Some people are ever so busy in ascertaining the causes of the different diseases that they hardly find time to look to the more important part of their business as physicians-namely "cure". For true Homoeopaths, however, this is, to a large extent, waste of time and energy; and to some extent, it amounts to pursuing a wrong path, losing sight of the "Truth". Various opinions have been expressed regarding the cause and origin of Chikungunya or any epidemic. Some say that mosquito breed in marshy tanks and ditches, and a kind of mosquito carries them into the human system, while others have discerned yet other causes by expensive and laborious researches. The Allopathic method of treatment is a method of treatment by contraries, and as such, these searches for ascertaining the cause of a particular disease may be necessary for Allopaths. But one who understands Homoeopathy and has really entered into its spirits, knows that the cause of disease is not outside the patient, and that the so called external circumstance that immediately precedes the disease and looks like the cause is really an exciting cause only. (Mechanical injuries-e.g. burns, a fall from a tree or a cut in the thigh, are not diseases, properly speaking, as they do not imply any disorder in the normal processes of the organism, and as such, they are left out of our consideration here). The true cause of disease is in the patient himself. There are many in chikungunya or any case of epidemic places, who have been exempted from infection, and the cause of this should be investigated. The true Homœopath knows that Rhus Tox will cure a case of fever, if the particular symptoms of the case are similar to the particular symptoms of the medicine, no matter whether the fever has been caused by chikungunya or whatever. But an Allopathic physician has to know that the fever has been caused by chikungunya or any other epidemic, as in that case, and in that case alone he can prescribe medicine for killing the germs. We are Homœopaths, and we do not gain anything by knowing whether the fever is chikungunya or not, as we cannot give any other medicine than Rhus Tox, when it is Rhus tox alone that corresponds to the case. Our business is only to learn up the materia medica of the drug and to fit the drug to the patient. Our treatment is not according to cause (exciting) and we have no germs to kill. 

Homoeopathic point of view
That there are no diseases but sick people is what homoeopathy declares from top of its structure. The concept of diseases in the two, the Allopathic and Homoeopathic schools of medicine is quite different. Hahnemann once said to one of his patients, "The disease from which you are suffering is no business of mine and the drug that I administer to you is no business of yours." In the therapeutics, etiology or nosology has classified diseases and since the Homoeopathic physician is found using books on Therapeutics, he too is apt to use the terminology as is found in medical books and dictionaries. That the word "chikungunya" brings before his eyes a certain group of patients or symptoms constituting a sick person cannot be denied. As Dr. Kent has said, the Homoeopathic physician should learn the pathological conditions and use their terms for classifying the cases in order to report them to the State Boards, etc. But in each case the method is individualisation and individualisation alone, which should be his guide. And it is a widely known fact which generations of experience has demonstrated that constitutional homoeopathic prescribing tends to raise the general level of health and in so doing, almost invariably raises the resistance of the individual being treated to colds and virus infections. Chikungunya, then, is an acute miasmatic disease - self limiting, having a prodrome, progress and a decline. Psora is the main cause and it is Psoric constitutions which are influenced most by it. 

In Art. 31 of the Organon, Dr. Hahnemann says : 
"The inimical forces, partly physical, partly psychical, to which our terrestrial existence is exposed, which are termed morbific noxious agents, do not possess the power of deranging the health of men unconditionally; but we are made ill by them only when our organism is sufficiently disposed and susceptible to the attack of the morbific cause that may be present and to be altered in its health, deranged and made to undergo abnormal sensations and functions; hence they do not produce disease in everyone, nor at all times." 

Virus - is it the cause of chikungunya?

