its deepest, broadest and highest sense – natural, cultural and super sensible. Heilkunst treatment helps people to open their mind to new possibilities and to gain their objective understanding of the world. It is a therapy that is educational and an education that is therapeutic!

“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”(John 8:32 King James version) By finding our own path to truth and abiding in truth, only thus can we become free, including free from illness and disease. Heilkunst’s system of healthcare addresses simple matters such as bruises and sprains, more complex issues such as acute and chronic infectious diseases, drug-induced diseases, and profound diseases of the mind (stemming ultimately from a lack of knowledge). It is a comprehensive approach, based on the laws of nature and the super sensible world. Freedom and happiness follows on true health, of mind and body.

For more information about Heilkunst treatment and studies please visit our website.

Iatrogenic jurisdiction

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Did you know…

that conventional medicine is the leading source of death in North America?

A study done several years ago by Gary Null, PhD, Carolyn Dean, MD, ND, Martin Feldman, MD, Debora Rasio, MD, Dorothy Smith, PhD showed that the “total number of iatrogenic [induced inadvertently by a physician or surgeon or by medical treatment or diagnostic procedures] deaths is 783,936. The 2001 heart disease annual death rate is 699,697; the annual cancer death rate is 553,251. “It is evident that the American medical system is the leading cause of death and injury in the United States.“[http://www.ourcivilisation.com/medicine/usamed.htm]

Conventional medicine terms the negative effects of drugs, that is, the unwanted ones, ‘side-effects’. However, such effects are an integral part of the action of a given drug. All drugs have negative effects. It is just hoped that the desired or ‘positive’ effects will outweigh the negative ones. Drugs are given in relatively crude, material doses and have complex and largely unknown chemical impacts on living organisms. While the chemical effect of one drug is tested, though often just in terms of possible short-term negative effects (ignoring more long-term, chronic effects), the interaction of one drug with another is seldom if ever tested, much less the interaction of three or more drugs in a living human being. The lack of understanding of the interaction of different drugs leaves health hazard in a person’s system, like a mine waiting for explosion. The adverse effects of interactions from different drugs can be devastating and cause chronic health problems under the radar.

Despite the lack of testing and understanding of drug interactions, the use of prescription drugs has steadily increased over the years, as well as the over-the-counter self-medicated drugs. (Thanks to the relentless pharmaceutical campaign.)The average senior in North America is using several drugs, some 62 percent in Canada using 6 or more and of those over 85, some 29% were on 10 or more drugs.[http://www.cihi.ca/CIHI-ext-portal/pdf/internet/SENIORS_DRUG_INFO_EN] The figures for the US are similar. We have the problem of the growing use of prescribed drugs, particularly the opiates:

Prescription drug abuse is the fastest growing drug problem in the United States. The increase in unintentional drug overdose death rates in recent years (Figure 1) has been driven by increased use of a class of prescription drugs called opioid analgesics (1). Since 2003, more overdose deaths have involved opioid analgesics than heroin and cocaine combined (Figure 2) (1). In addition, for every unintentional overdose death related to an opioid analgesic, nine persons are admitted for substance abuse treatment (2), 35 visit emergency departments (3), 161 report drug abuse or dependence, and 461 report nonmedical uses of opioid analgesics (4).[http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ mm6101a3.htm]

In Heilkunst disease nosology (classification), the iatrogenic jurisdiction deals with the primary, constant nature (or tonic) disease contributed by the drug disease effects, drug-drug interactions and drug dependence. We call this type of tonic disease, the iatrogenic disease. With the understanding of the principles on tonic disease (See previous blog: The Two Types of Disease ), the disease effects from a given drug can be addressed safely and effectively in Heilkunst, using dynamic and potentized doses of the drug itself based on the curative law of similars. Thus, we can use the remedy Pencilliinum to remove any negative, disease effects from taking penicillin, or Vancomycin for vancomycin use. Such remedies are called isodes, made from the drug (in energetic form) itself. Because of the method of preparation, they contain nothing of the drug in material terms. The energetic imprint of the drug can be used on the basis of the law of similars to remove the shock of the drug to our life energy, and the body’s natural healing power can repair the damage at the tissue and cellular level to restore health.

