Modern medicine is incredible for acute illness. If you are about to die, go to the hospital. They have powerful drugs, impressive machines, and experts ready to cut, stitch, and manipulate your biochemistry in ways that give you an excellent chance of drawing another breath.
If you’re not dying, however, the benefits of modern medicine depend on the doctor—and you. The unfortunate reality is that what may save the dying can make the healthy sick. Put another way, overtreatment or unnecessary treatment pose real risks to your health.
That’s because much of modern medicine targets disease symptoms in a way that overrides or undermines the body’s natural processes.
Antipyretics (antifever drugs) and anti-inflammatories are two categories of drugs that work against the body’s own healing mechanisms.
Granted, there are situations where a fever can be deadly or inflammation has run amok. But modern medicine often doesn’t work well with nuance. It sees a symptom and that triggers a protocol.
The same is true of anti-inflammatories. Inflammation is an immune response meant to help the body heal itself and protect against pathogenic invaders. It is caused by a rush of immune agents and blood flow to the affected area, leading to swelling and redness.
This doesn’t mean these treatments aren’t sometimes essential and lifesaving, it simply means they must be used judiciously to avoid unnecessary risks.
But that isn’t something your doctor can always decide. If you are in pain, if you have a fever, if you have a stomach bug, your doctor can typically only prescribe drugs, tests, or surgery. They can suggest you rest and drink plenty of water, but their treatment options are limited and they have to rely on you to tell them if you need something more.
If you tell them you want a drug, they will typically give you one. So be careful what you ask for and be sure you really need it. It’s your body after all, and you are the one that has to live with it.
