Inflammation
Suppression
During the First
Two Stages of Inflammation
It may be suggested that suppression during the stages
of Incubation and Aggravation need not have fatal consequences
if followed by natural living and eliminative treatment. To this
I would reply: "Such procedure always involves the
danger of concentrating the disease poisons in vital parts and
organs, thus laying the foundation for chronic destructive
diseases."
Furthermore, it is not at all necessary to suppress inflammatory
processes by poisonous drugs and other unnatural means, because
we can easily and surely control them and keep them from becoming
dangerous by our natural means of treatment.
I shall now endeavor to prove and to illustrate the foregoing
theoretical expositions by following the development of various
diseases through the five stages of inflammation. I shall first
take up the commonest of all forms of disease, the cold.
Catching
a Cold
According to popular opinion, the catching of colds is responsible
for the greater portion of human ailments. Almost daily I hear
from patients who come for consultation: All my troubles date
back to a cold I took at such and such a time, etc. Then I have
to explain that colds are not taken suddenly and from without
but that they come from within, that their period
of Incubation may have extended over months or years, that a clean,
healthy body possessed of good vitality cannot take
cold under the ordinary thermal conditions congenial to human
life, no matter how sudden the change in temperature.
At first glance, this may seem to be contrary to common experience
as well as to the theory and practice of medical science. But
let us follow the development of a cold from start to finish.
This will throw some light on the question as to whether it can
be caught, or whether it develops slowly within the organism;
also whether this development or incubation may extend over a
long period of time.
Taking cold may be caused by chilling of the surface of the body
or part of the body. In the chilled portions of the skin the pores
close, the blood recedes into the interior, and as a result of
this the elimination of poisonous gases and exudates through these
portions of the skin is suppressed.
This catching a cold through being exposed to a cold draft, through
wet clothing, etc., is not necessarily followed by more serious
consequences. If the system is not too much encumbered with morbid
matter and if kidneys and intestines are in fairly good working
order, these organs will take care of the extra amount of waste
and morbid materials in place of the temporarily inactive skin
and eliminate them without difficulty. The greater the vitality
and the more normal the composition of the blood, the better the
system will react in such an emergency and throw off the morbid
matter which failed to be eliminated through the skin.
If, however, the organism is already overloaded with waste and
morbid materials, if the bowels and the kidneys are already weakened
and atrophied through continued overwork and overstimulation,
if, in addition to this, the vitality has been lowered through
excesses or overexertion and the vital fluids are in an abnormal
condition, then the morbid matter thrown into the circulation
by the chilling and temporary inactivity of the skin cannot find
an outlet through the regular channels of elimination and endeavors
to escape by way of the mucous linings of the nasal passages,
the throat, bronchi, stomach, bowels and genitourinary organs.
The waste materials and poisonous exudates which are being eliminated
through these internal membranes cause irritation and congestion,
and thus produce the well-known symptoms of inflammation and catarrhal
elimination: sneezing (coryza), cough, expectoration, mucous discharges,
diarrhea, leucorrhea [vaginal dis-charge], etc. In other words,
these so-called colds are nothing more or less than different
forms of vicarious elimination. The membranous linings of the
internal organs are doing the work for the inactive, sluggish
and atrophied skin, kidneys and intestines. The greater the accumulation
of morbid matter in the system, the lower the vitality, and the
more abnormal the composition of the blood and lymph, the greater
will be the liability to the catching of colds.
What is to be gained by suppressing the different forms of catarrhal
elimination with cough and catarrh cures containing opiates, astringents,
antiseptics, germkillers and antipyretics? Is it not obvious that
such a procedure interferes with Nature's purifying efforts, that
it hinders and suppresses the inflammatory processes and the accompanying
elimination of morbid matter from the system? Worst of all, that
it adds drug poisons to disease poisons?
Such a course can have but one result, namely the changing of
Nature's cleansing and healing efforts into chronic disease.
From the foregoing it will have become clear that the cause of
a cold lies not so much in the cold draft, or the wet feet, as
in the primary causes of all disease: lowered vitality,
deterioration of the vital fluids and the accumulation of morbid
matter and poisons in the system.
The incubation period of the cold may have extended over many
years or over an entire lifetime.
What, then, is the natural cure for colds? There
can be but one remedy: increased elimination through the proper
channels. This is accomplished by judicious dieting and fasting,
and through restoring the natural activity of the skin, kidneys
and bowels by means of wet packs, cold sprays and ablutions, sitz
baths, massage, chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation, homeopathic
remedies, exercise, sun and air baths and all other methods of
natural treatment that save vitality, build up the blood on a
normal basis and promote elimination without injuring the organism.
