Homeostasis and disease
Human homeostasis is derived from the Greek, homeo or "same", and stasis or "stable" and means remaining stable or remaining the same.
The human body manages a multitude of highly complex interactions to maintain balance or return systems to functioning within a normal range. These interactions within the body facilitate compensatory changes supportive of physical and psychological functioning. This process is essential to the survival of the person and to our species. The liver, the kidneys, and the brain (hypothalamus, the autonomic nervous system and the endocrine system help maintain homeostasis. The liver is responsible for metabolizing toxic substances and maintaining carbohydrate metabolism. The kidneys are responsible for regulating blood water levels, re-absorption of substances into the blood, maintenance of salt and ion levels in the blood, regulation of blood pH, and excretion of urea and other wastes.
An inability to maintain homeostasis may lead to death or a disease, a condition known as homeostatic imbalance. For instance, heart failure may occur when negative feedback mechanisms become overwhelmed and destructive positive feedback mechanisms take over. Other diseases which result from a homeostatic imbalance include diabetes, dehydration, hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia, gout and any disease caused by the presence of a toxin in the bloodstream. Medical intervention can help restore homeostasis and possibly prevent permanent damage to the organs.
causes of disease
Trying to research the formation process of many diseases doesn't require as much time as we might think. Even though every person's body is as unique as our fingerprints, the general outline of disease process is roughly the same. In simple terms, every health problem, from a simple rush or allergy to cancer on one of our organs, is a disorder of the whole body. Whatever name we give it, its cause is the accumulation of toxins. The toxins come from two sources:
From outside with food, air, water, medications, etc.
Produced in our body as a result of its own life processes and life processes of bacteria living in it.
Undigested food forms deposits in the large intestine and becomes breeding ground for toxin-producing bacteria. Toxins are absorbed by intestinal walls and blood carries them to all our organs, where they cause diseases. To make the point, I'll use a drastic example of experiments done by the Nazis during the Second World War. They took the contents of the large intestine from prisoners suffering from chronic constipation, made serum from it, and injected healthy prisoners with it. Depending on the amount of serum, the injections resulted in psychological disorders, burst blood vessels, and strokes.
The throat gets ill because the kidneys don't function properly. Kidneys malfunction because people use bedding that is to warm and wear warm air tight clothing. Kidney disease distorts skin breathing and other skin function. Poor functioning of skin and kidneys leads to liver disease, and these are followed by irregularities in circulatory and digestive systems. Resulting constipation causes autotoxication (self-poisoning) in the body, accompanied by headaches. Blood vessels in the brain expand and are ready to burst. When a blood vessel bursts (micro-stroke), the damage done in the brain can affect all bodily systems and can result in psychosis, schizophrenia, dementia, hearing impairment, vision disorders, large intestine disorders, gallbladder and kidney stones, rheumatism, etc.
When food isn't fully digested and absorbed, undigested pieces decompose in the large intestine. One of the products is carbon monoxide. It binds with hemoglobin to produce a toxic compound, which accumulates and causes damage to our body, especially the circulatory system.
Various body movements can often cause minute dislocations of vertebrae; the muscles around a dislocated vertebra stiffen up and prevent it from moving back to its proper position. This results in progressive nerve and muscle inflammation, causing pain and limiting our range of motion.
A dislocated vertebra creates pressure on nerves and blood vessels that are connected with specific muscles and organs. If a nerve remains under pressure for a long time, the organ depending on that nerve develops pathologies that are hard to cure. The following health problems are associated with dislocations in corresponding spinal sections:
Cervical - Allergies, loss of hearing, sight problems, eczema, throat problems, thyroid gland disorders; Thoracic - Asthma, pain in the lower arms, back pains, gall bladder disorders, liver problems, stomach and duodenum ulcers, kidney diseases, skin disorders (acne, rashes, eczema, boils);
Lumbar - Hemorrhoids, bladder disorders, irregular menstrual cycle, menstrual pains, impotence, knee pain, lumbago, lumbar pain, poor blood circulation in the legs, ankle swelling, cold feet, weak legs, muscular cramps in the legs.
All health disorders reflect unhealthy lifestyle - wrong diet, improper breathing, poor sleep, lack of exercise, and negative thinking - we lead from our childhood to old age. The long chain of health problems can originate from minute changes in the spine caused by incorrect sleeping position and lack of exercise.
These changes can lead to impairment in skin function and deficiency of oxygen in the body. The process intensifies if we dress too warmly and neglect aerobic and aquatic exercises. Inefficient skin breathing negatively influences the function of liver and kidneys (stones, low filtering abilities) and also negatively changes the composition of blood.
Poor blood quality can cause vein disorders, muscle cramps in the legs, tooth decay, poor condition of hair and nails, inefficiency of the heart, problems with eyes, ears, and finally with the brain. Inefficiency in liver and kidney function leads to gastrointestinal disorders (indigestion, heartburn) and to stomach and duodenum diseases. On top of that, it leads to chronic constipation and resulting autotoxication, accompanied by nerve and psychological disorders, headaches, weakness, insomnia, and finally broken blood vessels in the brain. Even if it doesn't result in death, it paralyzes our limbs by damaging the brain area responsible for directing our movements.
Paralyzed and cold limbs negatively affect the condition of our heart, blood vessels, and kidneys. We face the possibility of heart disease, cancer, or Alzheimer's disease. It becomes a closed circle.
The order of disease development can of course be different for everybody. The specific "scenario" is an individual thing. Sometimes diseases develop simultaneously. You can use your own example or that of a relative or friend to analyze the connection between lifestyle and the state of health.
signs and symptoms of disease
In medicine a symptom is generally subjective while a sign is objective. Any objective evidence of a disease, such as blood in the stool, a skin rash, is a sign - it can be recognized by the doctor, nurse, family members and the patient. However, stomachache, lower-back pain, fatigue, for example, can only be detected or sensed by the patient - others only know about it if the patient tells them.
There are varying approaches to defining the medical meanings of signs and symptoms.
The majority of lay people tend to just use the word symptom, and will understand the term 'sign' if used by a doctor as having the same meaning as symptom.
Who notices it defines whether it is a sign or a symptom
Many say it is not necessarily the nature of the sign or symptom, but rather who observers it that defines it.
For example:
A rash - this could be a sign, symptom, or both.
If the patient notices the rash it is a symptom.
If the doctor, nurse or anyone else (but not the patient) notices the rash it is a sign.
If both the patient and doctor notice the rash it is both a sign and a symptom.
Light headache - this can only be a symptom.
A light headache can only be a symptom because it is only ever detected by the patient.
High blood sugar - this can only be a sign
High blood sugar can only be a sign because the patient cannot detect it; it can only be measured in a medical laboratory.
It is only a sign when it matters, and a symptom when it doesn't
Historically, patients and physicians used to participate more equally in identifying signs and symptoms during a medical consultation. Over the last 200 years as medicine advanced and diagnosis techniques developed, the identification of signs became more and more the doctor's domain. In fact, in order to listen to the lungs, heart and some other features the patient must keep quiet.
In 1808 the percussion technique was developed - the physician gently tapped the chest wall and listened carefully so that he could diagnose respiratory diseases. Then came the technique of auscultation (using a stethoscope to listen to the circulatory and respiratory body functions), the spirometer (to measure aspects of lung function), the ophthalmoscope (to examine the inside of the eye), the clinical use of X-rays, and the sphygmomanometer (for measuring blood pressure). During the 20th century hundreds of new devices and techniques were created to identify signs - most of them studied by doctors and health care professionals, not patients.
