Sunday, November 2, 2008

A teenager's view of vaccinations

My son Jonathan, 19 years old, surprised me by giving me this text. He is into computers, has no link or interest whatsoever to any type of medicine, except that he and his sister have to listen to my continuous rantings (poor kids....).

Now here is an original explanation of the harm done by vaccination; it will appeal to younger people, teens, who are bored to death by pontifying old farts like me.
Jonathan has given permission to copy, diffuse, publish his text by whatever means available, as long as proper credit is given. So feel free to forward anywhere and everywhere.....

Vaccination – an Analogy

Vaccinations are effective at creating mutants. No, that doesn’t mean that your children, or children’s children (if you were so lucky), will be born with three eyes or the ability to spit flames out of their ears. Let’s face it; if that were the case more people would be doing it. Here’s a stab at an analogy that might be clearer than the paragraphs of genetic jargon that most don’t bother trying to understand.
Imagine your body is a little fort set on a grassy plain, fairly stable and feeling as secure as it is possible to be. Sure you have all the little subsections of it with their own little jobs, but concentrate on the relevance of your many little soldiers (purely in the metaphorical vein, not those other “little soldiers”) as they constantly patrol about your fort. No real problem arise since your troops get the attention they need and replaced as the need arises, a somewhat grave assumption/generalization really, but just pretend. Suddenly, one day a band of merry barbarians ransack another fort nearby (or so you’ve heard from your friendly high-ranking forts). That battle was messy, with the civilians shaken and many soldiers lying splattered or little more than mush spread along the grassy knolls, but the barbarians were driven off, or even wiped out. It sounds quite terrible but for the purpose of this example this is natural; a brief cleaning job and a little while to recover, more than likely calling in some outside support to rebuild, and the only remnants of the fight would have been a tactic developed for future reference. Completely normal, it happens all the time, sometimes the troops are the only ones to even realize anything is going on.
But you’re not like those other forts that let their soldiers get splattered everywhere, maybe you don’t entirely trust these outside reinforcements that are offered as an easy, if daily part of routine. So you look around and find out that the larger, high-up forts are offering this way that assures that after a little pinch you’ll never have to worry about having to put your little soldiers in jeopardy. Oh, it seems too good to be, but you trust these big people to take care of you. They’ve taken good care of you so far, haven’t they? They set up your transports efficiently, paved secure trading routes and made sure you had a comfortable existence, right? Oh, I’m sure they’re getting on that soon then. Regardless you trust they have whatever you need since they’re on top, even though you didn’t vote for them to begin with, and so get set to have this miracle reinforcement.
Soon after you receive a small box at your doorstep with no instructions, but your troops know what to do. You have a handful of those fearsome barbarians, or at least you assume they once were, tied to polls desperately trying to reach at their dulled swords while their nasty upbringing is the only thing still keeping them up. The rest of the afternoon is a lovely time bashing at the gimped barbarians with flails while others examine the technology of their not-at-all-useful weaponry. This was a productive day; surely you’ve raised morale, prepared yourself for the enemy’s offensive capabilities and even found the best places to aim at. Immediately you begin fortifying your walls; no more of this wood stuff, brick and mortar that no pike could penetrate. Why, you’re impervious! Those barbarians take one look at the thick, tall walls that are your defences and turn away to look for someone else to annoy, but alas, everyone else in range of their mules has already done the same as yourself. Surely they are now a dying kind, and you did your part to survive.
A month later the barbarians return to your doorstep in the hundreds, toting full plate armour, catapults, trebuchets and other siege engines. You weren’t expecting that, I’m sure, but the barbarians learned from their neighbour’s mistakes and came prepared. How did they do it? Well, they’re not as stupid as one would make them out to be. They waited, they grew in strength and number after some reports from what survived in past attacks that were successful. But you were never attacked before! Right? How could they know your defences when you’ve never actually met (that you know of)? Oh wait, you got that little crate some time ago, which thousands of others received as well, exact copies in fact, and these new and improved super barbarians don’t need to know what you can do since you prepared the exact same way as everyone else. Now the higher-ups ask you to get this other little parcel that will hold off an invasion, and you trust them because you didn’t have much trouble after the first time.
So what about these people who went crazy and refused the package of gimped barbarians, and took these reinforcements on a regular basis that you shunned due to mistrust? Their forces are large and resources vast with stores of equipment and provisions for battle. They prepared for everything, even if their defences don’t seem to be substantial to you. Their forces can continue to fight longer before dwindling, though that is of little concern as they increase their reinforcements daily. They can deal with the average troupe of barbarians as if it was hardly a nuisance, and they can even stave off the oddities that you helped create. There are more of them, significantly, and they operate much faster with their surroundings, heavy plate and siege weapons be damned.
What relevance does this have to anything at all? If you have to ask, then you’ve missed the point entirely. Go to your mailbox; you probably have a package waiting.

Jonathan Rozencwajg.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

A new methodology for the use of C potencies.

Here is the abstract of an (long) article about a different, new approach to the use of low and medium C potencies, prepared exactly according to the rules created by Hahnemann, that allow to reach extremely high potencies equivalents.

You can find the full text, pictures and graphs either on www.hpathy.com or on www.lulu.com where there is a free PDF download (type my name in the search box). The original title is "Removing the guesswork from potency selection".

I'd appreciate comments and questions and if you use the system, your experience with it would be very welcome so that I could include it in next year's update.





Removing the guesswork from potency selection.



A new methodology for the use of C potencies based on a mathematical Law of Nature.

Dr. Joe Rozencwajg, NMD.


Copyright Dr. J. Rozencwajg, NMD.
Permission is given to copy this text and diffuse it for educational and practical purposes provided it is done so in its integrity and proper acknowledgment is given to the author. This text is to be given, offered but not resold.



Removing the guesswork from potency selection.
A new methodology for the use of C potencies based on a mathematical Law of Nature.

Dr. Joe Rozencwajg, NMD.

Abstract.
Finding the right remedy is one thing, the most important one. Then comes the question of which potency, in which system (C, X, LM/Q) to select the potencies and how to find the proper ones.
Articles, books, treaties have been written on the single, frustrating, issue of which potency to use and when to use it. In a recent book “What about the potency?” the author has interviewed many masters of homeopathy about their ways of using potencies; no consensus emerged, everyone had another very successful but different system and was committed to it.
David Little teaches to evaluate the sensitivity of the patient on a scale of 1 to 1000 and “prescribe accordingly”; more precise than what others suggest but still very subjective as it is based on a “guesstimate” by the practitioner and is then very much a function of the practitioner’s own health and state of mind.
Kent’s Harmonics of 6C – 30C – 200C – 1M – 10M is widely used and based on his and his follower’s experience, but what is its logic, except for habit and availability?
The French series of 3C – 5C – 7C – 9C – 12C – 15C – 18C – 24C – 30C has been useful to generations of patients and has proved its usefulness, but again, what is its logic?
LM/Q potencies are purely linear, and remove a lot of trials and errors by starting at the lowest and climbing the potencies one after the other; even if you jump a potency, the progression is still linear, but straight lines are rare if at all present in Nature and this is often a protracted slow process, which is perfect when this is what is needed.
I present a new approach to the use of C potencies that is based on a mathematical concept found everywhere in Nature; this removes completely the guesswork and has proved so far to be easy to use, deep acting, fast acting, but needing an intense collaboration between the patient and the practitioner (although this could only be the method’s teething problems). Moreover, it has the added advantage of using low and medium hand-made potencies, avoiding another piece of guesswork: what is it we really give above 30/200C?

Monday, August 4, 2008

Organotherapy, Drainage and Detoxification.

Well I finally made it and published my book about Organotherapy, Drainage and Detoxification.
Like "Dynamic Gemmotherapy" it is available at www.lulu.com printed on demand so a lot more ecological.
Here are a few (no, actually quite a lot)pages....

Organotherapy, Drainage and Detoxification.

A starting point to safe practice for Homeopaths, Herbalists, Naturopaths, Traditional Healers and enlightened Medical Doctors.

Dr. J. Rozencwajg, NMD.


