Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine 2018 Jan-Dec;23:2515690X18777995
Levels of Health Theory With the Example of a Case of Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis
Dmitri Chabanov (1), Dionysis Tsintzas (2), George Vithoulkas (3)
1 Novosibirsk Centre of Classical Homeopathy, Novosibirsk, Russia
2 General Hospital of Aitoloakarnania, Agrinion, Greece
3 University of the Aegean, Syros, Greece
Abstract
Objective. Contemporary medicine is in great need of a new patient health group classification that could be the basis for in-depth pathology assessments, disease development and prognosis, and the possibility of healing, as well as for possible complications of organism reactions to treatment processes. This classification is possible if founded on holistic approaches at the level of health assessment from the point of view of organism reactivity and resistance. Such a classification, assigning 12 levels and 4 health groups, exists in classical homeopathy.
Methods. A new method for determining the group and level of health is shown in a case of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis of a generalized form in an 11-year-old girl, treated with classical homeopathy. The follow-up of the case is 18 years.
Conclusion. The method allows the physician to assess the organism dynamics as a whole during the pathology development.
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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6024340/Excerpts:
"In medicine, various classifications of health exist. However, none of these is capable of truly assessing both the depth and severity of a patient’s pathology. These classifications are not helpful in providing somewhat long-term forecasts of disease development, nor are they useful in predicting treatment efficacy. For these reasons, there is a growing need for some new introductory parameters. These parameters should not only describe a separate pathology but also a coherent state of the organism—its general reactivity and resistance.
"General reactivity and resistance investigations were conducted in abundance in Russia in the 1950s.1–4 According to Prof Sirotinin, the recognized authority in this area, resistance (from the Latin resisto—to resist, to withstand) is a vital property of an organism, allowing it to resist various effects."
"The leading roles in the process belong to the central nervous and pituitary-adrenal systems...The main instruments of the organism’s reactivity are both inflammation and fever.1–5 Investigations have shown a changing character of the inflammatory reaction with lowered reactivity and the reaction becoming chronic instead of acute; infectious diseases develop in a diffused manner, and all the inflammatory process phases become less apparent, with pneumonia showing no symptoms.4"
"According to modern classical homeopathy, there are 4 groups (12 levels) of health.6,7 Group A consists of people possessing high reactivity and the strongest resistance of the body. Chronic diseases in this group are mild, with long-lasting remission periods. Acute diseases appear rarely, with the characteristics of the disease symptoms being forcible, accompanied by high fever and causing no complications. In group B, resistance decreases while organism reactivity increases. These patients suffer from deeper chronic diseases, with more frequent acute states, followed by complications requiring treatment. The sixth level of group B can be exemplified by, for example, acute pneumonia or acute pyelonephritis appearing several times per year. However, beginning with the seventh level of group C, one can observe a significantly different state of the organism. A number of deep chronic pathologies develop against the background of drastically lowered reactivity. Either patients no longer have the common cold, flu, otitis, and so on, or the diseases that are normally acute possess unclear characteristics with no febrile temperature. Patients belonging to group D are those incurable sufferers with unfavorable treatment prognoses and the shortest life expectancies.
"The aforementioned classification allows for a deeper estimation of the pathology severity, providing a more well-grounded prognosis for both the possibility of treatment and the organism’s reactions during the cure process. Thus, the prognoses of patients suffering from hypertension, bronchial asthma, cancer, or any other pathology will be completely different between groups B and C. Treatment failure, as well as the appearance of complications, relapses, metastases, and other undesirable events, is much more likely in group C compared to groups A and B.
"A case of healed juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) is described, serving as an example of the concept."
"Since August 1998, she had been taking Rhus-tox (12, 30, 200), Phosph, Calc-carb, Chin-ars, and Merc-dulc in different potencies and some complex homeopathy remedies with no effect."
"The girl was afraid of dogs and thunderstorms and had a fear that something might happen to her loved ones. She likes smoked foods, spicy foods, and milk. Her sleep was restless because of the pains in the joints; she often changed her position while sleeping. Until the age of 6, she ground her teeth while sleeping, and she experienced sleepwalking, encopresis (with stool being formed), and enuresis during the day (all before 6 years old)."
