Local diseases may manifest as one-sided ailments, affecting external parts of the body. However, despite their apparent localized nature, these maladies involve participation from the rest of the body in the progression of the disease process. Every part of the organism is interconnected, and symptoms do not arise independently. A disturbance in one part can lead to changes in other areas of the body. In essence, the entire organism reacts as a unified whole in response to any disease. Therefore, local diseases are not truly confined to the specific area they affect.
Types of Local Diseases or Maladies
Local diseases can be categorized into two types: those caused by external factors and those caused by internal factors.
- Local Diseases due to External Causes
Some local maladies initially appear to be purely localized, often resulting from mild skin injuries. In such cases, the vital force may resolve the issue without requiring medicinal intervention. However, severe external injuries trigger a systemic response throughout the organism, leading to protective responses like fever and malaise.
For severe injuries, surgical assistance may be necessary, such as reducing dislocations, suturing deep cut wounds, applying pressure to stop bleeding from cut arteries, and surgically removing foreign bodies lodged in soft tissues or treating fractured bones.
In addition to mechanical and surgical aid, proper homeopathic remedies are essential to assist the vital force in recovery. For instance, patients with severe contusions or lacerated muscles may develop fever, which can be managed with dynamic homeopathic remedies. Similarly, in cases of scalds and burns, internal remedies can complement local hygiene practices to prevent shock.
- Local Diseases due to Internal Causes
The second group of local maladies arises without any discernible external cause, originating purely from internal and dynamic factors. Examples include lip eruptions and whitlows. Treatment for such maladies involves internal remedies to ensure a thorough, efficient, and radical cure.
How to treat local maladies due to internal causes:
i. A suitable homeopathic medicine not only cures the local malady but also enhances the patient’s overall health.
ii. Selection of the remedy requires thorough investigation into the exact nature of the local affection and the patient’s disposition.
iii. Administering the selected dynamic medicine based on the totality of symptoms leads to radical cure of the local malady and improvement in the patient’s general condition.
iv. External applications are not advisable for treating local maladies of internal origin. Only internal use of dynamic homeopathic remedies is sufficient for effective treatment.
v. In cases of local maladies with a psoric origin, anti-psoric treatment is necessary, with successive administration of anti-psoric medicines.
vi. External applications are prohibited not only in psoric cases but also in syphilitic and sycotic types, as they may alleviate the chief complaint while leaving the underlying miasmatic disease untreated, hindering ideal and comprehensive cure.
External Application in Local Diseases
Allopathic physicians often view local maladies as isolated issues and attempt to address them solely through external treatments. They employ corrosive or drying external applications to eliminate the visible symptoms. However, this approach can exacerbate the underlying infection rather than resolve it. By focusing only on the external symptoms, the root cause of the ailment remains unaddressed.
Removing external symptoms with ointments complicates the assessment of whether a cure has been achieved, as the visible signs are artificially suppressed. The vital force, responsible for producing local symptoms, seeks to alleviate the internal miasmatic disease. While the presence of local symptoms on the skin may offer some protection to internal organs, the vital force alone cannot fully cure the miasmatic disease without the aid of homeopathic remedies.
Historically, practitioners in Hahnemann’s time employed harsh methods such as issues and setons to drain material discharges from external ailments, believing in the concept of the “materia peccans.” However, these methods fail to address the root cause of the disease and can weaken the patient over time.
Instead, aggressive procedures like applying ointments to psoric eruptions, using caustics to burn off chancres, or surgically removing condylomata only serve to exacerbate internal miasmatic diseases. These practices have contributed to the proliferation of numerous chronic diseases in modern times, underscoring the importance of adopting holistic and homeopathic approaches to healing.