The Art of Medicine consists in amusing the patient while Nature cures the disease.......Voltaire.



The Art of Homeopathy consists in curing the patient so that no disease ever recurs....... Dr. Joe.



Copyright Dr. J. Rozencwajg, NMD and Natura Medica Ltd.

All rights reserved. Any form of copy by mechanical, electronic or other means strictly forbidden without previous authorisation. Breach of copyright will be prosecuted by all means available, everywhere, always.

Contents.

Claimer
Foreword
First introduction 1
Second introduction 5
Prelude 7
Background and Theory 13
Organotherapy 17
From Cannibalism to Remedies 18
Herbal Organotherapy 23
Kidneys 23
Liver 24
Heart 26
Endocrine glands 27
Thyroid 27
Adrenals 28
Brain 29
Skin 31
Immune system 31
Gemmotherapy in Organotherapy 33
Nutritional Organotherapy 35
Brain 36
Immune system 37
Heart 38
Lungs 40
Liver and Gallbladder 40
Kidneys 41
Stomach and Intestines 42
Colon and Bowel Flora 43
Thyroid 44
Adrenals 44
Diabetes 45
Oligotherapy 46
Organopathy 48
Drainage 53
Nutritional drainage 53
Kidneys and Urinary tract 56
Liver 65
Pancreas 71
Blood 74
Lymphatic system 75
Veins 77
Arteries 78
Heart 81
Lungs 82
Colon 84
Endocrine in general 88
Thyroid 89
Adrenals 90
Male 91
Female 92
Skin 93
Brain and Nerves 94
Drugs 97
Joints 98
Phytotherapic (Herbal) drainage 105
Alteratives 106
Kidneys and Urinary tract 109
Liver 114
Pancreas 118
Blood 118
Lymphatic system 119
Venous system 121
Arteries 124
Heart 126
Lungs 127
Colon 128
Endocrine in general 129
Thyroid 129
Adrenals 131
Skin 133
Brain and nerves 135
Joints 136
Gemmotherapic drainage 138
Homeobotanical drainage 141
Homeopathic drainage 145
Channelling remedies 150
Remedy relationships 153
The Kollistch list 154
Drainage remedies 158
Kidneys and Urinary tract 160
Liver 175
Pancreas 181
Spleen 182
Blood 183
Lymphatic system 186
Veins 189
Arteries 191
Heart 195
Lungs 201
EENT 207
Digestive system 210
Stomach 211
Pylorus 213
Intestine and Colon 214
Rectum and Haemorrhoids 220
Endocrine in general 223
Carbohydrate metabolism 223
Thyroid 223
Adrenals 225
Male 227
Female 228
Breast 229
Skin and mucosa 232
Brain and Nervous system 237
Bones and Joints 241
Serosa 245
Specifics 245
Osteopathic drainage 249
Transmission of energetic information
in the body 253
Detoxification 260
Sweat it out! Far Infra Red sauna 262
Enemas and colonics 265
Nutritional detoxification 267
Cilantro and Chlorella 268
Specific detoxifiers 271
Nutritionals 271
Minerals 273
Phytotherapic (Herbal) detoxification 275
Chelation 276
Lithotherapy 277
Isopathy aka Isotherapy 278
Lesser known techniques 282
Gemmotherapy 282
Lithotherapy 316
Oligotherapy 321
Summary 329
Conclusion 331
The Author 332
References and Bibliography 333


Foreword.


This book started as a compilation of my own practice. As far as I can remember, I always used some form of preparation for the in-depth treatment after a few patients suffered aggravations from the right remedy. Then I started being asked about this or that form of drainage, how to detoxify and was it a real thing or just a New Age fad. Eventually I thought it would make sense, and life easier, to put some order in what I was doing. While doing that I realised that over the years I had indeed accumulated a lot of knowledge and techniques that needed some order and logic. At that time I wrote an essay for our local homeopathic journal, Homeopathy NewZ, which you will find, however modified, as the first Introduction.
I also came to see that there were lots of correlations between different methods; that they were synergistic but that every type of practitioner, homeopath, herbalist, nutritionist, naturopath, was often doing his own little system without daring to investigate what others were using. What a waste! And moreover, many of those techniques were written, used and described in other languages.
Surprisingly, nobody ever bothered to translate any of them (except Dr. Maury) and to put them together so that they could be learned and used as an addition to one’s core practice.
So here it is. Without pretending to be complete or exhaustive, there is a lot of material, techniques and references.
Might I suggest you put aside any preconceptions and read it fully? Then try to use any technique you feel comfortable with or which is the closest to what you already know. After that, try some other ones. Your patients will be ever so thankful.
By the way, English is not my mother tongue, so, if you find grammatical errors or some style of writing that is not the Queen’s English, bear with me, please.

...............

First introduction, mainly aimed at Homeopaths (but useful for everyone).

Homeopathy is the treatment of diseases by remedies chosen according to the Law of Similars.
All Homeopaths agree on that. Well….most of them.

But is that all?

How comes that sometimes a remedy, obviously well chosen, works poorly? And this even when the choice is checked by colleagues and teachers, and the same remedy is suggested?
How comes that a well-chosen remedy sometimes gives terrible aggravations? Wrong potency, wrong dose, are we told. However, is that really all?

Hahnemann, Kent and most of the contemporary Classical homeopaths advocate the use of a single remedy without any interference from any other form of treatment.
That is an ideal.
But is it always attainable? And is it always justified?

In today’s world, we are confronted not only with diseases, acute or chronic, but with a slow intoxication (intoxication is the introduction of external harmful compounds in the organism) and intoxination (intoxination is the flooding of the organism by internally produced harmful compounds, including bacterial toxins) of our organisms, a slow, subtle, insensible but all pervading and almost unavoidable poisoning: adulterated food, water polluted with the best of intentions (Cl, Fluor), polluted air, EMF from computers, TV, phones, power lines, vaccines and medications, etc,…

Our “Lebenskraft” (I am using the German word Lebenskraft instead of Vital Force because there has been too many arguments about what Hahnemann really meant by this word, and so many different translations. I do not want to become entangled in useless semantic arguments), Life Energy, Ki, Prana, Ruach, whatever you want to call it, is busy fighting the poisons and the diseases with the help of most of our organs.
To treat with Homeopathy, we introduce an artificial disease that is supposed to displace the natural disease. But it does not do that on its own; the remedy needs the involvement of the Lebenskraft and the active participation of all our organs.

What if they are too busy just maintaining life? Wouldn’t that explain why a well chosen remedy does not work?

What if the supplementary imbalance from the remedy just pushes some organs into a totally chaotic answer instead of starting the repairs? Wouldn’t that explain many unexpected aggravations?

Wouldn’t it make sense to prepare the body to heal? Isn’t it logic to optimise the function of each and every organ before the “real” treatment starts?

That is the purpose of Drainage, Detoxification and Organotherapy. And it is nothing really new, it was well done and codified by the French School of Homeopathy with famous names like Fortier Bernoville, Duprat, Vannier, Conan Meriadec, Michaud, Allendy, Bastien, Barbier, Nebel, Rouy, Zissu and many others.

Many Classical Unicist Homeopaths claim that the Simillimum is its own draining remedy.
Yes. Maybe. Sometimes.
Undeniably, there are situations where the correct remedy restores the normal physiology and functions so that total health is restored, toxins, poisons, metals, xenobiotics are eliminated and everything is running smoothly forever after.
Are you willing to gamble on this affirmation?
I am not!
I see too often patients receiving the correct prescription without any reaction or at best a very weak one indicating that the remedy was indeed correct but also had its action inhibited.
If I can avoid aggravations, complications or lack of efficiency, if I can speed up the recovery of a patient, then I will use whatever is needed.
There is no contradiction between Drainage and Hahnemanian Homeopathy.
One prepares the way for the other.
It is true that sometimes, by unblocking the function of the organism, the Lebenskraft is freed to perform its original task and produces a cure, or at least a sensible amelioration without the prescription of a Simillimum.
So what?
Isn’t that in absolute agreement with Paragraph 1 of the Organon? “The physician’s highest and only calling is to make the sick healthy, to cure, as it is called”.
And indeed detoxification is nothing else but the removal of obstacles to cure.