"Analysis of the Case
"The girl was born healthy with a favorable inheritance. Until the age of 18 months, she had no diseases and was most likely by that time in group A, according to the Levels of Health scale (Figure 2)...After the age of 18 months, another significant factor disturbing the defense mechanism, including the immune system, was inadequate ARI treatment, notably the repeated prescription of antibiotics and antipyretic medications. Because of all the aforementioned factors, the overall reactivity of the organism continued to increase even more, and until the age of 6, the girl had only frequent acute inflammatory processes of different types with high fevers.
"This history, on the one hand, shows the healthy activity of the defense system, not allowing for chronic disease development. On the other hand, the patient’s level of health constantly decreased from the fourth level to the fifth and sixth levels.... the patient remained in group B until the age of 8.5 to 9 years. Afterwards, despite general aggravation (headaches, fatigability, physical exertion inability), the girl stopped developing high fevers and acute illnesses. It was at this time that her organism entered group C (seventh level). It is most likely that the additional factor of the immune system disturbance was the tick-borne encephalitis vaccination, which could have been 'the last straw' for the already disturbed organism. Therefore, the manifestation of a severe degenerative pathology at the age of 9 years and 9 months was, in fact, predetermined for the patient since the moment of abrupt suppression of the organism’s reactivity and the subsequent deterioration of health (group C)."
"Prognosis
"In cases of correct treatment of patients in group C of health, the prognosis is long-range recuperation, which can last for a period of 4 to 6 months to several years. During treatment, several homeopathic remedies can be necessary one after another."
"Prescription (December 12, 1998)
"Causticum LMVI (to dissolve 10 globules in 250 mL of water, to take 1 teaspoon daily in the morning, before a meal) was prescribed to reduce nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs with amelioration. Causticum was chosen on the basis of the similia (similarity) principle because this remedy has in its pathogenesis joint inflammation with restlessness, kidney inflammation, strong sympathetic elements, the fear that something might happen to loved ones and the fear of dogs and thunderstorms, and the desire of smoked food. It was decided to start with a low potency because of the severity of the pathology and the rather low level of health."
"Follow-up
"The case has been followed for 18 years. This young woman visited the doctor 32 times over these 18 years, and she is still being treated. Over the 18 years of treatment, she received Causticum in different potencies, and to complete the cure, she received different potencies of another 2 homeopathic remedies in rotation—Natrium muriaticum and Tuberculinum."
"Discussion
"According to Vithoulkas, every human being is affected by diseases, acute and chronic, which are interconnected throughout life in a 'continuum of a unified substratum of diseases,' which leads up to the final disease condition that marks the end of life.8 Consequently, within the course of a cure, one observes the dynamics of the disease being shifted 'from inside-outside' and from inner organs (ie, kidneys and joints) to the skin; also, one observes 'the syndrome of return,' the reverse of the previous pathologies (ie, streptococcal impetigo, headaches, allergies). All of these processes reflect Hering’s 'Law of Cure' and are evidence of the deepest reorganization of the defense system, which is not observed in cases of the placebo effect, suggesting a positive outcome to treatment.9
"Only a few clinical trials have been published with adequate methodology to assess the effectiveness of homeopathy in patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis....Gibson, in 1980, in a double-blind clinical therapeutic trial evaluating homeopathic therapy in rheumatoid arthritis concluded that there was a significant improvement in subjective pain, articular index, stiffness, and grip strength in those patients receiving homeopathic remedies, in comparison to placebo.11 Two years before this paper, the same author compared 2 groups of patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, treated with salicylate in the first group and with homeopathy in the second group. The patients who received homeopathy were found to do better that those who received salicylate.12
"According to the Levels of Health theory, the qualitative change in our patient’s organism occurred 0.5 to -1 year after the beginning of treatment, when the first ARI appeared with a 38°C fever, with subsequent, more frequent episodes of ARI and high fevers over the 2 to 3 years of treatment (Figure 4). These were the signs of recovery, proving both the ability to develop high fevers and sensitivity to ARI-triggering viruses and later to streptococci...The current level of health seems to be the fourth in group B. The patient’s state of health still cannot be considered stable."
"Conclusion
"The new Levels of Health classification, based on the holistic approach to the state of the defense mechanisms, considering general reactivity and resistance, allows for the development of a disease prognosis and the probability of a patient cure, as well as possible complications and organism reactions during treatment.
"The healing of a severe autoimmune pathology—the generalized form of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis—with the classical homeopathy method supports the efficiency of such a treatment. The long-lasting follow-up, showing no disease signs for 17 years, serves as firm evidence for the force of homeopathic remedies."
