UPDATE IN ORGANON OF MEDICINE

ROLE OF EVOLUTIONARY PAST IN HOMOEOPATHIC PRESCRIBING OF ONE-SIDED DISEASESDr. Anju Jethani M.D. (HOM.)Senior Medical Officer (Homoeopathy), Medical Center, High Court of Delhi, Dte. of ISM & Homoeopathy, Govt. of NCT of Delhi.Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Organon of Medicine, NHMC & Hospital, Govt. of NCT of Delhi.

E-MAIL: dranjujethani@gmail.com

ABSTRACT: In todays era when there is increased plethora of cases presenting with one-sided image of disease on account of advanced pathology, there is an imperative need to outline an avenue of prescribing that can guide selection of appropriate homoeopathic medicine. One such avenue is an indepth analysis of evolutionary past of such patients which can often provide the key to unlock such difficult cases. This paper intends to outline the foresaid avenue of prescribing and intends to highlight the clinical methods of various stalwarts on these very lines.

INTRODUCTION:

Hahnemann spoke of one-sided diseases as the diseases that are characterized by the paucity of symptoms and manifest themselves through one or two principal symptoms only.

In 173; Hahnemann stated this fact as :

The only diseases that seem to have but few symptoms, and on that account to be less amenable to cure, are those which may be termed one-sided, because they display only one or two principal symptoms which obscure almost all the others. They belong chiefly to the class of chronic diseases. 38

In essence, the diseases attain one-sidedness when the majority of their symptoms are foreshadowed to the background; leaving a few symptoms on the surface to express the disease state. In other words, the wholistic expression of the disease is masked and the disease manifests itself through a very small number of symptoms i.e. its one side is all that remains to represent the disease.

The diseases become one-sided on account of one of the following two factors:

NATURE OF THE DISEASE: As discussed by Hahnemann in 174; there are certain illnesses, which by their very nature present with but few symptoms and hence constitute one-sided disease.

STATE OF ADVANCED PATHOLOGY:

The other principal factor that makes the disease one-sided is the progression of disease to advanced pathological state. It is well known that as the disease process progresses, the symptoms (especially the characteristic ones) gradually vanish till the state is reached when disease has only one side of the whole picture (in the form of one or two symptoms) to symbolize itself. In this stage of the disease, only the gross pathological features represent the disease.

In either of these cases, for the obvious reason, an wholistic prescribing is not at all possible in one-sided diseases on the basis of presenting totality. Then what do we do? It is here that the dynamic concept of life serves as a beacon light guiding us through this philosophical dilemma.

In the evolutionary model of life (Dynamic view of life); the constant oscillation of phenomena occurring at different stages of life are, in fact, varied manifestations of the same underlying principle (the vital principle). We need to appreciate the fact that the two phases of life the past and the present are two sides of the same coin on account of their common origin through the one and the same vital principle. Hence, due to this very reason, one phase can represent and illuminate the other when the other phase is dim and not well represented.

So in case the present condition of the patient is devoid of prescribing avenue; the symptoms that the patient experienced in the past; originating from and being affection of the same vital principle, need to be taken into consideration as appropriate philosophical substitute of the present and should form the basis of sound prescription. Keeping in mind the gloomy picture of presenting totality in such patients, we need to retrace the progression of the disease and unearth the area of prescribing in the past much before the disease degenerated into the present stage. It is only during this stage of the past that we can hope to grasp upon characteristic symptoms since the disease was at its budding stage and had therefore not made great inroads in the state of its vital expression.

Dunhams famous case of deafness cured by Mezereum, wherein the prescription had been based on the original skin symptoms, which had been suppressed and had given rise to the deafness, is a case in point.

As recorded in Dunhams book, The Science of Therapeutics, this case is such a wonderful exposition of the philosophical importance of anamnesis in the light of the dynamic concept of life that I would like to quote this case verbatim in Dunhams own words:

G.W.W., aged seventeen years, small, but well proportioned and of good constitution, healthy since his ninth year, has been deaf since he was four years old. When three years of age, he had an eruptive disease of the whole scalp, which, after resisting for a year all the milder methods of allopathic treatment, was finally caused to disappear, in the following manner: A tar-cap was placed upon the head, and when firmly adherent to the scabs, was violently torn off. The scabs came with it, leaving the whole scalp raw. This raw surface was moistened with a saturated solution of nitrate of silver. The eruption did not reappear; but from that time the child was deaf. "The condition of the youth now excites the earnest solicitude of his friends. His inability to move in society, or to get a situation in business, on account of his deafness, has produced a morbid state of mind. He broods over his infirmity, and secludes himself even from his own family." Under these circumstances, he applied to me to be cured of his deafness On Feb. 3, 1857, patient received a powder containing three globules of Mezereum 30, to be taken on retiring (the prescription having been based on the features of the suppressed skin lesions). Feb. 24. Thinks he hears better every sound seems much louder than before. Hears my watch at a distance of four and a half inches from the right ear, and four and a quarter from the left ear. Saccharum lactis. March 1. Has not improved during the last week. Mezereum 30, three globules. March 27: Hears my watch, with the right ear, six and a half inches, and with the left ear, seven inches. Saccharum lactis. April 20. Hears my watch, with the right ear, at a distance of ten inches, and with the left, at a distance of fourteen inches. Hears ordinary conversation easily, with attention. Saccharum lactis. Sept. 28. Has been steadily improving until three weeks ago, when he became more deaf again, without apparent cause. Mezereum 30, three globules, on retiring. Jan. 26, 1858. Hears my watch at a distance of fourteen inches from the right ear, and twenty-four inches from the left ear. Deafness returns when he takes cold, but disappears with the cold. Mezereum 30, three globules, on retiring. March 19. To his surprise, on going to church, although seated at the extreme end of a very large building, he distinctly heard the whole sermon for the first time in his life. 75

