Zeus Soft

Tag: Remedy Proving

Provings and the development of remedy knowledge

  • A Three-Part Exploration — Part One

    A Three-Part Exploration — Part One

    Part One

    Sarcodes in Homeopathy

    The Medicines of Function

    What does it mean to prescribe a remedy prepared from healthy physiological material?

    Sarcodes occupy a distinctive place within homeopathic materia medica. Prepared from healthy tissues, glands, hormones, enzymes, physiological secretions and other substances associated with normal biological activity, they direct attention towards one of the body’s most fundamental concerns: function.

    Where a nosode originates from pathological material, a sarcode is traditionally derived from material associated with healthy physiology. This distinction offers the central idea through which the group can be understood. Within the homeopathic framework, the nosode reflects disease and its consequences, while the sarcode represents a tissue, organ or process performing its natural task.

    The sarcode does not merely point towards an anatomical location. It points towards what that tissue is meant to do.

    A thyroid gland regulates metabolic pace. The pituitary coordinates communication between several endocrine systems. The adrenal glands participate in the response to immediate and prolonged stress. Insulin is involved in the regulation and utilisation of glucose. Mitochondria participate in cellular energy production. DNA preserves biological information, while RNA helps translate that information into active cellular processes.

    Through sarcodes, materia medica enters the language of regulation, signalling, conversion, timing, production and release.

    The central idea: Anatomy tells us where. Function tells us what it does. Sarcodes invite the practitioner to consider the physiological activity of a tissue or substance rather than anatomical location alone.

    From organotherapy to sarcodes

    The historical development of sarcodes is closely connected with organotherapy and the nineteenth-century study of internal secretions.

    Early physicians began to recognise that glands did more than produce visible secretions. They released substances that influenced distant organs and contributed to the regulation of the organism as a whole. Classical descriptions of Orchitinum, for example, refer to Brown-Séquard’s experiments with testicular extracts and his theory that glands produced internal secretions essential to vitality and physiological wellbeing.

    Homeopathy subsequently incorporated preparations made from glands, hormones and normal secretions into its pharmacy. Historical literature describes Orchitinum in relation to debility, sexual weakness and premature senile decline, while Oophorinum was discussed in connection with ovarian function, the climacteric and complaints following the removal of the ovaries.

    These descriptions belong to the historical development of sarcode prescribing and should be read within that context.

    The sarcode family has since grown considerably. Contemporary homeopathic databases contain preparations made from endocrine glands, hormones, nervous tissue, immune mediators, enzymes, organs, cellular structures and genetic material.

    Examples include:Thyroidinum, Adrenalinum, Cortisonum, Pituitarium, Hypothalamus, Pineal gland, Folliculinum, Oophorinum, Orchitinum, Insulinum, Pancreatinum, Histaminum, Serotoninum, Melatoninum, ATP, Mitochondria, DNA and Ribonucleicum acidum.

    The category also includes preparations made from structural organs and tissues, such as heart, liver, kidney, lung, spleen, thymus and nervous tissue.

    Healthy material and normal function

    The idea of “healthy material” is essential to the traditional definition of a sarcode. The source should represent normal tissue or normal secretion rather than diseased tissue.

    Conceptually, this means that the remedy source carries an association with the organised function of the living system. A gland produces, responds, regulates and communicates. A hormone is released in a particular rhythm and acts upon receptors elsewhere in the body. An enzyme transforms one substance into another. A cellular structure performs its role within a larger network.

    The body is not simply a collection of organs.
    It is an intricate conversation.

    The hypothalamus communicates with the pituitary. The pituitary communicates with the thyroid, adrenal glands and gonads. Hormones provide feedback to the brain. The pancreas responds to changing glucose levels. The pineal gland participates in circadian timing. The immune system receives information, recognises patterns and adjusts its response.

    This interconnected organisation offers a useful way to study sarcodes. Rather than memorising an expanding catalogue of remedies, practitioners can arrange them according to physiological hierarchy.

    A functional classification

    At the upper level are the central regulators, including the hypothalamus, pituitary, pineal gland, thalamus and cerebrum. These are associated with coordination, signalling, sensory processing, circadian rhythm and the regulation of multiple systems.

    The next level contains the endocrine executors, such as the thyroid, adrenal glands, ovaries, testes and parathyroid glands. These regulate pace, adaptation, reproduction, development, mineral balance and response to changing demands.

    The metabolic group includes Insulinum, Pancreatinum, ATP and Mitochondria. Here the emphasis shifts towards storage, utilisation, conversion and energy production.

