Healing in homeopathy rests on the capacity of the homeopath to find the similimum remedy. This remedy that matches the picture of symptoms can be prescribed in various clinical situations; in acute diseases like fevers, infections; in emergency situations like strokes (CVA’s), heart attacks or accidents; as well as in chronic disease. In acute or emergency situations, more than one remedy may be needed to complete a cure or relieve within a short period of time. So, as the first remedy completes its action, the homeopath has to check the picture of symptoms repeatedly to find out if another remedy may be needed to cure the condition. When these remedies are correctly chosen they will cure, save life and bring long term healing. The similimum remedy is curative in disease precisely because it is capable of causing those similar symptoms in a healthy person. For a Christian, the Homeopathic Law of Similars would be the easiest thing to understand and accept if one has truly understood and experienced the redemptive love and healing of Jesus through His death on the Cross.
Friends who helped with the last 2 articles felt it necessary that I give clear examples of homeopathic healing to explain the theoretical details in Part II. In addition, they suggested I include concrete examples of the spiritual healing process I referred to in the last article as well. Hence in this final chapter, I have concentrated more on clinical cases and situations to highlight homeopathic cure and the scope of the homeopathic similimums in serious diseases. I sincerely hope these cases will be enlightening for all.
During the process of cure, a vigilant homeopath perceives the healing of chronic disease in progressive stages. As I mentioned in the last article, this process is a gradual but permanent improvement in one’s health of mind and body. One experiences a strengthening in one’s state of health that does not allow easy deterioration into serious or complicated disease which the proponents of the conventional system always warn people about in an alarmist and fatalistic manner. In addition, one’s state of mind in this process reaches a balance, a stability, which allows for a better quality of life in interactions with others, emotionally as well as spiritually.
Why we need to understand the Theory of Miasms
People today often come to a homeopath for chronic treatment later in life, after they have already had a lot of symptomatic treatment for various infections and systemic problems, treatment which we see as suppressive. As a result, on chronic homeopathic treatment, they face some trying times during the process of cure. At these times some symptoms appear like they will not improve, or older problems recur, or it seems as if progress has stalled. One may feel that homeopathy is not working and cannot cure and may be tempted to give up and seek quick symptomatic relief with allopathy. My advice to patients in these situations is to stick with it and go through the rough patches.
During this time, when apparently nothing is happening, the vital force is readjusting itself, and then re-stimulating the PNEI axis to heal old suppressed conditions in the right manner. In this effort, it throws up various new or old symptoms that should be carefully observed by the patient and the homeopath, as they indicate whether the vital force needs another similimum remedy, or even the same one repeated more often, to help it heal faster. There will be health and wholeness waiting on the other side for those with the patience and willingness to continue. Almost every patient of mine will agree with this. If one has a good homeopath, trust him/her, ask your questions and seek answers. But be committed to the process.
These phases from a homeopath’s perspective require a deeper, more comprehensive homeopathic management beyond simply giving the similimum remedy. In some situations, innovation and common sense act together. It is at these times, that one needs to tackle the “miasmatic suppression” that has occurred during that person’s lifetime. With cooperation and patience from the patient, a reliable homeopath can steer the person to cure, even if it requires asking the help of a second or more experienced homeopath. From my perspective in tough situations, two heads are always better than one. Homeopaths who work in teams always have an added advantage.
According to his ‘Theory of Chronic Diseases’, Hahnemann observed that there were deep dynamic disease impressions on the vital force called miasms, caused by external agents (miasmas) like bacteria, viruses and other environmental diseases that did not allow for complete healing. They required a specific ‘antimiasmatic’ remedy to be given in dynamic form to strengthen the vital force against these chronic effects. Most of the well known diseases can cause these indelible, dynamic disease impressions; diseases like Tuberculosis, Syphilis, Gonorrhea, Typhoid, AIDS, Rabies, Leprosy, Scabies, etc. The effects of these diseases also cause genetic mutations that can be passed down to the next generation, which is also why we understand them to have ‘chronic disease impressions’ on the vital force called Miasms in homeopathy. These diseases and their subsequent suppressive treatment affect the future health not only of the persons who acquire them, but their offspring as well, and are well documented in medical textbooks today.
