Thermals Physiology and Homoeopathy
Man is a warm-blooded animal. Scientifically he is called a Homoeothermic animal. Every individual has his own mechanism to maintain his body temperature according to his Cellular and Body biochemical reactions.
The normal body temperature in human beings is 37ºC (98.6ºF) when measured orally. The superficial skin temperature varies according to atmospheric temperature.
Regulation of body temperature : The temperature of the body is regulated almost entirely by the nervous feedback mechanism and almost all these operate through the ‘temperature regulating centers’ located in ‘hypothalamus’. There are two centers in the Hypothalamus, which are concerned with temperature regulation 1. Heat loss center.
2. Heat gain center.
Skin and anterior hypothalamus have more heat sensitive neurons, while internal organs and posterior hypothalamus have more cold sensitive neurons.
The impulses from skin and anterior hypothalamus are carried to posterior hypothalamus and then the appropriate response is given. All the temperature control mechanisms continually attempt to bring the body temperature back to the set point level that is 37.1ºC.
Apart from sub-conscious mechanism for body temperature control, the body has behavioral control of temperature too.
Whenever the internal body temperature becomes too high, signals from the temperature-controlling areas in the brain give the person a psychic sensation of being overheated; so all the mechanisms to decrease body temperature are stimulated. The behavior of the person also changes; he wants fanning or air conditioner for comfort.
Whenever the body becomes too cold, signals from the skin and also from some deep body receptors elicit the feeling of cold discomfort. Therefore the person makes appropriate environmental adjustment to re-establish comfort, such as moving to a heated room or wearing warm clothing. This is a very powerful system of body temperature control and also very potent.
In every individual, the temperature set point level remains the same, but the B.M.R. is different. This is so, as every human being has his different emotional state & food choices. Even his endocrine functioning level is different. Sometimes, hormones like thyroxine, adrenaline & testosterone secretion levels increase or decrease and accordingly alter the B.M.R.
Heat production level is sensitive to heat & cold according to the chemical reactions in the cell & B.M.R.
Types of Thermals in Homoeopathy
In Homoeopathy, while proving the drug, the prover experiences many symptoms which are then mentioned in our Materia Medica, e.g. When Dr. Hahnemann proved the first drug, CHINA, he noted down the thermal sensations which he felt with his keen observation that is fever (heat sensation) & rigor (chill sensation).
After that he proved over a hundred Homoeopathic medicines, each expressing its own thermal sensation. Gradually, he realized that for selection of a proper Homoeopathic medicine, thermals are a very important part of totality of symptoms. Totality is inadequate and incomplete without thermal modalities.
According to the law of ‘Similia Similibus Curenter’, which implies that for Hot patient we must give Hot medicine and for Chilly patient, a Chilly medicine should be given and hence thermals are an essential part of Homoeopathic Medicines.
Every medicine contains all the three types of thermal sensations but their thermal presentation is different according to atmospheric changes, weather changes, dietary changes or geographical changes.
Every individual has different thermal sensations, for example, some patients are hot, some chilly, some ambithermal (sensitive to both hot & cold) while some are subtypes of thermals like towards hot & towards cold.
Thermally Hot : These patients are sensitive to hot and even warm air, summer , Sun exposure, warm clothing or covering & also feel uneasy in a closed room or crowded places.
For bathing, they require cold or lukewarm water because their body cellular setup expresses extreme sensitivity towards heat sensations.
Hence, they feel comfortable only in cool air/fresh open air. They enjoy fanning or A.C. and dislike covering.
Thermally Chilly : Some individuals are sensitive to slight cold air or even open air.
These patients require warm covering, woolen clothing to protect their body from cold.
They feel comfortable in warm room. Also they are better by warm application and for bathing they require hot or warm water in every season.
Ambithermal : Some individuals are equally sensitive to both heat & cold sensation. For example, they can neither bear heat, nor Sun exposure nor feel better by draft of air and cold application. Whenever they feel cold they like to move to warm places and when they feel warm they feel like moving to colder places. These individuals have a mercurial character.