Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

Editor's Choice

Campaign for real healthcare for real people

BMJ 2013; 347 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f6962 (Published 21 November 2013) Cite this as: BMJ 2013;347:f6962

Rapid Response:

Re: Campaign for real healthcare for real people

Health is homeostasis. Homeostasis is an internal feedback system that stabilizes and balances our body chemistry, so that our organs work smoothly and efficiently with each other. Sickness is the disruption of homeostasis, which we treat with pharmaceuticals. But pharmaceuticals adjust one homeostatic mechanism by disrupting another, which leads to more sickness and more pharmaceuticals. This is why pharmaceuticals are so profitable but have so many side effects and adverse reactions. And this is why healthcare should minimize pharmaceuticals and maximize holistic factors, such as lifestyle, diet, exercise, education, recreation, and relationships.

Competing interests: I have a self-published e-book called "Peace Poetry & The LOVE Diet", which promotes peace, simplifies health, and demystifies addiction.

25 November 2013
Hugh Mann
Physician
Retired
Eagle Rock, MO, USA