Common Health Problems

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Everyone has coughs, colds, fever, constipation, fatigue, sore throat, diarrhoea, headache, indigestion, acidity, rashes, boils etc once in a while. They are so much a part of our daily life that we have accepted them as normal. They are not considered disease..? A variety of reasons- germs, viruses, bacteria, change in the weather are blamed for these problems. Typically we transfer the blame to anything outside the body, anything outside of our behaviour. Once the blame has been transferred, once the culprit has been identified, how does one handle these problems? Simple. Pop a pill

 

While this may work in certain cases, such as bacterial infections, popping a pill is not always the answer. Many diseases are not caused by germs eg: a headache/. Popping a pill just masks the symptoms, and does not address the cause. In the short term, it may work, but in the long run, it creates further problems

 

Illnesses and Health issues are of different kinds

 

• Bacterial infections – antibiotics are useful here. But we have to be careful not to overuse them, which causes antibiotic resistance.

• Viral infections – these are largely self-limiting. People say it takes seven days for a person to recover from a cold without medicines, and one week with medicines. In certain cases, antiviral drugs are called for

• Acute illnesses caused by eating spoilt food or drink or over-exerting oneself, exposing oneself to extreme heat or cold etc

• Problems caused by accidents/trauma

• Chronic illnesses such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol which account for the bulk of the deaths caused by disease. 

 

Where are drugs useful? 

Here is an illustrative list of situations when IMMEDIATE conventional medical/surgical care is necessary

 

* Splinting/casting of severe bone fractures.

* Cardio-pulmonary emergencies.

* Organ failure emergencies; liver, kidney, etc.

* Severe shock; hypovolemic, anaphylactic, etc.

* Extended anoxia due to severe acute asthma, grand mal seizure, pneumothorax, etc.

* Severe dehydration due to vomiting, diarrhoea, etc.

* Reconstructive surgery - cleft palate, defects of the heart, other congenital defects, injuries, etc.

* Elective surgery - cataracts, unstable chronic hernias, late-stage prostatic hypertrophy, unresolved abscesses.

* Obstetrics - life or death emergencies

* Severe Diarrhea (lasting for more than a couple of days), or eczema, pyoderma, skin infections etc

* Traumas/ bites/ wounds causing life or death emergencies.

* Bacterial Infections

* Few viral infections

- Covid

* Problems where the symptoms/pains are unbearable and immediate relief is required. Eg Urticaria

 

In these and similar cases, Medical attention and drugs may well be required to resolve the immediate problem, relieve the pains and symptoms, stop the bleeding, infection etc. These should not be held back but administered at the earliest.

 

Only a certain percentage of cases will fall into the categories above requiring immediate medical attention - and these will be fairly obvious. In the vast majority of cases, especially for lifestyle diseases, which are the main causes of death today -pills do not work. But we keep taking pills for everything.

 

According to Natural Hygiene, germs do NOT cause All disease. Germs do complicate them, make it worse, but they are not always the ORIGINAL cause. A good example is if you have garbage lying around the house, flies will accumulate around it. These flies will bring further problems. But are the flies the cause of the garbage? Is the garbage there because of the flies, or is it the other way around?

 

CAUSE OF DISEASE

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Here’s why Natural Hygiene says that  viruses and bacteria are not the principal, original cause of all disease:

 

(1) If this were indeed the cause, if two people are exposed to the same problem, the same germ, the same food etc, then both should fall sick. Our common experience shows that this does not happen. Two people have the same thing - one falls ill and the other stays healthy. How does this happen??  Traditionally, this is explained away by saying that the immune system of the person who did not fall sick was stronger. Well, in that case, does it not make sense to keep the immune system strong so the body does not fall prey to disease? So if this is done, germs will not always be able to get the better of the body. And one way to do this is by following the principles in this site.

