If it is not for the greater good, it should not be accepted, or even tolerated. Yet, we citizens of the United States have been lulled into a state of complacency that has us ignoring just about every facet of our government and its favoritism toward the few. The field of health care is one area of gross tolerance of policies that benefit the few, not the majority.
Standard of Care generally refers to algorithms that determine the care to be given by most medical physicians and hospitals and paid for by insurance companies. That standard of care has led to the leading causes of death in the U.S. being suicide by lifestyle diseases for this entire century. Top spots on this parade of hits are heart disease, diabetes, cancer, stroke, influenza (or covid), respiratory disease and Alzheimer’s disease.
We live in a society that appears to be addicted to the latest and greatest technology. Yet, we accept substandard healthcare that has failed to rid society of any chronic lifestyle disease. In fact it hasn’t even managed to reduce the death toll of those diseases for over 40 years. We should question how society has made so many technological advances, yet watches the populace die from the diseases in the previous paragraph. Ask yourself, why has health care has not seen significant advances in addressing the leading causes of death? In a world of explosive knowledge growth, how is it that the same leading causes of death in the U.S. nearly 45 years ago are the same leading causes of death today?
To answer these questions it is necessary to comprehensively look at all of the things that can affect health and wellness. We must evaluate mental, physical, chemical, and spiritual stress aspects of health and wellness. That includes evaluating toxins, pathogens, diet and other lifestyle factors. An intricate web is woven by all these factors that can either elevate us or tear us down.
Everything listed above is a potential source of inflammation. When health is in the process of being torn down, then inflammation is at the root of it. No matter what the source is, inflammation will usually be associated with the digestive system which some believerates as high as 70% of the immune system.
Once the digestive system breaks down, then toxins and pathogens have an easier path to causing chronic, or acute, disease. Undigested proteins and bacteria can leak out of the gut and cause auto immune processes that may turn into diagnosable autoimmune diseases. As organs and glands break down during this process symptoms like high and low blood pressure, high and low blood sugar can cause further symptoms. These may include foggy brain, dizziness, cold hands and feet, rashes, congestion…… A symptom list that is nearly endless.
The good news? We have choices. We can eat proinflammatory processed foods like sugars, saturated fats, white flours and gluten; or eat live foods that have no or limited processing. The choice that is made will relate to obesity, stress and sleep, and every other facet of wellness. Those factors regulate to a great degree the release of inflammatory chemicals into the blood stream and tissues. Chronic systemic inflammation is the cause of diagnosable disease!
That point cannot be overstated. We have some control of the amount of inflammation we encourage and produce. Thus, we have some control of our health and wellness. Eat well, think well, drink well and move well if you want to feel well. That is the formula to avoid or stave off the chronic inflammatory diseases that are the leading causes of death in the U.S.
If you are already unhealthy and have been aware of this for many years, there is likely a path forward to feeling better – without pharmaceuticals. How much effort are you willing to put into feeling well? Realize that when there has been years or decades of damage in a body there is no silver bullet. It takes time to heal the body, tissue by tissue.
The path of reversal can be quite complicated. Further complicating that path is the amount of information available on the internet. Never in history has there been so much self-diagnosis. People often see an ad, infomercial, study, etc. and identify with a symptom(s). Then they buy a product or a program. What they fail to realize is that there is a tremendous overlap of signs and symptoms for a myriad of possible conditions. We all are unique to some degree. What worked for one does not work for all. Some people come to my office with dozens of supplements because they have self-diagnosed. They come to the office because that approach did not work. They need to be assessed as the unique individual they are.
That is what my job is. We assess an individual’s strengths and weaknesses. Then the work of rehabilitaing the nervous system begins. The job is to strip away the months, years, or decades of damage their lifestyle has caused to their nervous system. Only in rare cases is the answer to become a slave to some supplement or pharmaceutical for the remainder of life. The objective is to re-establish the innate ability to heal, adapt and grow the nervous system as most of us were born to do. I always tell a patient that there is no sense in starting down this path if they are not ready to be disciplined and patient. Until a person stops the assault of pathogens and toxins on the nervous system they are inviting in the myriad of lifestyle diseases that are the leading cause of death in the United States.
Are you ready to feel better? Dr. Pat Dougherty is a holistic chiropractor in Spokane, Washington. He uses muscle testing to evaluate the health of every bodily system as well as food intolerances. Located at 2110 N Washington St. He can be reached by phone at the office, 509-327-4373; or on his business cell phone at 509-844-4206. It is $95 for an initial exam and insurance is not accepted.
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