Hahnemann’s Miasm Theory, helps us homeopaths understand how to deal with chronic effects of serious infections, and through appropriate homeopathic treatment aid this process of true cure. Children are easiest to treat as they do not have advanced acquired miasm and suppression to be reversed. Children who develop serious diseases at very early ages have instead inherited miasms in their genetic make up, which allow for this type of disease development. Homeopathy can treat and cure children who suffer from these inherited miasms before they develop into serious disease, as well as heal people who have acquired it during their lifetime. David Little’s case below is a great example of cure of acquired miasm. Hence for complete homeopathic treatment, understanding and treating miasmatic effects is an essential part of cure.
The Cure of Disease in Homeopathy
As explained the last time, the process of cure under homeopathic treatment follows a time line that we term the “Direction of Cure”. When the disease or symptom that has appeared last in chronology has been relieved, then an older complaint that was previously suppressed now expresses itself again in order to be cured by the correctly matched similimum. The old complaint reappearing is not a ‘new’ disease, but is disease that has been suppressed and not allowed to express itself earlier – through recurrent treatment with antibiotics, steroids or even improper homeopathic drugs. The cases below will highlight this process to make it more clear.
Clinical Case 1:
From David Little, the full case and management details are available on his website. Below are some excerpts:
The following is a case in which an LM potency was used to treat a case of suppressed venereal disease. The client was an Irishman who was studying with a yogi in India. He was a strong, well built, rather coarse kind of a person. He was not stupid in any way yet sometimes one had to say things a few times before he would grasp what you really meant. His appearance was a bit disheveled in that he wore half Indian and half western clothes. I had known him for a few years and I had already observed that many of his habits were rather psoric but the predominance of his psychology demonstrated the sycotic maism. He was a suspicious sort of fellow who looked out of the corners of his eyes and questioned the motives of others and sometimes held fixed opinions. Compared to the average person in society he was a true religious fanatic as he lived in a cave in far off India with few belongings….England for a visit and contracted a severe case of chlamydia. This produced a greenish, dirty discharge as well as much local irritation of the penis. I did not see the case in its acute state so I do not know all of the exact symptoms. He visited a homeopath who gave him Thuja in the centesimal potency. This did not help the situation so he went to an allopathic doctor who gave him a full course of tetracycline.
He went to
The treatment with antibiotics suppressed the acute symptoms so he was left with a little gleety discharge which manifested as a clear or white secretion at the meatus that caused much itching. In the mornings he would express a small amount of the discharge which would return later during the day. He returned to the allopathic clinic and was told he had non-specific urethritis (NSU) and there was nothing they could do about it. …. This was followed by a loss of memory and dulling of the intellect. Evidently his susceptibility to chlamydia was due to his latent (inherited – L) sycotic miasm and this new infection activated the entire syndrome. This was not a simple local urethral discharge caused by NSU. The entire sycotic syndrome began to manifest deeply in his constitution. He began to develop a pain in his lower back that started moving up his spine to his head. At the same time, his extremities were beginning to become arthritic and painful. This was followed by a further deterioration of his mental and intellectual levels and his memory really began to slip. He became dull and had difficulty thinking and could not find the proper words when speaking. He began to feel guilty, dirty and contaminated. Although he wore ragged clothes, he was not particularly dirty yet he could smell his own body odor and it upset him greatly.
By now he had dullness, sadness, depression, despondency, doubt of cure, and salvation. When he looked around he would squint his eyes which made him look shifty. His memory continued to fail and his mind became more confused. He became very sleepy, apathetic, tired and lazy as well as more dirty as he started to not change his clothes as much as before. The symptoms continued to increase over a period of around eight months until he was in pretty bad shape. I formed the totality of the symptoms around the syndrome of the sycotic miasm and the state of his present temperament. His religious and philosophical ideas, rough lifestyle, ragged clothes, depression, despondency, sleepiness, loss of memory, tiredness and laziness led me to investigate the remedy, Sulphur...
