Modern medicine has no cures, no theory of cure, for chronic illness. Many disease are complex, often described as multi-factorial, leading us to give up on a cure, to resort instead to treating the symptoms, or providing a crutch. Symptoms are shadows. They are indications of illness, but they are not the illness. Pushing symptoms further into the shadows can actually facilitate, even encourage illness. We know this, but sometimes, we don’t know what else to do.

Principles of Illness

Healthicine has a pill for that. In Healthicine cures elemental illnesses, one illness, one cure at a time. Healthicine, every illness has a single cause, or a single chain of causes. Illness is defined by cause and consequences. An illness is actually invisible. Sometimes, we can see the symptoms. Sometimes, we can see the cause. Sometimes – both are visible. Illness is the intersection of cause and symptoms – it is a concept, not a thing we can see or touch.

A single cause, or causal chain, results in a single illness. It is always possible to create a chain of causes when any cause is identified – by asking what is the cause of the cause, and what is the cause of that cause. Multiple causes, and multiple causal chains, result in multiple illnesses. This is an important rule of healthicine, an important path to cure.

An illness is cured by addressing the cause. No illness is incurable. When we say that an illness is incurable, we are describing a disability, not an illness.

Examples

I’ll use a simple illness, a ‘bacterial infection’ and to explore chronic illness. In theory, a bacterial infection is caused by bacteria. However, there is a nagging problem with the theory. We are often exposed to the cause, to bacteria, but most of the time, no infection arises. What’s really going on? Let’s look at some hypothetical, examples:

Kelly has acne. Kelly’s skin was weakened by scratching the acne, and the bacteria entered, creating an infection illness.

Sidney has a knife wound. Sidney’s skin was cut in the restaurant kitchen and bacteria was able to enter, bypassing the skin’s protective barrier, creating an infection illness.

Robin is depressed. The depression is slowing not just Robin’s body, mind, and spirits, it is also slowing Robin’s immune system. People with depression get sick more often, because their health is not up to the challenges of internal and external environments. Robin’s immune system was weakened and bacteria that were already present in the body took advantage, creating an infection illness.

Ashley works in public works. Ashley fell into a pile of bacteria (eg. sewer) and healthy protective systems were overwhelmed by bacteria, causing an infection illness.

Cure

We know how to cure these illnesses. In each of these cases, the doctor can prescribe an antibiotic, leading to a cure. The antibiotic cures the illness by killing the bacteria. The illness was caused by bacteria, and cured by addressing the cause. The cause tests the cure. The cure proves the cause.

To understand cure, and cured, we need to recognize three important types of cures:

Cure – a treatment that stops the progress of an illness. The antibiotic stops the growth of the bacterial infection, curing it. This is the most common medical cure. Antibiotics cure the bacterial infection in the present. Cured is when the illness is no longer active, although even when cured, there might be damage or disability as a result of the illness.

Healing – when any illness is present, damage occurs to the body, the mind, the spirits, even the communities. Healing is a continuous process. It is active during the illness – and after the illness is cured. Healing cures are seldom perfect. No medicine can heal.

Prevention –  is the act of curing future illnesses, before they happen. Prevention is a powerful cure, based in health. It works by improving the health of the body, the minds, the spirits, the community and the environment.

Chronic illnesses recur in the future, and can only be cured by preventative cures, by actions that improve healthiness and prevent recurrence.

What is the best way to cure the illnesses of Kelly, Sidney, Robin, and Ashley? In each case, the recurrence cause is different. When we treat the cause of ‘bacterial infection’, with an antibacterial medicine, the result is often a cure of the current illness. Healing is completed by the body – although healing is seldom perfect. Preventative cures are irrelevant, because the illness is already present.

Cause

The cause that matters is the one we can cure. We can look for ‘root causes’, for causes of causes, if we are aiming to prevent future infections, but to cure the patient, we choose the ‘bacterial infection’ cause, because it works. But what if we cure the illness, and it comes back? Is that possible? Actually, it is not just possible, it is quite likely in each of these cases. If it comes back, was it a cure?

The doctor’s medicine assumes that the cause of the illness is ‘bacteria’ in the body of the patient.  And it tackles the bacteria directly with a physical treatment to the body. What if we ask, what caused the bacteria to create an infection? What is the cause of the cause?

Kelly’s bacterial infection was caused by the condition of her body, her acne. We might ask about the cause of the acne, but that’s a different illness. We must focus on one illness at a time.

Symptoms are like shadows cast by the illness. The symptoms of Kelly’s bacterial infection cast shadows on the body. These can be seen by the doctor. They also affect the mind, the spirits, and even Ashley’s communities. Many of these effects might be visible to Kelly, but not visible to the doctor.

