Regarding "sub-healthy" or "subhealth condition"

   The following article is quoted directly from "http://www.easternherb.com", please read it before we move on:
  

ARE YOU SUB-HEALTHY?Ching-Yao Shi, Lic.Acu.;Dipl. OM                 01/102006

For years we have believed we were either healthy or sick. However, during the  mid-90s, scientists developed a new concept called “Sub-healthy”, a status between health and illness. Sub-healthy has become popular because it has helped to explain many health problems. According to one study, only 5.6% of people in the overall population are actually sick, whereas the sub-healthy group consists of about 60%, and the remaining population is considered healthy. Awareness of one’s sub-healthy will help one to alert the underlying disease and will help one to remain healthier. Sub-Healthy is a state in which the body is either transitioning from health to illness or from illness to health. Our bodies are actively balancing the conditions of health, sub-health and disease. Factors like aging, internal or external toxicity,  body or mind exhaustion may cause  sub-health, but taking good care of the body can change a sub-healthy status to a healthy one. The most common symptoms of sub-health include: intolerance of hot or cold, fatigue or exhaustion ; insomnia; low resistance or frequent flu.; body aches; bloating or other GI problems; fast weight gain; sluggish memory; hair loss; sexual libido…..   The recommended standard of sub-healthy status is the persistence of one or more of the above symptoms for more than 3 months, along with no conclusive positive medical finding or diagnoses. Or can be a long term disease patient but the symptoms can not be explained by that disease. Patients who have chronic diseases may not be considered as sub-healthy ones if they keep them selves in a good condition. In Chinese medicine, sub-health is an Imbalance of Yin and Yang; Chi and Blood and organs. Our bodies have 12 meridians that are energy pathways and where are the acupuncture effectives on. Free flow of energy (Chi) in the meridians ensures the organ’s health, as well as the body’s. The blockage of Chi causes different symptoms; for example, a Lung-meridian blockage may cause cough, and Heart-meridian insomnia. Normally, Chi blockage happens before the clinical symptom develops. It is important to note that it is this meridian energy sluggishness or blockage that causes the sub-health status. To solve this problem, acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine work on two ways: they clear the meridian blockage or to strengthen the meridians from the attacks of the illness agents. To regenerate sub-healthy back to a healthy state is to rebalance the organ meridians through acupuncture, herbal medicine, Qi-gong, massage, diet and exercise. It is very common that our patients are the healthiest ones in their families because a balanced body is a healthier body. To identify and treat sub-healthy is to prevent one from becoming seriously ill. Please be aware of and change your Sub-Healthy!

    Well, I think this is an idea that not too many of us are familiar with, but from my own background and knowledge, "sub-healthy" is a very "popular" concept in China and a very "popular" symptom in the USA. I agree with the main concept and most parts of this article but in my opinion, the "sub-healthy" condition is NOT "a status between health and illness". It's actually a illness status, meaning, you ARE sick when you are in the "sub-healthy" condition. This term is abused when there is something unexplainable by science or medical knowledge. A therapist is responsible for coming up with the treatment for it just like there are treatments for other illness. I'm against the idea of "disregarding" a person's feeling when they do feel sick only because the therapist is not able to explain it with his/her knowledge or the test results from machines. 

   One TCM doctor had an article about "sub-healthy" and he has a good theory about it. It says that the "sub-healthy" symptom has 3 stages:

1. Yang energy Weakened: We have heard someone complains about some common syndromes like headache, drowsiness,  sleeping disorders or so, but all number and chart from the exam seems to be normal. Usually to a TCM doctor this kind of individual is diagnosed  as low in Yang energy.
2. Low in "Qi": The term "Qi" here is more than just the translation "energy", it refers to a person's basic "life force". When a harmful force starts to affect the body,  it's in a “cruising" condition. It will travel to a place in the body where has the lowest "Qi" or "life force", then stays there and starts to cause "tangible" problems. Therefore, when we detect this condition we can simply adjust the "Qi" condition by adjust our usual life style and behaviors like doing reasonable diet, sleeping well and exercising right. That is what we usually called "health preservation". Again, the best therapy is preventive therapy.
3. Blood stagnation: In the morning, check your tongue in the mirror, do you see any zigzag-looking bite marks from the teeth on the sides of your tongue? Well,this usually indicates that your liver or/and gall bladder system energy(blood related) may be imbalanced already. Now move the tip of your tongue up, look at the veins under the tongue. Do they look very dark? When a person reach this stage, yet the body exam results may not show anything out of standard. This is not an ideal stage for the person or the therapist. Because even though there is no onset yet, the condition has been established and the illness may start to outbreak anytime. This is usually when a person is really diagnosed with some testable illness.

   For example, take storm. If using scientific knowledge, lighting, thunder and rain happen at the same time. However, usually when we see the lighting, we will spontaneously cover our ears. This is like the first stage when we sense the symptom in ourselves, we should do something like covering our ears (preventive treatment) from the thunder(further symptom). If you didn't cover your ear then you are at stage 2, after you heard the thunder you know the rain (illness) is coming, so you run away and get covered (further treatment). If you are still in a open area, you are at stage 3, the rain arrives fast and you are soaked (testable illness).

    

    Therefore, there is no "sub-healthy" condition. Don't use this term on yourself or allow others to use this term on you to fool your body. And always remember, the best medicine is in your body and the best doctor is yourself. Listening to your own heart, words from others are aids not orders. I'm not saying that you shouldn't listen to your therapists, but you should not let their words interfere with your true self. A healthy body is a balanced body and a healthy mind is a balanced mind. A healthy person is a person who has a balanced body and balanced mind. 

    "Everyone can do it". I trust myself when I say this. 

    

    Now is your turn.