When you plan a long trip in your car, don’t you check and repair it beforehand to ensure a safe trip? Why would you do that for your car and not for your body?


Second introduction, aimed at other Natural Medicine practitioners (but Homeopaths could learn something from it).

Detoxify! Purify your body! Clean your organs!
Our patients are swarmed by advertisements and articles trying to sell them products with health benefits centred on the concept of being full of harmful substances that need to be removed.
And many are trying, eventually arriving at the clinic with bags full of empty boxes and no results whatsoever.
We know there is truth in the “cleansing mantra”, but we also know we need to give a precise treatment, individualized to the need of each and every patient according to his history, his clinical condition, his pathology and his desire to explore one way rather than another.
Yet most of the prescriptions I see are trademark products, the latest combination or the latest special juice from an exotic place, or whatever else. They might work but there is rarely any logic in the matching of the patient with the product, except maybe the financial logic.
As health practitioners, as professionals, we are bound to understand not only the patients’ problem but how our remedies, drugs, medications, techniques, whatever we use, work, what they do exactly, when to use them and when not, why use them and why not.
That is the aim of this book.
Not to teach a technique. But to explain how to use what you already know in a proper way to achieve a proper, effective and safe detoxification; and maybe also to show how others do it and encourage you to explore more in depth different avenues that can complement what you already do. You would not be reading this if you did not want to enhance your knowledge.
Homeopaths will find dynamized remedies, Herbalists will find phytotherapic and gemmotherapic remedies, Osteopaths will find some organ adjustments, Naturopaths will find Nutrition and all of the above and everybody could learn about little known but very useful techniques like Lithotherapy, Oligotherapy, Gemmotherapy, Homeobotanical Medicine and others.
You will also see the links between those different approaches and how they can blend with each other without loosing their individuality; and you will be able to offer different possibilities and alternatives to patients who might be scared to try some of them for whatever reason.
No book can claim to be complete and exhaustive; this one is not different. You might have a very successful way to detoxify that is not listed here. Fantastic! How about publishing it? You might know of yet another herb that could help; let me know.
This work is based mainly on my personal experience backed by the vast amount of knowledge and clinical experience of Masters of the Art of Healing. It still is and will continually be a work in progress.


Prelude.

How did we get there anyway? How comes that earlier practitioners were able to treat many diseases with just a few remedies, and we, with all the accumulated knowledge of centuries of practice and with all the progress in knowledge, cannot match their feats?
As I wrote in the introduction, it is exogenous toxicity. Let me be rude, crass and vulgar for a moment: we are completely screwed, we are in deep shit and we have nobody else to blame but ourselves!
That does not mean that ONLY exogenous toxins, metals, poisons and xenobiotics are the culprits in the world’s state of health and that all the natural techniques we use are worthless UNLESS we remove them; daily practice shows that this is far from the truth. Nevertheless, many cures could be accelerated or completed with a good cleansing……
Genetics, constitution, diathesis, miasm, terrain, whatever you call it, is modified by exogenous toxins:
- no matter how strong our genetic background, our constitution is, a poison remains a poison and will act as a poison, all the time, every time
- it is the interaction of the poison with the terrain/constitution/genetic that will create either a specific disease or a specific weakness that in turn will allow a disease to emerge
- removing the toxins, or at least lowering their level and influence, allows the body to go back towards a more “virginal” terrain that can then be treated more easily with natural (meaning reinforcing the normal, healthy physiological activity) medicine
- not doing that explains partial results and failures in the hands of the best practitioners

Let me give a few examples of what modern day living and technology is introducing in our bodies and the result thereof, without writing a textbook of toxicology. When looked for, all those substances are found in our bodies.
Dioxin: cancers, brain damage, endometriosis
PCB: leukaemia and other cancers, heart problems

Pesticides and Insecticides: CFS, Parkinson, bladder and colon cancer,
other cancers, heart pathology
Phtalates (leaching form plastics): hormonal modifications
Styrene and Benzene: hepatitis, leukaemia, encephalopathy, paralysis, convulsions, arrhythmias, cancers, CFS
Toluene: nail deformity, menstrual disturbances, liver destruction, haematological problems, MI, depression, paraesthesia, neuropathies, CFS
Vinyl: cancer, birth defect, genetic damage, auto-immune diseases
Xenoestrogens (mainly phtalates): mimics estrogens and cause early puberty, endometriosis, and gynaecological cancers
Fluoride: behavioural changes, arthritis, bone cancers (osteosarcoma), heart, brain, kidney injuries and hormonal changes, thyroid dysfunction
Chlorine: increases cholesterol level because of direct damage to vascular endothelium (cholesterol is used to patch the damaged wall); transformed into chloramines and chloroform when comes in contact with proteins, becoming a carcinogen; thyroid dysfunction
All the heavy metals: aluminium, arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury and many others are often the “undetected and not thought about” cause of multiple diseases in each and every organ and function of the body; just look up the table of contents of an Internal Medicine textbook, many if not most of the diseases listed there can be mimicked or caused by heavy metals.
I should also write about GME, radioactive pollution, EMF pollution (e-fog), etc,…..That would be too much for this book but the association of heavy metals and EMFs brings us to a very interesting phenomenon called “The Antenna Effect”.
It appears that people who have heavy metals stored in their bodies have them act as “antennas” and attract, focus, electromagnetic fields around them, causing weird symptoms that cannot be explained otherwise through physiology or physiopathology. The more metals are present, the strongest the antenna effect, the worst the symptoms; no wonder that in time, cellular changes happen and cancers are created; this could very well explain the discrepancies between many studies relating the use of cell phones and the occurrence of brain tumours: should the load in heavy metals in the brain be known, we might well find out that the more metals are present, the earlier and the more aggressive (?) a tumour will be. I would be delusional to believe we can stop the use of cellphones, laptops, computers, wi-fi and other components of electro-smog; at least, through proper detoxification, we can minimise if not completely remove that antenna effect. I refer you to Dr. Yoshiaki Omura’s research for more details.
Dr. Robert Becker, in his book “Cross Currents” describes that bacterias in culture exposed to EMFs are “fooled” into sensing this as an immune attack and in reaction secrete much more powerful toxins; through the antenna effect, germs that would otherwise not bother us might become more virulent, especially in patients loaded with heavy metals, compounding the effects of those metals with chronic, virulent infections. More reasons to get rid of the toxic metal burden.

The xenobiotics were unknown not so long ago and our bodies are not engineered to deal with them; heavy metal pollution was not as intense as it has been for the last century, even though they were creating havoc for a long time: for example, it is said that the lead pipes bringing water to the Roman households were responsible for the chronic occurrence of brain damage in the Roman population and eventually responsible for the decline and demise of the Roman Empire.

All that comes on top of the usual and well-known causes of endogenous toxicity created by liver, kidneys, adrenal, endocrine and other insufficiencies whose origins are found in infections, trauma, malnutrition or dysnutrition and even emotional events. Diabetes, kidney failure, liver failure, hypothyroidism, Addison’s disease are found everywhere in the medical literature dating back to Ayurvedic medicine, Chinese medicine, Greek and Roman medicine up until now. Those insufficiencies start at an energetical level where all conventional tests are normal, but can be diagnosed for example through TCM diagnosis, then follow with functional problems where the clinical picture is clearer but still the usual tests are normal or borderline but “still in the acceptable range”, to end with full blown failure when finally the patient stops being considered as suffering from depression or being a malingerer……..organotherapy and drainage at the earliest stage possible will be a lot simpler and save a lot of suffering…and money.

Hahnemann clearly states in the Organon that removing the cause of disease is paramount to the success of a treatment: remove from damp living quarters, remove from areas of malaria are examples found in his writings. The same applies today with chronic poisoning of our bodies. All those xenobiotics, chemicals and heavy metals can mimic or cause ANY labelled disease in any body system. How would you expect to cure any of them while their triggers are still present and active?