The cause of Sidney’s bacterial infection is in the mind. Maybe Sidney’s mind was distracted, maybe it was not well trained in the use of knives in the kitchen. As with Kelly’s illness, symptoms reside not just in the body, but also in the mind, the spirits and the communities. The doctor views and treats the illness of the body.

Robin’s weak spirits lead to a weak immune response, which allow bacteria that would normally be addressed by health to take advantage, and create an infection.  The symptoms are visible in the body, but the illness can also further depress Robin’s spirits, causing symptoms in the mind and in community interactions as well.

Ashley’s illness is  caused by a factor outside of the body, the mind, or the spirit. The cause lies in the community – in the environment of the community. But, as with each of the other bacterial infections, the illness does not show up first in community – it becomes visible in the body, and from there it affects the mind, and the spirits – and even the Ashley’s communities.

In each case, there is a cause beyond the ‘bacteria’.  When we say the illness is caused by a bacterial infection – we might use this cause to cure the present illness. But if it returns, or strikes many people in a common situation, we need to ask “what is the cause of the cause”.  This question, “what is the cause of the cause” can be asked again and again – until we have complete understanding.

If the cure works, and there are no further problems, all is well. But if the illness returns, we need to consider a chronic illness. The medicinal cure, the antibiotic, fails when there is a chronic infection, even as it appears to succeed.

Chronic Illness

What is a chronic illness? Today’s medical practice describes a chronic disease as “A chronic condition is a human health condition or disease that is persistent or otherwise long-lasting in its effects”

There is a much simpler, more effective definition of a chronic illness.

Chronic illnesses have a chronic causes. – the Healthicine Creed

We can view chronic illnesses as ‘meta-illnesses’. The patient has a bacterial infection – an illness. But when we cure the infection, it comes back. There is another, higher level illness – with a higher level cause. Because chronic illnesses have chronic causes, every chronic illness can only be cured by addressing the chronic cause.

Acne is an illness of the body, but it can also be a cause. When a patient has acne, they have a chronic cause that might lead to a chronic bacterial infection.

Knife cuts can be single accidents, or they might be chronic. If a person working daily with a knife does not have adequate training of the mind and mental attention to the task, it can lead to chronic cuts, leading to a chronic infection.

Depressed spirits can lead to unhealthy decisions and diet. These can create chronic unhealthiness that weakens the immune system, leading to a chronic infection.

Ashley and other workers are exposed to dangerous bacteria because of an unhealthy work community and environment. The unhealthy community is a chronic problem, potentially causing chronic bacterial infections in many workers.

In each case of a chronic illness, it is important to identify the chronic, the ‘meta-cause’. A chronic illness can only be cured by addressing the chronic cause.

Each of these patients, Kelly, Sidney, Robin, and Ashley, might be suffering from two illnesses at once. If are only suffering from a single incident, a single illness – and cure sticks.  But when they are also exposed to chronic causes, the result is chronic illness. When they have two illnesses – two cures are required.

Let’s look at some possible cures for each of the chronic infections:

Cures for Chronic Illness

Kelly’s: acne leads to a chronic infection illness. The chronic illness can be cured by curing the acne. Unfortunately, acne is a chronic illness. Modern medicine has no cure for acne, but sometimes – it seems, acne cures itself.  Sometimes, acne is cured by health. As Kelly grows older, acne often fades and disappears. When that happens, the chronic infection illness will also fade and disappear. Sometimes, Kelly’s diet changes, and this cures the acne. There is strong evidence that diet can cause acne.  Kelly might move back in with mom – and her cooking. Kelly might married, resulting in dramatic dietary changes, causing the acne disappear, to be cured. If this happens, the chronic infection illness will also be cured. There are many potential cures for Kelly’s chronic illness, but none of the cures are medicines. Acne cannot be cured by a medicine, because it too is a chronic illness.

Sydney’s lack of knife training, and lack of mental attention to the task, can lead to chronic cuts, and chronic infections. Training in knife safety can cure the chronic infections – if that was the cause. Reducing Robin’s mental stress – if that was the problem, can cure the chronic infections caused by the knife cuts. There might be many successful techniques to cure for Sydney’s chronic infections. But no medicine can provide a cure.

Robin’s depressed spirits can weaken resolve, weaken diet and weaken the immune system, leading to chronic infections. Unfortunately for Robin, depression is also a chronic illness. But, depression is a chronic illness that can be cured. Sometimes, reducing stress, increasing community involvement, healthy exercise and a healthier diet will lift the depressed spirits and the chronic infections will be cured as well. There might be many potential cures for Robin’s chronic infections. But there are no medicines that can cure them, and no medicines that can cure chronic depression.

