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| Hpathy Ezine - June, 2005 | ||||
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Cellular Defense Mechanisms and their Miasmatic CorrelationVijaykar makes use of another well documented observation normal physiology, molecular biology and immune function of a cell to describe and authenticate Hahnemann’s Theory of Miasms. It is interesting to understand the miasms from this perspective : an extrapolation of well known biological mechanisms. I’ll outline in brief these concepts below: There are 3 basic Functions that an organism or
individual cell has evolved for Survival. The importance of considering the changes that are occurring at the cellular or tissue level is because this response is governed by the genes, or genetic make up of the man as a whole. The disease response and expression is governed by the genome in each individual cell that is dependant on the genetic make up of that individual, which can change at different times and different ‘states’ of the individual based on the hereditary (genetic) traits. A normal cell responds to stressful stimuli in the environment by certain genetically regulated functions (metabolism, differentiation, specialization) in order to restore homeostasis. As the stress (pathological stimulus) continues for a longer period of time, various physiological and morphological adaptations begin to occur resulting in an altered state of homeostasis. Some of these adaptations are cell hypertrophy, cell atrophy or cell injury which may be reversible or can result in final destruction. There are conceptually 3 Defense Mechanisms a cell employs for survival. 1. The Physiological Defense: the first line
of defense. Initially the cell tries to restore homeostasis at the
level of its cell wall by promoting production of lysozymes in mucous
membranes or unsaturated fatty acids on skin epithelium. These seek
to wash off irritants or bacteria or viruses. Ultimately if this
does not work, the Acute Inflammatory Response of the cells sets
into motion (Calor: heat, Rubor: redness, Dolor: pain, Tumor: swelling,
Functio-laesa: temporary absence of function) which tries to localize
the irritants, bacteria, virus, etc and get rid of its disease causing
influence on the body. This is the Acute Inflammatory Response which
is closely intermingled with the process of repair. While acute
inflammation works at limiting effect of the pathogens, it also
sets of a series of events that heal and reconstitute the damaged
tissues. 2. The Morphological or “Constructive” Defense: is the second line of defense. Ideally most of the Chronic Inflammatory Process of the immune system come into at this stage. The observation at the cellular (micro) and macro levels is the accumulation of lipids or proteins or glycogen in cell walls or cytoplasm. Chronic inflammatory processes all describe an accumulation of fluids, development of chronic granulomas and healing with fibrous tissue accumulation as part of the immune processes. These express as cysts, tumors, excessive think discharges, pigment depositions, fibrous scarring. 3. The Destructive Defense: When chronic inflammatory processes fail to stem the progress of disease and the pathogens, the next line of defense is immune processes that cause local destruction with the help of secial cells and enzymes secreted, in order to “save the whole by sacrificing a part”. The change to this type of defensive mechanism possibly occurs at the genetic level of the cell – the change towards self destruction rather than survival. These pathologies express as necrosis of parts or gangrenes or ulcerations. Organon Aphorisms 73, 79, 80 may be paralleled with the observations above. Psora is thus – “Physiological Defense”, Sycosis is “Constructive Defense", and Syphilis is “Destructive Defense”. Psora includes the Acute Inflammatory response and other physiological defenses that make use of and sacrifice the 1st basic function of the cell, that of Nutrition. The resultant hypoxia and Ischaemia leads to depletion of energy generation within the cell affecting its long term functioning and health, (unless helped with a similimum remedy). This expression can also be extrapolated in the mental and emotional symptoms. Sycosis includes defense processes that make use of or sacrifice the 2nd basic function of the cell, that is its capacity to regenerate/reproduce. Mitosis, meiosis, etc are these functions that help in accumulations and growths. This tendency for protection through deception and fortification is the Sycotic extrapolation into the mental state. Syphilis makes use of destructive Immune processes to defend the organism or the cell. The immune function is the 3rd basic function of the cell which may be sacrificed leading to destruction – locally or at the general level. Auto-immune diseases, descructive diseases of teh immune system or other part of the body are part of this. Here too, mentally there is an expression of destruction, loss of moral sense and perversion of the intellect. Almost Every Disease process evolves in a particular direction: It starts with acute inflammation (Psora) then progresses to chronic inflammation and indurations (Sycosis) and finally towards ulceration and destruction (Syphilis). (Aphorism 72). Thus, we see a miasmatic evolution in every disease process, acute or chronic during treatment. The extent the disease progresses is determined by the basic miasmatic traits possessed by the individual which are either acquired or inherited. One phase or state may be predominant at a particular point of time. Observation and analysis of the miasmatic evolution of disease in the life of each individual patient, peceiving the miasmatic similimum or series of similimums that would be required and recognizing a reversal of the miasmatic progression towards health, is the hallmark of expert homeopathic management. Observing this reversal is not by merely or simplistically following Hering’s Nature’s Law of Cure, but being able to perceive deeper the Miasmatic reversal towards cure. The choice of remedy then has to be appropriated and be a similimum for this purpose. Only then will we see true Cure in chronic complicated diseases. We will explain this again more clearly with some examples. Multi-Miasmatic Expression:Almost every one of us has a multimiasmatic expression of disease. This is because besides the miasms we may have acquired during our lifetime, we have also an inherited miasmatic load that progresses further with every suppressive treatment taken during ones lifetime. Vijaykar details the various physical and mental facets of individual miasmatic expression. That has already been covered in earlier articles on miasms, especially the last one in the previous (May '05) issue. His are valuable insights interpreted from his own experience, so one should go through his book. I have mainly focussed on the clinical relevance of these concepts for case management. Every individual inherits his natural traits and characteristics from his parents.These are in his genes. But not all these genes are expressed in the normal characteristics of the individual. Some genes remain dormant, while some are dominant. The dominant genes are activated to produce and synthesize substances that express the dominant characteristics. From the homeopathic standpoint too, the individual inherits miasmatic traits (genetically based) from his parents. He may have inherited a multimiasmatic expression, but only the dominant miasm expresses itself, with the others lying latent (Hahemann used the term "latent psora"!), having the ability to be activated in the right set of circumstances. This miasmatic load is also modified by miasmatic influences acquired during a person's lifetime. Vijaykar explains the process of growth, development and aging
as an expression of miasmatic evolution. The essential concept is
as follows: The Second Phase from about 20 years to 50 years of age normally present with Sycotic complaints like backache, Rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, tumors, fibroids, hypertension and diabetes. The defenses have become accumulative or "constructive". The mental state is expressed in the need to prosper, to accumulate wealth and power, and to achieve. There is weight gain in general signifying this move towards sycotic expression. The Third Phase is after 50 years till death.
This phase is characterized by catabolism, and a process of destruction
that is normal to aging. But it also characterizes a Syphilitic
expression. Depending on the miasmatic load, the destructive process
sets in either at an earlier age in this phase or only very close
to death. A long life and uncomplicated old age is a sign of strong
Psoric miasmatic inheritance, which is the secret to a long life
of good vitality. Miasms in Hering's Law of CureEarlier we talked about Miasmatic evolution and Hering's Law of Cure from the embryological perspective. Vijaykar adds one more corollary to Hering's Law in order to bring in the miasmatic perspective: The 5 directions of cure are: A Clinical Example is the case of a man suffering form Leukemia. While he was being treated with a remedy, his WBC count reduces, which may have been a welcome sign, but along with this, his hemoglobin level also began to fall. Leukemia has a Sycotic taint. The fall in WBC is a good miasmatic sign, but the fall in Hemoglobin alongside is an indication of destruction of bone marrow cells that also produce RBC's. This would be a Syphilitic change towards a destructive defense instead of the sycotic defense of leukemia. This was a wrong direction of cure. The case was revised and the correct antisycotic similimum was found. After the second prescription, The haemoglobin increased. But the number of leucocytes (WBC's) increased as well. From the Miasmatic point of view, this was a good movement as the destructive Syphilitic change has reverted back to a sycotic defense. Subsequently there followed a decrease in the total WBC's while the hemoglobin continued to improve. A subsequent differential WBC count revealed that there was a definite reduction in the number of lymphocytes (chronic inflammatory cells) with a corresponding increase in the Neutrophil count (Acute inflammatory cells). Lab results over the past year did not show any such change in the differential WBC count. The sign of increased neutrophils, as against lymphocytes is a Psoric expression. This was a miasmatic indication of the correct direction of cure. Besides other signs of Hering's law that were observed, here was the miasmatic interpretation exhibiting a change from a Syphilitic "Destructive defense" to a Sycotic "Constructive Defense" onwards to a Psoric "Physiological Defense". The remedy was a miasmatic similimum and was certain to completely cure this patient. Multimiasmatic RemediesThe multimiasmatic expression exists not only in an individual
but also in the remedy proving. As mentioned in my previous article,
it would have been interesting if Hahnemann has sought to record
proving symptoms giving importance to the miasmatic expression and
sequence of symptoms development. But he did not, and so we have
the added difficulty today of trying to understand our remedies
(especially the polycrest ones) from the multimiasmatic perspective.
