Can the body naturally heal itself? Can drugs be antagonizing to the body's inherent ability to repair damages? Can living cells or tissues regenerate after a chronic or acute ailments?
These are some of the questions you would get answers to in reading this article on taking drugs and the body's ability to heal itself. Pharmacology is the study of drugs and the effect on living cells and tissues. You would recall in one of my article that reads " EVERY DRUG IS A POTENTIAL POSION; EVERY POISON IS A POTENT DRUG . It was further explained that it is the dose that matters in drug intake to cure a disease.
The body indeed does have the ability to heal itself. This leads us to the concept of "Naturopathy" . A system of alternative medicine that focuses on promoting the body's natural healing process. The core principle of naturopathy is that the body has an inherent capacity of self-repair and regeneration. Naturopathy focuses on doing no harm to the body,the healing power of nature, identifying and treating the root cause of diseases. The techniques or practices involves the use of herbal medicine, mind -body relaxation techniques and nutritional therapy in treating diseases.
Due to ethical, cultural and social reasons, some people do prefer the practice of naturopathy to taking drugs prescribed by a doctor. The latter do not always agreed to the full dependence on alternative medicine practices. However, scientist are looking for ways to harness the body's innate ability to heal itself, increasing its precision in healing. The answer to some questions as to why do some cell survive adverse effect while others don't? What are the factors affecting their chances of resilience to certain diseases? First, let's look at how does the body heals itself.
Some of the mechanism of the body's healing itself are already know while most mechanism are still ongoing research. Cell regeneration is one of the known mechanism. Imagine cutting a smear of your skin or breaking a bone; there are actively diving cells that would want to replace the destroyed or worn out cells in that area. Cell regeneration is the crux for the cutting-edge regenerative medicine today.
In addition to cell regeneration is blood clotting and immune system response. This is the intrinsic design of the body system. Blood platelets signals clotting to prevent further blood loss. Phagocytes,a type of white blood cells, engulf and destroy foreign matter like bacteria and viruses. The Natural killer cell recognizes when our cells have been invaded by virus; its goes to destroy the cell before its divides. Furthermore, inflammatory response and fever is a physiological response to pathogens in the body. Fever typical rises the body temperature to kill the virus or bacteria and also triggers a cellular mechanism to fight infection.
The use of drug or intake of drug to cure diseases has its advantages and disadvantages. The goal is to maximize the therapeutic benefits and at all cost minimize risks and adverse effects. Sometimes, its can antagonize the body's innate healing mechanism. An example is immunosuppressant which can have an impact on the body's natural defenses. The use of antibiotics to treat infections is also a benefit of drug intake. However, drugs, most times focus on treating the symptoms and not the underlying cost of diseases.
Let's give the title of this article a paraphrase for better understanding. "THE BODY HAS ITS ABILITY TO HEAL ITSELF IF GIVEN THE RIGHT CONDITIONS." We underestimate the important of quality and adequate sleep, eating healthy food, excerise and avoiding stress that can disrupt the body's innate functions. Research also shows have a good state of mind impacts the health of a person.
It is true that the body's ability to heal itself is essential,under the right conditions. Drug intake can either influence the body's ability to heal positively or negatively.
References:
• Temecular center for integrative medicine
•An article on Harnessing the bodies ability to heal itself by Dave Hart from Duke university school of medicine