…. After six days of repeating LM 0/3 Sulphur my client returned to me and said, “Gosh, I’m feeling a little bit funny”. I asked him how he felt and he said, “Well, you know, I keep seeing these kind of black things floating around.” He was seeing the black motes which Sulphur often produced during its provings. This remedy is a 3 in Kent‘s Repertory for black motes. I had repeated LM 0/3 for six days in a row and now the remedy is beginning to mimic the provings of Sulphur. It was obvious that I needed to slow down or stop the remedy. I said, “I don’t think you’d better take it today but come back and see me tomorrow”. He came back the next day and I said, “How do you feel?” He said, “They’re going away. I don’t think I even see them anymore.” Most LM aggravations pass through rather quickly unless the client is a hypersensitive. These aggravations tend to last for one, two, or three days under normal circumstances. Nevertheless, the power of the remedies must be carefully controlled through adjusting the dose to match the susceptibility (sensitivity and response – L) of the constitution and being conservative with repetition. …
… The following day this gentleman came running over to my house. He looked extremely excited and he had a covered glass in his hand. I asked him what happened and he said he suddenly felt an urging and a pulling down pain which made his genitals feel as if it was going to explode! THEN HE PASSED FOUR OUNCES OF FILTHY GREENISH-YELLOW PUTRID PUS-LIKE DISCHARGE INTO A GLASS. The entire episode lasted less than a minute. When someone passes a discharge like this the question comes to mind, where did it all come from? This is one of the mysteries of Homeopathy. How does the vital force do this? The answer to this question lies outside our normal understanding of pathology.
On seeing the discharge I slowed the repetition of the remedy down to once every three days and all of his symptoms peeled off layer by layer in the reverse order in which they had developed. His mental temperament improved, his memory came back, he lost the feeling of being dirty and contaminated. …. The gleety discharge disappeared and none of these symptoms have ever returned. I slowed down the remedy even further as he continued to improve and then finally stopped it. He was a changed man who later left for England where he studied Homeopathy and was awarded a certificate. I saw him a few years later in India and he said, “Thanks a lot. You saved my life.”
Finis
This case, and others like it, shows that the complete sycotic (miasmatic) syndrome can be overcome with the skillful use of homeopathic remedies. The reinstatement of old discharges, and the return of other old venereal symptoms, is a definite sign that the homeopathic remedy has attained its goal. The removal of these deep miasmic taints from the constitution is one of the greatest gifts of Homeopathy, because it not only removes the illness from the sufferer, but also from the following generations. In this way the homeopath can overcome the past, transform the present, and change the future (of disease). This is surely the blessing of Providence and the fruits of the dedicated work of Samuel Hahnemann and those who follow in his footstep.
David Littles’ case above shows how through prescribing the deep acting constitutional or chronic remedy, the suppression of the venereal disease caused by earlier medication was reversed. The allopathic medication had not cured his symptoms, but in fact had added to the miasmatic taint that he had inherited and the infection he acquired. In addition it led to him having further symptoms in other areas including affecting his mental faculty. But the correctly chosen homeopathic remedy reversed all this. Since this problem was of relatively recent origin, within a few weeks with patience through the ups and downs of treatment, he had regained his health to what it was before he was ever sick. This is true homeopathic cure.
Clinical Case 2:
This case from Dr. Praful Vijaykar LCEH ( a senior and very successful homeopath from Mumbai) was cured of probable Osteo Sarcoma (Bone cancer). Those who look for quick-fix homeopathy will be helped by the wisdom of his words. These are excepts from this case and technical details have not been included. The entire case for homeopathic reference can be read here: https://hpathy.com/clinical-cases/a-case-of-osteosarcoma/
A boy aged 16 years from a poor family was brought to us with a complaint of acute pain and tumor like swelling on posterior aspect of right thigh following injury, with no external signs of any injury. He had fallen from a bicycle in his native place and had been injured in the right thigh about 4 weeks back. He was treated by a local doctor. After 1 week of mild pain very severe excruciating pain started occurring at the place of injury and he was again treated with anti-inflammatory tablets and painkillers. After about 15 days he fell down whilst playing and got injured at the very same place.
