Homotoxicology and Holistic Health

From Saul Marcus, Naturopathic Doctor
http://drsaulmarcus.com

Symptoms are not the problem. They are the body's response to to the problem

Generally, "diseases" are the body's inherently intelligent attempt to maintain self regulation.

For example, imagine someone starts smoking. Their body's initial response will be a cough.

Does this mean they suddenly have a coughing disease?

No, the cough is the body's attempt to quickly excrete the toxins from smoking.

Imagine that the cough was treated as a disease in and of itself. It is thus treated with poisons that prevent the nervous system from signaling muscles to produce a cough. Or perhaps the nerves themselves could be surgically cut, and thus "curing" the patient of their chronic cough.
Woman smoking

Does this mean the patient is cured of the coughing disease?

No, it means the symptoms of the real problem have been suppressed and now the disease can move deeper into the body.

The chart below shows the progression of increasingly worse or "deeper" diseases that are cause by smoking. Using the model of homotoxicology, we can see that each of these disease represents a different phase and the body uses different strategies to deal with the toxic assault.

Excretion Inflammation Deposition Impregnation Degeneration Dedifferentiation
Cough Bronchitis "smokers Lung" Chronic Bronchitis Emphysema Lung Cancer

The phases of Homotoxicolgy
Excretion

Symptoms are the body's attempt to excrete toxins. Examples are sweating, production of mucous, increased urination, vomiting and diarrhea.
Inflammation

The body produces inflammation in order to more aggressively excrete toxins. Examples are dermatitis, impetigo, bronchitis, tonsillitis, nephritis, some forms of arthritis, and more.
Deposition

At this point, the body can not sufficiently mobilize toxins out of the body. It therefore deposits toxins in in the intracellular space between cells. Examples are be gallstones, swollen lymph nodes, eczema and nasal polyps. Think of diseases of cysts of polyps.
Impregnation

Toxins are now being deposited inside of cells, disrupting cellular function. Disease which are examples of Impregnation include: rheumatoid arthritis, chronic bronchitis, coronary heart disease, and chronic infections.
Degeneration

This phase is characterized by destruction of the cell due to toxins. Examples are Alzheimer's disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure.
Dedifferentiation

Neoplastic changes in the cells. Examples are cancers and tumors.

The Use Of Homotoxicology In Practice

Homotoxicology can be used as a model to understand how the different "diseases" a patient experiences over their life are related.

Consider a child who has frequent ear infections which eventually goes away then later develops irritable bowel syndrome as a teenage followed by asthma later on in life. In conventional medicine these 3 "diseases" would require different different specialists and medications. However, using the model of homotoxicology it becomes clear that is in fact 3 different manifestations of the same underlining problem.

Childhood ear infections are a commonalty a sign of food allergies (especially to milk). As we grow, the anatomy of the ear canal changes so ear infections are much less likely to happen.

Irritable bowel is commonly related to food allergies. The allergies cause inflammation and disrupts the immune system. In times signs of a weakened immune system will manifest elsewhere.

Asthma is a possible response to an allergic reaction. Often allergies and imbalances in the gut flora (ie, Candida or other pathogens) effect the immune system so inflammation in the lungs is triggered.

If this process continues, even mental symptoms such as anxiety can emerge. This does not mean there is a "chemical imbalance" in the brain or that the patient was randomly struck by "generalized anxiety disorder." Rather, mental symptoms should be seen as manifestations of underlining problems.

Generally speaking, suppressing symptoms with drugs (such as steroids) may give the appearance of improved health, but in reality just drive the disease deeper into the body.

The goal of natural health is not to replace drugs with supplements, and use the supplements to suppress symptoms. While using supplements in lieu of medications is generally safer, this sells short what is truly possible.

The goal of natural therapies is to assist the body in it's attempt to heal itself. This means taking a complete case and then initiating treatment based upon the true underlining causes of illness. The most immediate symptoms may be treated to make life more comfortable for the patient in the short term. However, true healing comes from treating the person and not the disease.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVLMyncCCfA