The Great Health Myth
I know I'm healthy because I feel good.
Asked if they are healthy, most people will say yes, if they don’t hurt. Yet many of those “healthy” people are days away from fatal heart attack, stroke, or a cancer diagnosis.
What does potential heart failure feel like? It feels like you are healthy. What does a stroke feel like an hour before it happens? It feels like you are healthy. What does early-stage cancer feel like? It feels like you are healthy.
I don’t know of any doctor that believes you can tell if you are healthy by how you feel. Nearly all doctors have tests that they believe help determine if you are healthy. If you perform poorly on the test, then you are not healthy, and treatment is recommended.
Do drugs restore health? If I have a headache, I want the headache to go away. I don’t like being in pain. If I take aspirin and my headache goes away, has my health been restored? Was my pain caused by lack of aspirin? Should I take aspirin to prevent pain?
People rarely think about cause. What causes a headache? What causes stomach upset? What causes backpain? What causes heart trouble? There are many medications for each of those conditions, but do the medications target the cause? Of course not.
I’m not denying that taking medications are beneficial. We all want to feel good. I’m just pointing out that medications rarely, if ever, address the cause of our problems.
Think about the treatments for virus. As I mentioned in Dupe ‘em and Dope ‘em, a patient came in and told me she had nausea and diarrhea. She thought she should see her medical doctor. I agreed. In a few days, she came back. The conversation went something like:
“Did you see your medical doctor?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“He thinks I have an intestinal virus.”
“What does he propose to do about it?
She rummaged in her large purse and with a bottle of pills in each hand said, “He gave me this one for nausea and this one for diarrhea.”
“Yeah. That’s why I could never be a medical doctor.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well assuming he’s right, you have an intestinal virus. Your body is trying to throw it out both ends and he’s going to keep it in there. It makes no sense.”
Sure, we want to feel better. We might even need to control our physiology while we heal. However, drugs are not the cause of health. Drugs do not heal us.
Health is optimal physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. What causes optimal function?
You do!! You are an intelligence controlling your body. You subconsciously use your brain and nervous system to control and coordinate all body functions. If your nervous system fails to respond to your directions, you begin the disease process.
Disease is the process of failing to properly adapt to the environment. Think about COVID. Some people were exposed to the virus and adapted quickly. They were unaware they had been infected. Others adapted more slowly. The virus built up until it was recognized. Then more drastic adaptive measures were necessary. Think of the people who died. They had co-morbidities. They were already failing to adapt. They were already sick.
In future articles, I’ll give more information on adaptation and restoration of health.
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