Darwinian Medicine?!

Darwinian Medicine?

What are your thoughts on the theory of Darwinian medicine? Do you apply the principles to your own health care? What do you see as the positive and negative aspects of this approach?

3 months ago
Darwinian medicine is particularly involved with viewing disease susceptibility from the perspective of adaptive or defensive processes . Symptoms such as pain, fever, and coughing may be considered as normal defensive processes the aim of which is to protect the integrity of the body. Darwinian medicine would not seek to automatically suppress these symptoms without considering their purpose. This conflicts sharply with conventional medicine which, because of its symptomatic approach, regards such defensive or protective symptoms as "diseases" which must be suppressed. In fact , "much of what medicine terms disease or breakdown is in fact a defence the body has evolved to protect itself from the possibility of even worse ailments."

Clearly the mechanisms which you mention, are prior to Darwin and his theories. Hippocrates would have told you to let food be your medicine, and your medicine your food. The herxheimer reaction could be closely tied to what you are describing. Often times, we must get sicker in order to get well. Fevers are merely fighting off other things. Conventional medicine, the apothecary, phamacological invention, and medical intervention is the 3rd leading cause of death, in the US. Read the Journal of American Medicine, they admit it.
Almost any method of approach would be better. Average doctors die at age of 57. Average american 75. We live 18 years longer. Gee, wonder who's advice they take?