Ashley’s workplace needs to be healthed.  The workers need healthier safety procedures and attitudes. When these changes are made, there will fewer incidents, and the chronic infections will be cured. But there are other cures, specific to Ashley. If Ashley gets a new job, a promotion, or retires – the chronic illness will be cured. But no medicine can cure Ashley’s chronic illness.

If Ashley makes a point of being very careful, that chronic illness might be cured. But this cure is specific to Ashley and will not extend to cure the chronic illness that exists in the work community.

In each case, it is only possible to cure the chronic illness with health. No medicine can cure a chronic illness – because no medicine addresses a chronic cause. Treating an illness with medicine can even create a chronic illness. If you have scurvy – it’s caused by an unhealthy diet. In medical theory, scurvy is a deficiency of Vitamin C.  Treating scurvy with Vitamin C does not address the health of the diet. Instead, it leads to a chronic illness, that requires constant ‘medication’ with Vitamin C.

Prescribing medicine to a patient with a chronic illness diminishes symptoms, typically only diminishes symptoms in the body, possibly the mind. It often facilitates continued presence and even growth of the chronic illness.

In each chronic illness, there are many potential ‘cures’, each of which addresses different chronic ‘causes’. If the patient changes their job, and the chronic disease disappears – that was the cause.  If they change the safety procedures, and the chronic disease disappears – that was the cause.  The cause is determined, as in the non-chronic case, by the cure.

What if there is more than one chronic cause? Can we search for a root cause?  No. Root causes do not exist. When we find several chronic causes, there are several chronic illnesses each of which must be cured, one at a time for a complete cure. It is possible, perhaps commonplace with some illnesses, to have more than one chronic illness – of the same type, at the same time, because many causes lead to the same signs and symptoms. However, this occurrence is not recognized in a medical situation. Why not? Because medicines work to cure the simple illness, not the chronic illness. Simple illnesses can often be treated by simply addressing symptoms – and the patient’s health does the rest. The common cold, influenza, measles – and many other illnesses are incurable in theory, but they are cured by health. Medicines for symptoms help the patient and often aid the health cure.

When we break chronic illnesses down into individual causes, individual illnesses, we find more cures and more potential to cure. We can find cures that medicine is blind to, because the cures for chronic illnesses are not medicines.

Today, a common problem is that we have no idea what the cause is, and we give up easily, resort to treating symptoms, not cause.  With simple illnesses, it’s easy to be successful with a medicine. A medicine need only be successful for a single incidence of illness, for a single case. When the illness is chronic, the medicine fails to address the chronic cause, and the illness persists. Chronic illnesses can only be cured by health, not by medicine. Chronic illnesses can only be cured by healthicines.

Conventional medicines, and most alternative medicines as well, are not designed to cure chronic illness – because they do not tackle the chronic cause. Today’s medical practice treats most chronic illnesses with medicines, medicines that have side effects.

What About Side Effects?

Side effects are illnesses caused by medicines. If the medicine is chronic, used to treat a chronic illness, the side effect illness is also chronic.

When we look at our four examples, it is possible in some cases, for a conventional medicine to be in the causal chain for the chronic infection illness.

Kelly’s acne is a chronic illness, which can be caused by medicines.  If Kelly switches to a different medicine, conventional or alternative, the side effect illness, the acne, might disappear – because the cause is no longer present. When the acne disappears, the chronic infection illness will also be cured. Kelly, and the doctor, might believe that the new medicine ‘cured’ the illness – when all it did was displace the cause, Kelly’s medical habits.

Sidney’s cut was caused by a distracted or unfocused mind. It is possible that Sidney’s is suffering from anxiety caused by a medicine. Again, if the medicine is changed – to a different conventional or alternative medicine, the chronic infection illness might be cured. It was not cured by the medicine, but by the change in Sidney’s daily habits.

Modern medicine does not pay much attention to cures. Cures are often ignored, not counted – even discounted with phrases like “placebo effect”. Our current study of cures is very weak, so weak that most medicines make no attempt to cure, even though doctors recommend medicines for almost every illness. When we focus our attention of treatments, not on cures, cures can become invisible. Today’s medicine has a powerful focus on treatments, and as a result it ignores many cures, and many who are cured of their diseases.

We can cure chronic illnesses. We will learn to cure chronic illnesses when we learn to search for and address chronic causes. We will learn to cure chronic illnesses when we learn to recognize and celebrate “cured” for chronic illness. But this will be difficult – because every chronic illness can have many unique cures, and none of them a medicine.

To your health, tracy