Causes of symptoms and diseases

Chapter 6 Causes of symptoms and diseases



The naturopathic perspective 102

Factors to consider 104
Initiating factors 104

Aggravating factors 105

Ameliorating factors 105

Associated signs and symptoms 106

Nature of symptoms 106
Onset 107

Intensity 109

Frequency 109

Causal factors 111
Disharmony with the personal essence 112

The building blocks to health 114

External and environmental factors 114

References 117

Further reading 118

Human beings are complex systems that are able to adjust to a tremendous amount of internal and external stimuli while still maintaining a homeodynamic state. Symptoms and disease arise when a patient is overwhelmed or exhausted and is no longer able to adapt and compensate to disrupting factors. The onset of signs and symptoms themselves can be a positive message; it simply indicates a need for something to be addressed or changed. The breadth of the assessment, and the perspective and beliefs that a practitioner attaches to signs and symptoms influences the outcome and the direction that a practitioner will follow.



Wholistic medicine focuses on body, emotions, mind, relationships and spirit. This extends the range of conceptualization of the causes of illnesses and of potential ways for dealing with them (Benor 2006).


The conventional medical system has a different model. For example, a book on differential diagnosis states, ‘the causes of each symptom can be analyzed by one or more of the basic sciences of anatomy, histology, physiology, and biochemistry’ (Collins 1997). Only the tangible components of the body are included, with the omission of all environmental and external factors, let alone lifestyle, the intangible, or the spiritual. In the field of naturopathic medicine, assessing the cause of symptoms and disease involves understanding the factors that initiated the state of overwhelm, not just the overt manifestation of overwhelm.



THE NATUROPATHIC PERSPECTIVE


The naturopathic perspective is that health and disease is logical; there is a meaning and purpose behind symptoms and disease states. This perspective is similar to Chinese medicine where the belief is that the continual overuse and depletion of the inherited Qi or life force is the cause of disease (Bridges 2004). Every patient requires specific internal and external nutrients, substances and qualities – such as love and a purpose to live – to function and survive. If these are not present, or they are present in excess, then they can result in a disruption in health.


Not all diseases are the result of wrong-doing, or wrong-thinking. The health and disease of human beings is interrelated to the health of the environment, external factors, their community, and to nature itself. Naturopathic medicine recognizes that there is a higher power or spiritual force that controls life and at times ‘bad’ things happen for reasons that we can’t always understand in the present moment. Yet most diseases, especially chronic diseases, are largely a result of cumulative effects on a patient’s life. Recognizing and acknowledging that health and disease follow certain laws is essential to understanding the patterns of health and disease that continuously emerge. The belief that disease is random, and that it can happen to anyone at any time, is a characteristic of the current fear-based conventional medical system. This erroneous belief separates patients from their lifestyle and from their environment; it takes away personal responsibility and environmental responsibility. It puts the emphasis of medical research on treatment instead of prevention, and on drugs and interventions instead of lifestyle education and self-responsibility. It is unrealistic and arrogant to think, or to base a medical system, on the delusion that the most complex living systems, humans, are the only living systems that do not follow the laws of Nature. What is realistic is that human beings are complex systems that are integrated and inseparable from their environment, lifestyle, family, and community. We might not fully understand all the laws of Nature, or life, but there is a difference between knowing how everything works versus believing and looking for the logic as to how everything works. For example, there was the recognition that a patient’s thoughts affected their health long before there was an understanding of how it actually happens.


Recognizing that health and disease happen for a reason does not put it in the realm of linear causality. You cannot always say that one factor alone causes disease. Human beings are complex systems, with multiple components and levels of complexity and susceptibility. For example, one belief is that germs cause disease and if exposed you are likely to get sick. The naturopathic perspective recognizes the ‘disease-carrying’ feature of germs, but puts the emphasis of whether or not a patient gets sick on their resistance and susceptibility. The germ is a variable, but the strength of a patient’s vitality, their current level of health, their current adherence to a healthy lifestyle, and their overall susceptibility has as much or more of a bearing than the germ itself; hence, the emphasis of whether or not a patient gets sick is mostly under their control, not an external factor. Human beings are complex systems and as such, their thinking is contextual; it is based on the mutual relationship between the variables and the specific nuances and considerations of each specific time and place. The aim, during any assessment process, is to determine the variables that are at play for each patient, and to what degree they are a contributing factor to the disease state.


The task of uncovering the variables that are impacting a patient’s health often is daunting due to the unlimited number of these variables and the constant increase in number of factors. One hundred years ago, even 50 years ago, the number of factors that impacted health was different; it was simpler. The introduction of vaccinations, chemicals in patient care products, plastics, fillers and additives in food, substances used in dental procedures, cell phones, computers, pesticides and insecticides, the impact of manufacturing, mining, pollution, surgery, implants, and so on, has greatly increased the factors and variables that need to be considered in order to thoroughly assess any symptom or disease state.


