{"id":3891,"date":"2016-10-05T15:15:03","date_gmt":"2016-10-05T15:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/healthicine.org\/wordpress\/?p=3891"},"modified":"2016-12-12T15:28:25","modified_gmt":"2016-12-12T15:28:25","slug":"chronic-healthiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/healthicine.org\/wordpress\/chronic-healthiness\/","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Healthiness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"symptoms\"<\/a>Illness starts with the symptoms. We notice the symptoms first. Something feels strange. Our bodies, our minds, our spirits – even our communities are always alert to possible danger. “Am I sick?<\/em>“, we ask ourselves. Or is it normal? Life is complex. Are our feelings sensing danger? Or is everything A OK? We can\u00a0only wait and see. Do they fade, or persist, or grow?<\/p>\n

Our bodies are on constant alert to\u00a0our internal status, and our mind is always monitoring\u00a0our physical feelings. Are they\u00a0symptoms of illness? Symptoms can be\u00a0a sign of vibrant health. Spring fever. Young love. Growth. Success. They feel strange because they are infrequent or new. Sometimes,\u00a0symptoms occur in clusters – when something new happens. But medicine views\u00a0symptoms as perceptions of illness. When symptoms are severe, or lasting, or growing, we consult a doctor.<\/p>\n

\"signs\"<\/a>A doctor listens as we\u00a0talk about our symptoms, for a few moments, and then proceeds to examine signs. Symptoms are the things we\u00a0feel. \u00a0Signs are things the doctor can see. \u00a0There are thousands of signs that can be measured independent of our senses. \u00a0If there is a possibility of danger, our vital signs are measured: respiration, pulse, temperature, and blood pressure. \u00a0Each of these can be measured independently – even when\u00a0we\u00a0are near death. \u00a0Pain, the fifth vital sign is measured by asking: “How much pain is there, on a scale of 1 to 10?<\/em>” Signs are measured with numbers, not with feelings. Signs are measured by someone else, someone independent, perhaps even a machine. We might\u00a0measure some signs ourselves, but the doctor or nurse will measure again, just to be sure.<\/p>\n

\"diagnosis\"<\/a>Diagnosis begins with signs and symptoms. “Diagnostic Criteria<\/em>” are published symptoms and signs used by a\u00a0physician to determine a diagnosis. Sometimes,\u00a0it stops there especially for chronic diseases. Many diseases have diagnostic criteria consisting entirely of symptoms and signs, with no test for cause.\u00a0This serious\u00a0error leads directly to a\u00a0failure to cure.<\/p>\n

Diagnosis is the\u00a0grouping of some signs and symptoms that indicate a specific disease. There are always many symptoms, many signs, and signs are on a scale. Diagnosis is an art. Typically, only a few signs and symptoms contribute to the diagnosis, although many might contribute to other ‘not diagnosed’ diseases.<\/p>\n

Chronic Disease<\/h2>\n

A chronic disease is diagnosed if the illness persists for some time, and\u00a0no\u00a0cause can be identified. Chronic diseases are often defined as ‘incurable’. \u00a0However, it is not possible to prove that any illness is incurable. When\u00a0the cause is\u00a0identified, and\u00a0addressed, the illness can be cured. \u00a0If there is no cause to\u00a0be addressed – it’s not an active disease, it’s a handicap, or perhaps simply a physical attribute.<\/p>\n

Chronic diseases proceed directly from diagnosis to treatment, not cure.\u00a0Treatments for chronic disease consist of symptomicines<\/a>. Symptoms are treated, there is no attempt to search for, much less address a cause, except perhaps in vague general guidelines, often given as “how to learn to live with your disease<\/a>“. Painkillers, more painkillers, more powerful painkillers, more sophisticated painkillers. Treatments are designed to push symptoms below the threshold of annoyance, and if possible, below the threshold of diagnosis, without addressing any cause. The cause is often still present, pushing against the medicine. \u00a0We shouldn’t wonder why most medicines have effects that burst thru\u00a0the seams, side effects that get worse and worse the longer we take the medicine?<\/p>\n

