The Art of Cupping. Hedwig Manz

down in their activity.

      4.1.9 Hormonal Control System

      For coordinating activities, the human body has two control systems: the hormonal and nervous systems.

      The hormonal control system facilitates chemical control by means of certain active substances, namely hormones. The endocrine glands produce the hormones, which circulate around the body in the blood circulatory pathways as the distribution system. Hormones are substances that do not themselves participate in cell metabolism but are able to regulate tissue activity by their presence. Their effects are slow and directly aimed at the activity of specific organs and tissue.

      4.1.10 Nervous System

      Consisting of the central and the vegetative nervous system, the nervous system operates through nervous impulses that permit a rapid and exact transfer of information. Both the hormonal and nervous systems operate in mutual dependence. The hormones influence the nervous system, and all endocrine glands are amply supplied with vegetative nerves.

      Depending on the particular circumstances, pathogenic irritations result either in defense, in adaptation to the changed situation, or in compensating for misdirected or inhibited reactions. Harmful irritations that can no longer be balanced out by the complicated control system cause entire regulatory systems of the organism to become blocked and result in disturbed tissue and organ functions, that is, to disease.

      While a disorder primarily manifests in an organ, it in affects more or less the entire organism, based on the body’s structure and functions.

      4.2 Focal Disturbance as Regulatory Blockage in the Body

       As long as we allow the true cause of a disorder to persist, all therapeutic methods are only a drop in the bucket.

      Prof. H. Much

      The organism’s regulatory capacity can be blocked by a certain type of disease that we refer to as focal disturbance

       Note

      We regard as focal disturbance any location of the body that has changed pathologically and has acquired the ability to cause or preserve disorders elsewhere beyond its closest vicinity.

      The most common focal disturbances are found in the head area, for example, in the periodontal and maxillary area and at the tonsils. The sinuses and internal organs like the liver, gallbladder, and intestines can also assume characteristics of a focal disturbance, whether bacteria have settled there or not. Finally, we can consider chronic stress situations as focal disturbance because they deplete the organism’s power of resistance.

       Note

      Focal disturbances can impact health by different processes, most notably by irritating the surrounding nerves that are disturbed in turn and then convey misinformation to the rest of the nervous system.

      A focal disturbance can, however, also lie dormant for years, as a result of which the health of the rest of the organism is spared damage by the disturbance for a long time, while the body is able to isolate the disturbance locally. However, this can severely weaken the body’s defense. As a result, the body is much more susceptible to other diseases.

      Since the focal disturbance is anchored in the vegetative ground system as misinformation, it is also possible that it can suddenly be activated without any visible cause or by infection or trauma (also due to surgery). This will then result in unimpeded distal effects in the rest of the organism. Chronic tonsillitis, for example, remains a local disease in one patient, but causes strain as a focal disturbance on other organs in another.

      Focal disturbances can trigger or cause any type of internal disorder, or even prevent recovery from other diseases. They are quite malicious and difficult to find because they do not cause symptoms typical for the disturbance, but result merely in limited functionality in other organs or even just pain in other locations. Thus, right-sided headache, for example, points to a chronically impaired gallbladder, and the sinuses can be responsible for the occurrence of acute sciatic pain.

      The existence of a focal disturbance is usually first indicated by functional disorders in which the lack of clinically measurable pathological findings often suggests a psychosomatic background that tends to be treated with psychotropic drugs.

      The following can indicate the existence of a focal disturbance:

      • Pain that fails to respond to locally applied therapy.

      • Occurrence of additional complaints after cupping.

      • Sudden occurrence of an illness after trauma. It is only after this additional strain that the local isolation of the damaging effects of a focal disturbance breaks down.

      • Fatigue, sleep disorders, sensitivity to changes in weather.

      • Normal laboratory results in spite of existing illness.

      In such cases, we must consider a distal disturbance, look for the focus, and treat correspondingly.

      A disease that is caused by a focal disturbance can only be improved or cured by treating the focal disturbance. Therapy at the site of the symptoms may bring some relief, but only temporarily. My daily practice has proven over and over that a symptomatic treatment does not bring lasting cure.