Now the question arises, "Does Homoeopathy regard filterable virus to be the cause of chikungunya ?" The reply is an emphatic 'No'. Let us see what Dr. J. T. Kent has to say about it. In his Lectures on Homoeopathic Philosophy he says, "Everything that can be seen, that can be observed with aid of the finest instrument, is but the result. Nothing in the world of immaterial substance can be seen with any faculty that is capable of seeing things in the world of material substance. The employment of instruments of precision will enable us to see the finest disease results, which are the outcome of or result of things immaterial, the very finest form of vegetable life; but the cause of disease is a million time more subtle than these and cannot be seen by the human eye. The finest visible objects are but results of things still finer, so that the cause rests within. The morbific agents that Hahnemann refers to are simply the extremely fine forms of simple substance or to bring them down to human thought, we might call them "viruses" but viruses are often gross because they can sometimes be observed by the vision of man, and, therefore, we must remember that within the virus is its innermost and that its innermost is in itself capable of giving form to the outermost, which is the visible virus aggregated and concentrated. The coarser forms would be comparatively harmless were it not for their interiors. Disease products are comparatively harmless were it not for the fact that they contain an innermost and it is the innermost itself that is causative. Every virus is capable of assuming forms and shapes in ultimates. The causes of ultimates are not from without but the immaterial invisible centre. There is something prior to the virus which gives it form. Therefore, virus is also crude enough to produce disease". 

What then is the cause of disease, if not virus or bacteria ? What ? If not virus ? We shall refer to Art. 16 of the Organon. 
"Our vital force, as a spirit-like dynamics cannot be attacked and infected by injurious influences on the healthy organism caused by the external inimical forces that disturb the harmonious play of life otherwise than in a spirit-like (dynamic) way, and in like manner all such morbid derangements (diseases) cannot be removed from it by the physician in any other way than by the spirit-like (dynamic, spiritual) alternative powers of the serviceable medicines acting upon our spirit-like vital force." 

Aura 
The cause of disease is therefore, not the virus but the causes are finer than the virus. They are dynamic. All such dynamic influences have an aura of their own. Take for example a case of chicken-pox - another virus produced disease. Now, if one swallows chicken-pox crust, "it will be digested and very little trouble come from it, but the inhalation of the atmosphere that contains the aura of chicken-pox upon a plane corresponding to the susceptibility of the individual, will bring him down with the disease having a definite prodrome, a period of progress and a period of decline, showing that the very foundation of man's nature has been struck. Such an operation is upon the internals of man; upon his invisible, immaterial substance and it operates from within out, producing ultimates in his tissues, establishing result upon the skin." 

Aura- what it is 

Everything in the universe has its aura or atmosphere. Every star and planet has an atmosphere. The sun's atmosphere is its light and heat. Every human being has his atmosphere or aura; every animal has its atmosphere or aura. This aura is present in all entities. What may be said to be the aura of musk? That is a strong physical aura which almost everyone can perceive. A grain of musk has been kept for experiment's sake, in a bottle for seventeen years, giving off a perceptible aura yet without loss of weight. As a further evidence of aura, take, for instance, the animals which prey upon their food and you know that they can discover by an extremely intense aura, states and things that man cannot discover. This is not an ordinary nose, but it is really the very instinct of the animal, whereby it perceived what prey is. His instinct is analogous to man's perception, and by this instinct he discovers his prey, when man would not be able to discover it. Man can discover musk in a bottle but it is doubtful if man could discover the finest aura by its odor. This aura becomes useful and introduces a prominent sphere in the study of Homoeopathy. 

There are two realms of the world, the realm of causes and the realm of ultimates. In this outermost or physical world we can see only with the eye, touch with the finger and such is the realm of results. The world of cause is invisible, is not discoverable by five senses. All disease causes are in simple substance; there is no disease cause in concrete substance considered apart from simple substance. We, therefore, study simple substance, in order that we may arrive at the nature of sick-making substances. It does not make much difference to the homoeopathic prescriber whatever strain of virus is present - "A" "B" "C" or "D" or Asian - Siberian as he takes the reaction of the patient for his guide to the remedy. 

