Health or Disease?

The body would cease to be without oxygen. We obtain oxygen through respiration. We are required to do nothing for oxygenation, and it happens without us even noticing. Why would it be that our most vital, essential, and indispensable function takes place automatically, intrinsically, and spontaneously? Have you ever wondered why? When was the last time you’ve wondered why? [1]

The body would cease without blood circulation. Blood circulates throughout our body, thanks to the heart. Our heart does so by contracting and relaxing. We are required to do nothing for our heart to contract and relax. Our heart beats even without our noticing, or paying attention. Why would it be that such a vital, essential, and indispensable function takes place automatically,  intrinsically, spontaneously? Have you ever wondered why? When was the last time you’ve wondered why? [2]

What about digestion. We ingest food. We swallow it. It goes to our stomach through our esophageal tube. From our stomach, it goes to our small intestine, from there to the bloodstream and the large intestine, and from our large intestine, it goes to the blood or to the rectum, where we have excrements stored, ready to be eliminated out of our body. During this whole process, our liver, our pancreas, kidneys are at work, all without our knowing, without our effort, and all automatically. [3]

Furthermore, if we pay close attention, we will also realize that our body’s intrinsic system communicates through our senses regarding food intake, fluid intake, rest, urination, and defecation. Our body’s intrinsic system also communicates through our senses regarding movement, stretching, exercising.

Is our body a system of health or a system of disease? If our body’s intrinsic system is so on point, accurate, and reliable, why does such a high burden of disease plague the world? Why so much disease, so much illness? And why so many diagnoses?

There are over 10,000 diagnoses in medicine, yet there are barely between 200 and 300 symptoms [4]. What is that about? What does that tell us? Might that be an invitation to wonder about how we’ve been doing things?  In the first two sections of this series, we cited the Mayo Clinic study, published in the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, as one example of research studies highlighting the extremely low level of reliability diagnostic rate in healthcare. For every 100 times a patient is evaluated, we are likely to render an incorrect diagnoses at least 88 out of these 100 times. [5]

If signs and symptoms are our body’s way of communicating, its way of maintaining homeostasis, or its way or restoring our intrinsic health, might we want to pay closer attention to why we have about 200 and 300 signs and symptoms, while we have 10,000 different diagnoses, conditions, or labels? When we do what we do, and fail to pay attention to process, we can at least pay attention to outcomes or results. And when our results show that we are unsuccessful 88 percent of the time; that we are failing our patients 88 percent of the time, it means we may have forgotten why we got into this field to begin with.

Is our body a system of health or a system of disease? If our body’s intrinsic system is so on point, accurate, and reliable, why does such a high burden of disease plague the world? Why so much disease, so much illness? And why so many diagnoses?

What would it take for you to explore the above inquiries until our next section?

We thank you, and until soon,

Karen and Mardoche

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[1] Toro, Ross. “Diagram of the Human Respiratory System (Infographic).” LiveScience, Purch, 29 Aug. 2013, www.livescience.com/26825-human-body-system-respiration-infographic.html.

[2] InformedHealth.org [Internet]. Cologne, Germany: Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG); 2006-. How does the blood circulatory system work? 2010 Mar 12 [Updated 2019 Jan 31]. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279250/

[3] “Your Digestive System & How It Works.” National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1 Dec. 2017, www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/digestive-diseases/digestive-system-how-it-works#:~:text=Each%20part%20of%20your%20digestive,to%20where%20they%20are%20needed.

[4] Bernstein, Lenny. “20 Percent of Patients with Serious Conditions Are First Misdiagnosed, Study Says.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 4 Apr. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/20-percent-of-patients-with-serious-conditions-are-first-misdiagnosed-study-says/2017/04/03/e386982a-189f-11e7-9887-1a5314b56a08_story.html.

[5] Van Such M, Lohr R, Beckman T, Naessens JM. Extent of diagnostic agreement among medical referrals. J Eval Clin Pract. 2017 Aug;23(4):870-874. doi: 10.1111/jep.12747. Epub 2017 Apr 4. PMID: 28374457.