Although the overall number of variables is unlimited, it is limited for each patient. The purpose of an intake is to determine the breadth of factors that need to be considered. The family and lifestyle history, and the pattern of onset of symptoms, in itself, assists in focusing the assessment in a specific direction. For example, smoking is a factor, but only if a patient smokes or if they are around people who smoke. In order for a variable to be a factor, a patient needs to have had exposure. For example, to narrow the possible number of factors due to the environment, a practitioner would ask a patient about where they were born, where they grew up, how they spent their time, the age and type of house they lived in and how it was heated, the presence of factories or industry or hydro towers around them, etc. The practitioner would then take the patient’s input and correlate it with the factors that are known about an area; for example, if a patient grew up in an area where there had been mining, then heavy metal toxicity would be a consideration in the assessment. Each disease and symptom also has a number of variables that are known to be considerations. It is possible, and often valuable, to work backwards based on a patient’s presenting symptoms to expand the assessment variables.


Health and disease is a two-way continuum. Whether the body is heading toward health or disease depends on the ‘mode’ that the body is in. When the initiating factors are addressed and the body is in the mode of healing, it will heal itself provided it has the needed building blocks. On the other hand, when the symptoms are being ignored or suppressed, and the wisdom of the body is being over-ridden with drugs, surgery, or treatments that mask the symptoms, a patient might remain on a path progressing towards disease. For example, if a patient, a couple months after her daughter is killed in a car accident, is diagnosed with a breast cyst that ‘looks suspicious’, the initiating factor – the reason her body went into shock – might be the news of her daughter’s death. Having the cyst removed without addressing the psychological state does not address the root cause. In this case the mode of the patient will probably still be ‘on the path’ to disease. It is not a question of whether removing the cyst is appropriate or not; that depends on the mindset of the patient. What matters is whether or not the root cause is addressed. Simply removing the cyst might mean that a patient ‘holds the trauma’ in another, often deeper, part of the body.


It is not difficult to impose change on the body; the body is energy after all and will respond to any energetic influence that it comes in contact with. What is difficult is having the body maintain a healthy change on a cellular and energetic level. The introduction of natural or conventional therapeutics might slow down, prolong, or lessen the burden on the body but they won’t create a shift to health that holds if the body is still being triggered on some level. For change to be held, the initiating factors of disease have to be addressed.



FACTORS TO CONSIDER


When assessing the causes of symptoms and diseases it is important to look at the initiating factors, the aggravating factors and the ameliovating factors.



Initiating factors


Initiating factors cause a state of overwhelm, shock, or energetic shift. They are the root causes of symptoms and diseases. When the onset of symptoms are sudden, the initiating factor is usually an event or situation that occurred, such as an accident, a traumatic situation like being embarrassed in public for the first time, being fired, or hearing that a loved one has died, or a situation such as food poisoning, or an allergic reaction. When the onset of the symptoms is gradual, the initiating factor is usually an imbalance in the building blocks to health or chronic exposure to an external disrupting factor, like heavy metals or cigarette smoke.


Initiating factors often need to be addressed and resolved in order for the body to heal. These factors, especially when due to a specific situation, continue to signal the body that it is in a state of disharmony, that there is a problem. Addressing these initiating factors breaks the cycle or pattern of disease and allows the signal to ‘turn off’. A patient can then return to the mode of healing.


Symptoms associated with initiating factors relate to the primary site of manifestation. The primary site of manifestation is not necessarily the site with the most severe or the most notable symptoms; it is the site that is linked most closely to the factor or factors that initiated the shift away from health. The role of the naturopathic doctor is to identify the initiating factors, to address the root cause of disease, to remove the obstacles to cure, and in doing so, to stimulate the healing power of the body.



Aggravating factors


Aggravating factors intensify, minimize, or alter signs and symptoms, and they weaken a patient’s strength and healing potential. For example, consuming multiple cups of coffee a day might minimize the symptoms of fatigue, but it also aggravates the symptoms of insomnia. A patient’s constitution dictates the factors that are most likely to be aggravating. For example, a patient who has a ‘cold’ constitution will be aggravated in the winter, with cold food or by drinking cold drinks.


Often aggravating factors are considered ‘obstacles to cure’ as they maintain or intensify the state of overwhelm, preventing a patient from healing completely. These factors are typically due to deficiencies and excesses in the building blocks, or they are due to environmental and external factors. For example, a patient might be more short-tempered if they haven’t had sufficient sleep. They might find that their digestion is poor when they are angry as they tend to hold in their anger. A patient might find that when they eat any of the nightshade vegetables it affects a joint that was injured in the past. A patient tends to have recurring back pain due to poor ergonomics at work. A patient might find that consuming sugar intensifies their anxiety or blood sugar. There are many different factors that aggravate a patient. In many situations, it is helpful to improve the building blocks to health and to address the obvious external factors first, thus ‘clearing the plate’ of symptoms and making it easier to determine if there is an unresolved deeper factor.



