Symptoms, the language of the body

Your body speaks to you with symptoms, are you listening?

Photo by Colin Davis on Unsplash

The symptoms that you experience are the language your body is using to tell you something. It is this language that is used by homeopaths for their like cures like philosophy. The symptoms are the body trying to find its own balance. The easiest examples is you hurt yourself so you have to rest for your body to heal. Or you’ve been really under the pump and not providing yourself self care so you get a head cold and have to stay in bed for a while - the body forces the time out and rest.

Homeopaths take it a step further and will ask all sorts of questions to “qualify” a symptom. Never tell a homeopath you have a headache! They will want to know what sort of headache - is it like little hammers in the head? Is it worse in the morning on waking? Or at 10am? Do you have to lie down in a dark room until it’s over? These all point to a Natrum muriaticum headache. So it is important to observe what your body is saying and so when you visit a homeopath (a Symptom Whisperer) they will have the information to work with and be able to help you.

Taking it further, with chronic disease, again it is the symptoms that the body is expressing that can be used to match a curative prescription. The name of your condition is only partly helpful in that it excludes symptoms that are common to that disease name. The homeopath will want to know who is the person with that named condition and what makes that condition unique in the individual in front of them. You can go and spend a lot of money on functional lab testing and it will tell a story of what is there but still the homeopath will want to know how is it expressing in you. Testing brings up theories about what is causing the particular symptoms that you are experiencing but the prescription is not based on the theory, it’s based on who you are.

Here are some quotes from The Organon of Medicine by Samuel Hahnemann

§6 The unprejudiced observer realizes the futility of metaphysical speculations that cannot be verified by experiment, and no matter how clever he is, he sees in any given case of disease only the disturbances of body and soul which are perceptible to the senses: subjective symptoms. i.e. deviations from the former healthy condition of the individual now sick which the patient personally feels, which people around him notice, which the physician see in him.

The totality of these perceptible signs represents the entire extend of the sickness; together they constitute its true and only conceivable form.

§7 So it is the totality of symptoms, the outer image expressing the inner essence of the disease, i.e. of the disturbed vital force, that must be the main, even the only, means by which the disease allows us to find the necessary remedy, the only one that can decide the appropriate choice.

§14 There is no curable disease or morbific alteration hidden in the interior of the body which does not announce itself to the conscientiously observant physician through objective and subjective symptoms. This is what the omniscient Preserver of human life has provided in his infinite goodness.

The other thing to think about when thinking of all the testing available, is that often the results are normal until things are really out of whack. There is a concept of normal range and optimal range. A doctor will look at results and say they’re normal if they are within range. A functional medicine view is to look at optimal ranges and install corrections before the values get to ‘out of range’ levels. But here again, the body will signal something is wrong before it shows up in test results.

It is not from external things that man becomes sick, not from bacteria nor environment, but from causes in himself. (J.T. Kent; Lectures on Homeopathic Philosophy)

This refers to things like mental and emotional causes and susceptibility. Again this can only be elicited by talking about who you are, what has happened in the past (including family history) and how do you react to things now. No lab tests can bring this information forward. It is fundamental to the person being treated. This is what sets homeopathy apart from other modalities. The whole being is taken into account - mind, body and soul. This is holistic medicine.

So if there is something “wrong” with you, look at the symptoms that are being expressed. What makes them worse or better, what time does the symptom show up? If it’s pain, where is it and where does it extend to, can you describe the pain?

Learn to listen to what the body is saying to you. Then armed with this information, head to a homeopath to have it all sorted out!

Disclaimer: This information is supplied for educational purposes only. Sources include published literature and anecdotal experiences of myself and other men, women and animals. The information is not intended for the treatment of any particular individual person or disease. If you are suffering any particular complaint please consult professional help.