Tag 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.

 

 

What to do when you get lost!

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Our health is often something we take for granted until we lose it. As the Joni Mitchell song goes, “you don’t know what you’ve got ’till its gone.” Health is home. We know the territory and how to get around. Life is enjoyable and invigorating. Losing your health is being yanked out of the comfort of home and dumped in a strange city where they speak a strange language and follow strange customs. Suddenly life is a real challenge, and more a matter of survival. You feel like the ‘burned’ agent in Burn Notice.

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You might seek help from the official system, but likely discover that the official system isn’t really much help to you in chronic, complex cases and often just makes things worse. There are lots of well-meaning alternative approaches available, but other than closing your eyes and picking one, or asking around for a good recommendation, it’s all a little confusing and uncertain.

If the journey involves more than a walk across the street, or even across town, you need someone with the right map. For some, the journey is not that complicated or long, and common approaches, such as diet, exercise, supplements, can work but what if your journey is more involved? Here the best guide is the one with the best map. Christopher Columbus had access to some very detailed maps, charting features not normally found on maps in his day. Without that, he would not likely have ventured across the ocean.

article-new-thumbnail_ehow_images_a01_us_df_become-cartographer-800x800Most complex, chronic cases involve crossing desserts, swamps, mountain ranges, even oceans to get back to health. An accurate map, and one that covers all the different terrains is critical.

 

 

 

Most maps only cover the physical terrain, and then often superficially; they don’t reveal real topography (mountains, swamps, canyons, etc.) or the deeper underlying geological structures that can impede progress and even block it.  Also, most approaches based on the more superficial maps deal with surface issues (symptoms). mu6HRC7VlDM-hNA33TYR0RQWithout the right map, they cannot get at the deeper underlying causes. If you are stuck in a swamp, they may help you fight off the alligators (parasites, pathogens, toxins, etc.), but they cannot provide a way out of the swamp. Soon you get so focussed on combatting symptoms that you forget the objective is to drain the swamp.

 

Heilkunst provides the most comprehensive map of chronic, complex health issues we know of. It can help in acute, emergency situations, of course, but it’s real value comes in helping you or a family member to get back to health, or if health has never really been there, to build a strong health foundation.

Treat a symptom and get relief for a while; remove the cause and get relief for life. Health is a journey and the better, more comprehensive the map you use, the further you can go.

 

Can Heilkunst Help for … (Fill in the blank)?

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This week we interrupt our regularly scheduled program for a special announcement.

We often get asked for specific information about the treatment through Heilkunst of X, Y or Z, whether arthritis, diabetes, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue or any of the various conventionally named conditions.

The answer is the same for all of them. These are almost always a name created to describe the obvious, common symptoms or signs in certain patients. For example, arthritis simply means an inflammation of the joints, and colitis means an inflammation of the colon. These names come from mostly Greek and sometimes Latin roots, so they sound more impressive than they are. Lets take another, fibroymyalgia. The term comes from three Latin and  Greek terms meaning pain in the muscle and connective tissue.

Wikipedia: The term “fibromyalgia” derives from new Latin, fibro-, meaning “fibrous tissues”, Greek myo-, “muscle”, and Greek algos-, “pain”; thus the term literally means means “muscle and connective tissue pain”.

Now, the patient already knows he/she has pain. The so-called diagnosis simply now tells the patient that the pain is in the muscles and connective tissue, but does not tell him or her the cause. Indeed, as Wikipedia states, and this is true for most if not all such conditions named by conventional medicine, the cause is unknown and is suspected to be multiple.

Wikipedia: Its exact cause is unknown but is believed to involve psychological, genetic, neurobiological and environmental factors.

Thus, in the face of an unknown, multiple causation, conventional treatment focusses on suppressing the overt symptoms, leaving the cause(s) untouched. Treating for the symptoms themselves is also complex, as they vary from patient to patient, meaning that the ‘diagnosis’ is very general and not specific to an individual patient.

Wikipedia: Fibromyalgia symptoms are not restricted to pain, leading to the use of the alternative term fibromyalgia syndrome for the condition. Other symptoms include debilitating fatigue, sleep disturbance and joint stiffness.  Some patients also report difficulty with swallowing, bowel and bladder abnormalities, numbness and tingling, and cognitive disfunction. Fibromyalgia is frequently comorbid with psychiatric conditions such as depression and anxiety and stress-related disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Not all fibromyalgia patients experience all associated symptoms.

