The latest news is that the appendix, believed for centuries to be useless, is finally earning status as a real organ. It was a headline story on Yahoo news, just yesterday! (http://www.yahoo.com/s/1119597)
Researchers say they have identified certain potential functions of this "vestigial" organ, so classified by none other than Darwin himself, still revered as the father of the theory of evolution. And still revered as an authority! How many more of his theories must be debunked before that changes? Who knows... but that's another story, for another day, another web site, or another belief system. It doesn't matter.
The idea now is that the humble little appendix used to be more useful in days gone by to store bacteria that could help protect one's system in a world full of horrible infectious material... all cleaned up now, of course. (Believe that?)
The Industrial Revolution changed the world, and now, according to current thinking, we just don't have all that garbage around us, threatening our health. And in keeping with that idea, the appendix no longer has enough to do, so it sits quietly, doing little or nothing, until we might need its services. Trouble is, with its life of ease, it's become lazy and shrunken and now may not be up to the demand it used to handle, much like a healthy, well-muscled football player who has retired and gone flabby.
Well, this is just another chapter in the story of medical arrogance, in my opinion. As a chiropractor for more than 35 years, I can tell you that it's always been the opinion of most alternative health professionals that everything that appears in a normal, healthy body is there for a reason... even the appendix. Only medical arrogance proclaims uselessness when they can't explain something. In typical fashion, if the big shot docs can't find a function, then it doesn't exist.
Natural healers, on the other hand, don't know all the answers either, but we are content in knowing that everything is here for a reason, and as stewards of others' health, it is our responsibility to help our clients and patients recover and maintain their best health in order to foster their best functionality... even for organs and processes we may not fully comprehend.
The medical theories are full of holes, too. The assumption that our modern lifestyle has been cleaned up is a bit off the mark. How about those folks in Third World countries who are suffering because of poor sanitation due to Western influences that completely changed their native habitats? They contract some of the most horrific tropical diseases from being unprotected in environments that aren't exactly clean. I'll bet they have "useless" appendices, too. Or, why don't they have big fat busy ones?
When exactly did our lives become so easy? I know a lot of peole who aren't lying around sipping pina coladas and feeling so good. I hear there are still some slums in the big city, too.
Oh, life has changed, all right. Some things are worse... pollution, shrinking resources, adulterated food, chemical composites called food, genetically modified "food," enormous increases in drug use (legal or not), and adulteration of our internal and external environments with radiation and so-called remedial chemicals (such as fluoride).
None of those things have changed the basic condition of the appendix as we know it today. They might, in another 80 million years of evolution, but I don't think we're going to be here... unless our "leaders" stop ruining the planet. Again, another story, for another day....
But yes, the appendix is there for a reason. I knew that.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
The Amazing Human Machine
The most amazing machinery in the world isn't a nuclear reactor, an electron microscope, or the next space vehicle. It is the human body.
We don't even have to know how it works for it to function correctly and smoothly... as long as we don't interfere with the normal processes that make life possible. If this weren't true, then human life would have died out with the cave man, if not sooner.
Now that a lot of time has passed and humans have become smarter, we do know a lot about our bodies.. how and why they work, and, especially important at times, how to fix them when necessary.
Unfortunately, along with that recent knowledge has come arrogance. People designated as "doctors" think they have all the answers and are the only humans among us who are qualified to fix each other. They even think they are the only ones who can, and should be allowed to, discuss human functionality. If a so-called "lay person" learns anatomy and physiology from a book, it's not good enough. Only "real" doctors can read medical books and understand them. Didn't you know that?
Learning about the body doesn't make it function; however, "doctors" want to have that control. God-like creatures that they think they are, they *must* exert this control and squash anyone who threatens or questions it.
The body is a self-repairing, self-aligning organism that can take care of a wide array of problems that occur while moving about through our different environments.
Break a bone... it knits back together. We can help that process by making sure the ends are aligned and that the area is immobilized during the healing process, but we can't make the cells do what they must do. We can stop them, and people often do, but the healing function is automatic, and internal.
Running a fever? Time to "burn off" a germ, perhaps. It's the built-in, natural way to do that. There weren't any anti-inflammatory berry bushes around during the early days of our kind. Or perhaps there were. It's probably lost information now, though.
