Respiratory System Disorders and Therapy From a New - Louis Bolk ...

4. Other Inflammatory Disease of the Respiratory Tract
from a Dynamic Viewpoint
We have come to know asthma and pneumonia as two diseases of the respiratory
tract with polar opposing dynamics (section 3.3.). The typical asthma patient is
characterized by a hyperreactive mucosa and chronic exacerbations and remissions.
A consolidating tendency such as we normally see in the nerve-sensory system in the
inflammation phase determines these symptoms. The patient with pneumonia typically
has an acute disease with fever, muscle weakness, and diminished consciousness. A
dissolving metabolic dynamic prevails.
The step of the Goethean phenomenological method due now, is to broaden our
investigation to other diseases and explore whether similar dynamic tendencies are
present. In this chapter, we would like to briefly discuss some other inflammatory
diseases of the airways and study their relations to the tendencies of asthma and
pneumonia.
4.1. Sinusitis
The sinuses are a space filled with generally inert air. There is no gas exchange to speak
of but some resorption of air takes place. The partial vacuum that is created locally due to
the air resorption when swelling closes off access to the nasal cavity, accounts for the pain
in sinusitis.
The symptoms of acute sinusitis include inflammation, mucus production, and an exudate
in one or more sinuses and usually in some of the upper airways. These symptoms
characterize sinusitis as disease. The acute inflammatory process involves viruses and
often bacteria that are also active in acute pneumonia. Frequently, there is fever, and
conscious functions have decreased. There is a superimposed metabolic dynamic in the