He started getting severe excruciating pain at the same place every evening for which he was hospitalized and had to be given painkiller injections every day. He then came to Mumbai on a vacation and stayed with his elder brothers. …. He was so reserved and secretive that when he came down to Mumbai on vacation he did not even disclose to his elder brothers that he had an injury or was hospitalized prior to coming. It was only because of his limping gait that the brothers came to know about his injury. Within 3 days of arrival the pains increased so much that he had to be hospitalized in Mumbai again. There was no fracture detected but the allopathic treatment was not able to give him relief. Probability of osteo-sarcoma loomed large and hence they were contemplating a major surgery. …
It is so easy to prescribe Arnica, three times a day or Symphytum or Ruta or Calc-fl. etc. repeatedly. These will act only if the injury is not grave and it has not had a constitutional effect and grown or is threatening to grow into malignancy. Nor can it prevent the constitution from developing into rheumatoid arthritis etc. Hence the sphere of action of the use of such acute injury drugs prescribed on the history of injury alone and not having a matching general, mental, particular picture shall be of help only in psoric constitutions where the constitution is strong enough to resist any suppressions. In such cases it has been seen by me that it is always better to let the patient’s constitution recover by itself rather than interfere, so the best possible result is achieved by keeping the patient on placebo. Injury to joints, say knees, treated blindly with Arnica montana or Bryonia alba or Rhus tox have inadvertently or unknowingly been seen to proceed after a primary relief of pain into lumbo-sacral spondylitis and further either into widespread multi-joint arthritis or progressively changing into a different sphere say cardio-vascular (3rd layer to 4th layer of suppression) and the patient starts exhibiting hypertension or ischaemic heart disease. The Arnica-Bryonia-Rhus tox prescriber is blissfully unaware of such a symptom transfer which is of his own making, primarily. This is because of blatant violation or bending of homoeopathic law of cure – ‘Similia Similibus Curantur!’. The symptom similarity, if one argues, is only local. Every individual or every constitution gives back a reaction to an injury befitting its basic nature. This reaction is individual not only at the level of mentals (i.e. the attitude towards suffering) but also at physical level i.e. at the level how tissue will behave or react to the injury. This in turn is wholly dependent on the predominant miasm which is expressed by the constitution at that time.
….Natrum-Carb. was selected as Genetic Constitutional Simillimum as it covered the miasm (sycosis), natural general trait of talking indisposed to and bashfulness; was chilly yet agg. from sun; with aversion to milk and being extremely conscientious.
7th July:
Natrum-Carb 30 – one dose
14th July:
(a) The boy came in without limping.
(b) The boy came in smiling and at ease in front of all the doctors in O. P. D.
(c) Did not take any painkiller injections throughout the week as the pain was considerably less.
(d) Had desire to play and played throughout the day.
(e) Tumor-like swelling decreased but still present.
(f) Answered freely and smilingly.21st July:
(a) Pain vanished
(b) Swelling gone
(c) Child active, smart. smiling and more communicative.
In Dr. Vijaykar’s case, we see a serious disease like probable, early Osteosarcoma healed in such a simple manner without any chemotherapy, radiation or running about for tests, investigations and spending a lot of money. Doesn’t this treatment seem too simple for most people to accept? Does homeopathy have the power to treat cancer? And in such a simple manner? We have been so brainwashed into thinking that Cancer is incurable or requires aggressive treatment like chemotherapy or radiation or surgery to get rid of, that we tie ourselves into knots with anxiety while running around like crazy for therapeutic procedures. Of course, what was also important in this situation is that the patient came directly for homeopathy as they trusted Dr. Vijaykar’s capability. Besides they were too poor to try anything else. Truly, homeopathy is God’s gift for the healing of the poor and simple. I for one, am glad to serve them.
Clinical Case 3:
This is my own patient who suffered for over 15 years with Prolapsed Intervertebral Disc.
A gentleman, 43 years of age, suffered from Prolapsed Intervertebral Disc (PID) since 1993 but chronic backache since he was 12 years old. He started treatment with me in September 2004. His disc prolapse was at L4/L5 level and he had 5 major episodes of nerve impingement, where he had to be hospitalized and on complete bed rest for a month in order to recover. He used to take homeopathic remedies for acute pain, but they did not cure him. Since I was already treating the rest of his family and extended family, he finally decided to take the plunge and begin long term chronic treatment for this problem. He weighs about 150 kgs (almost 300 pounds) and is nearly 6 feet in height. The severe obesity adds to the strain on his back. His symptoms when he started treatment included: Painful back spasms, backache radiating into the legs, stiffness and numbness of the legs. Each day was a continuous struggle on a daily basis. He was afraid to start constitutional homeopathy because he mistakenly thought it would be even more of a struggle without painkillers – homeopathic or allopathic ! As you will see, he found that he was wrong, the allopathic quick-fixes or even the homeopathic quick fixes were just that: Quick fixes with no long term benefit.
