A Symptomatic Approach to a Chronic Condition will make you....A Slave to your Remedies.

A Symptomatic Approach to a Chronic Condition will make you....

A Slave to your Remedies.

I regularly get people coming into the apothecary asking me what herb can I recommend for a specific problem. In many of these cases the problem is an acute, one-off, condition. So, I consult with them briefly and offer them a solution that will support their body's own natural attempts to resolve its imbalance.

However, all too often, someone will come in asking for a simple, symptomatic, solution to what is obviously a chronic problem. On further questioning it becomes evident that there is a history of recurring and evolving dis-ease, the latest symptom, for which they seek a remedy, being the body's most recent attempt to adapt and cope with the ongoing underlying cause.

Taking a symptomatic approach to a chronic condition will simply make you a slave to your remedies. What this means is, where there is a deeper underlying cause, using symptomatic remedies will not cure the condition. As soon as you stop taking the remedies the symptoms will return, often with a vengeance. This is true be they herbal or pharmaceutical remedies. This process enslaves you to the remedies indefinitely.

I understand that people have money concerns and the thought of committing to, seemingly, more expensive consultations seems daunting for some. While, at the time, a symptomatic approach may seem a wise and cheaper solution, this is a false economy. As the underlying cause remains untreated, the condition will evolve. The initial acute and sub-acute stages of expulsion will give was to the storage stages of chronic and degenerative disease as the body's vitality wanes. The condition will go deeper and become more complex resulting in a host of new symptoms, each requiring a new symptomatic remedy. Once organic change occurs in the final degenerative stage, the dye is cast. By this point, although some relief may be offered to improve the quality of life, in many cases there will be no road back to a self-contained level of health. Multiple remedies cost more and, as they will not resolve the underlying problem, will continually be needed over the coming months, years, decades. Work this out on a calculator and it will become clear why a symptomatic approach to chronic conditions offers a false economy.

A holistic approach is not a new idea. It goes back thousands of years when some of our most cherished thinkers sought to implement a society that put the welfare of humanity (if only their brand of humanity) ahead of all other concerns. However, somewhere along the way society became diseased and our concept of what health is became distorted. In the continuous pursuit of getting things done faster we lost sight of the importance of the quality of life...of its natural rhythms....and of the importance of taking personal responsibility for our health. We have bought in to the smoke and mirrors of science offering us quick solutions to complex problems (and when they found out how much money was to be made in so doing, there was no incentive to turn back). The fastest route is not always the best....and the real price we pay in the long run can be shocking.

Health and Happiness

The Green Man.