The importance of being ill

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Illness as a message

Finally the increasing number of us who are being affected by chronic complaints such as headaches, skin rashes, catarrh and breathing difficulties may be giving us an important message.  Environmental doctors would say that many of us are quite literally “allergic” to the 20^th century.

We are all being bombarded with chemicals and toxins throughout the day.  Our children suffer more because their immune systems are still developing and because they are smaller and thus are taking in more toxins per pound of body weight than adults.

We may not be able to shut down the factory down the road, but we can take steps to improve the immediate environment in their homes and schools. What is more, although it may be contentious, it is also worth wondering why many adults will move house to get a better job or to have an easier journey to work or be closer to a goo school, but few consider moving house to acquire better health and health care for themselves and their families. Instead many cling to belief that the body is a machine – and if something goes wrong any available doctor/mechanic will be able to fix it.

Meeting the challenge

Illness always challenges us in those places where we are most unsure of ourselves and also most unsupported.  As such it is easy to fall prey to the idea that we don’t know what’s going on or that we are missing something important.

Rarely do we stop to think of how often GPs in crowded surgeries miss something important or simply don’t know. Often, if person walks in with a collection of vague symptoms they are more than likely to be told that there’s “something going round” or “it’s probably a virus”.  This is not a medical diagnosis, it’s a guess.

Under these conditions when a doctor writes our a prescription for medication it is usually to address a patient’s concern and frustration as much, if not more, than it does the actual illness.

To be health conscious is to understand that there is always “something” which is “going around”. There are viruses and bacteria in us and around us all the time.  The virus which causes flu or measles may be inside you or your children right now.

But you are not ill because you immune system is working efficiently. What makes you susceptible to these things – allergies, run down immune system, emotional distress –  is the real question and one which can’t be answered by the latest miracle drug.