Suppression During the Third
Stage of Inflammation
Should the inflammatory processes be suppressed during
the stage of Destruction, the results would be still
more serious and far-reaching. We have learned that during this
stage the affected parts and organs are involved in more or less
disintegration. They are filled with morbid exudates, pus, etc.,
which interfere with and make impossible normal nutrition and
functioning. If suppression takes place during this stage, it
is obvious that the affected areas will be left permanently in
a condition of destruction.
Here is an illustration from practical life: Suppose necessary
changes and repairs have to be made in a house. Workmen have torn
down the partitions, hangings, wallpaper, etc. At this stage of
the proceedings the owner discharges the workmen and the house
is left in a condition of chaos. Surely, this would not be rational.
It would leave the house unfit for habitation. But such a procedure
would correspond exactly to the suppression of inflammatory diseases
during the stage of Destruction. This also leaves the affected
organs permanently in an abnormal, diseased condition.
That accounts for the mysterious sequelae or chronic after-effects
which so often follow drug-treated acute diseases. I have traced
numerous cases of chronic affections of the lungs and kidneys,
of infantile paralysis and of many other chronic ailments to such
suppression. In the following I shall describe a typical case,
which came under our care and treatment a few years ago.
Suppression
by Means of the Ice Bag
A few years ago several gentlemen of Greek nationality called
on me with the request that I visit a friend of theirs who had
been lying sick for about two months in one of our great West
Side [Chicago] hospitals. On investigation I found that the patient
had entered the hospital suffering from a mild case of pneumonia.
The doctors of the institution had ordered ice packs. Rubber sheets
filled with ice were applied to the chest and other parts of the
body. This had been done for several weeks until the fever subsided.
As a matter of fact, ice is more suppressive than antifever medicines.
The continued icy cold applications chill the parts of the body
to which they are applied, depress the vital functions and effectually
suppress the inflammatory processes.
The result in this case, as in many similar ones which I had occasion
to observe during and after the ice-bag treatment, was that the
inflammation in the lungs had been arrested and suppressed during
the stage of destruction, when the air cells
and tissues were filled with exudates, blood serum, pus, live
and dead blood cells, bacteria, etc., leaving the affected areas
of the lungs in a consolidated, liver-like condition.
As a consequence of suppression in the case of this Greek patient,
the pneumonia had been changed from the acute to the subacute
and chronic stages and the doctors in charge had told his friends
that he was now suffering from miliary tuberculosis, and would
probably die within a week or two.
After receiving this discouraging information, the friends of
the patient came to me and prevailed upon me to take charge of
the case. He was transferred to our institution, and we began
at once to apply the natural methods of treatment. Instead of
ice packs we used the regular cold-water packs, strips of linen
wrung out of water of ordinary temperature wrapped around the
body and covered with several layers of flannel bandages.
The wet packs became warm on the body in a few minutes. They relaxed
the pores and drew the blood into the surface, thus promoting
heat radiation and the elimination of morbid matter through the
skin. They did not suppress the fever, but kept
it below the danger point.
Under this treatment, accompanied by fasting and judicious osteopathic
manipulation, the inflammatory and feverish processes suppressed
by the ice packs soon revived, became once more active and aggressive,
and were now allowed to run their natural course through the stages
of destruction, absorption (abatement) and
reconstruction.
The result of the Nature Cure treatment was that about two months
after the patient entered our institution, his friends bought
him a ticket to sunny Greece. He had a good journey, and in the
congenial climate of his native country made a perfect recovery.
I have observed a number of similar cases suffering from consolidation
of the lungs and the resulting asthmatic or tubercular conditions,
which had been doctored into these chronic ailments by means of
antipyretics and of ice.
Equally dangerous is the ice bag if applied to the inflamed brain
or the spinal column. Only too often it results either in paralysis
or in death. In many instances, acute cerebrospinal meningitis
is changed in this way by drug and serum treatment or by the use
of ice bags into the chronic, so-called incurable infantile paralysis.
We say so-called incurable because we have treated and
cured such cases in all stages of development from the
acute inflammatory meningitis to the chronic paralysis of long
standing.
In our treatment of acute diseases we never use ice or icy water
for packs, compresses, baths or ablutions, but always
water of ordinary temperature as it comes from the faucet.
The water compress or pack warms up quickly, and thus brings about
a natural reaction within a few minutes, while the ice bag or
pack continually chills and practically freezes the affected parts
and organs. This does not allow the skin to relax; it prevents
a warm reaction, the radiation of the body heat and the elimination
of morbid matter through the skin.