Is there any use to test which exogenous toxins are present (the endogenous almost always appearing in the usual conventional lab work)? As a scientist, I definitely would love to know what I am dealing with; as a homeopath using Isotherapy, it would be useful in order to prescribe a precise isotherapic remedy; as a herbalist and nutritionist it would also be useful in order to fine tune the prescription of herbs and foods or supplements known to selectively remove said toxins. Yet there are some drawbacks:
- you would need to test for every known metal and xenobiotic unless there is a clearly documented contamination, in which case no test is needed except in order to know the level of contamination; even if it was possible, the costs would be prohibitive
- some useful tests are difficult to perform and very costly, needing specialised laboratories, dioxin for example; very few practitioners would have access to those labs and even fewer patients would be able to cover the costs, as public health generally does not get involved
- there are many controversies in the ways of performing and interpreting the results of tests: for example, the ongoing discussion whether hair samples should be washed or not before testing; or what does a certain level of toxin in the hair really mean? The body managing to expel it through dead tissues? A continuing intoxication? Contamination? And the same goes for the absence of a toxin in the hair or in the urine after a provocation test: it does not mean the tissues and organs are not saturated with that toxin, it means only it is not present where you look for it
- and last but not least, the discrepancy between the acceptance of the results by practitioners of different specialities: forensic experts rely very much on the results of those tests, sometimes ending up in long jail terms or death penalties where it still exists, whereas many internal medicine specialists scoff at them .. go figure…

In any case, practically, I tend to use general detoxification procedures at all times and add to them specific therapies, like Isotherapy, if one of the toxins is known. In all my years of practice, I have used hair mineral analysis only twice, and it was not useful as I could not do the tests again after treatment to objectivate the clinical results, for financial reasons. So, here you go: it would be nice and useful, but it is not indispensable, in my opinion, of course.

Shall we proceed to learn how to remove them?



More????????? get the book......... :-)

Friday, April 25, 2008

DYNAMIC GEMMOTHERAPY. Integrative Embryonic Phytotherapy.

Here are a few pages of my latest book, Dynamic Gemmotherapy. If that wets your appetite you can buy it at www.lulu.com type dynamic gemmotherapy in the search box. Happy reading and comments are welcome.........



Dynamic Gemmotherapy.

Integrative Embryonic Phytotherapy.

Dr. Joe Rozencwajg, NMD.


Copyright Dr. J. Rozencwajg, MD, PhD, NMD and Natura Medica Ltd.
All rights reserved for all countries, anywhere, everywhere.
Any reproduction by any means, photocopy, electronic or other is strictly forbidden.


Claimer.


It is customary to find a preliminary Disclaimer in this type of book, which generally says that it does not replace “proper” medical advice, the remedies have not been properly investigated by the FDA or any other organism and that no responsibility is taken for anything happening from the use of the book.
All the information contained is this book has been clinically tested by many Medical Doctors and generations of Traditional Healers, Homeopaths, Herbalists, Ayurvedic Doctors and TCM practitioners.
We know how it works, we know when it works, we know why it works, we know how and when to use it and for what conditions on which patients.
That this practice has not been vouched for by any official representative of the Techno-Chemical Medical Industry is not relevant.
This is a book for health practitioners who want to learn something new and different. It is each practitioner’s responsibility and duty to use the knowledge imparted safely and carefully.
If you are not a health practitioner and you want to use this for yourself or somebody else, you do that at your own risk and under your own responsibility. Would you buy a textbook of surgery and remove your own gallbladder?
Knowledge is here to be shared, not to be hidden and either suppressed because it is too effective or restricted to a few of the elite for their own financial improvement. Knowledge belongs to the people but must be applied safely and diligently by those who understand the instrument properly.


Dr. Joe Rozencwajg, NMD.
New Plymouth.
New Zealand.






Dedication.

To all the giants of Natural Medicine on whose shoulders I stand,


To my family who had to withstand my crappy moods while I was trying to write properly in a language that is not my mother tongue,


To all my colleagues who are going to get this book so I can finally have a proper holiday,



Thank you for being there………..


Contents.

Introduction. 1
History and Elementary Principles. 3
List of gemmotherapic remedies. 9
Materia Medica of the remedies. 11
Suggested Therapeutic Applications. 129
Cardiovascular system. 132
Respiratory system and ENT. 139
Digestive system. 143
Reproductive system. 147
Urinary system. 148
Osteoarticular system. 150
Neurology. 155
Dermatology and Allergology. 158
Endocrinology and Nutrition. 163
Paediatric. 169
Geriatry. 174
Mental and Psychiatric problems. 177
Clinical Integrated Repertory. 178
Conclusion. 222
References and Bibliography. 223
The Author. 226


Introduction.

More and more people tend to avoid chemical and pharmaceutical drugs when possible; patients, the consumers of health products, realize that although sometimes useful and lifesaving, those drugs do not cure and are fraught with side effects that are sometimes worse than the disease they claim to treat.

Homeopathy, Herbalism, Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine all have answers instead of conventional drugs; but the world of plants is full of surprises, and Gemmotherapy is one of them.

I learned this system while still practicing conventional medicine in Belgium. It was very appealing because it combines plant extracts without the need to become a phytotherapist (herbalist) or a homeopath while supported by laboratory research and the clinical experience of medical doctors. For me, it was a link and a gateway between the two worlds. Moreover, there are not too many remedies to study, they cover pretty much most of the pathology seen in a general consultation and they do not taste foul like Western Herbs or Chinese decoctions.

Even though I have since studied all those other systems and use them daily in my natural medicine practice, Gemmotherapy has remained a magnificent addition that can solve difficult situations and allow other therapies, more energetic, to act and complete the cure in depth. They are certainly not mutually exclusive and Gemmotherapy can be added to any modality, even conventional medicine, or used on its own.

Why “Dynamic Gemmotherapy”? All the books and references I consulted and used over time have in common that they do not relate the gemmotherapic indications to the other ways of practicing medicine that are using the same plants; in doing so, the scope of the remedies becomes limited, too narrow instead of being integrative, as should be expected from the notion that buds contain the whole potential of the adult plant. This is one approach I have tried to correct.

And as a respectful salute to Dr. Pol Henry, I have subtitled this book “Embryonic Phytotherapy”, which is the name he gave to this technique. And “Integrative” is there to signify the attempt to link all the different uses of the same plant by different healing modalities.
It is worth spending a little time exploring this little known area.
Enjoy your trip!


History and Elementary Principles.

Pol Henry, a Belgian Medical Doctor, published in 1970 his findings about the use of extracts from buds, rootlets, young shoots and the inner bark of roots.
He based his system and choice of plants on his concept of phytosociology, where certain categories of plants are the highest evolutionary organisms in the herbal world, in this case the trees. This is why most of his original remedies are bud extracts from trees; this was balanced and enhanced by the popular and traditional use of shrub extracts he added because of their clear usefulness.

Buds, and other young parts, are reservoirs of what is called “primary meristems”, which are young cells with an elevated nucleocytoplasmic balance; in other words, they have a lot more nucleic acids proportionally to mature cells; those are what we would call today the “herbal stem cells”.

Meristems are permanent regions of growth; apical meristems are found either at or close to the tips of roots and shoots; as the apical meristems create new cells, the roots and shoots grow; lateral meristems increase the width of the roots and shoots.
The same way animal embryonic tissue differentiates in ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm, when a bud expands, the apical meristems also differentiate in three primary meristems: the protoderm, that will become the epidermis of the plant with the procambium system; and the ground meristems made of parenchymatous cells that will differentiate into the pith and the cortex.

Buds have kept the total anabolic ability of the primitive embryonic cell. They contain nucleic acids, minerals, oligoelements, vitamins, enzymes and most importantly growth factors, the most important of them being Auxins and Gibberellins.
Those are Plant Growth Regulators with specific actions, acting in low concentrations and regulating cell enlargement, division, differentiation, organogenesis, aging and dormancy.

Auxins are derived from Tryptophan and are also found in human urine; they are similar to indole-3-acetic-acid (IAA); their action is on cell elongation, inhibition of root growth, fruiting without pollinisation, inducing rooting in low concentration and selective inhibition and destruction of some species in higher concentration, hence their use as selective weed killers. They can induce the production of other plant hormones and growth regulators, control secretion and respiration and have many effects on the growth of the plant. Auxins were the first plants hormones to be discovered; they are produced in the apical meristems, buds and young leaves.

