Pain
Most people have two types of pain:
1. Acute pain from recent injury including sports etc.
2. Chronic pain from degeneration
Acute/injury
Pain, inflammation and Homotoxicology
Physiologically speaking, inflammation is beneficial to the body, however the processes of inflammation can get out of control. The phenomenon of inflammation can be defined as a localized but specific manifestation of defence accompanied by symptoms such as swelling, redness, warmth, pain and loss of function in the affected tissue. The overall idea within homotoxicology is not to suppress this inflammation (except in life threatening situations) as these biological processes are purposeful, therefore one needs to support and guide the regulation mechanisms that control the course of the injury etc. Suppression of inflammation which is what generally happens in allopathic medicine will influence the patient’s long-term health in a negative way.
Pain and inflammation also comprise a large part of the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders.
Homotoxicology products and treatment protocols can address this problem, due to the inclusion of diluted peptides from plants, venoms, suis organ products and nosodes (dilution between 1x and 14x, 1:10 dilution), some products such as Traumeel S can induce regulatory T-cells, such as TH3, which will down regulate the TH1 helper cells which are activated in inflammation and secret inflammatory cytokines and chemokines.
Chronic/degeneration
Homotoxicology, inflammation and degeneration
Degenerative conditions make up the larger part of pain involved in musculoskeletal disorders, including osteoarthritis, conditions like Anlylosing Spondylitis as well as degenerative back disorders such as discogenic disease. Mobility and independence are a huge concern as we age and our joints wear out. The articular cartilage is made up of extra cellular matrix (mainly collagen and proteoglycans) and a cellular component, the chondrocytes which are the ‘control centre’ of the extracellular matrix in the cartilage.
The milieu of a cell and the extracellular matrix (ECM) ( Prof. Pischinger called this the ground substance and discovered that the contact between nerves, blood vessels and organ cells takes place in a kind of transmitter space) play a fundamental part in overall inflammation and degeneration. This ECM an important component in homotoxicology, is found throughout the body except for the epithelial area and also explains the vicariations of Reckeweg’s table of homotoxicosis, as toxins can travels around the extracellular substance without having to enter the blood vessels or lymphatic system.
If the chondrocytes are damaged due to inflammatory or mechanical damage enzymatic processes will have the possibility to damage the matrix which will not be able to be repaired. The inflammatory process here is not a straightforward one, but a cyclical one due to the self-regulating and inhibiting cytokines, the PH-changes during the process, as well as the fluctuating electrical potential due to release and absorption of electrolytes etc. There is a definite growth of TH1 and TH2 activity, a higher amount of inflammation stimulating interleukins and Tumour Necrosing Factor (TNF), as well as the induction of mineral corticoids, which in turn increases acidity and electrolytes, therefore creating a further blockage in the ECM.