Conscious Health & Homeopathy - Irma Vocht

23/11/2025

Continuing our theme of crystals, older naturopathic writers often talked about a “uric-acid diathesis,” and crystal “deposits,” and they explicitly linked these to joint troubles that would overlap with what we now call osteoarthritis (OA). For example, Henry Lindlahr, Nature Cure (1922), in the chapter “Acid Diseases” argued that excess uric acid precipitates out of the blood and is “deposited in the tissues,” noting that “the diseases caused by permanent deposits of uric acid in the tissues are called arthritic diseases, because the accumulations frequently occur in the joints.

Alexander Haig (Uric Acid as a Factor in the Causation of Disease) also wrote on this topic in the early 20th century. Although not a naturopath, his uric-acid theory was highly influential in naturopathic circles. He repeatedly associated elevated uric acid with gout, rheumatism/arthritis, and tissue “deposits,” advocating low-purine diets to prevent joint disease.

The language of these writers is pre-modern in that they do not separate OA from gout in the way we do now. But the mechanism they describe—uric-acid precipitation/crystal deposits in and around joints leading to chronic, degenerative joint disease—matches the idea of joint crystals contributing to arthritis. They often imply cartilage/bone changes consistent with osteoarthritic degeneration. Lindlahr’s chapter is the clearest single naturopathic statement tying uric-acid deposition to a joint-centric “arthritic” pathology.

Biomedical scientists now acknowledge the growing body of evidence for a link between uric acid and OA, although it is not as well established as the relationship between uric acid and gout.

Several population studies have shown that people with higher serum uric acid levels are more likely to have radiographic OA, particularly in the knee and hand. Hyperuricaemia is associated with both incident OA (developing OA over time) and progression (faster cartilage loss and worsening symptoms). There is emerging, but still limited, research on whether urate-lowering therapy slows OA progression. Pilot studies are ongoing.

This line of thinking is strongly supported by a recent review of the evidence that argues serum urate (SU, or uric acid in circulation) is not only relevant in gout, but may play broader roles in various musculoskeletal conditions (sarcopenia, OA, intervertebral disc degeneration and osteoporosis).

The authors highlight that in many of these associations causality is not yet proven, and some relationships may be U- or J-shaped (both low and high urate could be harmful) in certain tissues.

The review outlines several ways in which uric acid (or related species) could influence musculoskeletal tissues. These include oxidative stress/reactive oxygen species/mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammation/immune activation and mechanical damage, among others.

The review is comprehensive in integrating clinical association data and mechanistic hypotheses across muscle, bone, cartilage and disc tissues. It brings attention to the possibility that uric acid is a pervasive modulator of musculoskeletal health beyond gout, vindicating the earlier naturopathic writings.

For more information see: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39968300/

20/11/2025

Tissue salts.

14/11/2025

I once had a doctor look at my chart and ask, "So, the trauma is in the past?" I didn't have the words then. I just remember the thrumming in my own veins, the way my shoulders would lock for no reason, the stomach that felt like a clenched fist days after an argument. My body knew what my mind was trying to bury. It was a living, breathing archive of every shock my system had ever endured.

Reading Bessel van der Kolk's "The Body Keeps the Score" is like being handed the key to that archive. This book is not just a text on trauma; it is a radical re-envisioning of the mind-body connection. Van der Kolk, a pioneering psychiatrist and researcher, lays out, with devastating clarity and profound compassion, how trauma literally rewires the brain and gets trapped in the body, not as a memory, but as a physical, present-tense reality.

1. Trauma is a Civil War Within the Self
Van der Kolk’s central thesis is that trauma is not the story of something that happened back then. It is a physiological state to be re-lived. The brain's alarm system gets stuck on 'on,' leaving the body in a constant state of defense, at war with its own senses, its own safety. The past is not past; it is an ever-present physiological emergency.

2. The Mind Can Lie, But the Body Always Tells the Truth
We can construct narratives to survive, to make the unbearable seem neat. But the body refuses to be edited. It speaks in the language of migraines, autoimmune flares, chronic pain, and a heart that races in a quiet room. Healing begins when we stop arguing with the story and start listening to the flesh.

