‘Incurable’ – what you’re told when medicine has reached its limits
What does ‘incurable’ mean? Well – it means medicine admits it can’t heal your disease – and that you will probably have it for life. Still, you have no idea why it happened.
Yet new findings about food toxins in milk products, cereals, legumes and others – are turning the tables on how we should tackle disease.
At its most basic, diagnosis decides whether your illness is curable - or incurable. We are familiar with it, we expect it - and we accept its outcome.
But - what if ‘incurability’ is just … an emergency stopgap, a useful fallback? Because, by definition, when a patient’s sickness cannot be cured ... medicine has reached its limits. You might even argue that labelling an illness ‘incurable’ exempts medicine from accountability … it’s off the hook. Officially the cause is ‘unknown’. The doctor offers up ‘risk factors’ and genetic predisposition – but nothing can be done.
We have all faced moments like this – either for ourselves, or a loved one.
Now think about Jim, 63, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes twenty-two years ago. He lost his left leg to amputation and relies on a prosthetic limb. But now his other leg is showing signs of poor circulation and ulceration, his kidneys are under stress, his heart is struggling and he may go blind. Notably, the problem with his pancreas was never solved, and just as doctors predicted, further complications have arisen.
Within the Australian healthcare system, Jim has always received excellent care: medications, procedures, checks, scans, and treatments. But the reality is that twenty-two years of first rate medical care has only led him into graver disease.
However his case might have turned out differently if, when first diagnosed, his doctors had recommended he move to diet low in food toxins, say gluten-free and dairy-free.
Extensive evidence suggests most ‘incurable’ diseases are the consequence of simple poisoning by common food toxins found in bread, pasta, cheese, beans and other staples. So the cause of Jim’s illness may not be a mystery after all. Because these potent toxins are easily avoided by selecting readily available safe options.
So is diagnosis helpful for the patient?
Type 1 diabetes is considered a progressive ‘incurable’ condition - placing Jim in a fatal downward spiral. So how useful was diagnosis for Jim? Well, it named his disease and allowed doctors to predict how it would progress by referencing previous cases. But Jim would rather know why it came about and how to be rid of it.
Nonetheless diagnosis is the only method used to tackle sickness. So when Linda, 43, already distressed by her symptoms is diagnosed with motor neurone disease – she hits the brick wall of ‘incurability’ and gives in … no point arguing. She believes the doctors know much more about this than she does. Shocked and devastated - she keeps quiet, takes her medicine and goes about rearranging her life.
But how might she have responded if she were offered a different way forward? What if her doctor recommended she ‘switch a few foods’ with a low toxin diet? At the same time she could begin medication to alleviate current symptoms.
The evidence says she has a real chance of improvement – perhaps not complete healing – but the opportunity to halt the terrible advance of her disease.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, AIHW estimates that 38% of Australians (9.7 million people) had two or more long-term health conditions in 2022[1].
Now a new book, ‘Unravelling the Mystery of Disease’ challenges the dichotomy of ‘curable’ and ‘incurable’ and focuses on identifying the true causes of illness. The impact of food toxins is also explored.
Because for any patients in pre-disease phases an adjusted diet could bring positive results within a few weeks - changing their prospects immeasurably.
Learn more about the foodintol® LoTox Express Program here.
Learn more with book and short film.