A Spoonful of Acute Helps the Chronic Come Out

Acutes are the pressure release valve off of the chronic state.

We’ve been taught to think of getting sick as “bad.”

Something to avoid at all costs.

Something to medicate away, push through, or brag about not having.

Contrary to popular belief: acutes are necessary. 

They’re not accidents of the body or something your randomly catch (this isn't baseball).

They’re designed exits, pressure valves, and release points.

Every symptom your body produces is a sign of function:

• Cough → clears the lungs of mucus, irritants, and excess heat.

• Sneeze → ejects irritants, dust, pollen, or microbes from the nasal passages.

• Runny nose / nasal mucus → flushes toxins, allergens, and pathogens from the sinuses.

• Phlegm / chest mucus → escorts waste and infection out of the respiratory tract.

• Fever → raises body temperature to mobilize immune defenses and burn off excess energy or invaders.

• Sweat → releases heat, toxins, and metabolic waste through the skin.

• Skin eruptions (rashes, pimples, boils, hives) → expels waste or suppressed energy that couldn’t be cleared through deeper organs.

• Vomiting → purges the stomach quickly of harmful substances, spoiled food, or irritants.

• Diarrhea → flushes pathogens and toxic build-up rapidly out of the gut.

• Tears (emotional crying) → clears out stress chemicals, emotional overload, and restores nervous system balance.

• Menstruation → discharges uterine lining, stagnant blood, and resets the hormonal cycle.

• Ear discharge → drains infection, mucus, or fluid from the middle ear.

• Swelling / inflammation → brings blood and immune cells to the area, pushes out heat and waste, initiates repair.

• Shivering / chills → generates heat to fight infection, mobilize circulation, and wake up immune function.

• Yawning / sighing → discharges stagnant air, balances oxygen/CO₂, and relieves nervous system tension.

• Sneezing fits / watery eyes in allergies → washes away pollen, dust, and histamine triggers.

• Lymph node swelling → local detox hubs expanding to trap and filter pathogens.

  
  

The "inflammation" is the "-itis" in every diagnosis.

That extra heat just tells you there’s too much energy that is being used ineffectively, and the excess is burning off heat that hasn't found a good escape yet.

When systems are healthy, inflammation pushes energy outward and clears it.

But when things are stuck or suppressed, the inflammation just sits there —

stagnant, inefficient, unresolved.

Acutes are always tied to the chronic health of the body.

• Too many acutes → the body keeps trying, but can’t resolve, often because medicines keep shutting it down mid-process.

  
  

• Too few acutes → looks like “good health” but is actually a red flag — nothing is being expressed, so illness is stored deeper and deeper.

  
  

We glorify “I never get sick” as the gold standard of health.

In reality, it often means the opposite.

If nothing is being expressed, everything is being suppressed.

What the Masters Knew

Hahnemann (founder of homeopathy), in the Organon, made it clear:

acute disease is the living force trying to right itself in the moment.

It’s the body’s urgent call for balance.

He warned that when acutes are suppressed, chronic disease inevitably deepens.

Kent echoed this when he said:

“If the acute is not permitted to come, the chronic miasm will never be cured.” 

In other words, acutes are not distractions from the real problem — they are doorways into it.

They are proof that the vital force still has enough energy to rally, to push, to express.

Your Miasm Is Showing

Different constitutions (miasms) tend to express different acute patterns.

These aren’t random — they reveal the chronic terrain beneath:

• Psoric - fevers, itchy rashes, hives, eczema, seasonal allergies.

• Sycotic - warts, sinus infections, ear infections, bronchitis, UTIs, repeated “thick, sticky” discharges.

• Syphilitic - destructive acutes like strep throat, ulcerations, bone pains, seizures, sudden collapses.

• Tubercular - repeated chest colds, lingering coughs, swollen glands, night sweats, susceptibility to pneumonia.

• Cancer - almost no acutes; instead of fevers and rashes, there is silence, suppression, and a slow burn inward.

  
  

Each acute is like the handwriting of the miasm on the body’s paper — giving us clues about what’s buried underneath.

Vaccines & the Loss of Acutes

One of the great tragedies of our modern health story is that we’ve systematically trained the body not to express acutes. 

Vaccines, along with suppressive drugs like antibiotics, steroids, and fever reducers, interrupt the natural process of fever, rash, and discharge.