Cause<\/h2>\n

\"illness\"<\/a>Every illness has a cause. \u00a0For many\u00a0illnesses, like the common cold, which are\u00a0quickly and easily cured by health, knowing the present cause is not so important. Our health\u00a0can effectively deal with the cause, we need only give it time. \u00a0The more health we have – the faster the cure. The less health we have, the longer it takes. The less health we have, the more frequent colds. The cure for the common cold is healthiness, there is\u00a0no ‘medical cure’, no external cure, that can work so fast and effectively.<\/p>\n

Causes of illness, even causes of chronic illness, are everywhere. We are surrounded by causes of illness, without suffering any symptoms, without becoming ill, just as we can have many signs and symptoms without being ill. We can inhale smoke, or consume poisons like alcohol, without illness, even for enjoyment, for the thrill they give our nervous system. This is normal and can even have healthy effects.<\/p>\n

Our bodies, minds, spirits, and communities; our health – use cause and effect as a basic\u00a0tool of life. The first living cell is defined not by the dead physical chemical components, but by its use of cause and effect to manage its life, to use its external environment to grow and reproduce. Cause and effect are the causes, and the consequences of life. Events happen, but only life causes events to happen, and judges events as having positive or negative effects. Life is goal directed, and cause and effect are defined\u00a0based on life’s\u00a0goals.<\/p>\n

An illness only exists when a cause has a significant negative effect, significant negative consequences.\u00a0Every illness has a cause. The treatment of every illness improves when we know and address a\u00a0cause. Cures are only effective, only true cures, when they address the cause. Preventative actions are effective when they address future causes.<\/p>\n

There are three types of causes. First, there is the absent cause. \u00a0A broken arm, a gunshot wound, even a broken heart, can only be cured by healing. The cause is gone, but understanding it can be useful to develop preventative behaviors and actions. Second, are illnesses where the cause is present and active – like the bacterial infection. In these cases, the cure is to address the cause, which will allow\u00a0healing to complete the cure process.<\/p>\n

The third type of causes are chronic causes. Chronic causes are continually, chronically, repeated.<\/p>\n

Chronic Causes<\/h2>\n

Chronic illnesses have chronic causes. Chronic illnesses wax and wane, grow and shrink, attack and fade away, as\u00a0time passes. Our bodies are always working to heal damage that results from illness, from causes. If the cause moves away, or lessens, healing gains ground and health\u00a0recovers. When\u00a0the cause returns more damage occurs.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, the lag between cause and symptoms, and between damage and healing can be very long, making it very difficult to be certain of the cause. Often, both the cause and the healing are active, creating a see-saw of symptoms and relief that can last days, weeks, months or even years. The cause can only be proven by the cure.<\/p>\n

Illness<\/h2>\n

An illness only exists when cause\u00a0and negative consequences are linked. When a cause is severe enough to result in \u00a0negative and serious, or dangerous consequences.<\/p>\n

A disease, on the other hand, can only exist when an illness is common enough to have a diagnostic criteria, and severe enough in a specific instance to be diagnosed. It is important to distinguish between illness and disease. An illness is what the patient has. An illness must be present, and may have been present for a very long time, before a disease is diagnosed. It is possible to have an illness without a diagnosis, without a disease. \u00a0A disease is what the doctor diagnoses, correctly or incorrectly. \u00a0Diagnosis is an art – sometimes art\u00a0produces garbage.<\/p>\n

A simple illness, like a hangover, has a simple cause – drinking too much alcohol, in too short a time. Even such a simple illness can have a long chain of ’causes’ that might be used for prevention. We can always ask “what is the cause of the cause<\/em>“. Maybe we shouldn’t have gone to the party. Maybe the drinks were made too strong. \u00a0Maybe not enough water was consumed. Maybe if the party had ended earlier, we wouldn’t have a hangover. These are sometimes\u00a0just excuses, not useful\u00a0causes. \u00a0They are only useful\u00a0causes when we actually use them to prevent or cure the illness.<\/p>\n