In any given challenge to homeostasis, the ecology of the body is improved by reducing the number of factors which strain the resources that enable the body to heal itself (Mitchell 2007).



Ameliorating factors


Ameliorating factors decrease or alleviate the intensity or onset of symptoms. The factors that ameliorate symptoms often provide a guide as to what has caused the aggravation. For example, a patient might not realize that they have a headache when they do not eat, but what they do realize is that their headache goes away when they do eat. The factors that ameliorate symptoms often balance the excesses or deficiencies of the aggravating factors, or balance the constitutional state of a patient. Having patients increase their awareness of the correlation between their lifestyle and their symptoms is an important aspect of self-care.



Associated signs and symptoms


Associated signs and symptoms might hold a closer connection to the initiating and aggravating factors than the primary symptom that a patient is concerned about. For example, a patient may present with hypertension which in and of itself, does not indicate the initiating and aggravating factors. In this case, the associated signs and symptoms will provide a better guide as to the causal factors and will be a better measurement of the resolution or progression of the concern. For example, hypertension can be associated with increased toxins in the colon, with psychological stress, excesses or imbalance in diet, with urinary problems, etc. The overall effect on the body is a constriction of vessels, an increase in viscosity of fluids, or a deposition of fat particle narrowing the arteries (Lad 2005). The symptom pattern of associated signs and symptoms leads a practitioner to determine the initiating and aggravating factors.



NATURE OF SYMPTOMS


There is seldom one single factor or cause for a disease state. Typically, there are a number of factors and variables with varying degrees of impact. How and where the symptoms associated with the disease manifest, how they correlate to a patient’s constitution, lifestyle, environment, and the characteristics of the signs and symptoms, guide a practitioner to uncover the factors that caused the disruption in health. The nature of symptoms, such as the onset, intensity, and frequency provide key subjective information that assist in isolating the specific initiating and aggravating factors. They also relate to the patient’s experience of their symptoms and the impact that their symptoms are having on their life. The aim of the practitioner is to correlate the patient’s subjective experience of symptoms with the factors that caused them, and then, to look at the objective physical findings and laboratory tests to determine the degree to which the factors have disrupted the homeodynamic state.


Prior to understanding the nature of symptoms, it is important to recognize those factors that might be distorting the normal response of the body. For example, prescription medication, supplements, and even some treatments might alter the true expression of bodily symptoms. The more a patient is medicated, the more likely the true symptoms are being suppressed and overridden. In this situation, the symptoms are more likely to be an indication of how the body is responding to medication or treatment; not necessarily a reflection of how a patient is responding to the factors that disrupted health.


Understanding the characteristics or nature of symptoms requires an in-depth knowledge of anatomy, physiology, pathology, and the medical sciences, as well as an understanding of the mechanism of action of drugs and supplements, and the impact of other forms of treatment. It requires an appreciation and recognition of the body as a complex holistic system that is energetic, integrated and changing all the time. Symptoms are a wonderful diagnostic road map that can be interpreted by a skilled practitioner. A skilled practitioner also recognizes that there is not always a direct correlation between the discomfort that a patient is experiencing and the degree of risk to health. For example, the presence of pain might be very distressing to a patient and dramatically impact their quality of life, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that their health concerns are of high risk.



Onset


The onset is about when signs and symptoms started. The strength of a patient’s constitution, their susceptibilities, and the type and severity of the impact all influence when signs and symptoms start to appear.



The dimension which contributes most to the organization and clarity of the history is chronology. Dates and times serve to anchor the history in such a way that relationships between symptoms and events can be more clearly seen (Morgan & Engel 1969).


The shift from homeodynamic state can be thought of as a process due to a sudden insult, a gradual insult or progressive insult.


• The sudden onset of symptoms typically occurs directly after a significant situation; for example, a fall, a car accident, a heart attack, a natural disaster, an emotional shock, or a stressful situation. Whenever a patient links the onset of symptoms with a specific date, event, or situation, then something about that event has likely contributed to the state of overwhelm. The sudden onset of symptoms can also indicate an acute healing response, such as a fever at the onset of flu, or vomiting and diarrhea after eating bad food, or a skin reaction to a food that a patient has a high IgE hypersensitivity reaction to. When the onset is sudden, the body goes into a state of overwhelm and there is a dramatic shift or change in some aspect which alerts a patient to the need to pay attention, to change, to react or to take notice. There are times when a sudden event, such as a heart attack, is due to dissipative lifestyle (excessive consumption of food and drink, stressful work, sedentary lifestyle, poor sleep habits) and then a seemingly small situation becomes ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back.’

Related posts:

  1. The changing perspectives of health and medicine from the ancient era to the postmodern era
  2. Traditional and complementary systems of medicine
  3. Health and disease
  4. Symptom patterns

Stay updated, free articles. Join our Telegram channel
Tags:
Mar 24, 2017 | Posted by in NURSING | Comments Off on Causes of symptoms and diseases

Full access? Get Clinical Tree
Get Clinical Tree app for offline access