When the body is robbed of its chance to “vent” through acutes,

it doesn’t become healthier —

it becomes quieter.

And in that silence, chronic disease grows.

This is why, despite having fewer measles, mumps, and scarlet fever outbreaks,

we now face skyrocketing epidemics of asthma, autoimmune disease, allergies, neurodevelopmental struggles, and cancer.

Hahnemann predicted this.

He described how unchecked suppression would only drive disease deeper.

He never could have imagined the pharmaceutical scale of suppression we live in now —

but the principle is the same.

When you take away the pressure valve, the steam doesn’t disappear.

It builds.

And eventually, it finds another way out — deeper, harder, and more destructive.

Mental and emotional struggle becomes forefront.

A Case Example

I recently worked with a baby who had never slept more than an hour at a time.

At six months old, her nervous system was on edge —

startling easily, exhausting her mother in the process.

After her first remedy, she developed a fever.

Without realizing it, her mother gave a medicine that cut the fever short.

We missed the opportunity to help her body resolve it naturally.

After explaining why acutes matter, we tried again with a deeper chronic remedy.

A couple weeks later, the baby developed another acute cough and fever.

This time, instead of stopping it, we supported it with the right acute remedy.

And guess what happened once the acute cleared?

She started sleeping through the night.

Adjunct Supports for Acutes

Here’s the good news: not all “help” suppresses.

There are plenty of ways to support the body’s acute process while still letting it run its course.

• Book an acute appointment with your homeopath - This is always the most effective step. A well-chosen remedy doesn’t just reduce symptoms; it helps your system complete the process so you don’t get stuck in cycles of suppression.

  
  

Below are supportive options you can use alongside your remedy and some common things to avoid.

General Flu & Fever

Fever is the body’s thermostat for healing. It mobilizes immune function, burns off waste, and pushes out stuck energy.

Support:

• Rest and quiet → give the body space to work.

• Hydration → water, mineral broths, gentle herbal teas (yarrow, elderflower, chamomile).

• Light, easy foods → soups, stews, fruit. Don’t force food if appetite is gone.

• Warm baths with Epsom salt → relax muscles, support detox.

Avoid (Suppressive):

• Fever reducers (acetaminophen, ibuprofen)

• Ice baths/cold packs (shocks the system instead of supporting the process)

• Overexertion (“pushing through”)

• Cleanses or fasting (body needs steady energy during fever)

Coughs & Colds

Mucus is a moving sidewalk — the body’s conveyor belt for carrying waste out.

Stopping it too soon traps what the body is trying to expel.

Support:

• Steam inhalation (plain steam or with a pinch of sea salt).

• Saline rinses for the nose (gentle, not forceful).

• Honey and lemon tea (soothes throat, supports immune function).

• Elderberry syrup, echinacea (short-term acute allies).

• Gentle movement or stretching to keep circulation flowing.

Avoid (Suppressive):

• Cough suppressants and decongestants.

• Essential oils with biocidal strength (oregano, tea tree, clove).

• Colloidal silver.

• Antibiotics

• “Drying out” the system with antihistamines

Skin, Bites & Rashes

The skin is the body’s third kidney — a surface organ of elimination.

The safest place for disturbance.

Support:

• Cool compresses with chamomile or calendula tea.

• Oatmeal or baking soda baths for itching.

• Aloe vera gel or calendula salve (gentle, non-suppressive).

• Keeping nails trimmed to prevent infection from scratching.

• Allowing mild rashes to breathe (loose cotton clothing, no heavy ointments).

Avoid (Suppressive):

• Steroid creams (drive eruptions inward).

• Heavy petroleum ointments that seal the skin.

• Harsh essential oils (tea tree, clove, oregano).

• “Kill-all” washes (bleach baths, antiseptic soaps).

• Antibiotic creams

The Bigger Picture

Acutes are not inconveniences to stamp out

Even though the body usually knows you’re going on vacation and will take the opportunity to discharge when you’re “resting”.

Happens all the time.

They’re the body’s built-in reset button.

Supporting them wisely (instead of suppressing them) allows your system to complete its process, lighten its chronic load, and keep moving toward deeper health.

Because acutes are the pressure valve releasing off the chronic state.

In service to the highest good,

Lindsay

Interested in how symptoms should move when they're NOT suppressed? It's all spelled out here: The Direction of Cure: Healing isn't Always Pretty (But it's Real).