Healthcare: Treating the Symptoms and Not the Problem

We experience symptoms of illness (ie high blood pressure or dysbiosis)  as a sign that something within the body is not working as it should. The presence of symptoms should alert a person that the body has become imbalanced in some way, so that action can be taken to restore balance and function. Instead, most people are taught to treat the symptoms only. Examples would be taking pain relievers to control pain or using muscle relaxers for muscle spasms or even blood pressure pills and statin drugs to help with risk factors for heart disease. This unfortunately does not correct the underlying imbalance that caused the dysfunction and symptom to result. The true problem may continue creating imbalances in the body's system until more serious conditions manifest. 

There are few cases of "one cause, one cure" that happen in the human body. Pursuing health means maximizing the function of all the body's intrinsic systems as well as the brain. This is a completely different concept than what we usually encounter in healthcare. Often asked is the question: "will my insurance cover that?" when explaining health-building strategies, and the answer is almost always a "no." The reason is that insurance companies sell disease care policies, not health care policies. The number of pure health building interventions that are covered, if any, can often be counted on one hand. For example, does insurance cover nutritional supplements, gym memberships, yoga classes, new bicycles, probiotic foods, kitchen tools such as a VitaMix and similar items? Perhaps some of these are covered items in some countries, but not in the United States. Nothing that prevents cancer is covered, but annual early detection is, to see if your have it yet. The "system" is geared toward specific treatment for a specific disease, and yet almost all diseases have several factors or circumstances as causes. If a person falls and breaks a wrist, the doctor that treats that wrist has a very specific job. If the patient instead has arthritis and migraines, what are the causes? Inflammation, poor diet, biomechanical issues, lifestyle, genetics--four out of five of these are variables that we have control over and yet often do nothing about.

Adapted from The Symboint Factor by Richard Matthews DC DACNB FACFN

Adrenal Fatigue is Not a Recognized Disease

A doctor's acute skills of observation, physical examination and deductive reasoning, which used to be considered his most essential diagnostic tool, have now been replaced by reliance on narrowly interpreted lab-tests and lists of numerical diagnoses allowable by insurance plans. The health insurance industry has forced the entire practice of medicine to restrict itself to pre-approved numbered codes for both the diagnosis and the treatment of all health conditions. Drugs or even surgery are usually the only therapies offered by modern medicine, even when they are inappropriate. So if an illness does not show up clearly on a lab test or fit a diagnostic code, and if there is no known surgical or drug treatment for the symptoms, then it is as though the problem is not real.

Medical doctors of today are constricted by medical licensing boards, the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries, and their patients' expectation of quick recovery. As a result of these influences and a certain bias in their training, they think and practice primarily pharmaceutical medicine, seeking to prescribe the appropriate drug for the condition. Because of the ever-present threat of a malpractice suit and the conservative influence of peer review boards, medical doctors have become much less willing and able to try something different to help their patients...

...In addition to the fact that medical training is now dependent on huge pharmaceutical corporation for funding, modern medicine is currently in the stranglehold of insurance companies.  Under our present medical system, most physicians' incomes come primarily from insurance companies. Paperwork created by the insurance industry and licensing boards that required of therapists, physicians, clinics and hospitals demands that each patient be given what is called an "ICD" (International Classification of Disease) code for their medical condition. This ICD code puts a name on your disease or condition. No one can fit in the cracks. You must have an ICD code to classify your illness. Despite the fact that it is absurd to assume that all patients will fit into a description found in some pre-designed code-book, everyone is required to have an ICD. If there is no ICD the financial medicine wheel quickly comes to a halt for that patient and for the doctor treating them. Records are incomplete without codes and bills cannot be submitted to insurance companies without them. Consequently, physicians must identify the patient's with an ICD code or the insurance companies will not pay for them. 

Because adrenal fatigue is not a recognized disease, it is not in the ICD code book and is often misdiagnosed.