Sometimes widespread publicity is given of the approaching epidemic of chikungunya or any epidemic by Health authorities in order to warn the public of the impending evil. We know that it is done with the best of intentions; but fear is one of the most depressing factors and makes human beings susceptible to a great variety of diseases. "The human mind should be kept as placid and normal in its outlooks on life and the life-giving impulses as possible. When an epidemic actually does take place, under such strain and apprehension, the whole vital system is depressed and one is much more susceptible to disease and much more apt to contract the prevailing ailment than would otherwise be the case." 

"On the other hand, if the principle "Similia Similibus Curentur" were better understood and its very great value in the healing art could be spread among the laity as industriously as this poison of fear, health and vigor would be the common lot and epidemics influenced by fear would become things of the past. If we could teach and spread abroad the facts that in the 1918 epidemic, the homoeopathic physicians had the record of over 16,000 cases treated by Hahnemannian homoeopaths with a mortality of only one-quarter of one per cent,the fear of epidemics would be removed." 

In Homoeopathy there are no specifics for any ailment. There can be as many types of epidemics as the human beings, because each individual puts his own stamp on the disease and modifies it too to some extent in his own peculiar way. Almost any remedy in the Materia Medica could prove useful in any given case. But this disease being acute and coming in epidemics, we have for our guidance the incomparable Organon and Dr. Kent's Lectures on Homoeopathic Philosophy. (Articles 100 to 102 of the Organon refer.) This has been explained by Dr. Kent as under : 

Homoeo prophylaxis 

Dr. Kent says, "Man is protected from sickness in two ways, by Homoeopathy and by use. The physician and the nurse who go into the district of epidemics who keep busy, who have, in the highest sense of the word, the true love of the use, who have gone into the work as media of mercy, will be largely protected just simply from their love of the work, from their delight in it. They have no fear. Fear is an overwhelming cause of sickness; those who fall prey to fear are likely to become sick, but those who face disease with no fear are likely to remain well; they do sometime fall sick, it is true, but I believe it is because they begin to have fear in the work." 

"The other and greater prophylactic is the homoeopathic remedy. After working in an epidemic for a few weeks, you will find perhaps that half-a-dozen remedies are daily indicated and one of these in a large number of cases than any other. This one remedy seems to be the best suited to the general nature of the sickness. No one remedy seems to be the best suited to the general nature of the sickness. You will find that for prophylaxis, there is required a less degree of similitude than is necessary for curing. A remedy will not have to be so similar to prevent disease as to cure it, and these remedies in daily use will enable you to prevent a large number of people from becoming sick. We must look to Homoeopathy for our protection as well as for our cure." 

We are not matching symptoms per se; rather; we are matching the essence of the patient with the essence of the remedy. 

If you are still doubtful of the efficacy of Homoeopathy which has proved it’s worth facing hostilities, please lend your ears to our patients. If allopathic treatment is the only available resort to all diseases, why is the number of people who “TRY THEIR LUCK” by seeking homoeopathic treatment increasing every year ? Homoeopathy is the youngest among the three systems ; hence it is clear the flow of patients is from where to where.

Some Medicinal Indications for Chikungunya

Eupatorium perfoliatum

(Thoroughwort)

• Known as "Bone-set", from the prompt manner in which it relieves pain in limbs and muscles that accompanies some forms of febrile disease, like malaria and influenza.
• Eupatorium acts principally upon the gastro-hepatic organs and bronchial mucous membrane.
• It is a boon in miasmatic districts, along rivers, marshes, etc., and in all conditions where there is a great deal of bone-pain.
• Cachexia from old chronic, bilious intermittents.
• Worn-out constitutions from inebriety.
• Sluggishness of all organs and functions.
• Bone-pains, general and severe.
• Soreness.
• Marked periodicity. [Ars.; China; Cedron.]

Head

• Throbbing pain.
• Pressure as if a cap of lead pressed over the whole skull.
• Vertigo; sensation of falling to left.
• Vomiting of bile.
• Top and back of head with pain and soreness of eyeballs.
• Periodical headache, every third and seventh day.
• Occipital pain after lying down, with sense of weight.

Mouth

• Cracks in corners of mouth, yellow coated tongue, thirst.

