One of the most lucrative and destructive lies ever sold to the public is that the symptoms we experience are the disease that needs to be treated by our medical system. Once symptoms were made synonymous with the problem to fix, the medical industry achieved a triple win.
The first win is with the sale of pharmaceuticals, predominantly petroleum-based chemicals that will generate up to $635 billion in 2025 for the industry that produces them. Second, and with a completely straight face, that industry gets to refer to those products as “health care,” because it sold the idea that to get rid of symptoms is to promote health. And third, when those pharmaceuticals create the virtually inevitable symptoms (“side effects”) of their own, one or more additional pharmaceuticals will often be prescribed.
Those who have to interact with the “health care” system in the US almost universally describe it as a miserable experience. This in spite of the fact that per capita spending on health care in the US in 2025 is estimated to be around $16,000, the highest by far in the developed world. Yet in terms of health outcomes as measured by things like prevalence of chronic disease, preventable deaths, and obesity, the US ranks last or close to last in the developed world.
It is easy to see how such a preposterous lie was sold to the American (and global) public. The industry spent well-invested billions of dollars marketing that idea annually. The crowning achievement of that spending was the 1997 FDA policy change that allowed direct-to-consumer advertising on television. Only two countries in the world allow such a thing, New Zealand being the other.
Drug advertising dollars make up about 10% of the total advertising revenue for television, second only to packaged foods. Drug advertising is an incredibly important source of income for the media. Gosh, could this be why the mainstream news and talk shows, which air between those pharmaceutical commercials, only quote and interview “public health officials” who espouse an unflinchingly positive message about medications and, even more aggressively, vaccinations?
The most radical and revolutionary act anyone can do vis-à-vis modern medicine is divest themselves of the idea that to suppress symptoms is to improve health. Gastrointestinal reflux (to take one example) is not a disease (aka GERD), though it is given a unique diagnostic code and at least a dozen top-selling medications are prescribed to make it disappear. Reflux is a symptom that is being caused by something: a food reaction, lack of stomach acidity, laxity of the smooth muscle in the sphincter separating the stomach from the esophagus, etc.
Headaches? Constipation? High blood pressure? Brain fog? Diabetes? All of them are smoke on an underlying fire. If they are “treated” with a medication that reduces the amount of smoke, that’s a treatment that will go on for a lifetime and vitality will generally decline over time as a result. If they are treated by seeking and finding the cause of the underlying fire then extinguishing that, vitality will generally be enhanced over time and the risk of developing chronic disease declines. Symptoms are not the disease. To treat symptoms is to put the proverbial piece of tape over the warning light on your car’s dashboard. A better idea is to fix your car. If you or someone you know has persistent symptoms and you’re feeling ready to starting looking for the underlying cause, contact my office by calling 503-719-4806, email Lisa at drnigh_info@olivedrab-lyrebird-181492.hostingersite.com, or request a consultation through my schedule at https://olivedrab-lyrebird-181492.hostingersite.com.