    Structural and eliminative sarcodes include preparations from the liver, kidney, heart, lung, spleen and other organs. These have often been used in homeopathic practice as organ-related or intercurrent remedies, although organ affinity alone is not sufficient to establish a homeopathic prescription.

    A further group includes matridonal preparations such as placenta, umbilical cord, amniotic fluid, vernix caseosa and maternal milk. These substances belong to the physiological environment of gestation, birth, nourishment and early bonding. In modern materia medica, they have developed their own thematic field involving connection, separation, support, protection and the transition from womb to independent life.

    A useful physiological hierarchy:

    Central regulators → coordination and signalling
    Endocrine executors → pace, adaptation and reproduction
    Metabolic sarcodes → conversion and energy
    Structural and eliminative sarcodes → organ function
    Matridonal preparations → gestation, nourishment and transition

    Sarcodes are not one uniform family

    Although grouped together under one name, sarcodes do not form a perfectly uniform category. Some are prepared from entire organs, others from hormones, enzymes, fluids, cellular components or synthetic equivalents of physiological substances.

    The literature also contains inconsistencies concerning nomenclature, source species, preparation and classification. The same remedy may be described differently by different authors or manufacturers. Some sarcodes are relatively well documented, while others rely heavily on source interpretation, clinical experience or small provings.

    The supplied material identifies several important concerns: inconsistent naming, incomplete pharmacopoeial representation, uncertainty regarding human or animal source, differences in preparation and a general scarcity of formal provings.

    These limitations matter. Physiological knowledge may help us understand the possible field of a remedy, but it cannot replace proving symptoms or careful clinical confirmation. The source provides a hypothesis, not an automatic prescription.

    The central question

    The most helpful way to approach sarcodes is not to ask only, “Which organ is affected?”

    A more useful question is:

    What function is attempting to occur,
    and how is that function being disturbed?

    Is the organism unable to regulate its pace?

    Is a cycle failing to establish itself?

    Is a signal not reaching its destination?

    Is energy being produced but not effectively distributed?

    Is the system unable to adapt to stress?

    Has a natural developmental process become delayed, exaggerated or arrested?

    These questions take the practitioner beyond diagnosis and towards the individual experience of physiological disturbance.

    A thyroid condition does not automatically indicate Thyroidinum.

    Menstrual irregularity does not automatically require Folliculinum.

    Fatigue does not automatically point towards Adrenalinum or ATP.

    The sarcode becomes relevant when the remedy’s functional pattern is expressed through the wider case.

    This leads to the next stage of our exploration. If sarcodes represent function, how does disturbed function reveal itself in the patient’s language?

    Part Two will explore the characteristic sarcode themes of function, balance, blockage, rhythm and physiological process.

  • China officinalis — the first remedy proved by Hahnemann

    China officinalis — the first remedy proved by Hahnemann

    He was earning a living by translating  medical texts when he decided to test material doses of China for himself – the rest, as they say, is history!

    In this blog article, Luke Norland synthesises information from a wide variety of sources to give an in-depth portrayal of Homeopathy’s inaugural remedy.

    Taxonomy (Cronquist)

    Plantae. Angiospermae. Dicotyledon. Asteridae. Gentianales. Rubiaceae

    Affinities (Boger)

    BLOOD. CIRCULATION. SECRETIONS. Digestive Organs. Liver. Spleen. Nerves.

    Clinical (Clarke, italic symptoms)

    Abscess / Amblyopia / Anaemia / Appetite – disordered / Back – weakness of / Bilious affections – attack / Constipation / Debility / Diarrhoea / Ear – noises in / Emissions / Erysipelas / Headache / Hectic fever / Hip-joint – disease / Intermittent fever / Jaundice / Labour / Lactation / Lienteria / Liver – diseases of / Ménière’s disease / Menstruation – disorders of / Muscae volitantes / Neuralgia / Peritonitis / Perspiration – excessive / Pleurisy / Pylorus – diseases of / Self-abuse / Spermatorrhoea / Taste – disordered / Tea, effects of / Thirst / Tobacco – habit / Traumatic fever

    Established General Keynotes (Lippe)

    • Oversensitiveness, low-spirited with aversion to all noise
    • Debility from loss of fluids
      • an excellent indication is debilitating perspiration
    • A/F
      • LOSS OF VITAL FLUIDS
        • Especially hæmorrhages
        • excessive lactation
        • diarrhœa
        • suppurations
    • INTENSE THROBBING HEADACHE, AFTER EXCESSIVE HÆMORRHAGE
    • Worse slightest contact, and relieved by hard pressure
    • One hand icy cold, the other warm
    • CANINE HUNGER, ESPECIALLY AT NIGHT 