Stomach

• Tongue yellow.
• Taste bitter.
• Hepatic region sore.
• Great thirst.
• Vomiting and purging of bile, of green liquid several quarts at a time.
• Vomiting preceded by thirst.
• Hiccough. [Sulph. ac.; Hydrocy. ac.] Avoids tight clothing.

Stool

• Frequent, green watery.
• Cramps.
• Constipated, with sore liver.

Respiratory

• Coryza, with sneezing.
• Hoarseness and cough, with soreness in chest; must support it.
• Influenza, with great soreness of muscles and bones.
• Chronic loose cough, chest sore; worse at night.
• Cough relieved by getting on hands and knees.

Fever

• Perspiration relieves all symptoms except headache.
• Chill between 7 and 9 a.m. , preceded by thirst with great soreness and aching of bones.
• Nausea, vomiting of bile at close of chill or hot stage; throbbing headache.
• Knows chill is coming on because he cannot drink enough.

Extremities

• Aching pain in back. Aching in bones of extremities with soreness of flesh. Aching in arms and wrists.
• Swelling of left great toe.
• Gouty soreness and inflamed nodosities of joints, associated with headache.
• Dropsical swelling.

Modalities

• Worse, periodically.
• Better, by conversation, by getting on hands and knees.

Rhus toxicodendron (Poison-ivy)

• The effects on the skin, rheumatic pains, mucous membrane affections, and a typhoid type of fever, make this remedy frequently indicated.
• Rhus affects fibrous tissue markedly-joints, tendons, sheaths-aponeurosis, etc., producing pains and stiffness.
• Post-operative complications.
• Tearing asunder pains.
• Motion always "limbers up" the Rhus patient, and hence he feels better for a time from a change of position.
• Ailments from strains, overlifting, getting wet while perspiring.
• Septic conditions.
• Cellulitis and infections, carbuncles in early stages. [Echinac.]
• Rheumatism in the cold season.
• Septicaemia.

Mind

• Listless, sad.
• Thoughts of suicide.
• Extreme restlessness, with continued change of position.
• Delirium, with fear of being poisoned. [Hyos.]
• Sensorium becomes cloudy. Great apprehension at night, cannot remain in bed.

Head

• Feels as if a board were strapped on the forehead.
• Vertigo when rising.
• Heavy head.
• Brain feels loose and as if struck against skull on walking or rising.
• Scalp sensitive; worse on side lain on.
• Headache in occiput [Rhus rad.]; painful to touch.
• Pain in forehead and proceeds thence backward.
• Humid eruptions on scalp; itching greatly.

Eyes

• Swollen, red, oedematous; orbital cellulitis. Pustular inflammations.
• Photophobia; profuse flow of yellow pus.
• Oedema of lids, suppurative iritis.
• Lids inflamed, agglutinated. swollen.
• Old injured eyes.
• Circumscribed corneal injection.
• Intensive ulceration of the cornea.
• Iritis, after exposure to cold and dampness, and of rheumatic origin.
• Eye painful on turning it or pressing, can hardly move it, as in acute retrobulbar neuritis.
• Profuse gush of hot, scalding tears upon opening lids.

Ears

• Pain in ears, with sensation as if something were in them.
• Lobules swollen.
• Discharge of bloody pus.

Nose

• Sneezing; coryza from getting wet.
• Tip of nose red, sore, ulcerated.
• Swelling of nose.
• Nosebleed on stooping.

Face

• Jaws crack when chewing.
• Easy dislocation of jaw. [Ign.; Petrol.]
• Swollen face, erysipelas.
• Cheeck bones sensitive to touch.
• Parotitis.
• Facial neuralgia, with chilliness; worse, evening.
• Crusta lactea. [Calc.; Viol. tric.]

Mouth

• Teeth feel loose and long; gums sore.
• Tongue red and cracked; coated, except red triangular space at the tip; dry and red at edges.
• Corners of mouth ulcerated; fever-blisters around mouth and chin. [Nat. mur.]
• Pain in maxillary joint.