\"multiple-illness\"<\/a>Most simple illnesses, like a hangover, are cured by health and by time. Our liver filters out the toxic alcohol. Our bodies will naturally seek water, to treat the dehydration. \u00a0Our brains seek quiet rest, to facilitate physical recovery. Healthier bodies, minds, spirits, and communities cure hangovers\u00a0faster. Less healthy bodies, minds, spirits and communities cure slowly, and are more likely to spiral downwards, perhaps even attempting to cure with “the hair of the dog”, creating a chronic illness.<\/p>\n

It is, of course, possible to have many illnesses at one time. \u00a0Someone might have a a cold, and ingrown toenail, and hangover, all at the same time. \u00a0Each illness has a unique cause. Some might\u00a0have overlapping signs and symptoms.<\/p>\n

Multiple Illnesses<\/h2>\n

It’s also possible\u00a0to have multiple illnesses with similar symptoms – with different causes.\u00a0We might have a headache from a hangover, and fall down and get another headache from a bump on the head. The hangover headache will be cured in a few hours – the headaches from the fall might take longer.<\/p>\n

Is\u00a0anyone ever diagnosed with two illnesses at once, with the same symptoms? It’s a very rare occurrence (the diagnosis, not the event). The technique of diagnosis is specifically designed to find a single illness. That’s a\u00a0strength of diagnosis and a weakness.<\/p>\n

What if someone has two colds and a flu? The common cold can be caused by hundreds of different\u00a0viruses. \u00a0The flu is caused by different viruses. \u00a0It is possible, perhaps even frequent, to be infected by a cold virus, and a flu virus at the same time. There are two causes – and two illnesses. The symptoms are similar, but not identical. It might be that having the flu makes colds more or less likely, or that having a cold makes the flu more or less likely – as far as I know this has not been studied.<\/p>\n

Multiple Illness – One Disease<\/h2>\n

It is possible, for example, to have a bacterial infection that consists of several different types of bacteria, at the same site, at the same time, causing the same symptoms. The entire disease is a single infection. Several\u00a0illness are present,\u00a0caused by several different bacteria strains on the same site. Every illness can be cured. A single bacterial infection illness can be cured with a dose of an effective\u00a0antibiotic.<\/p>\n

A multiple illness, consisting of several bacterial infections is diagnosed as a single disease, infection. \u00a0When treated with antibacterial medicine, it might appear to go into remission, because one type of bacteria, one of the bacterial illnesses, has been addressed. Then the disease appears to re-emerge when the second type of bacteria takes over. \u00a0A second, different antibacterial medicine might be necessary to cure the second illness.<\/p>\n

The disease model sees a single disease – infection, and two treatments resulting in a cures. The illness model sees two illnesses, each with independent cures, addressing independent causes.<\/p>\n

Cure<\/h2>\n

Every active illness has an active cause. Every active illness has a cure. To cure is to address the cause, to break the link between cause and symptoms. There are two basic techniques to cure an illness<\/p>\n

\"cures\"<\/a>If the cause is the excess or deficiency\u00a0of something – a nutrient, a toxic chemical, an excess of exercise, a deficiency of exercise, an excess or deficiency of mental stress, an excess or deficiency of spirits and feelings, even an excess or deficiency of community involvement – one\u00a0cure is to address the excess, or the deficiency.<\/p>\n

The other cure is to strengthen, to health the body, mind, spirits, or the\u00a0community, such that it is able to handle the excess or deficiency, without illness. Healthier bodies get sick less often, and improving healthiness\u00a0is an important cure for many illnesses. We might view every true cure as an improvement in healthiness.<\/p>\n

These cures work when the cause is active. When\u00a0the cause is no longer active – healing is the only cure. Often, complete\u00a0healing is not possible, and what is left\u00a0is a disability, not an illness.<\/p>\n

Diseases with Multiple Causes<\/h2>\n

But… There are many diseases with more than one cause, aren’t there? Remember that many diseases – most especially chronic diseases, are diagnosed without any reference to cause. This fosters\u00a0an illusion that there is no cause to be addressed, or that there are many causes.<\/p>\n