    PERIODICITY

    • PAROXYSMS COME ON AN HOUR OR TWO EARLIER, EVERY DAY, OR EVERY OTHER DAY.
      • The three stages are sharply marked-chill, fever and perspiration.
      • The chill may be absent, but the fever and perspiration must be present
    • Attacks of pain, caused by the slightest touch of the body and then increasing gradually and becoming very severe
    • The parts on which one lies go to sleep
    • Restlessness of the affected parts
    • Intermittent fever without thirst or thirst only between the cold and hot stage
    • Aggravation at night, from the least draught of air, after milk drinking

    Acute application

    From Misha Norland’s Get Well Soon

    Like Carbo Veg. this remedy is useful for excessive bloating of the belly where bringing up wind does not bring relief. Often the troubles, of whatever nature, come on after loss of fluids, this could be from blood loss, excessive menstruation, prolonged breastfeeding or extreme diarrhoea, which cause exhaustion, weakness, headaches with bursting, throbbing pain, extending from the back to the whole head; stomach disturbances; anaemia. People needing China are worse for light touch, rubbing or caressing, but better for hard pressure. They suffe r from general oversensitivity, perhaps even from paranoia, feeling themselves to be harassed, unfortunate, thinking that the world is hostile. They may be sleepless from over abundant ideas and plans.

    Worse


    Loss of fluids; touch; regularly returning symptoms; alternate days; wind; cold; summer and autumn.

    Better


    Hard pressure; loose clothing; bending double; warmth.

    Chronic application

    China is considered a rare constitutional type…

    These passages are from Vermeulen’s Synoptic Materia Medica

    • Artistic persons – like beautiful colors, “feel the colors”; make verses, painters; strong SENSE of BEAUTY.
    • Reserved disposition; express themselves in writing poems, painting; find it difficult or impossible to express their feelings in ordinary words; only talk about themselves with confident persons, good friends.
    • Strong imaginative power, evening in bed [compare Nat-m.:], or daydreaming.
    • thinks about all kinds of positive and wonderful things, like being able to fly, relaxing on a warm day at the seaside, being the richest person of the world, etc
    • Rubrics
      • Absentminded – dreamy
      • Activity – desires creative activity
      • Art – ability for
      • Beautiful things – awareness of; heightened
      • Desires – full of desires – cheerful; desires to be
      • Foppish
      • Grounded – not grounded
      • Idealistic
      • Impressionable
      • Innovative
      • Naive – intelligent, but very
      • Philosophy – ability for
      • Sentimental

    Desires / aversions

    • Aversion to superficial contacts [agg. “slight touch”], only want deep contacts and friendships [amel. “hard, deep pressure”].
    • Desire to have the BEST THINGS [Mind: unworthy, objects seem [2/1]; unattractive, things seem [1/1]].

    Sensation and function

    Hering’s Guiding Symptoms

    • Fulness in head, sensation as if brain was rolled around, with great excitement, nervous susceptibility increased.
    • Sensation as if brain was balancing to and fro, and was striking against skull, occasioning great pain.
    • ¤¤ Sensation as if head would burst, with sleeplessness; agg from motion or any jar; amel in room and when opening eyes.
    • Sensation of constriction as if bound with a cord, especially on right side of forehead and occiput; agg by walking, when there are violent throbbings and head feels as if it would burst.
    • ¤ Sensation as if food pressed upon and hurt stomach.
    • ¤¤ Sensation in lower leg as if garters were tied too tightly, and as if leg would go to sleep and become stiff.
    • ¤ Sensation as of a band tightly tied around different parts of leg or arm.
    • ¤ AFTER CONTINUED OR REPEATED HEMORRHAGE (SUBACUTE), OCCUR PROSTRATION, NERVOUS AGITATION, ANXIOUS MANNER; CAN HARDLY RESPIRE AT ALL; VERY PALE AND GHASTLY; PULSE FAILING; HEMORRHAGE OF DARK BLOOD; SENSATION AS IF IT FLOWED WARM FROM THE HEART.