While any relief to sufferers from symptomatic treatment is understandably welcome, it is usually partial, temporary and often comes with so-called side-effects (really drug induced disease effects or iatrogenic disease). Any treatment tends to be haphazard and random depending on the training and expertise of the practitioner. The old adage is that if all one has is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

Heilkunst is not able to treat everything, as life is too complex for that, but it does have a systematic, comprehensive approach to various conditions people are suffering from, such as fibromyalgia (or any other condition one wishes to name) that involves regimenal factors (diet, nutrition, exercise, lifestyle, etc), underlying disease causes (such as physical or emotional shocks and traumas, as well as inherited disease archetypes called chronic miasms), and also the broader realm of soul-spiritual issues (living one’s true life, not suppressing the true self, and various false beliefs one may have that block the full unfolding and development of one’s being). Any and all of these can be part of the complex of causes in a given case that produce the symptoms labelled fibromyalgia, and these are all examined and addressed in a systematic, comprehensive fashion. No two cases of fibromyalgia (or X, Y, Z condition) are the same. Yet the complex of causes underlying the condition in each case can be individually addressed.

True treatment for any condition involves identifying and then removing the underlying causes, using safe and effective remedies, whether to remove an imbalance in diet or lifestyle, or to remove a disease state, such as unresolved chronic grief or from a vaccination, such as for Rubella, as was a factor in one case of rheumatoid arthritis we treated. Heilkunst can offer that type of treatment.

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

Psora – Poverty Consciousness

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Did you know…

that there are certain archetypal disease patterns that we bring with us into the world?

Do you have one or more of these chronic problems: skin issues, low grade depression, a sense of there not being enough in the world, common acne, asthma, headaches, insomnia, allergies, colds, bronchitis, earaches? You likely are carrying around one of these archetypal patterns from birth, indeed the first one, called Psora. If so, treating the symptoms won’t get you much other than possibly some temporary relief, even if using herbs or dietary changes. Even treating for the secondary disease patterns as homeopathy won’t help that much. You need Heilkunst, which is the only approach I know of that can systematically address these inherited, archetypal disease patterns, and thus, get to the bottom of chronic, complex disease conditions.

Last week we talked about the chronic miasms in general. This week we’ll start to take a look at them in more detail. There are eight such archetypal disease patterns and they follow a particular sequence. There are four major ones and four ‘minor’ ones, just as in music we can have a major and a minor key. They follow the seasons roughly, but as each season is generally divided into an early and later part (early Spring and late Spring, etc.), we then really have eight ‘seasons’.

The first miasm to appear is termed, Psora. It was discovered by Dr. Hahnemann and traced back to the earliest recorded times through various skin manifestations, including leprosy. The word was taken from the Hebrew term ‘tsorat’, which had the meaning of a ‘fault’ or ‘error’. The two chief characteristics of Psora are dryness and skin eruptions, usually dry and scaly. The allopathic term ‘psoriasis’ for one of the many skin manifestations has the same etymological root. However, Psora covers a multitude of skin eruptions, as well as many other symptoms.

Although Dr. Hahnemann did not identify the origin of Psora, work by Dr. Batmangelidj on the chronic impact of dehydration suggests that this may have been the source of the emergence of the first chronic miasm. The nature of chronic miasms is that they can then, once acquired, be passed on from generation to generation.

Dr. Hahnemann also called Psora, the ‘mother of all chronic disease’ for two reasons. First, the other chronic miasms emerged from it, and second, because each of the chronic miasms also caused the emergence of secondary chronic diseases in a person. The chronic miasms are primary, fixed nature or tonic diseases, and they then give rise to any number of secondary, variable nature or pathic diseases over time in a given individual.

The symptoms of Psora are too numerous to list here, but it we can give an idea of the essence of the disease as it tends to manifest in people. Psora is mainly a disease of deficiency at all levels – deficiency of knowledge, thought, assimilation of ideas and nutrition. There are a host of conditions identified by the prefix “hypo” (hypotension, hypochondriasis, hypotrophy) associated with psora. It causes little or no structural change, but much disturbance of functions, feelings and sensations. It seems to involve largely the nervous and reticulo-endocrine systems of the organism.