We have been made more aware of the ill effects of vaccinations through the works of many authors (Isaac Golden and Robert S. Mendelsohn are two examples). The number of vaccinations that children, in particular, receive has increased dramatically, from perhaps a half-dozen several decades ago, to 4 times of that at least in the first two years of a baby’s life. [http://www.chop.edu/service/vaccine-education-center/vaccine-schedule/history-of-vaccine-schedule.html] While the principle of prevention by means of immunization is a valid and good one, the injection of crude viral material, along with various toxic adjuvants or preservatives, such as mercury, aluminum, and formaldehyde, which is termed ‘vaccination’, is risky, with many adverse (that is, disease-inducing) actions. Many autistic cases have been triggered by vaccine injections. Our experience is that many conditions from allergies and autism spectrum disorders, to numerous immune system problems can be improved significantly once the iatrogenic disease(s) engendered by vaccinations are removed using energized forms of the vaccine material. For example, to remove disease effects from an MMR vaccination injection, we would use a highly diluted, dynamized remedy called MMR, taken orally. There is no more MMR matter in the dose, but by the law of similars the energetic imprint left in the making of the remedy removes the shock to the system caused by the MMR vaccine.

As you can see, with the wide-spread use of prescription and self-medicated drugs and the vast dumping of vaccine injections, the number of iatrogenic diseases is high. They are the tonic diseases routinely addressed through Heilkunst treatment, effectively and safely.

Next week we will take a look at another tonic disease category that goes beyond the usual and common, taking us into the realm of diseases of the mind. Stay tuned and in the meantime, have a Happy and Healthy New Year!

For more information about Heilkunst treatment and studies please visit our website.

Pathogenic jurisdiction

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Did you know…

that there are several sub-divisions of the primary, tonic diseases?

Last week we examined one of these: the homogenic jurisdiction. Here we find the various physical and mental-emotional shocks and traumas of life.

Another important jurisdiction of the primary, tonic diseases is the pathogenic jurisdiction. This one is familiar to most as it corresponds to the conventional infectious diseases, such as the childhood diseases – measles, chickenpox, mumps, whooping cough, etc. – as well as the various tropical diseases, such as cholera, malaria, yellow fever, typhoid, etc.

The governing principle of this jurisdiction is the link between a given disease agent, or microbe, called a pathogen, and a given disease state, such as the parasite, Plasmodium delivered by certain mosquitos and the disease termed malaria.

Again, it is important to remember here that while the pathogen is the carrier for the disease, the disease itself is a dynamic or energetic entity that is able to get into and destabilize a person’s life force, and in particular the generative side of that life force. Once there, it acts to weaken our system.

These primary pathogenic diseases we also term miasms, from an old medical term for disease ‘influence’. There are certain self-limiting miasms, such as the childhood diseases that stay for a certain period and then are seemingly gone. However, they can remain to a certain degree in the system in the form of an impairment to our energy system, which can then leave undesired consequences to our health, or what are termed ‘sequelae’. For example, a person who had chickenpox as a child can later suffer from it in the form of the condition termed ‘shingles’. In Heilkunst, we would mainly treat shingles as the lingering or sub-chronic disease of chickenpox. I once had a case of a middle-aged woman who had one side of her throat paralyzed as a result of polio as a child. When she was treated for the polio virus, the paralysis went away and she was able to swallow normally again.

Some miasma are of long duration, and if not removed when they occur, will become chronic in nature, and significantly undermine one’s health. These are the diseases often referred to as degenerative, such as the sexually transmitted diseases (STD) – syphilis, gonorrhoea, as well as others such as tuberculosis, lyme and malaria. These are disease states that can be passed on from one generation to another. To a greater or less degree each of us has some of these inherited disease patterns within us, which undermines our quality of life either acutely, as they often can be brought out into manifestation upon a sort of upset, or sub-clinically as lack of energy or motivation for life. Most complex disease conditions, such as mental illness, diabetes, cancer, and autism-spectrum disorders, involve one or more of these chronic miasms. The good news is that they can be treated through the Heilkunst approach even if passed down from a previous generation.

In the pathogenic jurisdiction of disease we can treat for the infectious primary diseases as they occur. These include the well-known childhood diseases (measles, chickenpox, mumps, whooping cough, etc), various tropical diseases (cholera, malaria, yellow fever, typhoid, etc), STD (syphilis, gonorrhoea), tuberculosis, lyme, malaria, influenza and strep throat. Anything that has a viral and infectious origin can be treated in this jurisdiction by using the dynamic, energetic form of the virus, applying the law of similars. The treatment is safe and effective, without the side-effects and toxic effects of drugs.

We can also treat for the lingering impairment of the acute infectious diseases of the past, such as removing the chickenpox virus for shingles treatment and the polio virus for the longstanding defect/paralysis in the adult. The treatment on past infectious diseases in the adult can have deep health boosting effects.