    Verbs (from sensations as if symptoms)

    Polarities – Sanguine  vs Melancholic 

    Click the links for Sanguine and Melancholic to explore the qualities of these temperaments or CLICK HERE  for an article on Mappa Mundi

    Sensations

    Contained, tightly bound VS Filled up, enlarged

    Beaten, hindered VS Unhampered, light and air

    Sanguine

    Affectionate / Amorous / Capriciousness / Cheerful / Extravagance / Fancies – exaltation of / Foolish behavior / Hopeful / Idealistic / Inconstancy / Irresolution / Libertinism / Mirth / Mood – changeable / Naive / Nymphomania / Plans – making many plans / Sensitive – sensual impressions, to / Vivacious

    Melancholic

    Antisocial / Aversion – persons – all, to / Censorious / Company – aversion to – desire for solitude / Complaining / Deceitful / Delusions – forsaken; is / unfortunate, he is / wrong – suffered wrong; he has / Despair / Discontented / Discouraged / Fear – people; of / Introspection / Loathing – life / Meditating / Monomania / Philosophy – ability for / Reserved / Suspicious / Taciturn / Touched – aversion to be / Unattractive, things seem / Unfortunate, feels / Weary of life

    Miasm

    Malarial (Sankaran)

    China is a remedy of the plant kingdom, and in my understanding it is the main remedy of the malarial miasm. The malarial miasm lies between the acute and sycotic miasms. Malaria is characterized by intermittent fevers – sudden acute attacks of fever with chills, followed by periods of relative dormancy. There is therefore an acute phase, which is characterized by a feeling of threat, followed by longer periods of fixed states of being that are of a sycotic nature, i.e. there is a fixed sensation of deficiency with the need to cover up.

    Malarial miasm  – between the Acute and Sycotic
    Click here  to read an in-depth guie to the Miasms through a mythological prism

    Like the Typhoid miasm, there is a periodicity to the Malarial miasm as it oscillates between the fixed phase (of Sycotic origin) and the acute flare up, which feels tormenting, as if the person is persecuted and harassed as by a mosquito. Sankaran says it goes between excitement and acceptance, and these can be seen as the more positive expressions of the acute and Sycotic. Migraine headaches fall into this category, with periods of acceptance, covering up the weakness or fragility through habits and routines, making sure they don’t eat or drink things that might trigger the migraine. If they overdo it (Sycotic) or eat the wrong food, or have a stressful day at work, these trigger off the acute side of the miasm to vent off some of this build-up of tension. In this period of flare up, the person is utterly overcome, they often have to lie motionless in a dark room to avoid aggravating the intense disturbance of the migraine. The situation Sankaran gives for this miasm is like the employee of an irate boss – you’re stuck and dependent (Sycotic) on the job, but also feel persecuted, harassed and undermined by them.

    Nat-m has this experience in the realm of Row 3; issues of the relationship. Natrum has a stage 1 expression of feeling as though they absolutely need the other person to make them feel secure and whole (acute), whereas muriaticum has a stage 17 expression of feeling betrayed, let down and used by their partner. They react to this by withdrawing, brooding, hiding the turbulence of their emotions, and seeking a tumultuous ocean, or a wild love affair with which to excite/rouse themselves again (Sycotic). However, the drama inside will eventually seek an outlet that could be somatised (E.G. migraine) in order to vent the pent-up emotions inside. The myth of Aphrodite’s forced marriage to the lame smithy god Hephaestus has some resonance with this miasm. As a dependent upon Zeus, she was forced into this dull marriage (fixed, acceptance); but she had many passionate liaisons (excitement) with Ares to make up for this boredom.

    Homeopathic themes of China officinalis

    Hindered, persecuted, tortured

    The feeling in China is:

    “I am weak – people attack, trouble and torture me“, a feeling of being persecuted. The patient feels he is weak, not good enough, that he is persecuted and hindered at his work by other people, that he is obstructed from achieving his ambition. So he fantasizes and in these fantasies he makes himself worthy and achieves his ambitions, and in this wayuses fantasies to cover up the inherent feeling of not being good enough … He is frustrated, being unable to achieve his ambition; so he starts planning, fantasizing, theorizing. Unlike Cannabis indica, who slips into his fantasy world automatically, China is ambitious and plans step by step.He achieves his ambition by building castles in the air. He feels what he possesses is not good enough and that he would have possessed better things if he had not been obstructed and hindered” (Sankaran)

    Teenage, daydreaming, air-castles, idealism

    “The combination of sensitivity, idealism and extreme touchiness makes China a useful remedy in teenagers. China has great excitability, sometimes described as “nervous erethism.” At night the patient lies sleepless with fantasies of heroic deeds or great plans for the future. He is embarrassed by these thoughts on waking the next day.” (Morrison)

    Strong imaginative power, evening in bed [compare Nat-m.], or daydreaming. Chin. thinks about all kinds of positive and wonderful things, like being able to fly, relaxing on a warm day at the seaside, being the richest person of the world, etc., after which they feel happy and satisfied and fall asleep. They usually think of nice stories in which they play the hero. The same pattern can occur during the day, when they are disturbed or embarrassed. (Ghegas)

