What Disease Would I CURE?

If I could invent a cure for any disease, I would choose to cure scurvy.

But isn’t scurvy a trivial disease to cure? Don’t we already know that the cure for scurvy is Vitamin C? Isn’t the cure obvious?

No. The cure is not Vitamin C. The cure is not obvious. Three major medical reference texts; Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Treatment, Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine, and Lange’s Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment each present different doses of Vitamin C as a “treatment” for scurvy. Not one text uses the word cure. We can’t cure scurvy.

Why don’t they use the word cure? Because supplemental Vitamin C does not cure scurvy. Supplemental Vitamin C treats the signs and symptoms but does not cure. Two examples:

A sailor working on a ship with a lousy cook and a crappy food supply gets scurvy. The doctor prescribes Vitamin C, and the signs and symptoms of scurvy goes away. Cured? Nope. As a few months after the sailor stops taking supplements, the disease returns. It was never cured.

A poor elderly alcoholic prefers to spend what little money they can scrape up on booze, not food. So, they don’t eat much food, and they don’t eat healthy food, and they get scurvy. A doctor might prescribe Vitamin C supplements – according to the textbooks, and the signs and symptoms will disappear. But a few months after the patient runs out of medicine, the scurvy will reappear. It was never cured.

What is the cure for scurvy? The cure for scurvy is health. The cure for scurvy is a healthy diet, not a medicine.

There are many possible cures for the sailor’s scurvy. The sailor might quit their job, and get a job on land, to cure their scurvy. The ship might hire a better cook, who provides a better diet, to cure the scurvy. The shipping company might provide better food, and train the current cook to prepare healthy food for their employees. Each action will cure the sailor’s scurvy, by improving their healthiness. Of course, if the sailor’s scurvy has become serious, it may be appropriate to provide Vitamin C supplements to help the healing, to help the cure process work faster, but Vitamin C cannot cure.

Note: If the sailor gets a job on land and cures their scurvy, and then years later takes another job on the ship, they will get a new case of scurvy. Their original case of scurvy was crued, the second case is not a remission.

There are many possible cures for the elderly alcoholic’s case of scurvy. They might move into a senior’s home, where healthy food is provided – and the scurvy will be cured. They might get married, and their partner might provide healthy food. They might get a job, get rid of their alcoholism, and their scurvy will be cured. They might win a lottery, and become so rich that they can buy all the alcohol they want, and also eat a healthy diet. But Vitamin C supplements will not cure their scurvy.

Note: If the elderly person wins the lottery and cures their scurvy, and then years later they go bankrupt and become a poor alcoholic again, they might get a new case of scurvy. If so, it’s not a remission, their first case of scurvy was cured.

Supplemental Vitamin C does not cure scurvy. It reduces signs and symptoms. If the patient takes a medicine, supplemental Vitamin C for the rest of their life, their scurvy is converted to a chronic disease – but not cured.

The cure for scurvy is to address the cause. Lack of Vitamin C supplements is not the cause. An unhealthy diet is the cause.

Every cause has a cause. The sailor has an unhealthy diet because they work on an unhealthy ship. The ships diet is unhealthy because the cook is lousy. The cook is lousy because the shipping company does not provide healthy food and healthy training for the cook. When the chain of causes is tight – addressing any cause will cure. If the sailor gets rid of the job, gets another job, that’s a cure. If the shipping company provides a healthy diet, that’s a cure. “Health is the best cure, the only true cure.” – the Healthicine Creed.

The elderly alcoholic has an unhealthy diet because they are poor and because they are alcoholic. If these causes are addressed, or if the unhealthy diet is addressed in another way, the scurvy will be cured. Supplemental Vitamin C might help them recover faster, more effectively, but it cannot cure. Health is the best #cure, the only true #cure. Share on X.
But medical textbooks only document medical cures. As a result, the cure for scurvy is not in any medical textbook. Even though we know how to cure scurvy, scurvy cured is not defined in medical textbooks. Because scurvy cured is not defined, scurvy cured cannot be proven.

At present: scurvy cannot be cured and be proven to be cured.

If I could invent a cure, I would cure scurvy. I would ensure that the medical reference texts that document “treatments” for scurvy, would document how to cure as well.

This cure for scurvy is based on the concepts of cure published in the book A Calculus of Curing. You can learn more about cure, cures, curing and cured in this book.