Theory of Disease

Abstract

While disease is an observable phenomenon at the cellular and biochemical level, the reasons that the human system lapses into disease and dysfunctions are more complex than the end-stage pathological finding. This chapter looks at how these dysfunctions occur over time, as this is the ground of chronic ill health of the kind that patients seek help for. Alterations to normal function precede the degenerative changes that lead to chronic disease. These alterations can certainly present with symptoms, sometimes drastic, but they have the potential to be reversed. Allopathic medications sometimes work effectively in dampening these alterations. But if the disturbances that caused abnormal function are left unaddressed, it is likely that more aggressive treatment will be needed and that degenerative changes will occur. Examples discussed in this chapter include disorganization of normal regulatory feedback loops, breakdown and stiffening of the extracellular matrix, depletion of stem cell reserves, mitochondrial dysfunction, attenuation of pro-survival responses to stimuli and stressors, degradation of the proteome, and neoplasia-uncontrolled growth and differentiation. The chapters that follow will examine the etiological causes of these breakdowns and their relation to disease development.