His other problems include severe anxiety and performance problems in relation to his job, he also had hypertension. His problem with obesity was from the age of 4 years. The weakness in his back started in Class 8, which followed a Tonsillectomy due to frequent attacks of tonsillitis. He had also probably injured or strained his back at that time, but the back problems persisted since then and subsequently precipitated into PID. Of interest to note here, is that prior to back problems he had frequent throat infections that were cut short by the Tonsillectomy. Now that the chronic imbalance and weakness in the vital force could not be expressed at the level of the tonsils, he developed chronic back problems instead that persisted to this day. In addition he became severely anxious about his performance in studies right through college.
Based on the analysis of his characteristic homeopathic symptoms, the remedy Lycopodium was chosen as chronic constitutional remedy. He started on this remedy and felt a lot of relief in general as well as in the symptoms of his back. But he continued to be susceptible to back strains and acute back pain. This was due to the fact he was working in Sales and had to travel frequently in uncomfortable conditions, in addition he had to frequently lift his child who had a physical handicap. These maintaining aggravating factors could not be avoided. Hence during this treatment he required acute remedies like Arnica, Bryonia, Rhus Tox, Ruta, Phosphorous, etc., depending on the cause and symptoms of the acute episodes of backache.
The next time he had an episode of PID, confirmed by the Orthopaedic Surgeon, (a few months after he started treatment), we handled the management purely on homeopathic remedies, partial rest at home and supportive physiotherapy, SWD. This chronic problem required Lycopodium 1M and then Lyco 10M repeatedly during the acute phase of PID. No acute remedy was indicated. After just one week of bed rest, he was obliged to attend work for at least half a day. Previously he used to be laid up in bed or hospital for over a month. He did not take any allopathic painkiller through this whole episode! In a month or so, he felt his back renewed as never before, though he still had episodes of minor pain. What was more important was that he could continue his normal activities as long as he avoided straining his back.
10 months into treatment his backache was much less, but he began to have a chronic painful sore throat instead. It was difficult to swallow, so he avoided the foods that aggravated – sometimes he only drank warm water and would not eat! This lasted about 2 months and when it became unbearable he simply took a dose of Lycopodium 30C to help. He told me that this was the typical throat symptoms he used to get as a child. With our homeopathic understanding of the direction of cure, it is obvious that these were OLD symptoms manifesting again. Instead of suppressing them with antibiotics, all we had to do was allow the vital force to cure it in the proper way. This had been deviated to his back all those 30 years, since the Tonsillectomy. Understanding this, he was willing to be patient and rough it out. Sure enough in a couple of months, these symptoms passed off completely and he has no throat pain any more.
Now 1.5 years after treatment, he hardly complains of any back ache at all. His anxiety levels are considerably reduced. It is no longer a struggle to cope with every day as there is no ‘pain’ to cope with. He continues to lift his child (growing bigger and heavier) who is handicapped, and no acute problems with that. He does his regular back strengthening exercises. He is still obese, but since this is older than all other problems, it may resolve later. At this point it does not concern him. His job performance and anxiety levels have improved so much, that he has been given a promotion from Sales Manager, to Head of the Human Resource Department of the company; a major promotion indeed. His ability to attend part time work faithfully right through his last acute episode of PID impressed his boss and paid off well!
Isn’t chronic homeopathic treatment really worth the patience and commitment? After 30 years of suffering with recurrent and chronic backache and struggling through life with pain, anxiety and performance problems, after just 1.5 years of patient commitment, he lives a much better quality of life, healthy in both body and mind.
SYMPTOMATIC use of homeopathic remedies is NOT Cure
As explained above, if any of these cases had been prescribed specific remedies based on disease diagnosis or local symptoms without taking into account the entire history as well as the miasmatic evaluation and direction of cure, they could never have been cured. Instead the disease would either have remained as it was with temporary symptomatic relief, or else, the disease would have progressed into deeper complications involving other systems of the body. That is why I have stressed in the last 2 articles, that ”symptomatic” use of homeopathic remedies, which simply removes a nagging symptom for a while, does not amount to homeopathic cure. While it may be fine for the acute pain or emergency or first aid, it is never indicated to cure chronic problems. The detailed explanations in the cases above highlight what is true homeopathic cure of chronic diseases.