There are two ways for a disease to have\u00a0multiple causes.<\/p>\n

Like illness, every disease can have a chain of causes. Finding a\u00a0chain is simple once we identify a single cause. We simply ask “what is the cause of this cause?<\/em>“, and then ask “What is the cause of the cause that caused this cause<\/em>“, and so on… If it is a true chain, then breaking any link will cure the disease. In some cases, the key cause may have several ’cause causes’. He has a hangover because he drank too much. He drank too much because the booze was free, because there was no food, because he was lonely… In these cases, a preventative – a future cure – might be found in addressing specific causes of causes.<\/p>\n

Sometimes a disease has\u00a0independent causes, not linked in a chain. These indicate the presence of multiple illnesses.<\/p>\n

Half a Disease<\/h2>\n

Is anyone ever been diagnosed with ‘half a disease’? Diagnostic techniques deliver Yes\/No decisions. \u00a0Although a disease might be diagnosed as mild, moderate, or severe, there is no diagnostic concept of ‘half of a disease’.<\/p>\n

When a disease has exactly two independent causes, where each of the causes is sufficient to cause the symptoms, then addressing one cause will cure ‘half’ of the disease. When a disease is half-cured, what is left? \u00a0The half that is left is still the disease.<\/p>\n

An illness or a disease is a hole in your health. \u00a0It is not a thing you can touch, like an apple, that – when you eat one half, half remains. A disease is\u00a0like a hole in the ground. When you fill half of it – you still have a hole. But filling the first half is a necessary step to filling the hole.<\/p>\n

Curing half a disease is often a necessary first step to cure a whole disease, even if diseases aren’t be measured in halves. \u00a0A half a disease is a single illness, when a patient has two illnesses with one disease name. \u00a0It is also possible, perhaps commonplace, to have 1\/3 of a disease – a disease that consists of three illnesses with similar symptoms. A disease of this type might appear very difficult, even impossible to cure, because each illness\u00a0cure only partially cures the disease, leading the patient and the doctor to give up. The disease might\u00a0easily be labeled ‘chronic’ and\u00a0‘incurable’.<\/p>\n

Chronic Illness<\/h2>\n

A chronic illness has a chronic cause. Every illness has a single cause. Every chronic illness has a single, chronic cause. Every illness is cured by addressing the cause. Every chronic illness is cured by addressing the chronic cause.<\/p>\n

Nutrient deficiencies are chronic illnesses. Starvation is a chronic illness, with a chronic cause. We don’t often think of starvation as an illness, but of course it is, and for it to continue, it must be chronic.<\/p>\n

Scurvy is a chronic illness, caused by a chronic deficiency of Vitamin C in the diet. We can treat scurvy with a medicine – capsules of synthetic or purified Vitamin C, but doing so simply extends the chronic nature of the illness. \u00a0It does\u00a0not address the dietary cause, and can\u00a0not cure the illness, even though it might speed up healing. \u00a0The patient will need\u00a0to take\u00a0medication, Vitamin C tablets, for the rest of their life, or until the diet changes, perhaps due to some other circumstances, and the illness is mysteriously ‘cured’. There will be side effects, because a diet that does not contain sufficient Vitamin C is also deficient in other nutrients. \u00a0These effects, of the chronic treatment, can be more mysterious, taking longer to appear. The patient might also suffer gastric problems, because the medicine tablets are acidic.<\/p>\n

Scurvy is a chronic illness – cured with a healthy diet. Every illness can be cured. Every chronic illness can be cured. Why are chronic illnesses defined as ‘incurable’ in our current medical paradigm? Because we give up too easily. Part of the problem is that\u00a0symptomicines are so easy to buy, to produce, and so effective in the short term, that they giving the illusion of health.<\/p>\n

Perhaps\u00a0most chronic diseases are actually multiple chronic illnesses, each with single\u00a0chronic causes. If disease the cause is simple,\u00a0single, – we might easily find it\u00a0ourselves, perhaps even without the assistance of a doctor.<\/p>\n