Gibberellins are synthesized in leaves, accumulate in immature seeds and fruits of certain plants; they initiate the synthesis of hydrolytic and proteolytic enzymes necessary for germination. They increase stem growth, induce flowering and modify the germination conditions; they are commercially used to increase yield of crops.
Auxins and gibberellins are thus complementary and the presence of both is necessary.

Other Growth Regulators are Cytokinins, Abscicic Acid and Ethylene.
Cytokinins are Purines, related to Adenine; they coordinate the simultaneous growth of roots and shoots, they control the development and morphogenesis of the seed and the plant embryo.
Abscicic acid is a growth inhibitor and is involved in the wilting of plants.
Ethylene, the gas, is involved in the maturing and ripening of the fruits; its production is induced by Auxins; this is well known by the fruit industry that uses ethylene to artificially mature fruits just before they are marketed.

Within the buds is contained the totality of the information of the adult plants; therapeutically, it implies that bud extracts will have a wider range of action that either the leaves, the flowers or the roots and that their action will be more powerful and in-depth, needing less remedy and acting faster.

Pol Henry naturally called his new therapy “Phytoembryotherapy” but it was soon renamed Gemmotherapy by Dr. Max Tetau who continued and expanded the research. For Tetau and his colleague Bergeret, the main cause of disease is the accumulation of toxins within the cells and organs; in order to promote healing, those toxins must be eliminated and the repair of tissues promoted (actually this is the theory and way of practice of the French Homeopath Leon Vannier and his school).

We can then define Gemmotherapy as tissular phytoembryotherapy acting through drainage, stimulation and regeneration of the cells, tissues and organs. Each remedy has precise and intense therapeutic properties, which Tetau calls homeopathic drainage, although there is not real homeopathicity as defined in Classical Homeopathy.

Tetau, Bergeret and other French practitioners tend to use Gemmotherapy in combination with herbal tinctures; this practice was first called “Phytotherapie Renovee” (renewed phytotherapy), then “Homeopathie Vegetale” (herbal homeopathy) and is finally now called simply Gemmotherapy, although the association with regular herbal tinctures is still much promoted. Pol Henry’s last book, prefaced by Max Tetau, bears the title: “Gemmotherapie” and the subtitle “Therapeutique par les extraits Embryonnaires Vegetaux” (therapy through vegetal embryonic extracts).

The clinical application of Gemmotherapy was documented not only through clinical normalisation of the patient but also through the laboratory test known as Protein Electrophoresis and through the study and normalisation of coagulation patterns. Those are often highly abnormal in a variety of diseases and become normal under the influence of the bud extracts; unfortunately Protein Electrophoresis is very much non specific for named diseases, not allowing a precise conventional differential diagnosis and has become less used and even often not performed in general practice; but it still is a good objective test of biochemical normalisation if it is available.
The major experimental researches leading to the clinical indications were made on mice.

Activity on neutrophiles and eosinophiles, studying local allergic reactions:
- Rosemarinus Officinalis: hepatodigestive allergy
- Viburnum Lantana: tracheobronchial allergy
- Ficus Carica: mucosal allergy with hypoplasia
- Alnus Glutinosa: mucosal allergy with hyperplasia

Activity on macrophages, reticulohistiocytic system like the liver Kupfer cells, monocytes, etc,….
- Betula Verrucosa
- Betula Pubescens
- Juglans Regia
- Fagus Sylvestris
- Ulmus Campestris
- Cornus Sanguinea

Activity on lymphoplasmocytic cells, immunoglobulin production:
- Juglans Regia
- Cornus Sanguinea that has also an intense antithrombotic activity, explaining its activity in acute myocardial infarction at 25 drops every 15 minutes of the1X (1D) solution.

Activity on erythropoietic cells:
- Coryllus Avellana
- Abies Pectinea
- Most of the Conifers

Activity on osteoblasts:
- Betula Verrucosa
- Abies Pectinea

Activity on megacaryocytes and platelets:
- Tamarix Gallica
- Carpinus Betulus

Activity on exsudative phase of infection:
- Alnus Glutinosa
- Betula Pubescens
- Populus Nigra
- Fraxinus Excelsior
- Ulmus Campestris
- Ribes Nigrum

Neuro-endocrine activity:
- Ribes Nigrum activates the corticosurrenals (adrenal cortex)
- Ficus Carica regularises the corticodiencephalic axis, hence, being an anxiolytic, is used in nevroses and psychosomatic disorders
- Tilia is a tranquilliser at a level equal to the Benzodiazepines

All this will become clearer when we go through each remedy separately in detail.

The buds, young shoots and others are collected in the spring. It is a renewable source with the need of large quantities to create the extracts with only one yearly collection time, hence the often high price of the finished products.

The original preparation as Pol Henry described it was by maceration in a mix of water, alcohol and glycerine, allowing for the extraction of the totality of the active ingredients. Tetau and his school made the extraction in alcohol and glycerine only, adding the water during the dilution and potentisation process. The macerate yield 1/20th of the dry weight and the potentisation is made in a 1X (1D) potency (potentisation, for those not familiar with the term, is a homeopathic technique that implies dilution of the original extract, here 1 in 9, followed by succussion, which is the energetic hitting of the vial containing the remedy against a solid but elastic surface; this leads to a decrease in potential toxicity through the dilution but an increase in therapeutic efficiency because of the energetic activation of the succussion; for more details, please consult the homeopathic textbooks).

This difference has led to controversy. Some therapists claim that the water extraction is missing although in fact the alcohol is never 100% proof, even not 96% but generally 70%, leaving 30% of water for extraction of water soluble substances. The same therapists claim that the 1X (1D) potency is in fact a simple dilution and that no industry really succusses large quantities. They have created what they call concentrates, using the water-alcohol-glycerine extraction method, without dilution/ potentisation. The recommended dosage of the concentrate is 10 times less with the argument that this introduces less alcohol for the patient, which is important especially for children and babies.
Using alcohol 70% with glycerine gives a final concentration of 35%, which diluted to 1X (1D) give a 3.5% alcohol concentration, of which 10 to 30 drops are used in infants. You decide if this is relevant…..

On the other hand, potentizing a remedy imparts an increased therapeutic potential, at least in theory, which would be missing in the concentrate: this is simply solved by preparing the drops in a bit of water and succussing before administration.
The clinical reports that can be read using either the concentrates or the 1X (1D) give basically the same results and it is recommended you use whatever is available or feel comfortable with. Personally, having used both preparations, I do not see any difference at all.

It appears clearly that Gemmotherapy is a technique separated from all the others: it is not Homeopathy as there has been no proving, the remedy is not matched according to symptoms and signs but through understanding of the physiology, biochemistry and physiopathology of the diseases; it is not Herbal Medicine per se although very close to it: there is very little, if any at all, traditional use of specific young parts of plants as opposed to mature or older parts of plants (e.g. in herbalism you must have a 2 years old root of Echinacea to have an active remedy).
Gemmotherapy is a scientific method of prescription taking into account human physiology and physiopathology, plant chemistry and well understood clinical diagnosis; this means not working through labels but through understanding of the mechanism of disease in each and every patient. Individualization of treatment remains the cornerstone of this technique too.


List of gemmotherapic remedies.

I have listed the international name (Latin, botanical denomination) that is used in the book, then the French and the English popular names in that order, so that you can recognise the plant and also the labels on the bottles. Some providers do label their products with only the common name in use in the country of production and have not yet switched to international nomenclature. Some of the remedies are new and do not appear in older reference books; proper credit will be given when warranted.