The point is that our bodies can and do, and always have been able to, heal themselves, whether we know what we're doing or not. In fact, not knowing can be the best approach, so we don't get in our own way to restore our health. History is replete with stories, now laughable, of "experts" of the times inflicting popular remedies of the day that resulted only in hastening one's death. Sadly, that still happens.
The problem now is that humans have gotten so smart they think they know it all and have decided that any expression of healing has to be stopped. Why? Because they are so smart they interpret some healing activity as disease or sickness.
Why aren't we allowed to have a fever? Why can't muscle spasms be handled correctly? And lord help you if you sneeze.
To get a feel for how bad this has become, just watch television commercials. No matter how one feels, there is a drug for it, along with a brand new name for the condition to give it credence and official status as a disease.
Even feeling too good must be a disease, as they have drugs for that, too. It was called manic-depressive in the old days, now known as bipolar disease. Too happy? Take this drug. Depressed? Take this drug.
Legs feel restless? Here's a drug.
Sneezing is a very normal bodily response to clear respiratory passages, but sneezing is not allowed anymore. It's not bad enough that you need to be blessed to survive one, but nowadays, sneezing is considered the onset of a cold or something worse... but who knows what? Kill it before it multiplies.
Coughing? Not allowed. Headaches? Not allowed. Never mind that they are symptoms of an underlying condition. Turn off the alarms to put out the fire?
You're only allowed to live a dull, lifeless, robotic physical existence. Anything less or more requires a drug.
We don't even have to know how it works for it to function correctly and smoothly... as long as we don't interfere with the normal processes that make life possible. If this weren't true, then human life would have died out with the cave man, if not sooner.
Now that a lot of time has passed and humans have become smarter, we do know a lot about our bodies.. how and why they work, and, especially important at times, how to fix them when necessary.
Unfortunately, along with that recent knowledge has come arrogance. People designated as "doctors" think they have all the answers and are the only humans among us who are qualified to fix each other. They even think they are the only ones who can, and should be allowed to, discuss human functionality. If a so-called "lay person" learns anatomy and physiology from a book, it's not good enough. Only "real" doctors can read medical books and understand them. Didn't you know that?
Learning about the body doesn't make it function; however, "doctors" want to have that control. God-like creatures that they think they are, they *must* exert this control and squash anyone who threatens or questions it.
The body is a self-repairing, self-aligning organism that can take care of a wide array of problems that occur while moving about through our different environments.
Break a bone... it knits back together. We can help that process by making sure the ends are aligned and that the area is immobilized during the healing process, but we can't make the cells do what they must do. We can stop them, and people often do, but the healing function is automatic, and internal.
Running a fever? Time to "burn off" a germ, perhaps. It's the built-in, natural way to do that. There weren't any anti-inflammatory berry bushes around during the early days of our kind. Or perhaps there were. It's probably lost information now, though.
The point is that our bodies can and do, and always have been able to, heal themselves, whether we know what we're doing or not. In fact, not knowing can be the best approach, so we don't get in our own way to restore our health. History is replete with stories, now laughable, of "experts" of the times inflicting popular remedies of the day that resulted only in hastening one's death. Sadly, that still happens.
The problem now is that humans have gotten so smart they think they know it all and have decided that any expression of healing has to be stopped. Why? Because they are so smart they interpret some healing activity as disease or sickness.
Why aren't we allowed to have a fever? Why can't muscle spasms be handled correctly? And lord help you if you sneeze.
To get a feel for how bad this has become, just watch television commercials. No matter how one feels, there is a drug for it, along with a brand new name for the condition to give it credence and official status as a disease.
Even feeling too good must be a disease, as they have drugs for that, too. It was called manic-depressive in the old days, now known as bipolar disease. Too happy? Take this drug. Depressed? Take this drug.
Legs feel restless? Here's a drug.
Sneezing is a very normal bodily response to clear respiratory passages, but sneezing is not allowed anymore. It's not bad enough that you need to be blessed to survive one, but nowadays, sneezing is considered the onset of a cold or something worse... but who knows what? Kill it before it multiplies.
Coughing? Not allowed. Headaches? Not allowed. Never mind that they are symptoms of an underlying condition. Turn off the alarms to put out the fire?
You're only allowed to live a dull, lifeless, robotic physical existence. Anything less or more requires a drug.
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