Diseases of the Brain
NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOMOEOPATHY 2003 Nov / Dec VOL V NO 6.
Dr Manu Kothari
Dr Lopa Mehta
The human brain, like a gland, secretes thoughts. Human
thought is an exalted entity. The trouble is, if it has been powerful for good,
it has been potent for evil. For mankind, it is not the pathology- ridden brain
that is so much of a problem, as the so called normal healthy brain, whose
thought secretions spawn weapons and wars, creeds and conflagrations, garbage
and genocide. You ask the plant world, animal world and Mother Earth as to what
is the real diseases that affects the human brain. The reply would be:
"Human Thought."
The diseases of the brain that homoeopaths and allopaths are worried about are
traceable to the components of the brains, namely, nerve cells, neuroglia, blood
vessels and meninges.
The nerve cells belong to the class of perennial or immortal cells. Hence by
themselves they are not prone to multiplicatory misbehavior to cause any tumors.
Their plight resides in their steady attrition at the rate of 20-25000 per day.
Yet a man at 70 has 70% neurons left, which is 14 times more than his maximal
need. The severe atrophy of the brain that manifests itself as Alzheimer’s
disease is more because of atheroma of the blood vessels infarcting the brain on
a wide scale. To both, the silent atrophy of the brain, as also the manifest
dementias including Alzheimer’s, modern medicine in any form has not much to
offer except some prayers.
Neuroglia, 10 times more in number than the neurons, have, like all other diving
cells, the penchant for creating benign and malignant lumps, usually called
neurogliomas, and astrocytomas. Their natural occurrence is much greater than
diagnosed, for many of them stay silent even for a lifetime. Whenever they make
noise, the only treatment is excision by whatever palliative means. Their
treatment does not differ from that of tumors elsewhere. When a brain has
metastatic tumors, surgical therapy is out of question. And palliative
radiation/chemotherapy is hardly of any help.
Much commoner than tumors is atherosclerosis of the brain that give rise to a
general decline in brain function in one and all, and into stroke in one out of
10 humans. It is a disease of aging and manifests itself as thrombosis or
hemorrhage, affecting various parts of the brain. Stroke is the bread, butter,
jam and Mercedez of the neurologist. It has no specific treatment except general
nursing care. All attempts at improving cerebral circulation by medical and
surgical means remains unfruitful. A global survey of stroke by Kurtzke showed
that survival in stroke is dependent not on who is treating but on who is being
treated.
The most rewarding area of brain diseases is epilepsy. Epilepsy has a herd
distribution. Two percent of any population has to have some form of epilepsy.
Its cause is shrouded in mystery. However the rapid strides electrophysiology
and locating the focus of epilepsy, the ability to selectively ablate that
focus, and a vast array of drugs have made management of epilepsy a grand
success. It is likely that, since epilepsy is an exaggerated normal brain
response, the etiology of epilepsy will never be found. But the progress in more
and more safe drugs and ablative procedures will give the epileptic patient the
dignity she or he deserves.
With age, the power and the brake of muscular movements degenerates. If the
powers that move and the brakes that checks the movements fail almost equally,
you have the general slowing of a human being seen around the age of 40. Should
the brake fail, you have the uncommon chorea that is related to choreography,
results in uncontrolled tremors, ticks and involuntary movements. If the power
machine fails, there is stiffness typical of Parkinsonism. Sometimes there is
such a combination of power and brake failure, that there is both paralysis and
agitation leading to the seemingly contradictory syndrome of paralysis agitans,
the Latin equivalent of Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s disease is managed
by drugs, neuronal ablation, and occasionally by controlled stimulation by an
implant.
Much of the advances in the disease of the brain have been investigative and
diagnostic. Much can be written on every disease, but as yet, little can be done
by the way of treatment. What is true of the brain is true of the spinal cord.
The latest edition (6th) of Principles of Neurology by
Adams, Victor and Ropper, has the usual detailed chapter on the "Diseases
of the Spinal Cord." The chapter ends on a note of humility: " In
conclusion, it is always well to remind oneself that of the more than 30
diseases of the spinal cord, effective means of treatment are available for only
a few." And not one of the treatable diseases is genuinely of the neurons
or neuroglia. Brain diseases have to be the forte of homoeopaths for allopathy
has not had any enviable success.
