KEY DEFINITIONS IN INTEGRATIVE BIOLOGICAL NATUROPATHIC MEDICINE:

Homotoxicology:

Let’s first start with the concept of a ‘homotoxin’ – it denotes a substance that has a disruptive effect on the organism (you) as a whole. There are two basic categories of homotoxins:

exogenous homotoxins – toxins that are toxic before entering the body (i.e. heavy metals, microbes, etc)
endogenous homotoxins – substances that are produced by the body itself during normal physiological metabolic processes but are not metabolized properly or excreted. They bioaccumulate and over time become toxic to the body itself (i.e. CO2, lactate, uric acid, etc); Or under abnormal conditions waste products, neurotransmitters, hormones, microbial debris, and pH imbalances leading to toxic states.

That being stated, from a homotoxicology point of view, diseases are the expression of biologically purposeful defense mechanisms against endogenous and exogenous homotoxins or the expression of the organism’s effort to compensate for the toxic damage it has sustained.

Extracellular Matrix (ECM):

It is the primary organ of regulation – it is the super-communicating highway for sending information to different cells in the body!

It is known by many names, such as, the ground regulation system, basic bioregulating system, or just the Matrix!

The ECM is the basic regulatory system of the organism and contains around 80% of the total cell mass. It is the energy supply and waste disposal system of organ cells and at the same time, home to the body’s immune system.

The main gel like component of the ECM is 20% of our body weight!!!

Capillaries and nerve endings do not terminate in the cell itself but rather in the neighborhood of the cell in the ECM. This means waste is deposited first in the ECM, then drained out to the venous and lymphatic systems!

If the ECM gets ‘clogged up’, then messages are harder to send within the body, toxins/waste accumulates (hard to get nutrition in the cells and waste out of the cell), and this can lead to dysregulation of other systems (i.e. immune and nervous system). Due to its fundamental importance with regards to health, the ECM can be a primary target point of therapy, in case of disease.

Biological Terrain/Milieu:

Think of this simply as the internal environment of an individual. We want all things to be optimal in terms of tissue physiology, microbiome, ECM, etc in order to not allow for vulnerabilities to occur. Some examples of when our terrain is off are dysbiosis of the gut, or an imbalance of the pH (acid/base balance in the body). If the terrain is off then we can also be more vulnerable to microbial attack and growth. Bugs can continue to live in environments that are ‘putrid and rotting’ which allows them to thrive [feeds them]; whereas they have a much more difficult time thriving in an environment where defenses are up (when the healthy terrain is intact).

Isopathic Medicine:

This is based on the work of Prof. Enderlein and his hypothesis that blood is not sterile, where there are specific fungi species that live in humans and in a healthy person they appear as primitive or basic forms that are useful for regulatory processes. However, under unhealthy conditions in the body, these primitive fungi can morph into pathological forms and affect the milieu (they go through different stages in the body). Prof. Enderlein had discovered that based on this, these pathological forms could be degraded again into non-pathological forms by the basic / primitive forms. From this fact came about Isopathic Medicine, where these basic forms can be given to help the pathological forms return to the lower phases (non pathological) and allow their by-products to leave the body. This type of medicine helps to support the milieu in the body.

Interference Fields (IF):

It is a term used to describe a chronically altered tissue or local tissue irritation that can affect the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) in a negative way creating dysregulation (something called dysautonomia). This can have a local effect or a systemic effect (far away from the source of the problem).

Some examples of IF are: scars of any kind (big or small); weakened / vulnerable organs; somatic / physical dysfunction; oral pathology (teeth) / cranial mandibular dysfunction; areas with inflammation / temperature changes on the skin; emotional blockages.

Think of IF as blockages toward regulating the body in order to properly heal. These interfering stimuli can be transmitted via nerve fibers (especially when the IF is close to nerve endings of vascular pathways), as this irritation follows the path of the nerve and finds its way to the brain, where the brain can misperceive this inputted information and then relay this misinformation back to the IF area, keeping it in a constant ‘irritated state’ meaning the tissue is not functioning properly and / or sending this misinformation to other areas of the body (therefore having an effect much further away from the original irritation) that creates a new ‘tissue irritation’ at that distant site. The body can then lose its self-regulating ability (especially when the irritation is chronic) and even create problems at the cellular level that throws off the whole system.

Autonomic / Vegetative Nervous System (ANS)

The ANS is separated into two main branches called the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) and the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PSNS).

The SNS is the branch of the ANS associated with fight or flight (the stress response), while the PSNS branch focuses on rest, digest, and healing (energy conservation, recuperation, and restorative processes). The importance of proper regulation of the ANS lies in the fact that it controls approximately 90% of the body’s functions. These “automatic” functions of the ANS include, heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, temperature regulation, sweating, and many more.