Evolving Our Approach to Healing Chronic Illnesses

There is a rapidly growing movement in our country that approaches wellbeing from a new perspective. This evolution of medicine challenges us to direct our attention to addressing the underlying causes of disease rather than merely treating the symptoms.

Understanding the contributors to an illness brings greater insight to chronic and complex disorders. I now recognize that many diseases once thought to have no identifiable cause actually have multiple influencing factors. I’ve also discovered a single imbalance in our body can often lead to several different seemingly unrelated problems.

An example of a challenging disease to treat is eosinophilic esophagitis. This is where the white blood cell count in the esophagus is high. People may not be able to swallow and gag frequently. The esophagus may become narrow due to scarring. The typical focus is on the problem in the throat.

With an expanded view this disease can be seen as a whole body allergy and auto-immune response involving cells called eosinophil. These cells originate in bone marrow and are naturally in the body. They are used to fight parasites and are part of the immune system. Something is triggering them.

In high quantities in the blood or intestines eosinophil can create problems. They will be responsible for destroying tissue when out of control as they bind to antibodies and are capable of killing pathogens and cells, even our own cells.

Typical conventional treatment would prescribe steroids and acid reducing medications, or even sometimes stretch the esophagus. The focus here remains on the problem, not the cause.

Using a multi-factorial and multi-symptomatic approach allows us to address each of the areas that typically contribute to such an issue. This would include looking at diet, nutrient deficiencies, genetics, gut imbalances, bacterial overgrowth, parasites, inflammation, food sensitivities, environmental toxins, hormones, and detoxification.

It also means paying attention to related health problems. Sleep, mood and energy can all be affected. High numbers of eosinophil are associated with irritable bowel disease, heart inflammation, destruction of the nerves and spinal cord, cirrhosis of bile ducts, skin disease, and other inflammatory diseases.

We could apply this same multi-factorial and multi-symptomatic approach to arthritis, digestive disorders, heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, cystic fibrosis, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis, autism, depression, and cancer.

Most doctors just aren’t trained to think about the underlying causes of disease, such as allergens, nutrition, toxins, microbes, and stress. This means we each have to take a greater level of responsibility for our own health and become active in the circumstances of our wellbeing.

This evolution of medicine, of which I am a part of, encourages each of us to not only ask “what” is going on but it more importantly requires us to answer the question “why.”

Evolving our approach to healing chronic illness moves us beyond a medication-centered mindset to also consider what is giving rise to illness. It involves looking at the interplay between our genetics, environment, and lifestyle and how these affect our long-term health and influence complex, chronic disease.

Andy Pottenger, PharmD, supports optimal health and well being through functional medicine and integrative nutrition.