SENTIENT TIMES April/May 2002

A Homeopathic Perspective on Strengthening the Immune System

Douglas Falkner, MD

When springtime comes around each year, most of us are infused with the joyful energies of life’s resurgence, sensing all the excitement of renewal and returning light. For others, spring is a season fraught with health challenges. As the plant life blooms and bursts forth with all its colors and richness, pollens spread all around, and those with allergy, asthma, or environmental illness often find their condition rapidly deteriorating. While each one suffers in his or her own particular way, the common denominator seems to stem from one or another dysfunction of the immune system. Or so it would seem.

From the standpoint of holism, too much emphasis is being placed on one aspect of our physiology at the expense of the rest of us. This reductionist approach works well with machines, but is clearly inadequate for addressing living organisms like ourselves. If we are to fully blossom into our own as truly healthy individuals, we must find a way to conceptualize illness not as some apparent unrelenting enemy, but perhaps as an intimate indication that our whole being is calling out for a fundamental change. As long as we persist in the narrow view that one system or another—in this case, our immune system—is malfunctioning in isolation, we are destined to prolong our suffering and deny ourselves the opportunity for the kind of growth and, yes, transformation that dis-ease symptoms offer us. We may achieve symptom relief, while true healing and cure continue to evade our grasp.

According to the modern medical concept of allergy, asthma, and environ-mental illness various functions of the normal immune system have gone awry. The basic idea is that the immune system, designed to defend us against foreign invasion from microbes, environmental toxins, and unwanted cells (i.e. cancer), has begun to over-react to various harmless or trivial substances that most healthy people’s immune systems simply ignore. In certain susceptible individuals, pollens, molds, dust-mites, and other ubiquitous environ-mental agents over-activate specific arms of the immune response, causing a plethora of unwanted symptoms that we recognize as allergy, hay fever, asthma, and more recently environmental illness.

Modern science’s understanding of the complex mechanisms of the allergic response has led to the development of a vast array of medicinal interventions used to curb allergic or hypersensitive symptomatology. From pharmaceuticals to nutriceuticals to natural immune enhancers or stabilizers, the buzz is all around the latest supplements that in one way or another can modulate an overactive or dysfunctional immune system and temporarily restore a modicum of balance. Clearly, many such drugs, herbs and supplements positively impact the function of the immune system and successfully palliate suffering. However, few or none of these interventions eradicates completely the immune system dysfunction. Instead, they modulate its physiology for as long as they are being used. They do not seem, however, to have the capability of rooting out the dis-ease from its deepest source.

From the homeopathic perspective, immune dysfunction resulting in allergy, asthma or environmental illness is viewed as a symptom in and of itself rather than a distinct disease entity. In other words, the immune system represents one piece of the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual puzzle that comprises who we are as human beings. It is well established from research in fields such as psycho-neuro-immunology that the immune system functions according and in response to not only physical parameters but to our mental and emotional states as well. A happy person’s immune system is more active and effective than that of one who is clinically depressed. Just the mere thought that one is being exposed to a typical allergen can trigger a vigorous allergic reaction when no such allergen is actually present. As with most dis-ease conditions, there is more to immune function than meets the eye.

The context of the identified problem is as pertinent and informative as the problem itself. Each aspect of ourselves is intimately related to the whole. The idea that we can address and heal the immune system in isolation from the rest of ourselves stems from a mechanistic model of the human body. It is an idea that ignores and carries no appreciation for the principles and natural laws that govern the functions of the human being as an integrated living organism. Fortunately, homeopathy provides an effective tool to decipher the dis-ease process in its totality, and subsequently to affect a real and lasting cure by getting to the root of the problem.

To illustrate the point, consider the case of Matthew, a 12 year old boy who sought homeopathic care for allergies and allergic asthma. At that time, his symptoms were managed with three different kinds of inhaler medication. With every cold, his asthma would flare, often requiring more medicine and a visit to the doctor. He was tested and found to be allergic to dusts and molds, and his allergies were definitively worse in the Spring. Anytime his mother would try to discontinue his medicines, he would develop sinus congestion, allergy symptoms, and an asthmatic cough. In short, this was a classic case of what is conventionally called allergic asthma.