1. Abies Pectinata Sapin Pectine Red Spruce
2. Acer Campestre Erable Champetre Hedge Maple
3. Aesculus Hippocastanatum Marronier Horse Chestnut
4. Alnus Glutinosa Aulne Glutineux Alder
5. Alnus Incarna Aulne Rouge Red Alder
6. Ampelopsis Weitchii Vigne Vierge Wild Woodvine
7. Betula Alba Bouleau Blanc White Birch
8. Betula Pubescens Bouleau Pubescent Common Birch
9. Betula Verrucosa Bouleau Verruqueux Silver Birch
10. Carpinus Betulus Charme Hornbeam
11. Castanea Vesca Chataignier Chestnut
12. Cedrus Libani Cedre du Liban Cedar of Lebanon
13. Cercis Siliquastrum Arbre de Judee Red Bud
14. Citrus Limonum Citronnier Lemon tree
15. Cornus Sanguinea Cornouiller Sanguin Blood Twig
16. Corylus Avellana Noisetier Filbert, Hazelnut tree
17. Crataegus Oxycantha Aubepine Hawthorn
18. Fagus Sylvatica Hetre Beech
19. Ficus Carica Figuier Fig tree
20. Fraxinus Excelsior Frene Ash tree
21. Ilex Aquifolium Houx Holly tree
22. Juglans Regia Noyer Walnut
23. Juniperus Communis Genevrier Juniper
24. Ligustrum Vulgare Troene Primworth
25. Lonicera Nigra Chevrefeuille Black Honeysuckle
26. Malus Sylvestris Pommier Apple tree*
27. Olea Europea Olivier Olive tree
28. Pinus Montana Pin Mountain Pine
29. Platanus Orientalis Platane Oriental Plane tree
30. Populus Nigra Peuplier Black Poplar
31. Prunus Amygdalus Amandier Sweet Almond
32. Quercus Robur Chene Oak
33. Ribes Nigrum Cassis Black Currant
34. Rosa Canina Rosier Dog Rose
35. Rosemarinus Officinalis Romarin Rosemary
36. Rubus Fructicosus Ronce Blackberry Vine
37. Rubus Idaeus Framboisier Raspberry
38. Secale Cereale Seigle Rye grain
39. Sequoia Gigantea Sequoia Giant Redwood
40. Sorbus Domestica Sorbier Rowan Tree
41. Syringa Vulgaris Lilas Common Lilac
42. Tamaris Gallica Tamaris Tamaris
43. Tilia Tomentosa Tilleul Lime tree
44. Ulmus Campestris Orme Elm
45. Vaccinum Vitis Idaea Airelle Wine berry
46. Viburnum Lantana Viorne Lithy tree
47. Viscum Album Gui Mistletoe
48. Vitis Vinifera Vigne Grape vine
49. Zea Mais Mais Maize


* This is a new remedy, my thanks to Philippe Andrianne for the information received.

Materia Medica of the remedies.


You need to understand this before you read further, so do not skip: as written previously, the Gemmotherapy remedies have the potential healing properties of the whole plant. Therefore I will start by listing their uses in Western and Eastern Herbalism, Aromatherapy, Homeopathy and others when available. This way, should you find a clinical indication that is not listed for Gemmotherapy but is listed for the same plant in another tradition or technique, you might consider using it in bud form instead of the traditional other application, if it does make sense to the totality of your prescription and makes it simpler. Over time, as my clinical experience has grown, it has become clear that this is indeed the case and no matter what is written in the original books of Gemmotherapy, the bud extracts do have all the indications that are mentioned for any part of the plant. Taking that into account, the selection of the remedy needs to focus on the major action of the bud as described by experienced gemmotherapists and decide whether that action might be unnecessary or even harmful according to the actual patient’s situation and the other remedies or drugs this patient is taking. For example, the remedy Ampelopsis Weitchii acts on fibrous tissues and helps their repair while removing the inflammatory component; by the same token it might be a smart idea not to use it in an immediate post-operative situation as it might very much prevent scarring and repair of wounds…….on the other hand, this could be only a theoretical contraindication.

Posology: as usual the posology is individual and has to be adapted to the level of energy of the patient and changed according to tolerance.
The usual adult dose of the 1X (1D) gemmotherapic remedy will vary: traditionally 50-150 drops either once a day or in 3 doses. If you use the concentrate, the dose will be 5-15 drops. For children and infants, it is suggested to work according to weight as compared to a 70 kilograms adult, bearing in mind that their metabolism is faster, so you should not be too shy in dosing. The first and most frequent symptom of excessive dosage would be nausea; you omit the next administration then reduce the dose. But remember that the remedies act as drainers too, so a high dose early in treatment may and has caused the sudden release of toxins in a body that is not prepared for the assault; you will then find symptoms compatible with the toxin, if known, or more general symptoms, like vertigo, dizziness, nausea, “weird” feelings, etc,…those disappear within a few hours but are a sure indication to start low and slow. In doubt or in a frail patient, start at about a fifth or even a tenth of the dose you would otherwise use and increase gradually. This is also clear indications that repair of the drainage organs (Organotherapy) has to be accomplished before continuing with drainage and detoxification. Do not stick to rigid posology schemes you might find in books, use your intelligence and essentially the patient’s clinical reaction. Remember that those are very powerful remedies; having a “standard” dose written by an “authority” does not mean this is what you have to use; the more problems your patient suffers from, the more he will be susceptible to reactions, so lower the dose accordingly and increase progressively. The worst thing that can happen is that you wasted a few days…..treat safely. And in doubt, start with one drop of the concentrate or 5 drops of the 1X(1D), raise until you reached either the level of tolerance of the patient or the indicated dose.

Remember that it is also possible to overdose! One patient of mine, in his zeal to get better, increased Ribes Nigrum to such an extent that he had many symptoms of hyper stimulation of the adrenal glands, especially the medullar part, with tachycardia, chest pains and chest constriction; even though this was also amplified by other remedies and supplements he was wolfing down, it stopped when the Ribes was stopped; this situation was a clear reminder of the powerful pharmacological action of the gemmotherapic remedies.

Using every remedy separately is the preferred method. Although some companies have created ready made complexes with clinical indications, it is always better if, as a practitioner, you create your own formula adapted to each and every patient. You might be willing to use one remedy long term, another short term and another as a trial for symptom relief: why mix them? You cannot separate them, stop one or change the posology. In the clinical part, some examples of administration might be given if it seems relevant, but remember, they would only be examples; as always, individualisation remains the key to successful prescription.

Most of the Gemmotherapic remedies work best in combinations through synergy of action. Those synergies are included in the Materia Medica but here too they are certainly not limitative and the practitioner’s creativity will hopefully in time give us many more possible associations. You will find them under “Frequently used combinations” and they reflect the combined experience of therapists as they described it; they seem logical but their inclusion in this book does not mean I endorse them fully, recommend them above any other type of association or exclude any other type of combination.

Precautions, interactions and potential side effects have been included when present; it does make sense that if the buds contain all the therapeutic potential of the whole plant, they also contain the problems that could arise from the use of that plant.
The limited botanical description of the plants is given purely for the sake of information; no trees or plants were harmed during the writing of this book, with the exception of a high consumption of Camillia Sinensis in the form of Earl Grey Green Tea.

Friday, February 15, 2008

When the perfect Simillimum is not working....

Homeopathy is the treatment of diseases by remedies chosen according to the Law of Similars.
All Homeopaths agree on that. Well….most of them.

But is that all?

How comes that sometimes a remedy, obviously well chosen, works poorly? And this even when the choice is checked by colleagues and teachers, and the same remedy is suggested?
How comes that a well chosen remedy sometimes gives terrible aggravations? Wrong potency, wrong dose, are we told. But is that really all?

Hahnemann, Kent and most of the contemporary Classical homeopaths advocate the use of a single remedy without any interference from any other form of treatment.
That is an ideal.
But is it always attainable? And is it always justified?

In today’s world, we are confronted not only with diseases, acute or chronic, but with a slow intoxication* and intoxination** of our organisms, a slow, subtle, insensible but all pervading and almost unavoidable poisoning: adulterated food, water polluted with the best of intentions (Cl, Fluor), polluted air, EMF from computers, TV, phones, power lines, vaccines and medications, etc,…

Our “Lebenskraft”***, Life Energy, Ki, Prana, Ruach, Vital Force, whatever you want to call it, is busy fighting the poisons and the diseases with the help of most of our organs.
To treat with Homeopathy, we introduce an artificial disease that is supposed to displace the natural disease. But it does not do that on its own; the remedy needs the involvement of the Lebenskraft and the active participation of all our organs.

