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Holistic and Alternative Health Care for Chronic Illness Click on the following Chronic Illnesses for specific help: What You Must Know The human body is a dynamic system of interacting processes that are intrinsically complex and transcend its intricate mechanical and chemical inter-workings to include soul and spirit. Life is more than the sum of the parts- a delicate balance of body, soul, and spirit. Therefore, each person must be thought of and responded to as a whole working being-a continuum. Each human being is a whole and affecting any aspect of person’s existence, no matter how minute, affects the other aspects of their health and quality of life. It is in this framework that chronic and acute disease, injury, infirmity and symptoms should be addressed. Modern and Holistic Medicine Chronic Fatigue, Chronic Pain, Headache, Migraine, and Fibromyalgia are often called syndromes and not specific diseases, because they are ongoing (chronic) without a clear cut cause or explanation and, therefore, no effective clear cut fix. Syndromes do not fit neatly into modern conventional medicine’s labels, because there are often many possible causes, numerous variables, and unknown triggers that span the whole body’s interconnectedness. With these syndromes the original catalyst for the dysfunction may not clear cut and many variables may be involved such as emotional response to illness, nutrient deficiencies, unrecognized stressors, genetic predisposition, etc. Syndromes that are chronic in nature involve ongoing care of the whole person. See discussions of individual syndromes at Health Needs or Categories for a list of therapies, triggers and symptoms.
Modern (traditional) medicine is often the first tool used for interventional treatment of acute and chronic symptoms, serious injury or out-of-control illness, and rightly so, because these symptoms can reflect life threatening illnesses or injury that must be dealt with immediately. We all benefit from allopathic scientific knowledge. Because modern medicine does a good job of focusing on diagnosis and “curing” of specific health problems or “fixing” an injury, physicians can be more precise as to treatment protocol and triage of acute problems. However, traditional medicine can not always effectively treat the patient who has chronic illness for which specific causes can not be identified.
While symptoms are often accurate markers of disease, focusing on the dysfunction of a specific body system or using the absence of symptoms as the marker of successful management may not accurately address all the ramifications of the underlying causes. A cardiologist’s care independent of the urologist, psychiatrist and endocrinologist can and does lead to drug interactions and therapies that threaten health. “Chronic musculoskeletal pain, pain in the myofacial layers of the body, chronic fatigue, chronic immune deficiency, adrenal fatigue… have not been successfully treated by prescription medications.” Goldberg, Burton. Alternative Medicine Berkeley, CA:Celestial Arts,2002. Similarly, treating syndromes where the causes of the symptoms are not easily ascertainable or stopping one symptom could mask the root of the problem may create other dysfunctions which have a ripple affect through out the whole body.
Alternative medicine attempts to integrate modern and holistic medicine using the full range of current and ancient healing arts to target body, soul and spirit. It is wise to seek the aid of healthcare professionals committed to helping you establish total body health and quality of life through holistic and traditional medicine.
Chronic Symptoms Chronic symptoms can be a sign of a serious life threatening disorder. You should treat them seriously and seek out the care of a healthcare professional. However, sometimes the exact cause of chronic symptoms can not be determined. Such chronic symptoms can include muscular pain, skeletal pain, joint pain, fatigue, headaches, irritable bowel pain, general body aching, depression, anxiety, phantom pain and perhaps inflammatory symptoms like those of systemic lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis. Symptoms which coexist such as muscular/skeletal/myofacial/joint pain (Fibromyalgia Syndrome) and irritable bowel/depression/anxiety (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) and long lasting fatigue/general aching (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) are called syndromes and not diseases since their cause and mechanisms are not known. CAUSES Much research and speculation is being done to determine if chronic conditions have the same, similar or different causes. Let’s look at possible causes of chronic symptoms. Chronic symptoms can be from multiple system failures as seen in Metabolic Syndrome. See Health Categories for specific information and stress. Many think chronic symptoms are due to a weakened immune system or deficiencies of essential nutrients that our body must have to operate normally. Others point to genetic predisposition for certain symptoms and their possible triggers. Some see hypersensitivity of nervous system or an abnormal functioning of the brain/spinal column/nervous system which involve neurotransmitters, hypersensitivity to normal external stimuli (nociceptive input). Many illnesses share non-restorative sleep as a common possible cause. Mental illness, chronic exposure to toxins, and a failure to address the health of body, soul and spirit are, also, possible causes of chronic illness. One plausible cause is stress. No one needs to tell us that we live in a highly stressful world and that it seems more of us are experiencing chronic illnesses than ever before. Our modern highly-technological society bombards us with the ever present excesses of our culture, toxins and stresses to which we all must react. There is little balance or moderation in our over-stimulated lives. Chronic abuse may equate to chronic illness. Techno noise, lights, visual inputs add to the sight, sound and activity frenzy we all experience. The media plays on our fears and fosters discontent which in turn incites emotional responses that affects blood pressure, heart beat and mood. Our world has gotten harder to navigate as it has become more technical. This requires a heightened sense of alertness and leads to frustration that under minds our health and taxes our body’s response systems. Our lifestyle demands that we must be immediately available to input that prompts us to react. By trying to be more connected we are less connected with ourselves. A roller coaster of adrenaline rushes and emotional overloads foster anxiety/panic/depression and weaken our health. Gone are the days of bone fishing on the flats, playing with the kids and sitting on a country porch far from traffic, phone and TV. To Do Daily focus on prevention, maintenance and support can help us better adapt to imbalances and stresses that affect our life in real time and as we age. “Physicians’ waiting rooms fill with patients who have chronic medical conditions-diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, depression, pain…Patients with chronic illness live with chronic illness every day…Logs of patient progress, support for self-care and connections to community resources can improve disease management.” American Medical News. November 20, 2006.
Identifying the stressors in our life and how our bodies react to them can empower us to build into our lifestyle and mindset ways to help us maintain balance in a stressful world. An assessment of present health and wellbeing in light of past and present life experiences can help shed light on chronic symptoms.
See individual Syndromes for specific therapies and helps to help you better adapt to nutritional deficiencies, imbalances, toxins, pathogens, genetic abnormalities, injury, and stresses.
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Health is more than the absence of illness or injury.
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