What Is Disease?!

🦠 In this episode, Ben and Gabriella explore the question "What is Disease?!" They begin by discussing the definition of health, emphasising the multidimensional nature of well-being according to the World Health Organisation. The hosts delve into the concept of spirit, acknowledging its subjective and divisive nature.

The conversation then shifts to the definition of disease, examining how it goes beyond physical symptoms and includes a state of "dis-ease" involving mind and spirit. The hosts compare the perspectives of allopathic medicine and Five Element Acupuncture in viewing and treating disease, with the latter focusing on the underlying imbalance within a person rather than just presenting symptoms.

In the second part of the episode, Ben and Gabriella discuss the differences in how diseases are treated in Western and Eastern medicine. They highlight the holistic approach of Eastern medicine, particularly Five Element Acupuncture, which aims to stimulate the body's natural healing processes without external interventions like medication or surgery. The hosts touch on the limitations and advantages of both approaches.

The episode concludes with a discussion on the role of shamans in medical practices and a personal story that led Gabriella to choose Five Element Acupuncture as her preferred form of medicine. They emphasise the importance of recognising the mind, body, and spirit connection in health and present Five Element Acupuncture as a holistic and efficient approach to addressing underlying imbalances.

Transcript

Pt.1

Ben: So, in the last episode we talked about medicine and in this episode we’re asking the question ‘What is Disease?!’

Gabriella: (silence)

Ben: Gabriella?

Gabriella: Oh, you want me to answer that?

Ben: Umm, yes, that is the general idea of this podcast…

Gabriella: You’re making me work here Ben! Okay, well I think before we explore disease, we really should have a think about ‘What is health?’ Does ‘health’ mean the same thing to everyone?

Ben: (silence)

Gabriella: Wakey wakey Ben! That question was for you!

Ben: I thought I was the one asking the questions around here!

Gabriella: You don’t have the monopoly on question-asking Ben! I was curious to find out what health means to you?

Ben: Well, I suppose feeling good in body, mind and spirit?

Gabriella: That sums it up! One dictionary simply defines health as the state of being free from illness or injury, But the W.H.O. - the World Health Organisation’s description is more comprehensive, stating that ‘health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.’

Ben: That sounds more like it!

Gabriella: I think nowadays most of us recognise that health isn’t just a physical thing. Even a great friend of mine, who is, let’s say, more on the hardcore science side of the health spectrum, sought my help a number of years ago for a problem he termed as ‘psychosomatic’, so acknowledging the link between body and mind and health.

Ben: Isn’t it body, mind and spirit?

Gabriella: Yes, Ben. Holistic disciplines view the whole as body, mind and spirit. I don’t think anyone has an issue with body or mind, but spirit seems to be more of a divisive concept - does it/doesn’t it exist, if so what is it, can it be treated etc

Ben: What is spirit then, Gabriella?

Gabriella: Gin!

Ben: You’re being flippant, Gabriella!

Gabriella: Ugh that reminds me of my report from Mr Turner, who was my maths teacher when I was around 14, ‘Gabrielle’s flippant attitude will hold her back from being the good mathematician she could be’ - which umm frankly, (and sorry Dad if you’re looking down on me now!) was the intention. We already had two mathematicians in the family, another was surely surplus to requirements?!

I may have a silly sense of humour Ben,

Ben: That makes two of us!

Gabriella: I hadn’t noticed! … but seriously, what we’re talking about matters deeply to me. We could do a whole podcast series around the question ‘what is spirit?’ It’s a very subjective thing, and I for one find it hard to articulate. I shall attempt to put it very simply into my words, which of course are not definitive, just my own personal perspective. If body is physical matter and mind is our thought mechanism, spirit is the spark that fires it all, it’s that something ‘other’ that makes us unique.

How would you describe spirit, Ben?

Ben: Whiskey!

