Today’s post is going to make you think a little bit and perhaps challenge some things that you thought were fairly obvious. You may think “Dr. Schuneman, of course I know when I am sick because I feel terrible!” How you feel can be an indicator that something is wrong, but there are many problems that do not have any noticeable symptoms, at least not at first. To go even further, what about when you don’t feel well but your body is actually reacting to something in a very healthy way?
Healthy or Sick?
Here is an example of what I mean. You went to try this great new restaurant that you heard so many good things about. You go out and enjoy yourself and the food tastes great! You get home and relax for a while and then you start not feeling so well. The next thing you know, you are vomiting like there is no tomorrow because something you ate was bad. Now if I were to ask you if you were sick or healthy at that moment, you would probably say you were sick and think I was crazy if I said your body was healthy.
I will have to agree that having food poisoning is not fun. You feel terrible, and in general, this is what we would call being sick. However, let me point out that your body’s reaction to the toxic food was actually very healthy. Think about it. What could have happened if you didn’t get rid of that toxic load or even ended up taking some drug to prevent the body from getting rid of it? Would that be a very healthy thing to do? Probably not.
The body’s reaction to the toxins in the food was very healthy. The body wanted to get rid of the toxins as fast as it could and that unfortunately means vomiting. But this is actually the best thing that could happen because vomiting gets rid of the toxins before they can do more damage and harm to the body. Now I don’t want to get too stuck on what being sick means, but I hope you can agree that getting rid of the toxins was a good thing even if it didn’t feel good.
Good or Bad?
Here is another example along the same lines. Your child was out in the rain yesterday playing without their coat. Today they are coughing, sneezing, and running a fever of 102 degrees. So what do you do? “Give them something to bring that fever down and stop the coughing and sneezing,” you may think.
Well hold on just a minute. Let’s think about why the body is running a fever, coughing and sneezing. First, the body increases its temperature to help fight off infections. There are many benefits to a fever. Many bacteria do not function as well at a higher temperature, plus the fever increases both the body’s metabolism and the function of white blood cells, giving the body an advantage in its fight to get well.
“But fevers are dangerous!” you say. I know there is a fear about a high fever doing damage to the brain. According to MedlinePlus – A service of the US National Library of Medicine – “Brain damage from a fever generally will not occur unless the fever is over 107.6 °F (42 °C). Untreated fevers caused by infection will seldom go over 105 °F unless the child is overdressed or trapped in a hot place.” So unless the fever is extremely high this is not very likely.
Second, the coughing and sneezing are ways to help the body get rid of wastes and the bacteria or virus that is causing the problem. Most likely the invader got in through the respiratory tract, and the body is trying to flush it out and get rid of any others that may still be there. Also when fighting off an infection there are many wastes created, and coughing and sneezing help get rid of those wastes products too.
So while you may be “sick,” the body’s reaction in these situations is actually very healthy. If you did something to get rid of the symptoms in these situations, it would most likely do more harm than good. The body is intelligent and has reasons for why it reacts the way it does.
Conclusion
I hope this has made you think a little differently about health and sickness. Please appreciate the intelligence our bodies inherently have and consider this when you are making a choice about getting rid of some symptom. Is it addressing the real problem or not? If you found this post interesting please share it! If you would like more information about how the body works and addressing the cause of disease contact our office.
