Dr Eizayaga, an Argentinean homeopath, developed a method to treat chronic cases (Watson 2004).
He believed that patients have separate levels of disease, which need separate prescriptions.
In most chronic cases, there will have been long-term use of drugs to suppress the specific pathology and symptoms (Kramer 2006).
This means that the true picture of the disease may be obscured and toxicity in the system could also be causing side effects. This can affect key organs in the body, such as the liver and kidneys and this can block the effectiveness of indicated remedies.
In chronic cases, with advanced pathologies, that have been complicated with drugs, or complicated cases with a mixture of aetiologies, the layers method can be used to make sense of the case (Watson 2004).
Separating out the layers can make it easier to see what area of the case to aim the remedy at.
Eizayaga tells us that we should find a simillimum for the local disease symptoms and follow up with a series of remedies to treat the underlying pre-disposing state (Taylor 2007).
The remedies that will be needed cannot be foreseen at the beginning, and after each prescription, the case will need to be re-taken.
Although there may be hints of the deeper layers e.g. the fundamental layer, the miasms and the constitutional layer, at the start of the case, Eizayaga believed that we can’t always see through the lesional layer (pathological disease) to the fundamental totality remedy. As we treat each layer, we see a clearer view of the imbalance that exists to the vital force. In this, Eizayaga doesn’t differ from Hahnemann.
The Research paper on Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s disease affects millions of people around the world. It can affect up to one million people in the United States and almost six million people around the world (“National Parkinson Foundation”, 2010) It is a disorder that involves the lack of proper movement in individuals who are suffering Parkinson’s disease. It is a neurodegenerative disorder that induces a lack of dopamine in the ...
Where they do differ, is that Eizayaga differentiated between the treatment of the patient and that of the disease (Schutt 2010).
The disease must be treated separately, as he believed that the local pathology is a separate entity. He believed that the patient’s recent pathological symptoms don’t usually correspond to the characteristic fundamental remedy. This is similar to acute prescribing.
The Four Main Layers in the Eizayaga Method
The four main layers identified by Eizayaga are based on evolutionary stages, pathological processes and that disease is due to a disturbed vital force (Schutt 2010).
The deepest layer is the constitutional layer (Watson 2004).
This layer is mostly inherited and unchangeable. It includes healthy characteristics, such as body type, colouring and personality, as well as food desires and general modalities.
This level is not pathological. Treatment is preventative and given to maintain health. It is common to treat children and babies on this level. Adults usually have other layers that need removing before they can be treated constitutionally.
The next layer is the fundamental layer. This applies to functional symptoms on a mental, emotional and physical level. These symptoms are deviations from a healthy state and can change during a person’s life. They don’t relate to a disease process, but to the person. The cause is usually emotional. This could be fright, anger, grief etc.
It also includes food cravings and intolerances. These are seen as incompatible with good health. These symptoms are usually reversible. Treatment is aimed at returning the patient to their constitutional picture and removal of these functional disorders. Most of the polychrests used to treat this level have a strong psychological picture.
The next layer is the lesion layer. This is when a disease becomes localised and affects an organ, tissue or a system of the body. This can include acute and chronic states that may return at regular or sporadic intervals.
The lesion layer can be separated into either reversible curable diseases, irreversible but partially curable diseases and irreversible incurable diseases (Schutt 2010).
The Essay on Crohn’s Disease – Symptoms and Treatment
By: Paul MacIver Crohn’s disease is a chronic inflammatory disease of the digestive tract. The disease is also called granulomatous enteritis, colitis, regional enteritis, regional ileitis, ileitis, or terminal ileitis and it causes ulcerations of the small and large intestine. The disease can affect the digestive system anywhere from the mouth to the anus, but distinctively affects the terminal ...
A remedy on this level is based on the disease symptoms as well as the local modalities and concommitants (Watson 2004).
Conventional constitutional prescribing is reversed. Mental and emotional symptoms are only used if they have appeared or worsened since the disease started. The aim of treatment at this level is to reverse the disease to allow cure to take place. Any remedy may be appropriate, including minor remedies or organ remedies.
If there is more than one lesion layer to be treated, the most recent or the most limiting one should be treated first.
The other layer that requires treating is the miasmatic layer. The miasms determine the pathological trends in people (Schutt 2010).
Most people will have a combination of miasms (Watson 2004).
The most active should be treated when it is encountered. Eizayaga also recommended giving miasmatic treatment after cure to prevent relapse.
Today’s diseases require prescribing on the miasmatic level alongside treatment of the other layers (Kramer 2006).
As symptoms are suppressed, the miasmatic state can change.
A dormant miasm may be indicated by family history, or an earlier illness (Watson 2004).
This may or may not be active. If a miasm is active, it may be causing a tendency to problems or preventing indicated remedies from curing. This type of miasm needs treatment with the appropriate nosode, given intercurrently during treatment of the other layers. This should reduce the activity of the miasm and allow the indicated remedy to work effectively.
If the presenting picture corresponds to a nosode, then the miasm is said to be exposed. In this situation, a nosode would be given as the first remedy. An ascending potency is recommended.
Additional Layers That May Be Involved in the Eizayaga Method
There are a couple of other layers that can exist in a patient (Kramer 2006).
There may be a drug layer on top of the lesion layer. In most cases these days, where there is pathology, drugs will have been used to suppress the symptoms. Long-term use of drugs in this way can create a drug layer. A side effect could be that vital organs, such as the liver or kidneys are affected. This layer should be treated with a detox therapeutic remedy, before treating the actual pathology. If it isn’t treated, the toxicity in the system can undermine the action of remedies and cause a block to cure.
The Term Paper on Homeopathic Therapy Wide Web
Homeopathic Survey of Alternative Medicine October 8, 2003 Homoeopathy is an alternative method of treatment, based on the nature's Law of Cure, or the saying 'Like Cures Like'. Discovered by a German scientist Dr. Samuel Hahnemann in 1796, and has been verified experimentally and clinically for 200 years. Homoeopathy is the revolutionary, natural medical science. Homoeopathy is gentle and ...
Another layer, similar to a miasm, can be acquired by a patient who has ‘never been well since’ a particular illness (Watson 2004).
This should be treated with the disease nosode, as you would an active miasm. One or two doses in a medium to high potency should clear this layer.
Finally, Eizayaga recognised death as the final layer, where life cannot be maintained because the vital organs have declined to a point that can’t be reversed and they cease to function (homeopathic-doctors.com n.d.)
References
Eizayaga’s Approach to Case Analysis. Available at: http://www.homeopathyplanet.com/AudeSapere/Study%20Room/Library/LibraryEizayaga.htm [Accessed March 7, 2011].
homeopathic-doctors.com, Eizayaga’s homeopathic layer theory. Available at: http://homeopathic-doctors.com/homeopathiclayers.aspx [Accessed March 8, 2011].
Kramer, E., 2006. A Practical Guide to Methods of Homeopathic Prescribing, London: The College of Practical Homeopathy.
Schutt, K., 2010. Francisco X. Eizayaga and the Layer Approach to Homeopathy
| HPATHY.COM. Available at: http://hpathy.com/homeopathy-papers/francisco-x-eizayaga-and-the-layer-approach-to-homeopathy/ [Accessed March 7, 2011].
Taylor, W., 2007. Eizayaga’s Approach to Case Analysis. Available at: http://www.homeopathyplanet.com/AudeSapere/Study%20Room/Library/LibraryEizayaga.htm [Accessed March 7, 2011].
Watson, I., 2004. A Guide to the Methodologies of Homeopathy Revised., Devon: Cutting Edge Publications.
