Disease 101

Being diagnosed with a chronic illness is a hard blow in our lives. There is no good time to be sick. There is no good time to be unable to care for our loved ones or not participate fully in life’s activities. There is no good time to feel like a victim of a disease, to live with debilitating or restrictive symptoms, or to have no one understand that the pain is NOT in your head but your body.

And to make the blow even more on target, it usually comes when we are at our prime; at a time when things are going well in our lives: athletes rising to the top of their game, college students studying for their dream careers, entrepreneurs finally showing a profit, moms finding a rhythm in the daily busy-ness. Chronic illness can affect anyone at any time.

There are over 100 chronic illnesses that are having a significant impact on the American population, with more than 60 percent of adults living with at least one diagnosed condition, and 40 percent of those managing two or more. These illnesses include what are now common diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, mental health disorders, and over eighty types of autoimmune diseases. It is the leading cause of death and disability in the US and contributes to 75 percent of the nation’s healthcare spending. The healthcare industry, including the cost of medical treatments, medications, insurance, and the sheer numbers of patients put a strain not only on the country’s economics, but personal finances as well. These disheartening truths point to a chronically ill society that has been created in less than sixty years.

Isn’t it frustrating that even with all the ‘advancements’ in medicine, as a society we are sicker than ever?

How did the health of our bodies become an industry with a significant portion of our nation’s economy (personal and government) struggling with or, in some cases, profiting from pharmaceutical, insurance, and medical care? When and why did medical health care transmute into disease care? With all the advances in medical science, why are these diseases becoming increasingly prevalent to the point of being considered common? There are exceptions due to genetic predispositions or injuries, and I am not downplaying or referring to those situations in any way, but for the average person who is diagnosed with a disease with no other qualifiers, we must ask ourselves: how did we get to this point?

Honestly, we just have to wonder, is Western conventional medicine failing us, or are we failing ourselves by how we take care of our bodies? Are our cultures, foods, and lifestyle literally making us sick?

Chronic disease can be defined as a long-lasting condition that persists for a year or more, requires ongoing medical attention or limits activities of daily living, and can be managed but not cured. They develop in our bodies over time; they are not caught like a cold, nor do they typically stem directly from infection or viruses. By the time symptoms are severe enough to garner our attention, the illness and affects to the body are usually in full rampage. The body has been stressed enough in some way, shape, or form by a root cause that it can no longer function as it was meant to, and this leads to the chronic symptoms experienced.

The human body is an intricate and interconnected system where every organ, tissue, and cell play a vital role in maintaining overall health and function rather than operating as isolated parts. This holistic perspective emphasizes that healing and well-being rely on looking at the body as a whole, rather than focusing solely on individual symptoms or areas. We have all seen evidence of the natural ability to heal from a cut, a broken bone, a cold virus, or from infection without much intervention. There are also tens of thousands of examples of those who reversed cancer, overcame disabilities, and successfully managed chronic illnesses.

If we combine the thoughts that the body has the ability to heal itself and is a complex interconnected system that has been overwhelmed by outside factors, common sense leads me to believe that by identifying and addressing the root causes, a chronically ill body has a good chance to heal. In fact, giving the body a chance to heal is not only possible but doable.

I am disheartened by the amount of disease I see today, and you should be too. The over-reliance on medications and surgeries thrown at a patient for treatment without cause or outcome is unacceptable, and the best thing we can do for ourselves is to take our health into our own hands. By demanding to know the reason why you feel like hell, you will start asking questions, and with questions come answers.

Conventional medicine may have very few answers to offer you. However, if you ask these questions of yourself and of your own body, you will get some very useful information. Your body, through conscious intuition, can tell you how the things we unknowingly or (by throwing caution to the wind) knowingly do in our daily life, such as what toxins we expose ourselves to, what we eat, and stress over, all can be root causes of our problem. By questioning your current habits and consciously acknowledging what and why you do what you do, you receive not only some usable answers but also a starting point.

To receive a different outcome, you need to do something different, and the exciting part is that each day offers a fresh start. You have the opportunity to do something, everything, or nothing different each day that will either support or continue to harm your body. The choice is yours.