Suppression During the Fourth and
Fifth Stages of Inflammation
Let us see what happens when acute diseases are suppressed during
the stages of abatement and reconstruction. If the defenders
of the body, the phagocyte and antitoxins, produced in the tissues
and organs, gain the victory over the inimical forces which are
threatening the health and life of the organism, then the symptoms
of inflammation, swelling, redness, heat, pain and the accelerated
heart action which accompanies them, gradually subside. The debris
of the battlefield is carried away through the venous circulation
which forms the drainage system of the body.
When in this way all morbid materials have been completely eliminated,
Vital Force, "the physician within," will commence
to regenerate and reconstruct the injured and destroyed cells
and tissues.
If, however, these processes of elimination and reconstruction
are interfered with or interrupted before they are completed,
then the affected parts and organs will not have a chance to become
entirely well or strong. They will remain in an abnormal, crippled
condition, and their functional activity will be seriously handicapped.
The
After-effects of Drug-Treated Typhoid Fever
In hundreds of cases I have told patients after a glance into
their eyes that they were suffering from chronic indigestion,
malassimi-lation and malnutrition caused by drug-treated
typhoid fever; and every time the records in the eyes
were confirmed by the history of the patient.
In such cases the outer rim of the iris shows a wreath of whitish
or drug-colored circular flakes. I have named this wreath "the
typhoid rosary." It corresponds to the lymphatic and other
absorbent vessels in the intestines, and appears in the iris of
the eye when these structures have been injured or atrophied by
drug, ice or surgical treatment. Wherever this has been done,
the venous and lymphatic vessels in the intestines do not absorb
the food materials and these pass through the digestive tract
and out of the body without being properly digested and assimilated.
During the destructive stages of typhoid fever, the intestines
become denuded by the sloughing of their membranous linings. These
sloughed membranes give the stools of the typhoid fever patient
their peculiar pea soup appearance. In a similar manner the lymphatic,
venous and glandular structures which constitute the absorbent
vessels of the intestines atrophy and slough away.
If the inflammatory processes are allowed to run their normal
course under natural methods of treatment through the stages of
Destruction, Absorption and Reconstruction, Nature will rebuild
the membranous and glandular structures of the intestinal canal
perfectly, convalescence will be rapid and the patient will enjoy
better health than before he contracted the disease.
If, however, through injudicious feeding or the administration
of quinine, mercury, purging salts, opiates or other destructive
agents, Nature's processes are interfered with, prematurely checked
and suppressed, then the sloughed membranes and absorbent vessels
are not reconstructed, and the intestinal tract is left in a denuded
and atrophied condition.
Such a patient may arise from his bed thinking that he is cured;
but unless he is afterward treated by natural methods, he will
never make a full recovery. It will take him, perhaps, months
or years to die a gradual, miserable death through malassimilation
and malnutrition, which usually end in some form of wasting disease,
such as pernicious anemia or tuberculosis. If he does not actually
die from the effects of the wrongly treated typhoid fever, he
will be troubled all his life with intestinal indigestion, constipation,
malassimilation and the accompanying nervous disorders.
A Change for the Better
Speaking of typhoid fever, we are glad to say that for this particular
form of disease the most advanced medical science has adopted
the Nature Cure treatment, that is, straight cold water
and fasting, and no drugs, as it was
originated by the pioneers of Nature Cure in Germany more than
fifty years ago.
This treatment, which medical science has found so eminently successful
in typhoid fever, would prove equally efficacious in all other
acute diseases if the regular doctors would only try it. It is
a strange and curious fact that so far they have never found it
worth while to do so. All Nature Cure physicians know from their
daily experience in actual practice that the simple water
treatment and fasting is sufficient to cure all other forms of
acute diseases just as easily and effectively as typhoid fever.
By this is proved the unity of treatment in all
acute diseases.
Both in typhoid fever and in tuberculosis, progressive medical
men have now entirely abandoned the germ-killing method of treatment.
They have found it absolutely useless and superfluous to hunt
for drugs and serums to kill the typhoid and tuberculosis bacilli
in these, the two most destructive diseases afflicting the human
family. They were forced to admit that the simple remedies of
the Nature Cure school, cold water and fasting in typhoid fever
and the fresh-air treatment in tuberculosis, are the only worthwhile
methods to fight these formidable enemies to health and life.
If they would continue their researches and experiments along
these natural lines, they would attain infinitely
more satisfactory results than through their germ-hunting and
germ-killing theories and practices.