Throat

• Sore, with swollen glands.
• Sticking pain on swallowing.
• Parotitis; left side.

Stomach

• Want of appetite for any kind of food, with unquenchable thirst.
• Bitter taste. [Cupr.] Nausea, vertigo, and bloated abdomen after eating.

Abdomen

• Violent pains, relieved by lying on abdomen.
• Swelling of inguinal glands.
• Pain in region of ascending colon.
• Colic, compelling to walk bent.
• Excessive distention after eating.
• Rumbling of flatus on first rising, but disappears with continued motion.

Rectum

• Diarrhoea of blood, slime, and reddish mucus.
• Dysentery, with tearing pains down thighs.
• Stools of cadaverous odor.
• Frothy, painless stools.
• Will often abort a beginning suppurative process near the rectum.
• Dysentery.

Urinary

• Dark, turbid, high-colored, scanty urine, with white sediment.
• Dysuria, with loss of blood.

Male

• Swelling of glands and prepuce-dark-red erysipelatous; scrotum thick, swollen, oedenatous. Itching intense.

Female

• Swelling, with intense itching of vulva.
• Pelvic articulations stiff when beginning to move.
• Menses early, profuse, and prolonged, acrid.
• Lochia thin, protracted, offensive diminished [Puls.; Secale], with shooting upwards in vagina.[Sep.]

Respiratory

• Tickling behind upper sternum.
• Dry, teasing cough from midnight until morning, during a chill, or when putting hands out of bed.
• Haemoptysis from overexertion; blood bright red.
• Influenza, with aching in all bones. [Eup. perf.]
• Hoarseness from overtraining voice. [Arn.]
• Oppression of the chest, cannot get breath with sticking pains.
• Bronchial coughs in old people, worse on awaking and with expectoration of small plugs of mucus.

Heart

• Hypertrophy from overexertion.
• Pulse quick, weak, irregular, intermittent, with numbness of left arm.
• Trembling and palpitation when sitting still.

Back

• Pain between shoulders on swallowing.
• Pain and stiffness in small of back; better, motion, or lying on something hard; worse, while sitting.
• Stiffness of the nape of the neck.

Extremities

• Hot, painful swelling of joints.
• Pains tearing in tendons, ligaments, and fasciae.
• Rheumatic pains spread over a large surface at nape of neck, loins, and extremities; better motion. [Agaric.]
• Soreness of condyles of bones.
• Limbs stiff paralyzed. The cold fresh air is not tolerated; it makes the skin painful.
• Pain along ulnar nerve.
• Tearing down thighs.
• Sciatica; worse, cold, damp weather, at night.
• Numbness and formication, after overwork and exposure.
• Paralysis; trembling after exertion.
• Tenderness about knee-joint.
• Loss of power in forearm and fingers; crawling sensation in the tips of fingers.
• Tingling in feet.

Fever

• Adynamic; restless, trembling.
• Typhoid; tongue dry and brown; sordes; bowels loose; great restlessness.
• Intermittent; chill, with dry cough and restlessness.
• During heat, urticaria.
• Hydroa.
• Chilly, as if cold water were poured over him, followed by heat and inclination to stretch the limbs.

Skin

• Red, swollen; itching intense.
• Vesicles, herpes; urticaria; pemphigus; erysipelas; vesicular suppurative forms.
• Glands swollen.
• Cellulitis.
• Burning eczematous eruptions with tendency to scale formation.

Sleep

• Dreams of great exertion.
• Heavy sleep, as from stupor.
• Sleepless before midnight.

Modalities

• Worse, during sleep, cold, wet rainy weather and after rain; at night, during rest, drenching, when lying on back or right side.
• Better, warm, dry weather, motion; walking, change of position, rubbing, warm applications, from stretching out limbs.
  
   
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Dr. Binoy Vallabhassery M. D. (Hom)

• State President, The Institution of Homoeopaths, Kerala

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