Positive Health Online

Hayley is a 26 year old female hairdresser who came for a consultation, suffering with severe and debilitating headaches accompanied by nausea, vomiting and photophobia. She also complained of extreme fatigue, with memory loss and brain fog. She had experienced muscle pains, especially in the shoulder girdle, worse on the right side.

Rosemary Lawrence and patient Hayley

She had been suffering with headaches every day for a period of 2 years. They had been gradually getting worse and more frequent, occurring on a daily basis. In the last year, she had suffered headaches every day. She started taking painkillers, which helped initially, but were losing their effectiveness over time.

Not surprisingly, she was finding every day a struggle, going to bed as soon as she arrived home. Time off and weekends were spent in bed, exhausted.

As a teenager she had been a bright and bubbly character; she and her parents were extremely worried. She saw several doctors, and had a number of tests.

Blood tests including rheumatoid factor and thyroid were negative, and an MRI scan had failed to find anything abnormal, leaving her with a diagnosis of chronic fatigue and migraine. She was prescribed a low dose of amitriptyline for the migraines and to help with sleep.

Medical history revealed she had suffered with a kidney infection two years ago which had been treated successfully with antibiotics. She also previously had suffered with two bouts of influenza .

Her work as a hairdresser brings her into contact with a cocktail of artificial chemicals, some of which are known to be individually toxic in quantity. The full toxic potential of these chemicals when used in combination is unclear.

Hairdressers of course come into contact with these compounds more frequently than their customers, and in my experience they need treatment to aid detoxification on a regular basis.

Her history of infection, her occupation coupled, with the symptoms of brain fog and fatigue, as well as the headache, indicated a significant toxicity.

She had self-prescribed kelp supplements to support her thyroid function which, although testing negative on blood tests, she may have been under functioning on a subclinical level.

Hayley was treated with homotoxicological preparations.

Homotoxicology is system of treatment developed by Dr HH Reckeweg (1905-1985) in Germany, using combinations of homoeopathically prepared medicines with the purpose of helping the body to eliminate 'homotoxins', substances that are harmful to human beings.

Homotoxins can be endogenous, the result of normal metabolic activity, but which fail to be eliminated, and/or exogenous, from the external environment.

This toxic build up is aggravated due by a modern lifestyle in which we are exposed to - thousands of artificial chemicals in our environment which are alien to those of our ancestors. Our bodies are therefore ill equipped to deal with. them These toxins may well account for the increasing incidence of chronic illness in the modern day, as opposed to the more acute ailments from which our forebears suffered.

Reckeweg also expanded on the homoeopathic concept of development of disease in what is now known as the Disease Evolution Table. (DET) He identified six phases of disease, starting from the more peripheral stages, where the body initially will try to excrete invading toxins, then if unsuccessful, eliminate through inflammation, then if the toxin load is still too great, deposition occurs where cysts are formed. If the disease progresses into deeper organs, it is said to have crossed the biological divide when pathological change takes place, causing tissue degeneration , further progression ultimately causing cellular damage and cancer. This process is known as vicariation.

When treating people with homotoxicology, we wish to promote the opposite, a regressive vicariation, where the disease moves from the more serious levels into the more reactive levels, ultimately full resolution.

Hayley's initial presenting symptoms would place her in the middle two phases of the DET, the 'matrix phases', spanning the biological divide. Kidney infections, followed by Influenza, subsequently by the migraine symptoms show a pattern of matrix phases of the disease evolution table, vicariating across the biological divide, in other words going towards a potential pathological outcome.

In common with many Homotoxicology practitioners, I use an EAV (Electroacupuncture according to Voll) machine, to help with choosing the most effective remedies. This machine tests the electrical skin resistance of acupuncture points on the hands and feet relating to the meridians of the body. Abnormal readings at any one point are normalized by the introduction of appropriate remedies onto the machine. This aids the practitioner in choosing the most effective treatment.

Treatments are directed towards driving the process in the patient in the direction of health, known as regressive vicariation.

With Hayley's condition being typical of matrix intoxication, the key to success is elimination of homotoxins from the extracellular matrix. The matrix is crucial to the health of an organism in that nutrients are conveyed to the cells from vascular tissue through the matrix, and waste products and toxins are transported through the matrix from the cells to the lymphatic and blood capillaries.

Homotoxicological remedies have been developed to clean the matrix and remove toxins in this area. Once toxins reach the vascular system, remedies may then be employed to stimulate the organs of elimination such as the kidneys and liver to facilitate excretion.

On testing Hayley, her meridians showed elevated readings in many areas including her nervous system, liver and kidneys, indicating over-activity. The machine readings normalized with the introduction of an antiviral remedy which was subsequently prescribed. Also prescribed for her were a combination remedy for matrix cleansing, and remedies to stimulate the detoxifying of the lymphatic system, the kidneys and liver. The prescribed remedies are then taken daily in a litre of water, which assists the detoxification process.

Hayley returned 6 weeks later and reported that her headaches improved initially, returning after a couple of weeks. Her fatigue improved, although she still needed to be in bed by 8.00pm. Her shoulders, however, were more painful, and she reported pain in the arms on 3 occasions of short duration.

The lessening of headaches and the aggravation of shoulder girdle pain are interpreted as a regressive vicariation of her condition, with the symptom picture moving from the chronic, impregnation phase to the acute inflammation phase (see Fig 1), placing the disease in the inflammatory phase of the DET.

The antiviral and detoxification treatment was continued with the addition of a combination remedy including Ferrum phos for the shoulder girdle inflammation.

At the third visit 6 weeks later, the headaches had completely gone, the fatigue now goes through peaks and troughs, and the shoulder pain is significantly better. Hayley also reported having a cold, which indicates her immune system is beginning to function at a more normal level.