This is a concept that the ICR symposium have worked on as well
in order to understand the different miasmatic expressions in polycrest
remedies. The importance of understanding remedies from the miasmatic
standpoint is that it helps us perceive a commonly used remedy in
an uncommon expression based on the predominant miasmatic expression.
The predominant miasm is one of the reasons why we see different
and uncommon facets of remedies in different individuals. One does
not write these off as "Polarities" simplistically. They
have a good reason to show one polarity - and often the explanation
is fond when we look deeper into the miasmatic expression of the
symptom picture as whole, the physical symptoms being most clearly
indicative of the stage of pathological progression. Here is the remedy Opium miasmatically analyzed
by Dr. Vijaykar. The Sycotic Opium would have: The Syphilitic Opium would have: Here is an example of how one observes the miasmatic expression of the case and correlates it with the miasmatic expression of a multimiasmatic remedy to cure a serious disease. A lady came for treatment with Cancer of the Cervix. She was dark, long faced, sharp featured with a slightly distorted bridge of her nose. She was friendly and loquacious. She was an Assistant Editor of a leading Hindi Language magazine. She said she resigned from this post, as her worth had not been recognized. They had not made her the Editor in spite of working hard for the magazine for over 8 years. At home she led a restricted life because her husband was very strict. He was dictatorial, abrupt and aloof. She had to live her life independent of him because she had virtually no moral or financial support from him. Her son too did not care for her much. In these circumstances, she was angry with all "males".
She said that she was a good poet whose poems were very well appreciated.
She specialized on two themes - they were either for small children
or for women/girls. When asked to recite a poem she had written for children, her eyes sparkled. She stated that she wrote unique poems for children. She started to recite a poem that she titled "Headless". The poem described a boy of 5 years whose head was cut off. It ended with other boys teasing this headless boy telling him how beautiful they looked. But when they looked over a bridge into the water, the reflection they saw shocked them. All their heads had been cut off and placed on the body of the headless boy they were teasing! One can imagine the perversion and distortion of her imagination! A poem for children should be pleasant, about beauty and full of joy, but here she wrote on themes that would frighten them to death! It was clear why her "unique" poems never gained popularity as also the reason why she never felt appreciated. This is also the reason why she was not promoted to chief editor and possibly why her husband remained aloof from her. This is a syphilitic expression of the remedy, which remains at
the level of the mind with a physical symptom expression. (Note
that there is no obvious expression in social action that one would
expect of a typically and predominantly syphilitic remedy like Merc.)
One need not look into Rubrics of dreams and delusions. What is
characteristic of her is her Egotism of being a 'Unique' person.
The correct rubric in the repertory for her distorted imagination
is: Conclusion This attempt of presenting Dr. Vijaykar's concepts on miasms hopes to highlight parts of his insight that are brilliant and very useful for case management. I have left out concepts included in his books that were not very relevant clinically or need further elaboration or modification by him in the future. We all could do with deeper insight into managing our chronic patients miasmatically! As I said earlier, a little bit of indepth study and learning is a must for any homeopath wanting to achieve successful cures clinically, making use of all the tools at our disposal. It adds to the sense of fulfillment in our mission to heal the sick. Do write in with your comments and suggestions. Dr. Leela D'Souza http://www.homeopathy2health.com/ Bibliography: 1. The Chronic Diseases, Samuel Hahnemann (Theoretical Part) |
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