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The symptom is not the disease
By Rod Ohlsson
Copyright © 2011 Rod Ohlsson
Published by Rod Ohlsson at Smashwords
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ISBN 978-1-4659-5876-1
Table of contents.
Chapter 2-What do we want from a system of medicine
Chapter 3-My homoeopathic model of the human and its energy system.
Chapter 4-The symptom is not the disease
Chapter 7-Homoeopathic medicines
Chapter 8-Testing homoeopathic medicines
Chapter 10-Materia Medica and the Repertory
Chapter 13-General observations on vitality and response levels.
Chapter 14-A brief look at puberty.
Chapter 16-Taking the case continued.
Chapter 17-The second prescription.
Chapter 18-When is the patient cured.
There are two distinct philosophies of medicine throughout the world. Simply put, one philosophy considers the symptom to be the disease, and the other considers the symptoms important but not the disease.
Any philosophy that considers the symptom to be the disease will inevitably give rise to a system or systems of medicine that are aimed at the effective removal of symptoms, and this approach is the dominant system throughout the world today.
We are all very familiar with the system in one form or another, that holds the symptom to be the disease, it is generally referred to as medical science, or conventional medicine. We experience it as practiced by general medical practitioners (doctors), specialists and surgeons, and is delivered through surgeries, health centres and hospitals.
Most of these practitioners would argue that they are not delivering a service based on such a simplistic principle, and would point at the great advances in understanding the nature of disease agents and the sophisticated medicines now at their disposal to treat them. However a brief glance at the categories of medicines and surgical procedures will reveal that they are generally aimed at removal or suppression of symptoms. We are all familiar with Pain killers, anti inflammatory drugs, broncho- dilators, diuretics, anti biotics etc; and it is undoubtedly true that in most cases these drugs will perform their specific task effectively.
Ever since the intellect of man has developed sufficient capacity, it has sought to alleviate pain and suffering, and in most societies both primitive (so called) and the technologically advanced, have discovered, historically, plants and minerals, to use as medicines, and in modern developed societies, these primitive medicines have been superseded in many cases by synthetically produced medicines, designed to do the same job more effectively.
It is perfectly understandable that a suffering individual would want to be free of the symptoms as quickly as possible, and barring any unpleasant ‘reaction or after effect’ to the treatment, will consider the job effectively complete, and think no more about it.
As medical practice has evolved with detailed observation of cases over time and effective record keeping has shown that the taking of medicines to treat symptomatology rather than address the causes of those symptoms, can lead to more serious conditions with new symptomatology, requiring the prescribing of yet more powerful medication to subdue the new symptom picture, or surgical intervention in some cases.
Throughout recent history there have been voices pointing out the possible short comings of this rather superficial approach to treating disease and the negative effects of the powerful medicines and drugs employed.
Today we have an explosion (hundreds, maybe thousands) of so called natural or alternative systems of medicine, however with closer examination of the methods and medicines used we find that the materials may be an alternative to regular pharmaceutical medicines but the methodology and philosophy are based on exactly the same principle i.e.: the symptom is the disease. With the same drawbacks if the medicine is effective in merely removing or suppressing the symptom.
Yes! a material dose of a plant or a medicine extracted directly from a plant can be claimed as natural, however if it is an alternative anti inflammatory or Hormone replacement medication the thinking is the same, and if it is effective, brings with it the same drawbacks.
Classical homoeopathy is a true alternative system of medicine it does not share the same philosophy, and because it stands alone and apart from the overwhelming dominance of the conventional view, which of course includes the unquestioning belief of society in that conventional view, it is constantly subjected to the spread of misinformation and outright attacks on its credibility.
This book is not intended to stand toe to toe with the those practitioners who refuse to take another deeper look at their own system, or those companies and organisations with huge influence and an obvious vested interest in carrying on business as usual. Rather it is an attempt to provide information to those of you, who like me (forty plus years ago) recognise some glaringly obvious flaws in what we are asked to accept as medical science and our experience of it in practice.
We are now considered as health consumers and that the prospect of an infant taking a ‘broncho- dilator’ inhaler three times a day for the rest of its life is just accepted perhaps until an advanced new drug will mean maybe an implant that is only renewed once a month, much more convenient and no inhaler containers to carry around. We can now purchase drugs over the counter, that not so very long ago could only be prescribed after judicious consideration by a qualified medical doctor.
If you are interested in just what human beings may be capable of, if you can loosen your conditioning and take a look for yourself, you may find classical homoeopathic philosophy and practice answers many of your questions and may answer some of the questions you hadn’t thought to ask yet.
If you are a student or practicing homoeopath having already seen the light, you may find something of interest in my personal approach to aspects of classical homoeopathic practice and the human energy system.
In this book I look at the fundamental difference between conventional medicine and classical homoeopathic philosophy, and explain the classical homoeopathic approach to understanding the origin and development of disease and discuss the homoeopathic approach to addressing these origins as well as the effects expressed as symptoms.
