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As such each cell functions independently on its own! For example, every cell is responsible for producing all the energy it needs for the synthesis/production of substances which are vital to its very existence, or the production of substances vital to other parts of the body such as hormones e.g., adrenaline on which the very survival of the whole organism depends. In that sense, a cell is like a factory. This is the truly remarkable thing about cells and seen in this light, it is easy to understand why it is so important to ensure that the cell is healthy and robust at all times.
For the maintenance of normal (healthy) cellular activities, every cell depends on being constantly supplied with sufficient nutrients (e.g. sugar/glucose) and oxygen (O2) and on the removal of waste products such as carbon dioxide. The system delivering the nutrients and the oxygen is the cardiovascular system with the heart and its vast network of blood vessels. If any part of this system is blocked causing a reduction in blood flow, the delivery of nutrients and oxygen to this part of the body will be proportionately reduced and the removal of the metabolic wastes will also be similarly affected. Under these circumstances, less energy will be produced by the cell and hence, certain activities must, of necessity be curtailed or even terminated until sufficient nutrients and O2 are made available again through the restoration of normal blood flow.
Thus a change or reduction in blood flow can have a direct and negative impact on the activities of the cell. For this reason, a complete blockade of blood flow means zero nutrients and zero O2 which lead to irreversible cellular damage and ultimately the death of the cells involved. Depending on the size of the anatomical area blocked, it could be fatal as in the case of a massive myocardial infarction (heart attack) or cerebral vascular accident (stroke).
In addition to the lack of nutrients and/or oxygen, if bad chemicals reach the cells, these cells will become sick. Apart from bad chemicals and disruptions of blood flow, other factors such as stress, micro-organisms and a weak immune system can also make cells sick. If enough cells in an organ become sick,
the organ will become sick (e.g., the pancreas not being able to produce insulin). Ultimately, other organs will be affected (
e.g., the functions of the nerves will be affected by the lack of insulin).
THEREFORE, WE BECOME SICK WHEN OUR CELLS ARE SICK;
LIKEWISE, IF THE CELLS ARE HEALTHY, WE TOO ARE HEALTHY!
Why good blood flow is important?
Changes in blood flow in the different parts of the body/organs occur many times throughout the day. Take for example the situation in which you break into a run to catch a bus or train. To do this efficiently, your body has to shift from 1st. gear to 5th gear in less than 1 second. One of the many things that happen is to shift the blood flow from the skin and the gastrointestinal tract to your heart, lungs and muscles. You don’t need to run for the bus to cause a change in blood distribution. This very same process happens also if you are stressed or frightened. Let us see how a simple chronic reduction in blood flow could have a devastating effect on cellular activities.
When blood flow to a part of your body is reduced, a cell in this area receives proportionately less nutrients (e.g., glucose) and oxygen. The cell goes into a crisis management. The situation for the cell is similar to a manufacturing company which suddenly finds itself short of energy (e.g., fuel) and raw material. The first thing for the company to do is to make certain that it, the company survives and any activities that are not immediately necessary for its survival are put on hold till the supplies of energy and raw material are normalized again. So the cell does the same thing. This strategy is excellent for both the factory and the cell if the outages are temporary. However, if these shortages are chronic, the factory is likely to run into serious problems, because, eventually it is no longer able to produce certain products that are necessary for its survival. The situation with the cell is exactly the same. In the case of the cells, such intermediaries (in-between) products which are used for the production of another final product, for example to help the immune system to function optimally.
The immune system is not only important in being able to recognize foreign substances such as bacteria, but it is equally important in being able to recognize bad copies (mutants) of new cells (e.g., cancer cells). When the immune system is functioning optimally, it destroys the microbes and the mutant cells and hence keeps the body healthy.
The dilemma
As long as the factory is capable of compensating for the outages, there is no immediate danger of bankruptcy. In the case of a biological system, the moment the compensatory mechanisms begin to fail, clinical symptoms such as pain, swelling, and/or inflammation begin to appear. It is easy to understand that these symptoms are signs that the cells are not functioning normally due, in this example, to a fall in local blood flow, and that treating the symptoms is not likely to make the local blood flow improve. In fact, treating the symptoms frequently means that the cause of a fall in blood flow was not addressed. Thus the “causes” continue to act negatively on the cells and therefore could further exacerbate cellular dysfunction and will eventually provoke the outbreak of an acute episode of whatever the disorder might be. Taking this example of a reduction of local blood flow further, a continued fall in blood flow, as in the case of an acute angina pectoris will lead to an infarct or heart attack and that could be fatal.
