Biological Dysfunctions

Have you ever wondered how a disease gradually develops in your body?

Initially, when your body becomes biochemically or hormonally imbalanced, it sends us warning signs that something is wrong -- long before you find out from your doctor. These warning signs are called Symptoms.

Some of the more common and "innocent" symptoms that we tend to ignore include:
-- Fatigue
-- Headache
-- Upset Stomach
-- Constipation/Diarrhea
-- Irritability
-- Weight Gain
-- Unexplained Weight Loss
-- Loss of Appetite
-- Cravings
-- Brain Fog
-- Memory Loss
-- Sexual Dysfunction (Erectile Dysfunction)
-- Persistent Cough

Unfortunately, most of us ignore these signs unless they are painful or impeding us from going to work or from performing day-to-day activities.

As depicted in the diagram, these symptoms, if ignored, gradually develop into more serious symptoms, which can lead to cellular dysfunction; and, then, a major Biological Dysfunction; and, finally, a full-blown Disease.

Unfortunately, your doctor doesn't really know what blood tests to perform for any of these biological dysfunctions. Why? Because there is no drug that your doctor can prescribe -- until you develop a full blown disease or a health condition that your doctor can measure, e.g. high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, microalbumin.

Most of these diseases and health conditions are fueled by one or more of the following 7 biological dysfunctions, which are the pre-cursors to most of these diseases:
-- Chronic Inflammation
-- Oxidative Stress
-- Nutritional Deficiencies, Impaired Digestion/Absorption
-- Biochemical/Hormonal Imbalances
-- Toxicity
-- Protein Glycation
-- Impaired Immunity (Impaired Repair/Healing, Frequent Infections)

There are hundreds of other biological dysfunctions, but these are the key ones that fuel most diseases and that we will be discussing during the next several posts.

Note: If your doctor measured and tested these biological dysfunctions, we could easily prevent 90% of these diseases from becoming fully developed and wreaking severe damage to our cells, tissues and organs that leads to heart disease, cancer, heart attacks, strokes, hospital stays, surgeries, etc..

If I had to select one of these biological dysfunctions as the Number 1 Health Problem, I would probably select Inflammation (or Nutritional Deficiencies). Why? Because Inflammation (and Nutritional Deficiencies) are interdependent and connected to all of the other biological dysfunctions.

Because these biological dysfunctions are interdependent and inter-related, some of them trigger other dysfunctions and create a feedback loop that causes one dysfunction to fuel another, which, in turn, fuels the previous dysfunction, creating a continuous loop of cellular and tissue damage that eventually leads to a major disease.

As depicted in the diagrams, a disease develops when your body goes through the following stages: Biological Changes, 1-2 Symptoms, Multiple Symptoms, Increased Severity of Symptoms, Organ/System Dysfunction, Health Conditions, Health Impairment, Stages of Decline (Mild, Moderate, Severe), Disease, Multiple Diseases, Levels of Debilitation; and, if these is no intervention, the final stage is Death.

The good news is that all of these biological dysfunctions can be prevented, interrupted or reversed -- long before you develop a full-blown disease or health condition that lands you in the hospital!

In addition, if you have already been diagnosed with a disease, most of these biological dysfunctions can be reversed -- long before the disease becomes more serious and lands you in the hospital!

What to Do
And, yet, despite this information and the overwhelming statistics, most of us don't expect to end up in the hospital or die anytime soon. As a result, most of us won't make any changes until we have a health crisis.

However, for those of you who want to be proactive and prevent a health crisis, there are some simple things that you can do.

Proactive Steps
Here are some of the proactive steps to take to address this before it develops into a more serious problem.
-- Educate yourself about nutrition, disease, drugs, etc. -- don't expect your doctor to have all the answers.
-- Pay attention to your body and be aware of your symptoms, especially if they persist or become more severe.
-- Get an annual physical exam, plus additional tests for hormone levels, inflammation markers, vitamin/mineral deficiencies, heavy metals, etc.
-- Start eating a healthier diet that is rich in vegetables, fruits, plant oils, fish, beans, nuts and seeds.
But, don't deprive yourself of your favorite foods -- treat yourself every once in a while. This will allow you to stick with your dietary changes.
-- Take a brisk 20-30-minute walk 5 days a week.
-- Work with a naturopath, homeopath, health coach or other healthcare professional that is versed in nutritional science and has the skills to perform a nutrient gap analysis. This is critical step, because this will help to determine what is really going on inside your body.
-- Use wholefood supplementation to close nutritional gaps. Avoid synthetic supplements at all cost.
-- Try to avoid depending on medications to manage your disease.