What if they are too busy just maintaining life? Wouldn’t that explain why a well chosen remedy does not work?

What if the supplementary imbalance from the remedy just pushes some organs into a totally chaotic answer instead of starting the repairs? Wouldn’t that explain many unexpected aggravations?

Wouldn’t it make sense to prepare the body to heal? Isn’t it logic to optimise the function of each and every organ before the “real” treatment starts?

That is the purpose of Drainage, Detoxification and Organotherapy.

Many Classical Unicist Homeopaths claim that the Simillimum is its own draining remedy.
Yes. Maybe. Sometimes.
Are you willing to gamble on this affirmation?
I am not!
If I can avoid aggravations, complications or lack of efficiency, if I can speed up the recovery of a patient, then I will use whatever is needed.
There is no contradiction between Drainage and Hahnemanian Homeopathy.
One prepares the way for the other.
It is true that sometimes, by unblocking the function of the organism, the Lebenskraft is freed to perform its original task and produces a cure, or at least a sensible amelioration without the prescription of a Simillimum.
So what?
Isn’t that in absolute agreement with Paragraph 1 of the Organon? “The physician’s highest and only calling is to make the sick healthy, to cure, as it is called”.

When you plan a long trip in your car, don’t you check and repair it beforehand to ensure a safe trip? Why would you do that for your car and not for your body?

First some history, as indeed it appears that many other famous healers and homeopaths were thinking along the same lines.

We meet again our old friends and precursors, Paracelsus and Hippocrates.
In his “Commentariae Aphorismos Hippocrati”, Aphorism 21, Paracelsus writes: “When Nature searches for an outlet, the healer must help it find the appropriate place, for Nature is a better healer than man”.

Nebel, a Swiss Homeopath from Lausanne, is credited as the first homeopath to use drainage as such and to give it a theoretical formulation; he called the drainage remedies “channelling remedies” (Remèdes canalisateurs). [Nebel. Canalisation. Propagateur de l’Homéopathie 1915].

In an article in 1934 [Homéopathie Moderne 15 Janvier 1934], Nebel attempted to demonstrate that the use of intercurrent remedies, like Nux Vomica, during an antipsoric treatment, as Hahnemann described, is actually a kind of drainage, and by doing so, that Hahnemann used drainage during his treatments without identifying it.

Nebel was treating tuberculous patients and demonstrated that by adding drainage techniques to the homeopathic treatment, his patients had very little aggravations and were improving faster.

Rouy, a student of Nebel, made a distinction between drainage and channelling. Drainage uses remedies that are known for their physiological action on an organ, whereas channelling is the use of antidotal or complementary remedies with the Simillimum to direct and control its “excesses”, its aggravations.

Roland Zissu extended that notion into homeopathic drainage and organopathic drainage.
Homeopathic drainage uses low potencies of remedies that are complementary to the Simillimum and are selected upon the local symptoms and signs, or medium potencies of complementary remedies selected upon more general symptoms and signs, for the purpose of preparing the action of the Simillimum and prevent aggravations. [NB: for Zissu and other contemporary French homeopaths, a low potency is 3X, 5X, 3 to 5 CH, a medium potency 7-9CH].
Organopathic drainage uses remedies known, often through Herbal Medicine, to have a pharmacological action on the target organ, or remedies that have strong homeopathic signs and symptoms linked to an organ, like the scapular pain of Chelidonium used in liver drainage.

Many other authors, French in general, refined the definition and use of drainage (Fortier-Bernouville, Duprat, Allendy, Tetau, Conan Meriadec, Maury whose booklet has been translated in English, etc,…).

Drainage will cause a specific functional stimulation of the organism or of the target organ(s) through remedies specifically selected either through local or loco-regional symptoms and signs, or through known physiological activity on the targeted organ or tissue.
Channelling will control the effects of the Simillimum by modulating its action; that is why channelling remedies are complementary or antidotes to the Simillimum.
For practical purposes, if drainage has been done correctly before giving the Simillimum, there should not be any need for a channelling remedy.
Alternatively, if drainage has not been done, one or more channelling remedies should be administered in low potency with the Simillimum during its period of activity, if need be.
Draining before the Simillimum will optimise the function of the organs, draining after the Simillimum will complete the elimination and the cleansing. Channelling before or with the Simillimum will modulate its action and avoid aggravations and complications.

Drainage respects Hering’s Law: it has to go from inside out, from the most important organs to the less important ones. This means that a drainage therapy targeted towards the nervous system should show an improvement of the nervous symptoms associated with, for example, an increase in urine output, or some mild diarrhoea, or a skin eruption. But if the kidneys are drained and nervous symptoms appear, something is wrong and the situation should be reassessed.

Classical homeopaths, unicists, should not despair! There is a way to respect the single remedy mantra and to perform drainage.
First of all you must be certain of your Simillimum; then instead of going straight to a high potency, the same remedy is first given in low potency and worked up to the desired higher potency. It is not exactly a single dose, but it is still a single remedy. It respects the concept that the remedy is its own drain and the concept of using a low potency to cleanse, prepare the organs.
The use of ascending LM potencies is an example of inadvertent drainage where the remedy is its own drain. Margaret Tyler’s technique of ascending potencies (30, 200, 1M) is also akin to that way of thinking, although the purpose is not drainage.

Roland Zissu [Matière Médicale Homéopathique Constitutionnelle] introduced the notion of Miasmatic Drainage, with different remedies according to the miasm involved. This is actually another presentation of the old notion of prescribing a nosode when the properly indicated remedy is not working or removing a miasmatic block. When should it be done and why not do it in every case before, or after, the Simillimum is a totally different discussion.
According to Zissu, and as practised today, we will use different draining remedies according to the symptoms:
- localised symptoms, like the base of the lung (Chelidonium Right lung, Ranunculus Left lung)
- tissular symptoms: skin (Fumaria, Saponaria), serous membranes (Bryonia)
- organ symptoms: spleen, (Ceonanthus), kidneys (Berberis)
- biochemical symptoms, depending which product has to be removed: uric acid (Urtica), poisons, antibiotics (isopathic)

We should by now realise that drainage is the use of a localised, specific, targeted Simillimum; we use the totality of the symptoms of the organ, tissue,… with its modalities to choose a remedy, or a few remedies if need be.
There is absolutely no antagonism between unicism and drainage; these are complementary techniques based on a sound understanding of physiology and pathology.

The low potencies that are used, from tincture to 3X or 3C, induce cellular activity of short duration; the low potencies work better on cells, organs and tissues, they have a short action, quasi pharmacological, and they need repetition for their action to be sustained. Slightly higher potencies, up to 5C or 6C might be used or added if we want to act also on a cellular or tissular energetic level.

A great supporter of drainage, Dr. Michel Guillaume, wrote: “The concept of drainage in homeopathy has no other purpose than to be functional. Indeed, it has the merit of allowing the global understanding of a pathological case and to better adapt the corresponding homeopathic treatment” (free translation from Basses Dilution et Drainage en Homéopathie, Coulamy & Jousset, page 338).