Gabriella: Now who’s the flippant one….Here’s a definition from Wikipedia’s entry on ‘spirit’ - In philosophy and religion, spirit is the vital principle, or animating essence within humans or, in some views, all living things. And in Five Element Acupuncture, we see the spirit as that inner light and vitality that shines through our eyes. The thing that gives our lives purpose and meaning. The eyes are, after all, the window to the soul.

So, although not every one is on the same page regarding ‘spirit’, many see that the state of the whole, often referred to as ‘body, mind and spirit’ should be taken into account when describing health.

Ben: So what is disease then?

Gabriella: The dictionary defines disease as a disorder of structure or function in a human, animal, or plant, especially one that has a known cause and a distinctive group of symptoms, signs, or anatomical changes. Another describes it as: any harmful deviation from the normal structural or functional state of an organism, generally associated with certain signs and symptoms and differing in nature from physical injury. A diseased organism commonly exhibits signs or symptoms indicative of its abnormal state.

Ben: So a disease is pretty much anything wrong with you? I guess the word sums it up: dis-ease?

Gabriella: No, dis-ease is my mum when she hears Frank Sinatra!

Ben: What did ol’ blue eyes ever do to her?

Gabriella: It’s a loooong story Ben, we could do a whole podcast on just that… probably won’t get that many subscribers… but you’re right. When we break down the word disease, it becomes “dis-ease”, and what does that mean? A lack of ease or un-ease. It implies that it’s beyond simply a physical pathogenic factor that causes a disease and heads into the realm of mind & spirit, creating a state of dis-ease within the person.

Ben: So how do allopathic medicine and Five Element Acupuncture view disease differently?

Gabriella: Allopathic medicine sees disease as the non functioning of certain organs or bodily functions, whereas Five Element Acupuncture sees that non functioning not as the disease itself but as the consequence or symptom of the underlying disease or the cause. For example someone with eczema would be seen by an allopathic practitioner as someone who has a problem with their skin and so would treat the skin directly, almost always with some form of topical ointment, directly applied to the affected area. A Five Element Acupuncturist, however, will recognise the cause of the eczema as a fundamental imbalance in the persons system and that the eczema is merely a distress signal warning us of that imbalance. Therefore, the treatment has nothing to do with the skin, there aren’t acupuncture points that specifically treat skin, but there are points that can rebalance whatever has gone out of kilter in that person, allowing the skin to heal and thus the eczema to disappear. It’s also important to consider that allergy may be a factor in a case like this. We are after all looking at the person holistically, so a nutritional medicine practitioner may also need to be consulted in order to regain complete balance.

Ben: And how do allopathic medicine and Five Element Acupuncture view health differently?

Gabriella: Allopathic medicine sees health as showing no outwardly visible symptoms whereas Five Element Acupuncture sees health as a balanced energetic state within the body, mind and spirit.

Pt.2

Ben: So now we have some definitions of Disease and Health, what are the differences in the way diseases are treated by doctors and practitioners in the West versus the East?

Gabriella: There are many types of health practitioner roles throughout the world. But first let’s look at what a doctor is… a doctor is a certified and licensed professional specialising in the practice of medicine. The term "doctor" is often employed to describe a medical doctor, or physician, who possesses the necessary training and authorisation to diagnose and address illnesses and injuries in patients.

Ben: So are you a doctor then?

Gabriella: I would never call myself a doctor, but in some ways my role is that of a general practitioner because people come to me for help with a huge range of issues. I call myself an acupuncturist… an acupuncturist is a healthcare professional who practices acupuncture, a traditional Chinese medicine technique. Acupuncture involves the insertion of thin needles into specific points on the body to stimulate and balance the flow of energy, or "qi". The goal of an acupuncturist is to promote the body's natural healing processes and to restore balance to the flow of energy.

Ben: Whereas a doctor…?