Finally, we can treat for the inherited disease patterns, which we call chronic miasms, the result of the infectious disease states passing on from one generation to another. Treating the chronic miasms can bring forth immense health improvement for people suffering from chronic conditions and serious illness (mental illness, diabetes, cancer, and autism-spectrum disorders).

Next week we will look at another tonic disease jurisdiction, one that is becoming more and more of a problem for our health – diseases caused by prescribed drugs and synthetic chemicals in foods. So stay tuned, and in the meantime, may you have a joyous and heart-felt Christmas celebration.

For more information about Heilkunst treatment and studies please visit our website.

Homogenic jurisdiction

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Did you know…

that disease is divided into primary, constant nature (or tonic) disease and secondary, variable nature (or pathic) disease, and that the primary or tonic disease side is then further divided into different jurisdictions?  (See previous blog on primary, tonic disease and secondary, pathic disease) Human law is a reflection of natural law. Just as we have different levels of political jurisdiction: federal, state, county, municipal, etc. – so we find different jurisdictions in the world of primary, tonic disease. In Heilkunst generally, the differentiation of disease is very important as it helps in their identification in a given case, and the identification then allows for the remedial measure (curative agent) to be used.

The first jurisdiction is the ‘homogenic’ jurisdiction, involving all those diseases caused by a certain “irritant action”, such as physical and emotional traumas and accidents/incidents. Thus, if we are hit with a blunt instrument such as by a hammer, piece of wood or baseball, this can cause a contusion disease (bruise). While the body can heal the bruise over time, the underlying trauma often remains and prevents a complete healing, leaving us feeling a lingering weakness in the area of the blow. Many people who have been in a car accident suffer some kind of malignancy for years after, even though there is nothing outwardly, physically wrong. No amount of physical therapy or various ointments and lotions will remove this weakness. There is one specific substance in nature, however, that can remove the trauma and allow complete healing by the body to take place, and that is Arnica montana, the mountain laurel. There is another substance in nature that can remove sprains and strains to ligaments and tendons, namely Ruta gaveolens, or common Rue. And we also find another substance that helps to remove the trauma to overworked muscles in common poison ivy, Rhus toxicodendron. So, in these three substances alone, nature has provided a powerful set of remedies for common injuries of various sorts.

Under the ‘homogenic’ jurisdiction we also find the emotional traumas, such as unresolved loss or grief. While grieving the loss of a loved one is common and seems to be in the order of things, from which we naturally heal, sometimes we cannot overcome the tragedy. While most of us then accept the painful struggle that we can’t put to rest, be it a husband grieving a deceased wife or a man disappointed about his father’s neglect when he was a child, these  unresolved traumas of mental-emotional origin can all be resolved under the ‘homogenic’ jurisdiction. The trauma of loss can be resolved emotionally within us, even if of longstanding, by the use of Natrum muriaticum, derived from sea salt. There is also a remedy for resolving traumas involving fear, Papaver somniferum, from the poppy family. Of course, more factors will have to be considered for more complex cases.

Most of the first aid treatment using ‘homeopathic’ medicines are based on this principle of matching the remedial action of a substance in nature to a given trauma involving an ‘irritant action’. The knowledge of their use has come to us largely from the common ‘domestic remedies’ used by wise women and various traditional practitioners, their virtues discovered empirically. Now we know that the basis of their curative action is the law of similars.

Knowing the law of similars, and knowing the curative relationship between a particular trauma and a particular substance in nature, we can effectively and safely treat for the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” that seems to be an integral part of the human condition.  We can even remove traumas of longstanding. One example that stands out for me is the case of a woman who was seeking treatment for a skin condition. She had been to see many practitioners, both conventional and alternative, but the skin problem persisted. In examining the case, I learned that the skin eruption had appeared about 6 months after a car accident. I then treated for the various traumas, both physical and emotional involved in the accident, using the principle of ‘irritant action’ of the homogenic dimension of disease, and the skin problem cleared up.

While we often use the colloquial term ‘homeopathic’ to describe all treatment with energy medicine on the basis of the law of similars, it is strictly speaking only correct when used to describe the treatment of secondary, pathic diseases. Treatment of primary, tonic disease is more correctly termed ‘homotonic’ prescribing. The nice thing about homotonic prescribing is that it treats the primary disease and that the remedial agent (medicine) is easy to determine once the disease itself is determined. The diseases in the homogenic jurisdiction are relatively easy to identify once the traumas, either physical or emotional, are known.