Anyone with a chronic disease has lots of time to try different cure actions. We sometimes hear claims that someone cured their chronic disease. Sometimes we\u00a0cure our\u00a0disease with health, even chronic diseases. People who cure their chronic diseases are generally ignored, even shunned. In many cases, what actually caused the cure is anybody’s guess. Cures are seldom investigated. Even most\u00a0clinical studies, measure symptoms and ignore cures, because cured is not part of the study definitions.<\/p>\n

Take note: diseases are never cured by placebos. They are cured by healthy actions. Placebo effect is a label given my medical practitioners when they do not understand what happened, and are not interested in investigating. If the disease is gone, what’s to investigate? There are lots of sick patients to be attended to.<\/p>\n

Because a chronic disease can consist of several chronic illnesses – it is possible to cure one or more of the illnesses without even being aware of it. \u00a0As with the multiple infection illness – the first cure seems to provide relief, but then fails to ‘cure the disease’. Cure of the disease, is visible only when all of the component illnesses are cured.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, our medical systems do not make effective study of nor use of cures. \u00a0Chronic diseases are ‘treated’, often without reference to cause. They are intentionally “not cured<\/em>“, using\u00a0symptomicines, medicines that address symptoms not cause, medicines that make no claim to cure<\/a>. As a\u00a0result, a simple chronic illness can easily grow, over time, to a complex chronic disease, consisting of multiple chronic illnesses. This can even happen before any disease is diagnosed.<\/p>\n

Modern medicine can easily\u00a0fail to cure chronic diseases, because chronic illnesses causes are part of the life, of the habits of the patient. \u00a0These cannot be ‘cured’ with medicines. Alcoholism and obesity have, in theory, simple causes. \u00a0But these theoretical causes are not sufficient to cure.<\/p>\n

Cures must address the cause that is necessary and sufficient to cure.<\/em>\u00a0Not the cause that is necessary and sufficient to cause the illness. Not any cause that is only sufficient to blame.<\/p>\n

If we want to cure these diseases, perhaps if we want to cure any chronic disease, it helps to ask some different, difficult questions. \u00a0They begin with “what is the cause?<\/em>” and “what are the causes of the cause?..<\/em>“. \u00a0But it is also important to ask “How is the patient\u00a0benefiting from the cause?<\/em>“, and “How is the patient\u00a0benefiting from the cause of the cause?<\/em>” And sometimes its important to ask\u00a0“how might the patient be benefiting from the illness?<\/em>”<\/p>\n

These questions are difficult to ask, and can be more difficult to answer. \u00a0It takes time and persistence to consider them fully in individual cases. They help\u00a0us to recognize that we often deliberately choose the causes of our illness, or the causes of those causes. Sometimes we deliberately choose the illness.<\/p>\n

Chronic Healthiness<\/h2>\n

The opposite of a chronic disease\u00a0is often called a self-limiting\u00a0disease. A chronic disease\u00a0is one that lasts a long time. \u00a0A self-limiting\u00a0disease is one that lasts a short time, and\u00a0is quickly cured by our health – like the common cold or hangover. Our medical systems search for disease, and for chronic disease.<\/p>\n

We need to search for\u00a0chronic healthiness. Chronic comes from the Greek word ‘kronos’, meaning time. We need to search for health that lasts a long time. How can we find it?<\/p>\n

Symptomicines, medicines that address symptoms but not cause, provide temporary, self-limiting illusion\u00a0of healthiness. The illness reasserts itself in time, because the cause was not addressed.<\/p>\n

To find chronic healthiness, we need to search for causes, we need to search for cures that address causes. Many chronic illnesses are caused by chronic habits – that need to be replaced with healthy habits.<\/p>\n

Healthy habits lead to chronic healthiness.<\/p>\n

to your health, tracy<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"reddit\"<\/a>\"pinterest\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Illness starts with the symptoms. We notice the symptoms first. Something feels strange. Our bodies, our minds, our spirits – even our communities are always alert to possible danger. “Am I sick?“, we ask ourselves. Or is it normal? Life … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthicine.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthicine.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthicine.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthicine.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthicine.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3891"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"http:\/\/healthicine.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4069,"href":"http:\/\/healthicine.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3891\/revisions\/4069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthicine.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthicine.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthicine.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}