I will mention at this point, that in my opinion it is impossible for a Physician of any persuasion, to set out honestly, to try and help another human being, move in the direction of optimum health, unless they have a clear model in their mind of what constitutes the whole or complete individual, and how that individual interacts with society and the natural world. It is my hope that by the end of this book you will agree that no symptom or characteristic can be taken in isolation when actually thinking in terms of cure. I remember once talking to a group of allopathic general practitioners about this view, when one of them said “Ok I am hanging a picture, and while hammering the nail, I miss and hammer my finger, which produces great pain swelling and all the rest of it”. “What has that got to do with my Mind or Emotions”?
If the answer isn’t already obvious or doesn’t become so as you read on, I will put the answer I gave him at the end of this book and on the website.
What do we want from a system of medicine?
The very first question to examine is "what do we want from a system of medicine"? On reading this you may have come up with an instant answer, and at face value it may seem obvious. However the way we respond to the answer will determine the fundamental principles, or philosophy of the system we set up.
I would guess that the vast majority of us would say something along the lines of "I want a system that will Cure me of my symptoms and establish good health as soon as possible". An understandable sentiment and one I'm sure we can all agree with. The way we approach the treatment of symptoms is going to be clearly dependant on just what we think the symptoms represent.
If we think the symptoms are the disease then we would obviously develop a system that is aimed at the effective removal of symptoms.
If we think that the symptoms are not the actual disease, and although often unpleasant, have some other important significance. We would have to identify their role in the diseased state and develop a system that would take account of that role in the treatment process.
One of my major reasons for studying Homoeopathy was that it seemed clear to me that allopathic medicine was practised in a way which implied that it considered the symptom or symptoms to be the disease. The prescribing of 'Pain Killers' 'Anti Inflammatory' ' Anti depressants' 'Antibiotics' 'Anti Emetics' 'Surgery' etc. materials and techniques aimed at the relief of symptoms all seemed to indicate that philosophical position.
One doesn't catch pain or inflammation for example, they are effects rather than causes, so it seems to follow, that taking a pain killer or anti inflammatory medication, may well help the patient to feel more comfortable but is not going to address the actual cause of the pain or inflammation. I am sure we can all think of stories of people permanently taking pain killers, inhalers, anti depressants etc. which the moment they stop taking, the symptoms return
This feels like a good time to try and explain a little bit about my use of the words Allopath or Allopathic in the case of the philosophical approach. To a classical Homoeopath there are really only two philosophies of medicine Allopathic and Homoeopathic, there are hundreds possibly thousands of so called alternative systems of medicine, but they have to fit into one or other of those two categories.
The word Allopathic was coined by the founder of Homoeopathy 'Samuel Hahnemann' this is an extract from Wikipedia that gives a flavour of its use
(and meant "other than the disease" and it was intended, among other things, to point out how regular doctors used methods that Hahnemann felt had nothing to do with the disharmony produced by disease, merely addressing symptoms, which, in Hahnemann's view, meant that these methods were harmful to the patients).
So as a classical homoeopath I find Hahnemann’s way of thinking natural to me as it makes perfect sense once one sees the reality of it. In the next section I will try and examine this view and see if I can explain what I mean.
I think first we should consider the tangible dynamics of life or life force in what we call living organisms. It is an obvious fact that there is a motivating force or energy present in all living things that is missing following the event we call death. After death there is the departure or cessation of life force, this is followed by the decomposition of the physical manifestation, which has been motivated by the life force.
This seems to clearly indicate that the life force is essential to the organisation and motivation or functioning of the entity. Or to put it another way the health and survival of the entity or organism in its optimum state is powered by the life force.
I consider the next statement to be self evident and axiomatic hence I have written it in capitols and it is that the fundamental dynamic of any living organism is SURVIVAL. I have capitalised it because I think it is that important. I hope you don’t have a problem with the statement as it is essential to the rationale of what follows.
If the basic drive of a living organism is to survive, and it uses every available ounce of energy and organic intelligence to survive in the optimum way. Then it must obviously follow that, in whatever state we find an organism at any given moment in time, whatever symptomatology it may be displaying, MUST BE THE BEST IT CAN DO! Under the circumstances, IF IT COULD DO BETTER IT WOULD BE DOING BETTER! We could say that the symptoms being displayed are an expression of the processes being carried out, in an effort to obtain the optimum state of survival or health.
If the organism has sufficient resources and organisation, to bring to bear on the cause of the problem and resolve or cure it, the symptoms will go away because they are no longer being generated and the organism continues to survive. I consider this to be the most important observation because if you can see the truth of it, as I do, then I am sure we would agree that the symptoms although vitally important are not the disease in themselves..
It seems to me that the key elements required are,(1) to have sufficient vitality (Life force) available to power the total organism and (2) a form of fundamental organic intelligence to oversee survival activity and orchestrate optimum survival of the whole..