Gabriella: It’s the holistic approach, as well as how we view disease that makes practitioners of Eastern medicine and Western doctors so different. When I was in my second year of training, a teacher walked in with a pair of chopsticks in one hand, and a knife and fork in the other. Holding them up, he announced THIS, is the difference between Eastern and Western medicine - meaning Western medicine cuts people up into little bits whereas in the East the practitioner looks at the whole.

We (ie Five Element Acupuncturists) can many times help our patients without the need for any medicated intervention, while a doctor’s main methods of treating a patient are physical medication and/or surgery. So doctors prescribe external substances which the patient either ingests as pills or in liquid form, or the doctor injects into the body. Or a surgeon physically cuts into the body, and adds, removes or repairs something inside. An acupuncturist interacts with what’s already in the body to stimulate it to heal itself. We neither add anything to the body nor do we take it away.

There is a place for Western medicine of course, determined by each individual case. But in many cases, an acupuncturist can adjust the body’s natural healing system and promote improvement without employing these more invasive methods employed by conventional medicine. Often people come to me as a last resort as Western medicine has had limited results or in some cases hasn’t found a solution at all. Many soon say they wish they’d found acupuncture a long time ago.

One advantage is that with medication there are often unwanted side effects whereas with acupuncture there are none, but also, it’s so rare that a doctor has time to really listen to their patient beyond hearing about the presenting symptom, no time to explore areas of their lives that may be impacting their health, or even just to look in their eyes. Many visits to the doctor involve the doctor looking intently at a screen in front of them, barely casting a glance at the patient. There are some wonderful doctors out there who would love to give their patients more time, but the pressure they’re under to cram as many patients into limited time slots, not to mention the bureaucracy, I think the issue is more political than about individual doctors, but we’re not making a political podcast…

Ben: Not even a subtle hint every now and then…

Gabriella: Never, we’d never do that… Anyway, patients say they do really feel heard and seen when they come to see me, and that makes a big difference.

Ben: Aren’t there some instances where only medication will do?

Gabriella: Of course, an acute bacterial infection for example will many times require specific anti-bacterial drugs or antibiotics as we know them. But we’ve heard about misuse, or overuse of these drugs, which can lead to bacterial resistance as well as damage to the essential bacteria that live within the person taking the drug. Tests aren’t always carried out to make sure the correct medication is being administered. It’s absolutely useless, in fact harmful, to prescribe antibiotics for a viral infection for example, and yet it happens. The thing that piques my interest, is let’s say a virus is circulating…

Ben: Never heard of that happening…

Gabriella: Well, quite. Anyway, why do some catch a virus and others around them not? That’s the interesting question to me. Why do some recover quickly and others not? Disease is not a one size fits all kind of a thing. It’s extremely complex, and depends on so many variables. Why, just as one example, did my mum not die when she caught Covid? I mean, I’m really glad she didn’t, but it’s an interesting question. This was a couple of months before the whole world knew what Covid was. My mum, 82 at the time, with heart issues (and a pacemaker) was certainly in the most vulnerable bracket of the population and would have, (once we knew what it was she had), been expected to die. She was of course quite ill for a few days, but didn’t need hospitalisation and recovered fully, with no long Covid. Four years on, she hasn’t had a recurrence despite being out and about more than most 86-year-olds! I do know that she has invested in preventative medicine for over 30 years and she has no doubt that her long term commitment to acupuncture treatment is what got her through the initial infection.

Ben: It certainly isn’t a one size fits all! I’ve heard of these people called shamans, do they fall under the bracket of medical professionals?

Gabriella: I think they do. A shaman is a practitioner of shamanism, which is a spiritual and healing practice found in various cultures around the world. Shamans are typically regarded as intermediaries between the spirit world and the human world. They are believed to have the ability to communicate with spirits, including ancestors, animals, and nature spirits, in order to gain insight, guidance, and healing for individuals or communities.

Ben: Ooo that sounds a bit too woo woo for me!