Further inquiry revealed the following: Matthew is a gifted child. He could be very single-minded and stubborn. He is detail oriented and has to finish what he starts. He is not very athletic and his stamina is poor. He has fears at night, of the dark, especially if he witnesses a frightening scene on TV or even from reading. He has trouble getting the images out of his mind. He loves sweets, ice-cream and chocolate, scrambled eggs, and milk. At night he grinds his teeth and his head sweats, leaving a strong sour odor behind on his pillow. He is generally chilly most of the time. Physically he is chubby, with pale skin.

This profile, taken as a whole, presents a characteristic pattern that responds very well to the homeopathic medicine Calcarea carbonic. Over the two years that he underwent treatment with this medicine Matthew’s allergies and asthma have completely disappeared. He is no longer using any medications. His mother remarks that his stamina has improved noticeably without any special exercise program, he is much less stubborn and fixated on detail, and he no longer displays any of his fearfulness of the dark or over-sensitivity to scary things. On top of that, he no longer complains of feeling chilly and rarely even catches a cold anymore. On the whole, his mother finds him a much healthier and happier child.

Janet, a 44 year old woman, suffered from what she labeled “borderline immune function”—perennial allergies, asthmatic breathing with colds, food and chemical sensitivities, fatigue, and “allergic” arthritis in her hands and feet, which included pain, stiffness, and joint swelling. Most of her colds would turn into terrible sinus infections. In addition, Janet had a thyroid condition and a history of frequent miscarriages. Basically she felt that no matter what she did, she was losing her health.

In addition to the above reported symptoms, other pertinent details about Janet include tha fact that she is a law professor, and claims to have entered law to “save the world, fight for civil rights, perform community oriented work.” On the job, Janet reported that she had been “framed by a senior faculty member and consequently was denied tenure.” She had to litigate the case herself for over six years to “clear her professional and personal name.” She wants to “remedy injustice.” Furthermore Janet has fears of being separated from her family, even through natural disasters such as earthquakes. Whenever her husband is out of town on business, she feels very anxious. Milk and beef greatly aggravate her allergic condition. Petrochemicals also bother her very much. She is warm blooded, loquacious, and likes to jest. When pregnant she developed a painful sciatic condition that has since resolved. She always has blue circles under her eyes that are very visible.

After taking Kali iodatum, the indicated homeopathic remedy for a case such as this, her health picture began changing dramatically. First, Janet’s energy improved considerably. She stopped being sensitive to petrochemicals. She was able to tolerate some milk in her diet. The allergy related sinus problems and arthritis have all but disappeared. The blue circles about her eyes rarely appear. She reports that her hormonal profiles are normalizing and she is requiring much less thyroid medication. For the first time in years, Janet feels that rather than losing ground, her health is steadily being restored, while mentally and emotionally she feels much calmer and less exasperated by perceived injustices.

We can glean several interesting points from these two cases. Clearly, on clinical grounds, as a result of using homeopathy, both patients’ immune systems have been strengthened. Without expounding on the details of the homeopathic process, we can see that the effect of the homeopathic medicine is not actually specific to any disease diagnosis or symptom complex. Rather the entire individual responds. The homeopathic medicine works because in its nature it is capable of stimulating a healing response throughout the organism as a whole. As homeopathic practitioners, instead of focusing in on the immune system or some diagnostic category in isolation, we attempt to perceive dysfunction in the context of its reflections on all levels, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. We are sick as a whole, and therefore each level of our being must manifest some aspect of our dis-eased state. If we only address one level, say the physical, then the disharmonies that persist on other levels will tend to recreate the physical pattern that has been removed artificially by mechanical means.

With homeopathy we look at symptom patterns holistically and administer a medicine that has just the right properties to correct dis-ease on all levels at once. In order to cure a part one must cure the whole. Gradually with the right remedy and enough time, one’s functions can become rebal-anced and re-harmonized, as one’s health is restored. In the process, allergy symp-toms, asthma, environmental illness and immune dysfunction become symptoms of the past. In its place we will find a totally new quality of being, in which we as individuals can truly grow and prosper. Then, when the full bouquet of spring has arrived, renewed hope will also arrive, and each one can go out and confidently smell the flowers.

Douglas Falkner, MD, an Ashland physician practicing Classical Homeopathy, is also a Board Certified Emergency Physician, and a diplomat of the Homeopathic Master Clinician Course and the world renowned Evolution of Self School of Homeopathy (ESSH) in Flagstaff, Arizona. He currently treats acute and chronic conditions for both children and adults and leads a homeopathic study group open to those interested in expanding their knowledge of Homeopathy. He can be reached at (541) 552-1400.

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