 

(2) Let us say you fall ill. Say you have a cough, cold or fever. If it is a viral infection, in most cases it is self-limiting. It will go away on its own, as the body handles the situation. You can help the process by resting, drinking a lot of fluids and eating as light a diet as possible. So popping a pill is not always the answer – unless it is a paracetamol tablet to give you symptomatic relief

 

According to conventional wisdom, the immune system of this person’s body was weak or at least not strong enough to fight off the germs. The germs got the upper hand, defeated the body's defences, and the person fell sick. Now here is when the medicines are required, to kill off the germs so the body can get healthy again.

 

But here quite the contrary happens. You have a person's body, which has been compromised, the immune system defeated, the germs ascendant. Now, not only does this person NOT take any medicines to kill the germs, but instead, goes to bed, and takes rest and minimises his food intake. This will surely make the person weaker, less able to resist the germs on the rampage. The germs have already won the battle, made the person sick, now they will surely win the war. The person will get worse as the germs attack and destroy the body until he falls more seriously ill and dies.

 

But what happens is quite the opposite. The person recovers and gets well. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? How did the body, weakened and overcome by germs, and which got the disease, now further weakened by reducing food intake, become able to fight off the germs and recover health?

 

(3) A vast majority of lifestyle diseases- high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, and heart disease, for example – are not caused by germs at all. So popping a pill has little value here beyond masking the symptoms. Here’s where the Natural Hygienic view of disease and cure comes into play.

 

It has three components:

 

- The Theory of Unity of disease

- The Theory of Unity of cause of disease

- The theory of Unity of cure

 

The theory of the unity of acute disease

Leaving apart diseases that may be caused by bacterial infections. Natural Hygiene believes there are no different diseases like cough, cold, fever etc. There is only one disease dis-ease. This disease manifests itself in different people in different ways as a cough, cold, fever etc. But basically, it is just one disease, showing up in different ways. If the body is not allowed to handle and overcome the disease, then it comes back, later, more seriously as ulcer, pneumonia, gastritis etc so-called chronic disease. And then finally it becomes degenerative disease like cancer.

 

SO what hygienists talk is about the disease continuum. And what begins this whole thing? In one word, Toxaemia or accumulation of toxins in the body beyond its tolerable limit.

 

In our normal day to day life, as part of metabolism, a lot of toxic products are created. These wastes are eliminated every day and we stay healthy. However, this process takes energy (nerve energy) and if for any reason if there is a shortage of nerve energy, this elimination process is hampered and toxins build up in the system. Once the level of toxins goes beyond the body's tolerance level, it initiates the process of disease, to eliminate the toxins. So when you have a cold, a running nose, diarrhoea, the body is eliminating toxins. Once the toxins are eliminated, the body stops the disease process and health returns.

 

So in many cases, disease, far from being caused by malignant germs, is a healthful process ie it facilitates a return to health. And far from being controlled by germs, very often, the disease is a process initiated, controlled and terminated by the body.

 

Now if we let the body alone to do its job by going to bed, resting, and not putting in any food in our stomachs, thus relieving the body of the heavy burden of digestion, the body recovers quickly. But what do we do? We put medicines and drugs inside which are generally toxic and inorganic substances.

 

Except in the cases mentioned above,  there is no doubt that drugs and medicines are harmful. No one in his right mind will take drugs and medicines if they are well. It will make them sick. Will no one stop to ask, how can something that makes a healthy person sick, make a sick person healthy?

 

Everything in nature has some properties. If something is healthy, it is healthy for everyone as a rule. And poison is a poison to all. Except in the cases mentioned above, where we have to take drugs - it is illogical to believe that the same thing is a poison for healthy people but yet a cure for the sick person

 

But how do drugs work? In most cases, they work by suppressing the symptoms. Think of a situation where your house is on fire. The fire alarm starts ringing. Do you think, that by switching the alarm off, the fire will go away?

 

When the symptoms are suppressed., you feel better. You think you are "cured". But what has happened is that the toxins remain inside.