Gabriella: Yes, and for many it will. I had the privilege of witnessing a number of shamanic interventions during my time in Nepal, enough to convince me that there’s power in the practice. Stories for another time, perhaps. As we’ve said, the term body mind and spirit is now quite widely used, so in disciplines such as Five Element Acupuncture, perhaps we have a bridge between more conventional medical thinking and these traditional spiritual healing practices.

Ben: How did you come to choose Five Element Acupuncture as the medicine you wanted to practice?

Gabriella: Before I trained to be a practitioner, I had a jewellery business, and a workshop manufacturing my designs in Kathmandu. While I was there, I found I was gravitating towards helping others. My workmen would occasionally come to me and ask if I’d take their mother or father to hospital, saying the doctors would respect me more than ‘simple village folk’ and therefore administer better treatment. There’s the case of one of my husband’s cousins, a young man who was taking part in a 3-year retreat to become a Buddhist Lama up in a remote area in the mountains. A couple of months into the retreat, he was carried down from the mountains and back to Kathmandu straight into hospital when he couldn’t recover from a fever after several days. The doctor spoke to me privately and declared the boy’s problems were psychosomatic - what young man after all would want to be on solitary retreat for 3 years? I, however, knew this young man well and I knew he wanted nothing more than to be on this retreat. I removed him from this hospital and took him to another, where I knew a couple of the staff. It turned out he had tuberculosis! Not particularly well-known as a psychosomatic disease, methinks! Thankfully he survived, returned to the mountains and passed his lama retreat and to this day lives in a monastery just outside Kathmandu. So, after I gave up my jewellery business and returned to London, I decided I wanted to honour this natural tendency to look after people, and become some form of medical practitioner. I also felt strongly that whatever I decided to study should involve Eastern philosophy, as over those few years in Nepal, it had become intrinsic to who I am. I fortunately came across Five Element Acupuncture as I was seeking help to recover from quite traumatic times, and (cue cheesy 1970s advert reference!) “I liked it so much I bought the company” - or more accurately, trained in it myself.

Conclusion

Ben: So, what’s the point?! What does Disease have to do with Five Element Acupuncture?

Gabriella: Well Ben, while allopathic medicine tends to focus on disease as symptoms and visible dysfunctions, we take a different route. Five Element Acupuncture recognises a symptom as a distress signal and not as the disease itself, the cause is the more profound disharmony or in other words, the cause IS the disease.

Ben: We learned that it's not just about treating the symptoms. Five Element Acupuncture sees disease beyond symptoms as a deeper imbalance in the body, mind, and spirit. Treating symptoms is like whack-a-mole, right? You get rid of one and another issue pops up elsewhere, if Western medicine is a hand whacking the mole, then it seems that acupuncture could turn off the whole machine at the plug socket and get rid of those damn moles once and for all!

Gabriella: The thing that excites us about Five Element Acupuncture is the fact that it can help improve many symptoms at once, physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. It can compliment or even replace allopathic medicine making it a very efficient form of medicine, without unwanted side effects. Where allopathic medicine mostly treats symptoms directly, Five Element Acupuncture treats the underlying cause of symptoms which in turn sees them disappear.

Ben: We touched on how different cultures have their own medical practices, but that the common thread is the recognition of the mind, body, and spirit connection. We learned that it would be ignorant to dismiss it as woo-woo without further investigation; it makes sense to view health as a holistic concept.

Gabriella: Yes. In our eyes disease isn't just about the physical; it's about the harmony of the whole. Five Element Acupuncture offers a different lens — one that sees beyond symptoms and embraces the interconnectedness of body, mind, and spirit.

And that, folks, wraps up this week’s episode. Join us next week where we’ll be asking What Is Five Element Acupuncture?!

Ben: Stay tuned for our upcoming episodes and please consider subscribing or becoming a patron via our Patreon page to gain access to all the goodies!

Gabriella: And with that, we'll say goodbye for now.

Ben: Bye for now!