|
Flu
Watch
presented
by Domenick J. Masiello, D.O., D.Ht.
http://www.integral-med.com
Click here for
the latest January 2007 update
Domenick
J. Masiello has practised classical homeopathy in New
York City since 1986.
He takes up the story:
"I
have not limited myself to chronic cases only. I made a decision early
on that I would take all patients, acute or chronic no matter what
age, gender, medical condition, etc. Needless to say, this has made
for some interesting and challenging days in the clinic. For several
years now, I have noticed that two weeks into the flu season or
"pre-flu" season, I could predict with about 90% certainty,
the epidemicus remedy. This epidemicus phenomenon also occurs in
autumn (pre-flu viral syndrome), during the height of the flu season
in winter as well as a short summer flu phenomenon lasting only about
2-3 weeks. I often thought about a website from which patients and
practitioners alike could benefit from this info. So how about a
feature in which I can broadcast this info together with links to
Pharmacies selling the remedy needed?"
GENUS
EPIDEMICUS
In addition to acute and
chronic ailments, Hahnemann wrote about epidemic diseases as well. He
made it clear, particularly in paragraphs 101 and 102 of The Organon,
that regardless of what the disease may be called, if a physician made
a careful examination of all of the known features of a disease and
treated a number of cases of that epidemic disease, then he could have
in his mind a characteristic portrait of the disease. He could then
find an appropriate homeopathic remedy for its cure. This remedy would
cure other cases of the same epidemic. This was not merely theoretical
for Hahnemann. He successfully treated an epidemic of scarlet fever
with Belladonna and predicted which remedies were necessary to treat
an epidemic of Asiatic cholera never having seen an actual case
himself. Rather, his grandnephew, a homeopathic physician in St.
Petersburg, provided the master with the necessary symptom picture.
In chapter three of Lectures
on Homeopathic Philosophy, Kent restates Hahnemann’s assertion that
if a physician clearly observes the features of the disease, he will
be able to develop and image or schema of that disease and know which
remedy to give even if a particular patient does not have all of the
symptoms of that schema or image.
This notion of the symptom
picture for a newly emerging epidemic eventually became known as the
genus epidemicus. We can find this term used in the writings of H.C.
Allen, in the mercurius cyanatus chapter of his Keynotes and
Characteristics With Comparisons. We can also find it in Constantine
Hering’s Guiding Symptoms of Our Materia Medica in the colchicum
autumnale chapter. Likewise, E.B. Nash in the Apis Mellifica chapter
of his Testimony of the Clinic, uses the term when discussing the use
of Apis during an epidemic of diptheria.
Hahnemann’s students and
future homeopath’s have taken the notion of the genus epidemicus
even further into the realm of prevention . It is indeed possible to
protect oneself from an epidemic of a contagious disease by taking
doses of the remedy known to be homeopathic to the epidemic.
These days we associate the
word epidemic with widespread contagious diseases in developing
countries. While this characterization is certainly true, the term
epidemic also includes widespread contagious diseases which are common
and regularly occurring even in the developed world. The most common
of these is influenza. Each year we can see large numbers of patients
getting sick with viral infections beginning in the autumn. The
autumnal variety is usually not influenza per se, but some other
virus. Remember - the name of the disease or the microorganism causing
it is not as important as the symptom picture. This is usually
followed by actual influenza during the winter months.
Domenick J.
Masiello, D.O., D.Ht.
http://www.integral-med.com
Click here for
the latest update |
