Victoria's Answers
Dr. Shelton's Hygienic Review
with which is combined How to Live
Orthopathy Toxemia Symbiosis Hygiene
Official Organ of The American Natural Hygiene Society
Herbert M. Shelton
Editor and Publisher
San Antonio, Texas
VOL. XVI January, 1955 No. 5 THE HYGIENIC CARE OF THE COMMON COLD By H.M. Shelton & Edited by Victoria
Common Cold continued
has merely passed successfully through a crisis. What is recognized as a "state of health" is a "state of impaired health." There is but one disease, and its cause is still present. The many and varied crises that manifest during the course of this disease are evanescent, even ephemeral; but they develop at frequent intervals as means of reducing the Toxemia to or below the level of established toleration.
"Real restoration of health" can follow only when the enervating causes are removed and corrected so that Nerve Energy may be restored, full elimination re-established, the blood made sweet and clean, and whatever changes the mucous membranes have undergone from having to serve as fontanelle of elimination pass away. This means that genuine health must rest, at all times, upon first class habits of living and that any mode of living that is a mixture of good and bad habits is a disease-producing way of life. Those many people who write to me or who tell me that they are living correctly at least 90% of the way and want to know why they are not well, should know that the mode of life that is 10% wrong will build disease and that it will prevent full recovery. So long as they continue to practice one enervating indulgence, they cannot have full Nerve Energy, hence, elimination cannot be fully normal.
It is important to know that after years of repetition of these crises particularly if they develop at the same site frequently sufficient, organic change occurs to result in serious, organic so-called "disease." In the lungs, tuberculosis; in the liver, sclerosis or abscess; in the stomach, ulceration, perhaps cancer; in the colon, ulcerative colitis and cancer; in the womb, ulceration, tumors, cancer; in the breasts, following enlargement and soreness with each menstruation, induration, tumors, and cancer, etc. The cold, wherever located, is the starting point of the evolution of the most complex and eventually fatal, organic maladies. Hardening of the arteries, culminating in apoplexy, has its beginning with the first cold of infancy. It should be understood that the first cold of infancy represents an established Toxemia, which, because its cause is never really corrected and removed, persists throughout the life of the individual. So-called "Acute Diseases" of all kinds are but crises in Toxemia; so-called organic diseases of all kinds are but end-points in a progressive, pathological evolution that starts in infancy and persists so long as the chronic Toxemia is permitted to continue. There is unity and continuity in the pathological process.
From what has gone before, it should be evident that the cold should not be" treated." No effort should be made to "cure" it. All suppressive measures hinder the elimination of toxin and further reduce Nerve Energy. Their tendency is to prolong, rather than to shorten the duration of the cold. The temporary respite that some of them afford from the discomfort of the cold is outweighted by the greater length of time the cold is thus made to last. This does not mean that nothing can be done in a cold to make the patient comfortable and to hasten its termination. The patient should be cared for in a manner to conserve Nerve Energy and hasten the elimination of toxin.
Nothing conserves and permits the accumulation of Nerve Energy like mental and physical rest. "Go to bed and poise the mind!" is the first prescription when a toxemic crisis has developed. Nothing hastens the elimination of toxin like physiological rest (FASTING). Cease eating, taking nothing into the mouth but water, during the period of the crisis, thus shortening the time required to complete the reduction of the toxic load to or slightly below the point of toleration. Nothing is to be gained by excessive water drinking during this period.
Warmth conserves Nerve Energy and hastens elimination. Being chilled expends Nerve Energy and checks elimination. Keep warm.
As the cold does not do more than reduce the accumulated metabolites (waste products of metabolism) to or slightly below the level of toleration, this plan of care may profitably be extended beyond the disappearance of symptoms, to the end that more of the toxic load may be dumped and a higher standard of health established. This simply means that if the period of mental, physical, and physiological rest is prolonged beyond the time required for the crisis to end, added recuperation and housecleaning are secured. We should not be satisfied with a mere disappearance of symptoms. Nothing short of complete elimination of toxin, full recuperation of Nerve Energy, and a thoroughgoing correction of the mode of living should satisfy the intelligent! This will result in Genuine Health.
After all of this is over and a higher standard of health is established, if the patient returns to his former enervating mode of activity, he will again bring on Enervation, accumulate more toxin, thus precipitating other crises and gradually evolve organic, so-called disease. Our prescription for the cold is, then, rest, fasting, and warmth, followed by a thoroughgoing and lasting revolution in the way of life.