    Violent, abusive, insulting

    Every external impression leaves deep traces. The intensity of China’s inner life can lead to exhaustion [“loss of mental fluids”], with the result that they become irritable and even violent, insulting and abusive. In this stage the world becomes hostile; they feel unfortunate, do not want to live any more but lack the courage to commit suicide. (Ghegas)

    Spiritual, creative

    She will approach you rather warily, and may remain wary until she knows you well, and even then, she will only reveal her true sensitivity if she is convinced that you are both understanding and sensitive. These are generally fascinating people who are principally interested in spiritual matters, and they are all the more interesting because their spiritual interests are based on direct experience, rather than intellectual attraction. (Bailey)

    A remedy of contradictions

    China is one of the most difficult constitutional types to come to grips with from the point of view of the personality. One reason for this is that it is a rare type, that is very poorly understood by most homeopaths. In fact, most homeopaths regard China as simply a local or acute remedy, not realising that it is a full constitutional type, with its own unique personality profile. Another reason for China’s obscurity is the existence of contradictory elements in the persona of the China individual, such as timidity and criticism, and a third reason is the ethereal nature of many China individuals, which is too subtle to be grasped by the insensitive. (Bailey)

    • Contemptuous – values of generally accepted
      • Interesting in light of it being Hahnemann’s first remedy proving and introduction to the philosophy of Homeopathy – something that absolutely stands in the face of generally accepted values.
      • Need for new ideas, creativity. Cf Silver series.
    • Excitement – hemorrhage, after
    • Fancies – lascivious – impotence, with
    • Fear – animals, of – domestic
    • Hysteria – loss of – fluids; after
    • Ideas – abundant – night – bed; in
    • Naive – intelligent, but very
    • Plans – making many plans – night – bed; in

    Mind constantly changing from one thing to another

    • She thinks she is very unfortunate and constantly harassed by enemies. ð Pregnancy.
    • Disposition to be alone.
    • An excessively anxious solicitude about trifles.
    • Maniacal condition, says and does foolish things and runs about. ð Intermittent.
    • During a cheerful mood, sudden transient screaming and tossing about bed, without any apparent cause.
      • Compelled to jump out of bed; wants to destroy himself, but lacks courage.
    • Dislike to all mental or physical exertion.
    • Disinclination to think; alternating condition of cheerfulness and gloom.
      • Indifference, apathy, taciturnity.
    • Indifference to his pains, great lassitude and weakness. ð Typhoid.
    • What usually appears to him bright and joyous seems now unattractive, unworthy and shallow.
    • Fitful mood; cheerfulness alternating with sadness.

    Thanks for reading – if you got this far, well done!

  • Celebrating the birthday of Samuel Hahnemann

    Celebrating the birthday of Samuel Hahnemann

    10th April 1755 – 2nd July 1843

    “The highest ideal of cure is rapid, gentle and permanent restoration of the health, or removal and annihilation of the disease in its whole extent, in the shortest, most reliable, and most harmless way, on easily comprehensible principles.”

    Hahnemann, ‘Organon of Medicine’. Paragraph 2

    Samuel Hahnemann was born in Meissen, Saxony near Dresden. His father, along with many other family members, was a painter and designer of porcelain, for which the town of Meissen is famous. As a young man, Hahnemann became proficient in a number of languages, including English, French, Italian, Greek and Latin; later he learnt Arabic and Hebrew.

    Hahnemann studied medicine for two years at Leipzig. Citing Leipzig’s lack of clinical facilities, he moved to Vienna, where he graduated on 10 August 1779, qualifying with honors.

    In 1781, Hahnemann took a village doctor’s position in the copper-mining area of Mansfeld, Saxony. He soon married and would eventually have eleven children. After abandoning medical practice around 1784, and while working as a translator of scientific and medical textbooks, Hahnemann discovered the critical information which sparked his imagination and set him upon his research and practice of homeopathic medicine. For many years he traveled around Saxony, living and practicing in different towns and villages for varying lengths of time, never far from the river Elbe, before finally settling in Paris in June 1835.

    He claimed that the medicine and medical practices of his time did as much harm as good:
    “My sense of duty would not easily allow me to treat the unknown pathological state of my suffering brethren with unknown medicines. The thought of becoming in this way a murderer or malefactor towards the life of my fellow human beings was most terrible to me, so terrible and disturbing that I wholly gave up my practice in the first years of my married life and occupied myself solely with chemistry and writing.”