Humoral Disturbances
Humoral disturbances tend to occur in 4 main ways:
Plethora: an excess or over-activity of one or more humors. Over-activity of a humor may occur when the body attempts to replace an abnormal humr or attempts to balance out a dystemper. In the latter case, the body will produce an excessive amount of a humor that has the opposite quality to the dystemper present, in an attempt to reestablish physiological homeostasis.
Excessive activity of a humor may be caused by:
- Humoral agitation
- An abnormal metabolic change in the body towards the quality of that humor
Plethora may be chronic, subacute, or acute.
There are three stages in the removal of plethora from the body:
- A basic humoral change which may be hardly noticed
- A boiling off of the excess humor by a fever
- A healing crisis, which is seen with the discharge of the excess humor.
Thinning: Thinning of a humor may be due to a depletion of a humor due to illness or injury, or may be due to an inadequate generation of that humor by the liver. The latter may be due to a dysfunction in the generation of humors by the liver which can be caused by a lack of availability of the elements needed for that humor, which commonly occurs in malnutrition.
Thinning may also occur if there is an abnormal metabolic change towards the opposite quality of a humor.
Thinning is usually corrected by removing the cause of the depletion and by treatments which augment the quality of the humor.
Thickening: Thickening is common in black bile and also readily occurs in phlegm in the presence of a dry dystemper. The blood and yellow bile only become thickened if one or more of the following takes place:
- They become admixed with another humor
- They become affected by abnormal thymos
- Physical structural changes occur which interfere with their normal flow.
The thickening of a humor is treated through the removal of any blockage of thymose, removing any blockage to the flow of the humor, by thinning the humor, by normalizing its function, or by purging the admixed humor.
Cacochyma: this word comes from a Greek word that means "bad essence" and refers to the putrification of a a humor, which can happen to any humor and is a common cause of both acute and chronic disease. It may be due to noxious substances such as ingested or absorbed toxins, or can be due to air containing disease-causing microorganisms. It can also occur as a result of grossly imbalanced intakes of the essential elements.
Autogenic cacochyma is the admixture of one abnormal humor with a normal humor, which is a common cause of underlying weakness that interferes with the natural resistance to substances and the generation of good Thymos.
Cacochyma of a humor can be treated by one or more of the following methods:
- Eliminating exposure to the noxious substance(s)
- Eliminating the noxious substance(s) through gentle purging by means of expectorants or inducing perspiration
- By antidoting the noxious substance and counteracting cacochyma
- Through improving the quality of thymos
General rules on correcting the humors:
- The first and most important method of treatment is dietary therapy
- The cause of the disease should first be removed; if this is done, all other aspects of the disease will vanish
- A medicine should firstly fit the condition, and secondly fit the quality of the condition, the affected Humor and the quality of the affected organ
- If there are toxins present in the body always balance with foods and medicines that have the exact opposite quality
- If toxins have accumulated in the body, first support thymos to increase physical resistance to the toxin and then gently purge
the toxins
- When eliminating toxins it must be remembered that Blood and Phlegm tend to eliminate upwards and Yellow and Black Bile downwards
- Always use the correct elimination procedure and
remedy for the affected humor
- If the humors to be eliminated are viscous, avoid
sour, drying and astringent remedies and foods, as these will further thicken
the Humors and prevent their elimination
- Care should be taken during pregnancy and breast
feeding as many common and normally harmless foods and remedies can have an
adverse effect on the child
- During a crises do not use cooling remedies,
unless these are needed to protect against a seriously high fever, as these can
drive the humor back and the condition inward and set the stage for a chronic
disease
- Never give strong medicines if gentle ones will do the
job, it is better to take too weak a medicine than one that is too strong
- When treating any patient always keep in mind
Hippocrates' dictum: "Primum non nocere" (first do no harm)
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