Karl Reckeweg tightens the circle around the definition of homotoxin and from here he takes his way away from classical homeopathy. But what does the homotoxicological approach consist of?
Homotoxicological
The word “homotoxicology” encompasses the study of the effects that some toxins, called “homotoxins“, have on the human being and contemplates the appropriate homeopathic treatment.
The state of health and disease, from a homotoxicological point of view, depends on the struggle that our body engages to eliminate excess homotoxins. If these prove to be too aggressive, homotoxicological therapy will tend to stimulate the natural self-healing mechanism of the human body by increasing a specific immune response.
Homotoxicology knows its fortune in the last century thanks to the intuitions and subsequent work of Hans Reckeweg, a German homeopath. Reckeweg introduces the concept of homotoxin and makes it the pivot on which its theory of purification of the organism revolves.
Homotoxins can be endogenous or exogenous in nature. They can be represented by waste from our metabolism that is not expelled correctly or they can be external agents that we breathe or ingest: simple bacteria and viruses, synthetic drugs, preservatives, dyes and food additives, insecticides or pesticides. All this is homotoxic and must be expelled. If the body cannot naturally perform this function, it must be helped.
The basis of homotoxicology
Each organism is crossed by a considerable amount of exogenous toxins, represented by bacteria, viruses, food-type toxins and pollutants, and by endogenous toxins, results of various metabolisms and final catabolites. That’s normal. Just as normal is the work that the body does to purify itself from these agents, tending towards a dynamic balance. If, therefore, a homotoxin does not turn out to be particularly virulent and our excretory systems (kidneys, liver, lymphatic system) are in place, this will not cause interference in its homeostasis and we would remain healthy.
Unfortunately, this is not always the case. If the toxin turns out to be aggressive or the systems are not able to block it, it would result in an impairment of the organism: the disease.
In the words of Hans Heinrich Reckeweg, “Diseases are the expression of the body’s fight against toxins, in order to neutralize and expel them; that is, they are the expression of the struggle that the body performs to compensate for the damage caused irreversibly by toxins“.
