Completely random, caffeine infused, unedited rant
(not really random, actually in response to this comment on facebook:
” Breaking news: Alzheimer’s is a whole body disease. Insulin, glucose, neurological system + nutrition all affect it. Breaking news? So…the entire body works holistically…diseases should be treated holistically? This is only breaking news in USA now, it was breaking news in Asia + India 3,000 years ago. Western med …always seems look through the wrong end of the binoculars + try to kill a fly with a shot gun.”
THE WHOLE IS GREATER THAN THE SUM OF THE PARTS
As I spend time with specialists I find more and more of them are either realizing or “able to empirically prove” that diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, etc etc are a disease of the entire body. The evidence is all there.
SO the drugs that target a single chemical interaction, a single organ, a single anything…even if they work, will not fix the body, they will only fix that specific problem. So then 6-12 months later when that part is no longer screaming for fixing and the next part makes itself heard, you will then take a new drug in Act 2 of “my whole body is broken but I am going to treat it one problem at a time.”
Segue to car analogy: Go put 100,000 miles on your car. Don’t change the oil, don’t fill the tires, don’t put fuel line cleaner in the gas tank, don’t maintain it all. Wait until it is smoking, shaking, coughing and stalling. Wait until every turn produces squeals of protest from the tie rods, axle, wheels and steering column. Wait until every hill cause it to wheeze, belch smoke, shudder and shake. Then and only then, go out and buy your self a brand new carburetor or exhaust, or fuel injector. In fact, you can buy any one thing, brand new and replace it. Any one thing but just one thing. Then question why your car doesn’t drive like when it was new.
Now back to the movie analogy – Act 2 of “my whole body is broken and I am going to treat it one problem at a time.” ……… Now here’s the fun part. Act 2 assessment – problem 1 (antagonist #1) is fixed via drug #1 (savior #1), problem 2 (antagonist #2) enters the scene and drug #2 (savior #2) is introduced to quell problem #2…but as in all dramas, drug #1 (savior #1) is not so pure of heart. This hero is flawed and now there is a new problem (antagonist #3) generated by the introduction of savior #1. And so on and so on. COnfusing? Depressing? You’re damn right! Now here’s the b*tch of it…this tragic movie will go on for the rest of your life.
Here’s an interesting analogy: I envision the plot as a snake eating it’s own tail. The more he eats, the less hungry he is and the less body he has to sustain…but the more he eats, the more he is using up his own body…until when he has finally eaten himself all the way from tail to head, there is nothing left to sustain but there is also nothing left of his body. If this isn’t clear, feel free to go to the chemo or radiation ward. I think the analogy will absolutely be clear as day to you then.
And please understand that I truly mean no disrespect to these docs and scientists who are calling attention to the fact that diseases, once believed to be isolated events in the body; are actually system wide organisms within an organism and through circulation, electric-neurological exchange or associative influence actually interact with every other cell in your body. These docs and scientists who through empirical western analysis are trying to draw attention to a holistic approach of treatment are lone forces crying out for change in an industry of rigidity…they are often the sole open minded wise person in a forest full of old rooted dead trees…they are working in a centuries old system that is anti-free thought, anti- radical concept and anti “anything that challenges the status quo.”
These docs and scientists who are challenging their industry thinking deserve our support. They need our help to get the word out and more importantly, we as patients have a responsibility to ourselves and our loved ones to question what else is out there, what else is involved in this problem, what other factors are contributing to my illness. So do it!
…and that’s my rant.
