Information on the Healing Crisis

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You may feel worse before you begin to feel better...

The Road To Better Health may begin with a Healing Crisis

As you move toward better health with natural healing programs and

better nutrition, healing begins to occur. As part of the healing

process the body will begin to discard toxic residues which have

built up in your body over the years. The healing process usually

does not occur without repercussions. During the initial phase of

healing, as your body begins to clean house, (detoxify) and your

vital energy begins to repair and rebuild internal organs, you may

experience headache, uneasiness, flu like symptoms and fatigue. It is

important that you adequately rest during this time. These symptoms

will pass as your body begins to normalize to a new level of health.

As you continue to improve, you may begin a process called retracing.

You may feel worse before you feel better. For example, if you used

to get skin rashes, the rashes may reappear or get worse for a period

of time as your body eliminates toxins through the skin. You may also

experience an initial increase in urination, or you may feel more

nervous. In actuality, you are not getting worse, you are actually

getting better. Eventually you will reach a plateau of better health.

During the healing crisis, it is important to not suppress these

temporary symptoms with drugs or the healing process may become

interrupted.

Understanding The Healing Crisis

Ginger Chalford, Ph.D

The body has an inherent desire for perfect health. We have the

ability to earn our way back to that state, no matter how " normal " or

bad our health is now. But in the meantime, the body must go through

an elimination process to achieve good health. The elimination

process is often referred to as the " healing crisis. " Once the

healing crisis starts, reactions may be mild or severe. Expect ups

and downs as it takes awhile to get good health back.

In a healing crisis, every body system works together to eliminate

waste products and set the stage for regeneration. Old tissues are

replaced with new. A disease occurs when the body cannot make it

through its natural healing crises for one reason or another. The

body is " locked " into a destructive and shut down place, physically,

emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

Symptoms of the healing crisis may at first be identical to the

disease it is meant to heal. But there is an important difference:

elimination. A cleansing, purifying process is underway and stored

wastes are in a free-flowing state. The body, mind, and spirit are no

longer " locked. " Sometimes pain and symptoms during the healing

crisis are more intense than that of the chronic disease, but it is

temporary and necessary.

The crisis will usually bring about past conditions and personal

issues. People often forget the diseases, issues, or injuries they

have had in the past, but are usually reminded during the crisis so

that they can heal their unfinished business. This arises in whatever

order the body is capable of handling at that time.

Physical reactions could include skin eruptions, nausea, headache,

sleepiness, unusual fatigue, constipation, diarrhea, head or chest

cold, ear infections, boils, or any other way the body uses to loosen

and eliminate toxins. An initial healing crisis usually lasts around

three days but if the energy of the patient is low, it may last a

week or more.

Your body needs juices, and especially water to help carry off the

toxins. This is a time for rest. Be kind to yourself --- mentally,

emotionally, and of course physically.

One crisis is not always enough for a complete cure. The person in a

chronic " locked " disease state will often have to go through cycles

of healing crises, with each one improving the condition some. It has

taken time to develop a chronically diseased state, and time is

required to let go of the " locked " energy, piece by piece. It's like

peeling the layers off an onion.

Often the crisis will come after one feels their very best and most

energized, setting the stage for the elimination. The whole body gets

into action. Most people feel an energy boost at the beginning until

the toxins start dumping into the blood stream for elimination. Go as

slowly as your body needs so your elimination is gradual and

comfortable.

With a more serious condition, there may be many small crisis to go

through before the system can become healthily balanced. Everything

must be considered and given its proper place in the build-up to a

healing crisis. One should expect it and work with the body, not

resentfully against it.

A healing crisis is also known as the Herxheimer Reaction which

occurs when the body is detoxifying too rapidly and toxins are being

released faster than the body can eliminate them. A healing crisis

can result from any holistic/natural therapy such as homeopathy,

naturopathy, improved diet, etc. more

Hering's Law of Cure

Constantine Hering, M.D. (1800-1880) observed that healing occurs in

a consistent pattern. He described this pattern in the form of three

basic laws which homeopaths can use to recognize that healing is

occurring. This pattern has been recognized by acupuncturists for

hundreds of years and is also used by practitioners of herbalism and

other healing disciplines.

According to the first of Hering's laws, healing progresses from the

deepest part of the organism - the mental and emotional levels and

the vital organs - to the external parts, such as skin and

extremities.

Hering's second law states that, as healing progresses, symptoms

appear and disappear in the reverse of their original chronological

order of appearance. Homeopaths have consistently observed that their

patients re-experience symptoms from past conditions.

According to Hering's third law, healing progresses from the upper

to the lower parts of the body. For instance, a person is considered

to be on the mend if the arthritic pain in his neck has decreased

although he now has pain in his finger joints.

As the symptoms change in accordance with Hering's Law, it is common

for individual symptoms to become worse than they had been before

treatment. If healing is truly in progress, the patient feels

stronger and generally better in spite of the aggravation. Before

long, the symptoms of the aggravation pass, and leave the person

healthier on all levels. (more on Herring's Law of cure)

Sadly, most conventional medical doctors treat each symptom as a

unique and unconnected phenomenon. A person's skin rash generally

would be treated with cortisone, thus suppressing it,and, possibly,

reactivating the person's asthma. The mentally ill person's new

physical symptom is also suppressed, leading to a relapse of the

mental illness.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A HEALING CRISIS AND ILLNESS?

There are symptoms during a healing crisis that may be confused with

illness but the difference is that these symptoms are short in

duration and move from one part of the body to another, from inside

out and from top to bottom. There is usually a lack of appetite and

may be a fever. Illness is a very different scenario where one or

more of the organs are not working well, causing toxic build up of

waste material that can't get out. There is fear during illness, a

feeling of being out of control as opposed to the prevailing feeling

during a healing crisis that underneath all the symptomology

everything is working just the way it should and everything is really

OK. The reversal process is another part of the healing crisis. It is

necessary to revisit each step the body has been through that brought

it to its current state of dis-ease. People learn from an early age

that symptoms are bad and should be stopped or suppressed.

Power Healing Leo Galland, MD

Filled with practical advise on detecting unsuspected causes of our

sicknesses, building resistance to disease, and harnessing our own

bodies' natural desire to heal, Dr. Galland's innovative book

represents mind/body medicine at its best. For those whose illnesses

haven't responded to treatment or resist diagnoses, or for anyone who

craves a high level of health, Power Healing is essential reading.

" After my fourth cleanse, every scare or cut that I had in my

lifetime, some over 20 years ago, suddenly opened and closed again.

This time they closed with pearl white pure clean skin...and once

healed the scars themselves disappeared too. Probably what happen was

when they occurred my body and cells were not clean, but now the body

was healthy enough to recognize that it was carrying around sick,

dirty skin and decided to throw it out for good. "

" Herpes was a problem I had prior to cleansing. During my second and

third fasts I had tremendous outbreaks. Two more healing crises after

that and since then they've become a thing of the past. " Excerpted

from: New Age Alternative Health Care - Helping People Survive Online