The psoric state of mind feels it does not have enough (of anything, be it money, food, energy, love, warmth, etc.). You may be familiar with it if you know anyone who had to live through the Great Depression or a war. They may hoard food, toilet paper, rubber bands or twist ties, for no apparent reason other than, “You never know when you may need them.” The stereotypical street person illustrates this miasm well, when they are carrying with them every one of their possessions, while wearing virtually all of their clothing, including coats and hats, even in sweltering heat. It is not likely to manifest in such an extreme form in most of us, but the underlying traits will be there.

If there is psora in your family history, it will manifest, according to Dr. Roger Morrison in his Desktop Guide, as: Abscess. Acne. Allergy. Anxiety. Aphthae. Asthma. Boil. Bronchitis. Colds. Connective tissue disease. Depression. Dermatitis. Eczema. Headache. Insomnia. Otitis media. Pharyngitis. Phobic disorders. Psoriasis. Scabies. Sciatica. Skin ulcers. Upper respiratory infection (among other conditions).

Next week is the minor key of Psora, or the Malaria miasm. Stay tuned.

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

Treating Birthing Shocks and Traumas

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Did you know…

that we don’t necessarily come into this world in a completely healthy way? In fact, nowadays, the birthing process is often anything but natural or healthy, involving as it does a variety of interventions from drugs and surgical procedures (cesarians and other) for the moms to  various pokings and proddings of the newborns. We are so accustomed to do what we are told, especially when we are in the hospital or in a crisis condition, which birthing seems to have been turned into, that we accept these interventions without questioning or relating the later illness or problems back to these procedures.

Our health is shaped by every experience around us. There is a lot that can happen from conception to birth that can affect our health. The very conditions of conception itself can create a certain stress. If there was fear or grief, or even anger and guilt in the parents, the mother in particular, this can possibly affect the baby. I know of one case in particular where a child was conceived in profound grief in both parents because of the death of the first-born only a few months before from a tropical infection. This induced a state of mind in the child throughout its life involving unresolved grief. A lot of the grief we carry around as adults might have been there from the very beginning. That is why in Heilkunst we look at all significant life events systematically from now back to birth and conception.

I had one case in particular where the child, about 3 years old, was always crying.  Despite various attempts, nothing seemed to work. In further questioning the mother it was revealed that the child only cried when around the mother, but not with the father or anyone else. I noted that there likely had been some kind of emotional trauma early on at the time of conception or during pregnancy. Initially the mother could not identify one, but three days later called, and confessed that for the first week after she knew she was pregnant, she had not wanted the child, and briefly considered an abortion. We then treated the child for the shock of rejection and abandonment, and the crying stopped.

In another similar case, a baby of 18 months seemed not to respond to the mother’s voice, but was fine with the father. Knowing that ultrasounds can affect the hearing capacity of the fetus, and finding out that the mother had had several ultrasounds, we treated for this shock, and the baby now responded to the mother’s voice.

There are similar shocks that can occur from drugs taken by the mother during pregnancy, as well as from amniocentesis, and other interventions. The child is part of the mother’s energetic system while in the womb, and even for some time after, though increasingly less so as the child grows up.

Birth these days is often involved with various drugs, such as Pitocin to induce labour, lengthy labour, the use of forceps, spinal blocks, not to mention the often stressful conditions of a hospital, the too early cutting of the umbilical cord, the separation of mother and child, vaccinations such as Hepatitis B at birth, antibiotics in the eyes, the PKU test, C-sections, etc. While these may be necessary at times, they still constitute a potential shock to the mother and child. These interventions are often not taken into account when later the child or mom experiences problems such as breastfeeding difficulty, jaundice or various other problems of infancy, such as digestive issues, colic, constant crying, congestion, failure to thrive, ear-aches. We consider all these shocks and traumas in the timeline of life events that we treat for. When they are treated for early on, ideally right after, then the child can often avoid many of these problems.

Right from the early days, a child can already be carrying quite a burden of diseases induced by the various shocks and traumas mentioned, both emotional and physical. Heilkunst provides a way to recognize these shocks as contributing to or directly causing health issues, and to effectively and safely remove them. Homotonic and homeopathic medicines are non-toxic and safe for the mother and child throughout the pregnancy, labour and birth. There are also excellent remedies that can be given to help with labour and delivery, to avoid interventions that represent a potential shock to the child (and mother), and to help making the experience more pleasant and natural. Heilkunst is child-safe, child-friendly and supportive of healthy families. With Heilkunst, you can get your children off on the right foot in life, healthier and happier. Next week we’ll look at some issues that affect health that pre-date conception, what we call the chronic miasms or inherited disease patterns. Stay tuned.

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

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.