Hence, it is quite evident that in cases pervaded by darkness due to lack of illumination of characteristic symptomatology in the presenting totality, we need to undertake a journey into the past life of the patient when the enlightening avenue of prescribing was available as our prescribing tool in the present condition.

Another brilliant example is a case of partial impotence and infertility treated by Adolph von Lippe. Wesselhoeft had treated the patient for more than eighteen months with little improvement. In this case too, there were no characteristic presenting symptoms for the purpose of prescribing. Lippe then saw the patient and gave him Lac. caninum because ten years earlier he had suffered from an attack of Diphtheria and the character of the attack had been that it had gone one side to other and back again. The patient was completely cured of the impotence and infertility.

Wesselhoeft writes As far as we know, Lac. caninum has no sexual weakness. The fact disturbed Lippe very little in his selection. He looked deeper and found the cause and the remedy. This is true homoeopathic pathology.48

Therefore, as a matter of course, in our investigations for the purpose of perceiving patient as a whole, the previous history of the patient before he became ill and the manner in which the illness evolved must receive our earnest attention.

In this regard; Dr. J.N. Kanjilal has narrated an amazing case in which he relieved an advanced case of Osteo-arthritis with crippling deformities in a man aged 40 years, after being thoroughly disappointed with prescriptions based on presenting totality of symptoms, simply by a dose of Drosera 200 prescribed on the symptom of whooping cough he had at the age of about 5 or 6 years; the symptoms of the latter were obtained from the memory of the mother. 45

This strengthens our belief that anamnesis is a logical tool of illuminating the past that can be so vital in our understanding of the present. The following case, as reported by Stuart Close, is a further strong reminder of this notion.

The patient was a girl eighteen years of age, in the late stages of incurable heart disease. She had been under allopathic treatment for over a year, steadily growing worse. When first seen by the writer she was confined to a chair, unable to lie down or remain in bed. General edema, ascites and hydrothorax existed. Urine was almost entirely suppressed, only about four ounces being passed in twenty-fours hours. Tachycardia and dyspnoea were most distressing and death seemed imminent. The history and anamnesis of her case revealed unmistakable Calcarea symptoms. She was given a single dose of Calcarea carb., C.M., Fincke. The reaction and response to the remedy was surprising. Within forty-eight hours urine began to be secreted copiously. For several days she passed from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty ounces per day. Dropsy rapidly disappeared and she was soon able to lie down and sleep comfortably. In about four weeks she was able to go out for a ride in a carriage, and not long after was out walking. She lived thirteen months in comparative comfort and happiness and then died quite suddenly of heart failure, after a slight over exertion. 44

Thus, in difficult cases such as one-sided diseases, where the scope of proper homoeopathic prescribing is dim in relation to the existing totality; it is the past that brightens the image of the disease and we need to completely rely on it for our purpose of treatment. Dr.R.P.Patel describes this fact in the following words:

A difficulty may arise in those obscure cases the symptoms of which have been masked by drugging, homoeopathic and otherwise, operations, etc. or due to far reaching progression of disease so that these cases only present a few common symptoms which can only guide us to a group of remedies.. Many times in these cases before we can make any progress we must go back through the life of the patient to childhood and note all symptoms, which preceded the pathological change that now obscures the image of your case. 6

In my endeavor to further highlight this point of view, I would like to quote the following two cases of Dr. W.S. Gee as stated in his article Constitutional Medicine.

Case 1: Mr. B., aged 25, complained of a severe pain in his knee. No distinguishing features being present an appeal was made to the anamnesis or previous history. He had suffered one whole year from rheumatism some years before and was unable to leave the house. The features of the attack pointed to Rhus tox. and that remedy in the 1M potency, cured his knee. 76Case 2: Marion H., a little girl of five years, was taken seriously ill with remittent fever. The temperature ranged from 103 to 104 deg.F and above for several days. The best-selected remedies did not seem to act on account of paucity of marked symptoms. The history was more carefully examined. When a baby, she perspired very much about her head and was troubled with cold damp feet. Stomach and bowels were easily disturbed. She was slow getting her teeth and in learning to walk. With this help Calcarea ost. 1M was selected and a great change was soon apparent and recovery was rapid. 76

Therefore, here again we see that in order to prescribe for one-sided disease, a thorough anamnesis is essential to unfold the symptoms of the past when the clearer view of the diseased state can be obtained.

To sum it up, we may conclude, in context of one-sided diseases, that the past is not a dead past but lives on to illuminate the present.