There is a definitive reason why chronic illnesses are so rampant in our culture. A major factor, for one, is conventional medicine provides suppressive treatment and transforms acute diseases, at times, into chronic illnesses.
We all seem to belong to a chronically ill and weak society. Children, in particular, are becoming weaker. Also, obese. Picture this: sedentary habits, fast-, or junk-foods, lack of physical activity, hooked to TV, OTT, and computer video games. The list is endless.
We cannot blame such a disagreeable situation to medications of the strong kind alone, but also to compromised nutrition, unhealthy eating habits, stress, depression, parental and peer pressure, lack of exercise and ‘unmindful’ living.
Homeopathy To The Fore
Homeopathy addresses these issues with a holistic approach, or set of scales. It also provides us with applicable, practical solutions.
It was Dr Samuel Hahnemann, MD, the founder of homeopathy, that first thought of classifying diseases, as acute or chronic.
Acute Illness
Conventional physicians define acute illness as a condition that starts suddenly and is, more or less, short-lived. Homeopaths define acute illness as a short-lived condition with symptoms that are dissimilar from the usual characteristics of the individual and also different from the symptoms of any frequent condition the individual may have.
Acute illnesses present with the following characteristics:
- Sudden onset
- Rapid progress
- They resolve quickly and generally heal with simple homeopathic medicines
- There’s complete recovery with gentle homeopathic medicinal intervention.
Homeopathy distinguishes acute illnesses with the following labels: individual, sporadic, and epidemic.
Individual diseases are self-explanatory. Sporadic disease affects a few people in different locations with the same set of acute symptoms. In an epidemic, a large proportion of the population presents with the same illness.
When the offending, or the causative, micro-organism is virulent, a majority of people show similar symptoms — this presentation may require the same homeopathic remedy, a remedy that covers a vast range of symptoms.
Most acute illnesses are apparent. They are easily identifiable. But, there is a catch. In some instances, early symptoms are seen in the first couple of hours, not later.
This phenomenon provides us with the prospect of stalling the illness with appropriate homeopathic medicines, before it becomes severe.
Chronic Illness
In conventional medical parlance, a chronic illness is any disease that develops slowly and lasts a long time.
Homeopathy considers a chronic illness, or disease, as a long-lasting condition. Dr Hahnemann emphasised that when a chronic illness ignites the system, it may first look like an acute illness, but having a higher intensity. A chronic illness, unlike acute conditions, is not self-limiting. When untreated, or suppressed with conventional quick-fixes, it may get worse and take the shape of a severe illness.
Conventional medications do not deal with the ‘root’ of the problem of the illness too. They provide relief, all right, but they also weaken our immune defences. The result is — more frequent infections and low energy levels.
Homeopathy, on the other hand, enhances immune function; it makes us stronger without, in any way, changing the course of acute problems into chronic illnesses.
It was again Dr Hahnemann who first noticed that the best outcomes of conventional treatment were not long-lasting.
He explained that certain people have a latent predisposition to chronic illnesses, right from their birth. He called this tendency ‘miasm’ — the fundamental cause of an erroneous, or diseased, state of the body.
Looking at what is happening all around us, Dr Hahnemann’s idea holds a clear mirror as to why chronic illnesses have become the order of our time.
Immunology & Homeopathy
Modern immunology evidences that the body has the ability to ‘remember’ every ‘attack’ on the system that it has responded to. This process confirms our capacity to remember stress, emotional distress, exposure to allergens, or intake of strong medications.
There may also be certain underlying ‘miasmatic’ factors that affect the ability of the ‘vital force’ to withstand any onslaught. This is reason why homeopathy prioritises the patient’s ‘constitutional type’ when prescribing medicines. In other words, a remedy is given whose ‘symptom-picture’ matches with the individual’s psychological and physical attributes, or features, when healthy.
When homeopathic medicines are taken in the healthy state, they help strengthen our vital force and also enhance resistance to developing illnesses that may be waiting to happen in the future.
Homeopathic remedies, or medicines, work to sustain the self-healing powers of the vital force in its response to illness. This includes speeding up recovery time from acute illness, or making the duration of the illness less bothersome. This includes naturally-assisted recovery from recurrent illness and/or preventing their recurrence.
When homeopathic remedies are carefully chosen, even a lay person can treat oneself, friends, or family.
Be that as it may, when in doubt, especially for chronic conditions, it is imperative to seek the advice of a professional homeopathic physician, rather than resort to self-diagnosis and/or self-treatment.
