Watch
What travels with each direction
Six families of the acid side, and the smaller alkaline picture
The two columns have been described in far more detail than a table can hold, and a therapist who knows the detail recognises a direction across a room. The acid side first, under six heads, then the alkaline.
The six families of the acid direction
One — the consequences of a deficiency of water.
Symptoms appear on the intestine, nose, hair, skin and the other organs of excretion: hard constipation and the diseases connected with it — piles, bavāsīr; fissure, a splitting around the anus; fistula, bhagandar · blocked nose; dry cough, or cough with yellow thick phlegm · yellow urine with burning · redness of the eyes and itching, from dryness in the tear glands · pimples, acne, blackheads on the face · falling of the hair, dandruff or scaling, the hair going white early · drying of the skin, warts or moles, allergy, psoriasis.
Two — the things that fall out of place. In each of these, pain has been found at Mu°: prolapse of the rectum, the rectum coming down from its place; prolapse of the uterus, the womb coming down from its place; hernia, an organ shifting from its fixed place and entering inside some other organ or part. Three different diseases — but one thing is common to all three: they occur because the flesh-muscles have become loose.
Three — the two diseases of the blood vessels. These too come only because the flesh-muscles have become loose, one chief cause of which is acidity. Varicose veins, the blue veins — varicose means to swell up: because the muscle of the vessels and of their valves becomes loose, a fault comes into them and they swell easily. And low BP: when the muscle of the vessels becomes loose the pressure will be less, and because of the deficiency of water the volume of the blood will be less — from both these causes together the BP goes down.
Four — the glands that run slow. When acid increases in the blood, experience has shown that the muscles become loose. For any gland's secretion to come out properly the muscles around it must contract properly; if they are loose, the contraction and therefore the secretion will not come properly — that gland will be hypo.
Five and six — the two opposite things that happen in bone and joint. In some people the joints or bone wear away, which is called degeneration: rheumatism, vāt rog; cervical spondylitis, swelling in the beads of the neck; lumbar spondylitis, swelling in the beads of the waist. In others, calcium is deposited between the bones or the joints: bamboo spine, ankylosing spondylitis; and spur, a bone growing outward.
And where there is pain at Mu°, these are found with it: pain in the joints without cause; headache, often near the temples, called migraine; and ulcer — sores — in the stomach or the duodenum.
Read the fourth head again. It opens into the most useful chain of reasoning in the acid column.
The thyroid, the master craftsman
One chief gland of the body is the thyroid, which looks after the body's metabolism — cayāpacaya. We may call it the chief mistrī, the master craftsman, without whose order or supervision the other glands and organs will not work properly; and all the functions of the digestive tract depend on the thyroid gland.
Watch the chain. When the thyroid works less, digestion will not be proper → the motility of the intestines will not be right → the residue reaches the large intestine very late → having sat there longer, more water is taken back from it → from which that person gets hard constipation.
When the thyroid works less the T₃ and T₄ hormones do not come out in the right quantity, and two chief symptoms may be seen: in children, very hard constipation, and mental dullness — manda buddhi — can also occur; in women, menses coming before the date, or more flow in the menses.
When such a condition lasts for years the quantity of T₃ and T₄ becomes very much less than normal, and it is then called hypothyroidism — one chief indicator of which is that the quantity of TSH also rises.
Backward is how you will use that chain at the mat. A woman of forty with hard constipation, a period that comes early and heavy, dry skin, hair on the comb and a tender Mu° has not brought you five complaints. She has brought you one chain, and you can name its links out loud — which does more for a patient's confidence than any promise.
The alkaline direction produces fewer conditions, and they are harder to shift. Its picture is smaller and sharper.
The chief symptoms and diseases of the alkaline direction
The chief symptoms — the first thing to check being the pain at Liv°: pain at Liv° and in the ring finger of the right hand Right · running of the nose · loose motions, dast · very little flow in the menses, or flow coming for a day or two and then stopping · pain in the upper or the back part of the head · pain in the organs of the right side of the body Right .
The chief diseases and conditions: fits or convulsions, that is attacks of trembling · epilepsy, mirgī · spasticity, the muscles becoming stiff · CP, cerebral palsy · HBP, high blood pressure · cancer, karkarog · tumour, fibroid, cyst · stammering or lisping, haklānā yā tutlānā.
And now the refinement that separates a therapist who has understood the two kingdoms from one who has memorised a table.
The alkali that only looks increased
It may be that the alkali which appears increased in a patient is in reality normal — and appears greater only because the quantity of acid in his stomach is less.
How would you know? On checking such people there is often pain at the Gas point as well, and on asking, it is found that undigested food comes in that patient's stool.
What that means is this: the flow of blood in his stomach is not sufficient, from which hydrochloric acid is not being made in the proper quantity, from which the proteins will not be digested properly.
When there is pain at the Gas point, it tells us that the circulation of blood in the stomach is reduced, because of which hydrochloric acid cannot be made properly and there will be indigestion. Such people feel little hunger.
Some people have pain at Mu° but not at Gas. Some have pain at both. The two findings are not the same finding and must be recorded separately.
This changes the order of the work. Even where there is pain at Liv°, the alkali formula is not the first thing given: the undigested-food work comes first, and only if pain remains at several points afterwards does the alkali formula follow — and in a great many patients the symptoms of alkali reduce at once from the stomach work alone. That ordering belongs to Correcting the Two Kingdoms · Clearing the Ash; what belongs to you today is the diagnostic half. When you read a patient as alkaline, always ask about undigested food and always check Gas.
The acids that are dissolved in the blood
Amino, uric, lactic, carbonic, folic and keto acids, and the kidneys
Students ask what acid in the blood refers to. The answer is precise, and it is why the kidney sits at the centre of this system rather than the stomach.
The acidity of the blood is not the acid of the stomach
The acidity of the blood is a different thing from the acid of the stomach.
The stomach's acid is hydrochloric acid, and it occurs only in the stomach, not in the blood.
In the blood several acids are dissolved, and together they maintain its acidity:
The acid · Where it comes from
Amino acids · For them to be formed in the right quantity the digestion of proteins must be proper — for which the stomach's acid must be made in the right quantity, and that will be made only when the flow of blood in the stomach is proper
Uric acid · Its metabolism is chiefly the liver's responsibility. If the liver does not work properly the quantity of uric acid rises above normal — a chief cause of gout, gaṭhiyā, and of pain in the joints
Lactic acid and carbonic acid · Increase when the respiratory system does not work properly
Folic acid · Named among the acids dissolved in the blood that maintain its acidity
Keto acids · Increase in diabetes — a chief cause of acidity in diabetic patients
To balance all of these, bicarbonate ions must come out from the kidneys at the right time and in the right quantity.
That table ties the acid direction to four organs — the stomach, whose blood supply decides whether protein is digested at all; the liver, which handles uric acid and therefore a great many joint pains; the lungs, which govern the two acids that rise when breathing is poor; and the kidneys, which must send out the body's own antacid on time and in quantity. It is also why a patient with joint pains and a raised uric acid gets work aimed at his liver.