Detoxication, or detoxification, meaning the removal of toxic substances, poisons that are compromising the proper function of the organism, is often used interchangeably with drainage. At the risk to appear as a nit-picker and hair-splitter, there is nevertheless a difference, and not only semantic.
Drainage prepares the excretory organs to function adequately, to remove those toxins, heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, that have been interfering with proper physiological functions; but are they ready to go?
When the toxic substances are localised in the organs themselves (liver, kidneys, skin, intestines), the functional stimulation of the draining remedies is often enough to trigger their elimination by resetting the physiology to normal; therefore, whatever should not be there is rejected.
But as we well know, many harmful substances are stocked in places where they can do the least harm like the fatty tissues or even the bones and joints; that is one of the reasons for many patients labelled as “arthritic” but where all the tests and radiographies are normal, keep suffering until a proper detoxification is done; the classical example of this is gout with deposits of uric acid in the joints and “gouty arthritis”; clear the uric acid, the gout is cured. Many overweight and obese patients cannot loose any weight no matter what they do; diet, exercise, treatments, everything fails; this is actually a clear warning sign of intoxication as removing fatty tissues would free the toxins and create disease or even death, therefore not fat loss will be allowed. Only after completing a full detoxication will weight loss be permitted and successful.
So how do we proceed? Clearly if we know which substance is involved, an isotherapic treatment is indicated. A low potency of the guilty compound will trigger its elimination; we have all been told the story of the patient who was dying from chronic arsenic poisoning and was given a dose of potentised Arsenicum Album with the effect of having arsenic pour out of his skin in a white powder (unfortunately, I could not find the original text); many have used potentised Petrol or the remedy Diesel Fumes to treat patients with sensitivity to gasoline; and more and more remedies like VDU and Cellphone are created and prescribed with success for the effects of electromagnetic fields. This is detoxification.
When there is no specific substance involved, or if there are too many suspects, the time honoured alternation of Sulphur 6C in the morning and Nux Vomica 6C in the evening has almost always been effective. Should that be anathema to the purist classical homeopath? Certainly not! This is not homeopathy; it is general detoxication using potentised substances.
All this is very nice and well, but what if the organs have been compromised, are not functioning properly and no matter how much stimulation is given through the drainage remedies, it isn’t working?
We need to repair the organs, and that is the field of Organotherapy.
One approach to Organotherapy is the use of herbs known as stimulating repair and growth of the organs.
Let’s look at the liver: Silybum Marianum (St Mary’s thistle) and Cynara Scolymus (artichoke) are well known for that purpose, even used in injection in conventional medicine for acute liver failure (Silybum extract); the Gemmotherapic Cedrus Libani is another one, the Homeobotanical remedy L yet another one. Almost every single organ or function has a few corresponding remedies to induce repair and growth available; we just have to learn them.
Another approach is to use the potentised organ itself: Liver 4C, Kidney 4C, any involved organ can and has been potentised and used (4C stimulating, 7C regulating and 9C depressing according to the French theory, but in practice any potency will do what is needed to stimulate repair and proper function). Potentised organs provide the template for the repair and are often if not always used with the appropriate remedies as described in the previous paragraph. The same dried and lyophilised organs can also be ingested and provide the exact amino acid profile needed as building blocks for the repair, but that becomes the field of nutrition.

As you can see, there are many ways of creating proper circumstances for your perfect Simillimum to work; but you must be aware of those obstacles and be able to use other tools to reignite your patient’s Vital Force and ability for reaction, repair and cure.

Footnotes:
* intoxication is the introduction of external harmful compounds in the organism

** intoxination is the flooding of the organism by internally produced harmful compounds, including bacterial toxins

*** I am using the German word Lebenskraft instead of Vital Force because there has been too many arguments about what Hahnemann really meant by this word, and so many different translations. I do not want to become entangled in useless semantic arguments.


Bibliography.
Drainage, Detoxification and Organotherapy: to be published in 2008 by the author of this essay.
The Organon of Medicine, 6th Edition, Samuel Hahnemann translated by Wenda O’Reilly.
Matiere Medicale Homeopathique Constitutionelle, Vol 1 & 2, Roland Zissu, Editions Boiron.
Basses Dilutions et Drainage en Homeopathie, A. Coulamy, C. Jousset, Editions Similia.
Le Drainage. Dr. Patrick Pilard. Editions Similia.
Drainage in Homeopathy. Dr. E.A. Maury. C.W. Daniel Company.
Rademacher’s Universal and Organ Remedies. Ramseyer A.A. B. Jain Publishers

Thursday, February 14, 2008

The Empire strikes back, Part 2......

Just so all details are clear, here is my Curriculum Vitae up to today, if anyone is interested:



Born in Brussels, Belgium, March 14, 1951
Medical School Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, graduated 1976

Specialty in General Surgery: 2 years at Soroka Medical Center, Beersheva, Israel
4 years various hospitals in Belgium
Belgian Specialist Surgeon 1982

Specialty in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

Diploma in Acupuncture, ABMA (Belgian School of Acupuncture for MDs)
Member of the NZ Institute of Acupuncture
Member of the NZ Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture
Society (Registered Acupuncturist)
Member of the NZ Federation of Chinese Medical Science
Currently preparing Oriental Medicine Doctorate (OMD)

Specialist in Homeopathy: British Institute of Homeopathy, Diploma, Post Graduate
And Fellowship
Institut Homéopathique Scientifique, Paris
Israel Medical College of Homeopathy
Westbrook University, Aztec, New Mexico, USA
Diploma in Homotoxicology
PhD in Homeopathy, Westbrook University
RCHom New Zealand


Specialist in Phytotherapy (Herbal Medicine):
The School of Phytotherapy, UK
Member of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists
Member of the College of Practitioners of Phytotherapy
Member of the NZ Association of Medical Herbalists

Diploma in Nutrition: the International Academy of Nutrition, Australia
Diploma in Applied Clinical Nutrition (USA)
Fellow of the American College of Applied Clinical Nutritionists

Diploma in Homeobotanical Therapy, Australia
Post-Graduate Diploma of Dynamic Phytotherapy

Doctor in Naturopathy (UNM/YINS)
PhD in Natural Health Sciences (UNM/YINS)

Currently preparing a Doctorate in Osteopathy (Drugless) (D.O.)

Miscellaneous: Auriculotherapy, Bach Flower Remedies, Aromatherapy,
Reflexology, Iridology, Reiki Master

Member of the NZ Natural Medicine Association



Former Lecturer in Medical Diagnostics at the Faculty of Chiropractics and Homeopathy, Technikon Natal, Durban, South Africa.

Former Lecturer in Homeopathy at the Israeli Medical College of Homeopathy.

Tutor with the British Institute of Homeopathy (Homeopathy, Anatomy & Physiology, Pathology, Diagnostics and Nutrition)

Non Medical qualifications: Diploma of Creative Writing from the NZ Institute of
Business Studies.
First Dan Black Belt Aikido
Second Dan Black Belt Karate
Qigong and Tai Chi Chuan Practitioner
Yoga Practitioner

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

The Empire strikes back.........

Guess what.......a few days ago I received a letter from the Ministry of Health requesting that I stop using the letters MD after my name! a "member of the public" complained he or she was "misled into believing I was registered to practice conventional medicine in New Zealand".
I have always been clear and adamant that I AM NOT REGISTERED AS A CONVENTIONAL MEDICAL DOCTOR, GP OR OTHER, TO PRACTICE CONVENTIONAL MEDICINE IN NEW ZEALAND, neither do I want to.
My educated guess is that someone is trying to hurt my practice and unfortunately I have been able to limit the potential cretins who would like to do that to two "colleagues" from the natural medicine world and to one fraud I have exposed as such.
Of course the Ministry would not tell me who complained, the procedure is anonymous, perfect for gutless cowards.
It does not matter that I have earned the Doctor of Medicine degree in a prestigious University, that I am still able to practice in South Africa, in Israel and in the whole of the European Union should I want to (after paying my registrations fees), if one is not registered with the NZ Medical Authorities, it is illegal to use those initials.
I do not have the time or the money to fight that in court, so I decided it was indeed time to cut the residuals of my medical umbilical cord and to remove all the alphabet soup that I could list after my name (last time I tried, there were 3 full lines of letters) and to keep only the generic NMD, Natural Medicine Doctor, which after all covers everything I do.
My past eduction and my knowledge cannot be taken away, and I will still use them for the good of my patients.
So here you have it, if you read this blog (and for the authorities who might monitor it....), you won that skirmish but in fact you made me stronger inasmuch as there is no more lingering or longing for a way of medical practice that I am not using any more, at least the therapeutic aspect.
I must add, in all honesty, that the communication with the Ministry was courteous and polite, and although I did not enjoy this event, I appreciated the way it was handled (Yes Minister, Kiss Kiss Minister, Whatever you say Minister, Two bags full Minister......).

Here is my new signature:

Dr. J Rozencwajg, NMD.......without the alphabet soup......