Understanding chronic illness
Leaving inherited tendencies out, if acute illnesses that arise during one’s life are treated by homeopathy (or in some naturopathic way) at the time they occur, the immune system would be stimulated by the remedy and the person restored to health, thus maintaining the integrity of the immune system.
However, what tends to occur, is the modern desire for an ‘instant fix’ leading to the proliferation of antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, steroids, statins and painkillers which has effectively suppressed a lot of illness. That is, these substances do not remove the symptoms permanently and at best only palliate. While this has some benefit in the short term, it tends to take away the body’s own ability to heal and the energetic disturbance in the body that manifested those symptoms has not been corrected. Added to this, modern pharmaceuticals can also set up side effects. For example, some rheumatoid drugs can cause eye problems such as blurred vision, photophobia and central vision changes.
Hence, by the time people get to 30 or 40 years old there are many disturbances layered one on top of each other within an individual’s health profile. Of course, the body, in its innate wisdom will always attempt to mitigate any aberration, but the energy required for the body to keep the areas of disharmony under ‘wraps’ leads to a general decline in health and more serious ailments on a deeper, more pathological level will emerge. This is now a complex state of health.
The more natural therapies like detoxification regimes, vitamin and mineral supplementation, cranial osteopathy, acupuncture and Chinese medicine in general, shiatsu etc can certainly help maintain a good level of health, but in many cases, it is homeopathy that has the power to remove the energetic imprints detrimental to health that may have been there for a long time, sometimes for decades.
The process of homeopathic treatment, therefore, is aimed at removing the layers of ill haelth and energetic imprints one at a time. The analogy sometimes used is removing the layers like those of an onion. This is why, as part of the treatment, old, even forgotten, symptoms from the past will re-emerge. This is a good sign and indicates a new layer emerging. This new (or really ‘old’) symptom will often go away by itself. This is because the immune system now has more energy, thanks to the homeopathic remedy, to do more of it’s own ‘house cleaning”. If the symptom does remain, then that is used as part of the rational for the choice of the next homeopathic remedy.
Depending on the history of the patient, the process of treating chronic illness can t ake months and sometimes years. The homeopath will monitor and support the patient throughout this process. The aim for some more serious conditions like cataracts may only be to stop any more deterioration. During most treatments, however, there can be regular indicators of improvement, even if seemingly small, indicating a gradual progression towards the ultimate aim, which is the restoration of health.