Another interesting case is that of a little boy with a persistent cough. The mother, a homeopath herself, tried various homeopathic medicines based on the symptoms of the case, but none of these worked. She was treating for a presumed secondary, pathic disease, which is termed homeopathic prescribing, but the problem here lay deeper, with a primary, tonic disease. When she contacted us, she was quite desperate and had even tried various and herbal allopathic cough syrups, but nothing was helping. In questioning, she revealed that her son had seen his sister struck by a car while playing in the street. We then treated ‘homotonically’ (not homeopathically), for the shock and fear of that incident, and her son’s cough ceased within two days.

Next week we will continue looking at the other jurisdictions of the primary, tonic side of disease. Stay tuned.

For more information about Heilkunst treatment and studies please visit our website.

The Two Types of Disease

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Did you know…

That there are two fundamental types of disease?

There are primary diseases that have a constant nature, such that they are easy to recognize when they re-appear, such as measles, chickenpox, yellow fever, cholera.

These primary, constant nature diseases can give rise to one or more variants, or secondary diseases. Which ones will arise in a given person, once affected by the primary disease depends on a number of factors, including one’s constitution, typology, etc. Thus, we say that these secondary diseases are of a variable nature.

Primary, Constant Diseases

The constant diseases are readily identified, and can be sub-divided into specific jurisdictions according to the operative principle. The main ones are:

– homogenic – they arise from the principle of irritant action

– pathogenic – they arise from the principle of infectious action

– iatrogenic – they arise from the principle of improper drug action

There are also diseases that fall into the realm of mind as well as the soul-spirit, which we term ideogenic diseases; the principle here is that of ignorance which leads to belief, illusion and delusion, distorting our ability to perceive and apperceive reality.

Because of the constant nature of the primary disease, only one (constant) medicine is required to treat a given primary disease. The same remedy is used for the given primary disease regardless of the variety of outward manifestations, signs and symptoms in different individuals. The matching between a primary disease with its curative medicine or remedy is relatively easy.

The homogenic diseases are either physical (such as toxins, poisons, accidents, physical injuries) or emotional (unresolved grief, fear, anger or guilt). The specific remedies for each of these have been worked out clinically over time, such as Natrum muriaticum for unresolved grief, and Arnica montana for a bruise, or Apis mellifica for a bee sting.

The pathogenic disease remedies are determined by identifying the microbe or pathogen and making an energetic medicine from them, either as a pure strain (isode) or by means of a characteristic disease exudate or discharge (nosode). For example, treating the chronic disease pattern tuberculosis is done by the nosode Tuberculinum; treating measles is done through the nosode Morbillinum.

The iatrogenic diseases are determined by the drug prescribed. Treating a disease engendered by a given drug is done via the isode made from that drug, such as treating ‘side-effects’ of the antibiotic Amoxicillin by means of the isode Amoxicillin. Or we could remove the disease effects of a vaccination by using the energized isode of the vaccine injected, such as MMR for the MMR vaccination.

Secondary, Variable Diseases

These diseases are more difficult to identify as this must be done by means of the specific symptoms of the patient. This is the basis for homeopathic prescribing proper (prescribing for the constant diseases is more properly termed ‘homotonic’ prescribing’). However, since the secondary, variable diseases are derived from the primary, constant diseases, treating the primary diseases often removes certain secondary diseases at the same time. The homeopathic prescribing based on the symptoms, disease expressions of the patient, is mostly used in acute situations when it is relatively easy to ascertain the secondary disease being expressed.

To aid the process of homeopathic prescribing, homeopaths have undertaken many clinical trials, which are called ‘provings’,of a given substance (in a safe dose) and then noted the symptoms that arise. These symptom pictures are catalogued in a resource called a Materia Medica, and in a tool for sifting through all the symptoms, termed a repertory. Some well-known and traditional works include: Boericke’s Repertory and Materia Medica, Clark’s Dictionary of Materia Medica, and Kent’s Repertory. There are many more, and modern ones have been updated with the more recent provings.

Thus putting the two types of diseases and their treatment together, if a person had chickenpox, he would be given Varicella, the specific for that disease, and the remaining acute symptoms would be examined to see which possible secondary disease picture existed, and once this symptom picture was matched to the symptom picture of a medicine in the Materia Medica, this particular medicine or remedy would also be given to the chickenpox patient.

Hahnemann laid down a rule that the primary, constant diseases should be treated first, and then if there are any remaining secondary diseases, these are to be treated.

Next week, we’ll take a closer look at the different jurisdictions of the primary diseases. Stay tuned!

For more information about Heilkunst treatment and studies please visit our website.