Drainage Vs Detoxification Therapy

Detoxification is a familiar concept to many people as it has been utilized by physicians since time began. Many people think of it as “spring cleaning” or a chance to lose some weight before a special event or a new beginning after months or years of excess. In the past, remedies that caused violent purging via vomiting or diarrhea have been used to drive out “ill-humors” the apparent cause of illness.

Naturopathic medicine, following the principle of “first do no harm” has abandoned these therapies that make patients violently ill. However, techniques that permit internal cleansing and removal of toxic debris have become common practice. The waste products/ debris accumulates in the body because of aberrant physiological processes or, more commonly, due to rapid accumulation of, over-exposure to, and inefficient removal of chemicals and other noxious agents present in the environment. Dietary changes, hydrotherapy, herbal medicines, colon therapy, saunas can all help to accomplish this task. This is not the entire picture, however.

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, a group of French, Swiss and German physicians compiled the theories and therapies of a system of medicine called “Drainage.” The Father of modern day Drainage is credited to Dr. Antoine Nebel (1870-1954) by Maurice Fortier Bernoville (1896-1939), a French medical doctor and homeopath during the first half of the 1900’s. 

As described by Nebel, and written by Bernoville in his text "What We Must Not Do In Homeopathy", the theory of Drainage is “to free the organism from morbid energies.”
More important, though, than a simple theory, Drainage has become an essential therapy in clinical practice.  Simply stated, Drainage is the process of detoxifying the body by opening the emunctories (routes of elimination) and discharging the toxic accumulations. In reality, however, it is a much more complex process that provides support for the natural progression and maturation of a developing life. Drainage is about healthy processing and integrating of all events, information, and substances we encounter during our lives, whether physical illness, emotional events, or spiritual stimulation.

Drainage is about maintaining the delicate balance of individual identity within the unity of all beings. When this balance is interrupted by the failure to discern self from non-self or the inability to assimilate or properly integrate incoming information, substances, or events, the patient will develop signs and symptoms of that imbalance.  These symptoms span the whole range of human suffering from a headache to clinical depression, from ulcers to cancer.

An emunctory is any tissue that is capable of excreting toxins and metabolic wastes from the body. When the natural excretory systems are blocked or inadequate for the normal rate of metabolic catabolism, the patient will develop a condition, an illness, often an "itis" (an inflammation). It is imperative to begin healing by ensuring that all the primary emunctories are efficiently discharging toxins to the outside of the body.