How often do changes in blood flow occur?
You might ask: how often does a change in regional or local blood happen? Would you be surprised that to a greater or lesser extent, it could happen a hundred times a day, depending on your personal predilections and the state of your Autonomic Nervous System. Could something be done about it? That is the good news – yes (see: PHMS)
There are many other ways to abuse the cells and cause them to stop function normally. Some examples include substance abuse, poor nutritional habits, environmental pollutions, certain medications (e.g., chemotherapy, certain antibiotics), radiation (e.g., radio-therapy), lack of physical exercise and so on. BUT there are solutions to these seemingly insoluble problems. (See: PHMS)
So, we have established that the body does not get sick from one moment to the other,
but rather getting sick is usually a gradual process that begins with the dysfunction of the individual cells.
Your family doctor
Going to visit your doctor when you feel unwell is a very good idea. BUT you also need to know that he can only treat the symptoms, perhaps with the parting advice of “take it easy and don’t work too hard”. His treatments consist, at this stage mainly of vitamins, pain killers, inhibitors, blockers, stimulants and possibly some sedatives. These pharmaco-therapeutic (the use of synthetic medicinal products) measures will likely suppress many of the symptoms, but they do not address the primary factors that caused cellular disruptions in the first place. So these factors continue to act negatively on the cells, causing greater and greater disruptions. In the meantime, your doctor will be prescribing more and stronger drugs to suppress the increasingly severe symptoms. The bad news is that the cellular disruptions continue to worsen even as the symptoms are suppressed by more and more powerful drugs.
Eventually, these powerful drugs are likely to begin to produce symptoms (side-effects) of their own, compounding your original misery. The causative agents might ultimately produce such wide-spread cellular disruptions that an acute episode could be the consequence which requires drastic interventions to help you stay alive! These interventions could include surgery, chemotherapy and radiation which may or may not restore your health. Even if you survive, you may be left with permanent disabilities which will likely require treatment for the rest of your life. More often than not, you will have to accept not only the disabilities but also the annoying side-effects of the treatment, and will further reduce the quality of your life. Either way, the prospects are not attractive.
Having said all these things, there are many, many very good doctors who are genuinely concerned with the health of their patients and who are able to reduce much suffering. These are also the kind of doctors who generally have a sympathetic ear for complementary therapy and are therefore likely to use integrative medicine for their patients. When we are sick, we need the help of our doctors.
In fairness, it must also be emphasized that conventional medicine is the best and often the only alternative for someone who is acutely sick or in an emergency. When you are having a heart attack, you DO NOT WANT TO CONSULT YOUR LOCAL NATUROPATH OR YOUR HERBALIST, BUT AN EXPERIENCED CARDIOLOGIST!!!
The Solution
The activities of a cell consist of thousands of different biochemical processes which are sensitive to all the factors previously mentioned. Unfortunately, many of these factors have become a part of our life style. For example, the pollutants in our drinking water and the food chain mean that there is no escape from being poisoned! BUT here too, something can be done against it. (See: PHMS). In addition to the list of factors above, the way we prepare our meals can sometimes produce chemicals which are harmful to the cells, for example, free-radicals.
In general, the cells in our body are very resilient, but if they are continuously or chronically exposed to things that cause disruptions of the cell’s activities, i.e., abused or insulted the activities in these cells will be disrupted. Initially the cell is able to cope by compensating the activity outages with other mechanisms and you will not notice these negative changes. However, if the abuse continues or intensifies, the compensatory mechanism will fail. At the first signs of discomfort, a sense of un-wellness appear and this is when most people first thought about visiting the family doctor.
These first clinical symptoms hinting that something is not quite in order with the body could be just general malaise, loss of appetite, a sleep problem and such non-specific complaints. A little further down the road (with greater cellular activities disruptions), the symptoms will become more severe and include fatigue, pain, fever, etc.
Ultimately the real and only long-term solution to good health lies in making sure that the individual cells stay healthy (see: PHMS).
See the graphic presentations of the above under Why & How you get sick
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