3. The Path Out is Through the Body, Not Just the Mind
Talk therapy can only take you so far when your body is still on the battlefield. Van der Kolk presents a powerful array of somatic therapies—yoga, EMDR, neurofeedback, and sensorimotor psychotherapy—that bypass the storytelling brain to speak directly to the nervous system. The goal is to teach the body that the danger is over, and that it is safe to inhabit itself again.

4. The Emotional Brain is Held Hostage
Trauma fundamentally alters brain structure. It hijacks the rational, "thinking" part of the brain (the prefrontal cortex) and gives ultimate authority to the emotional, survival brain (the amygdala). This is why traumatized people can't just "calm down" or "think rationally." Their brain's command center has been overthrown.

5. Trauma Shatters the Sense of Self
A core wound of trauma is the loss of ownership of one's body and mind. Survivors often feel disconnected, numb, or as if they are watching their life from a distance (dissociation). Healing, therefore, is not just about processing a memory, but about reclaiming the self—the right to feel, to desire, and to be present in one's own skin.

6. The Power of Rhythm and Relationship
Van der Kolk highlights two of the most fundamental regulators of our nervous system: rhythmic movement (like drumming, dancing, or swimming) and attuned, safe relationships. These are primal sources of comfort that can help re-regulate a dysregulated system and rebuild a sense of connection that trauma destroyed.

7. Trauma is Transmitted and Collective
The book extends beyond individual experience to explore how trauma can ripple through families (as in generational trauma) and entire societies. The body of a culture, like the body of a person, can hold the score of historical atrocities, shaping behaviors and health for generations.

8. The Limitations of Medication and Talk Therapy Alone
While sometimes necessary, van der Kolk argues that medication often just numbs the symptoms, and traditional talk therapy can sometimes re-traumatize by forcing a person to relive the event without providing the bodily tools to process it. True integration requires a bottom-up approach, starting with the body's physiology.

9. Healing is the Recovery of Play and Imagination
Trauma makes the world a terrifying and predictable place. Recovery involves rediscovering the capacity for play, creativity, and imagination. These are not frivolous; they are biological imperatives that allow for flexibility, spontaneity, and the creation of new, safe experiences.

10. You Can Re-write the Score
The book’s ultimate message is one of profound hope. Neuroplasticity means the brain can change. The body can learn new rhythms. While the scar of trauma remains, the debilitating pain does not have to. We are not condemned to be prisoners of our past. We can learn to live in the present, with a body that is no longer an enemy, but a trusted ally.

There is a line in the book that serves as a guiding light for the entire work: "The body keeps the score, and the body can be the door to the healing process." "The Body Keeps the Score" is a monumental, essential, and life-changing book. It is for anyone who has ever felt trapped by their own physiology, for anyone who has been told "it's all in your head," and for anyone who seeks to understand the deepest roots of human suffering and resilience. It is a difficult, often painful read, but it is also a map—the most comprehensive and compassionate one we have—leading out of the wilderness of trauma and back home to the self.

BOOK: https://amzn.to/4nJdTR7

You can ENJOY the AUDIOBOOK for FREE (When you register for Audible Membership Trial) using the same link above.

13/11/2025

https://www.naturalhealth365.com/does-coffee-help-or-harm-your-liver-heres-what-studies-are-showing.html

(NaturalHealth365) Researchers reveal how coffee bioactive compounds fight liver inflammation, scarring, and disease progression.

13/11/2025

In light of the measles hysteria going around in the media, I wanted to remind you about a 2015 study (Japan Collaborative Cohort, JACC) that found childhood measles and mumps may protect against heart attacks and strokes later in life.

Among 43,689 men and 60,147 women aged 40-79, those infected had a 9% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease (HR = 0.92 for men, 0.52 for women).

Men with both were less likely to die from myocardial infarction (HR = 0.71), and women from stroke (HR = 0.83).

This may be due to immune changes, enhancing T-helper cells (Th1 and Th2) to reduce arterial inflammation and atherosclerosis.

08/11/2025