 

And as you keep adding more toxins, when the body has sufficient energy, it will again start the disease process. Again you suppress it with drugs. This goes on, organs of the body get damaged. Each time the disease gets more and more serious until one fine day, years later, you die.

 

The Theory of Unity of Cause of Disease

 

So, as per the Hygienic view, the theory of the unity of cause of most diseases is one - accumulation of toxins. Toxins are accumulated because of hampered elimination. And why is elimination hampered? Because of a shortage of nerve energy. And what causes this shortage - now we come to faulty living habits improper food, in wrong quantities, at wrong times, not enough or too much exercise, rest, sleep, sunshine, fresh air, poison habits such as drugs, alcohol, tobacco, pollution even negative thoughts drain our nerve energy. When we do not give the body all its needs in appropriate quantities and ways, it results in a shortage of nerve energy, hampered elimination, accumulation of toxins, and then acute disease. If suppressed with drugs, this leads to chronic disease and then degenerative disease and death. That is, in a nutshell, the hygienic view of disease and its causes.

 

The Theory of Unity of Cure of Disease

 

And what about the cure? Hygiene believes there is no such thing as a cure. There is only healing. And the body is self-healing. If you fall sick, from acute ailments like cough, cold, fever etc – and these are not caused by a bacterial infection - then you ought to go to bed, and take rest so that all the body's energy is conserved and redirected towards the healing process. You should greatly reduce your eating– fast if possible if there is no appetite. The enormous energy required for digestion will also be saved. You will then heal faster.

 

Once you have healed, you will have to stop the excesses and poison habits and live a healthful life as described in this site. If you don't do this and go back to your old ways, this will again lead to enervation, checking of elimination of toxins, toxaemia and disease the cycle begins. There is no way out the process which caused the disease in the first place will surely cause it again. So the way to restore health when sick is to give the body a chance to eliminate the toxins by not coming in its way .. and then following a healthy lifestyle. It's that simple! Or is it?

 

The problem is that this theory puts the responsibility for your health, for your sickness, and your healing/cure, squarely on your shoulders. You cannot pass the buck to doctor, medicines and drugs. You are responsible for your lack of health, and you are responsible for getting well. IT is a painful process, you have to go through it, you have to pay the bills for your sins of omission and commission regarding health. And it will take time. All this requires discipline and character to accept and implement, Unfortunately, most people today don't want to accept responsibility for their actions, for their health and their recovery. They want an easy way out even if it causes problems in the long run. They don't even want to look at their lifestyle being responsible for their problems.

 

So, to summarise, disease is not always caused by germs. And in these cases, interfering with the disease, using drugs, is harmful. Animals know this very well. Look at what a pet dog does when it falls sick. It will refuse food. It will go and rest in a quiet, dark place until it gets better. If only we knew so much!

 

So coming back to all our common health problems like cough, cold etc - they are all signals that we are not living healthfully, there is an excess of toxins in our body which it is trying to eliminate. The wisest course is not to interfere, and later rectify faulty living habits and start living healthfully to prevent the recurrence.

 

Of course, at times, the pain and discomfort may be too much and it may not be possible to follow this. So you might resort to medicines and drugs for symptomatic relief. But remember, that's all they do. That's like shutting the fire alarm off when there is a fire. It does not deal with the underlying problem. So you have to adopt a healthy lifestyle if you want to enjoy lifelong good health

 

The good news in all this is this

 

SICKNESS AND DISEASE IS NOT INEVITABLE

ONE CAN LIVE TO A RIPE OLD AGE WITHOUT EVER FALLING ILL OR SICK

LIFELONG GOOD HEALTH (FREEDOM FROM DISEASE) IS VERY MUCH POSSIBLE

and is being experienced by Natural Hygienists worldwide, including the author of this site!

 

For more information, Read Dr Tilden's book, "Toxemia explained" which covers all this, and more. This book, written in the 1920s by a medical doctor who lost faith in drugs, explains the true cause of disease and its cure.  The book is out of print but you can find it online.