Silent Inflammation (of our small arteries) Blog No. 1

The sad aspect of our expensive health care system is the institutionalized ignorance about the role of non-pharmaceutical prevention of 80% of what costs all of us in this debate: heart disease, strokes, hypertension, many cancers, diabetes, alzheimer's, peripheral vascular disease, and so on. The real disease is a silent or painless inflammation of small arteries embedded in our heart, brain, kidneys, lungs, joints (arthritis) and so forth. There are literally thousands of miles of small arteries in all of us, and it is the damage to the inside of these arteries that is responsible for most of the disease we are plagued with.

This silent inflammation comes from oxidative damage that leads the body to apply a "bandage" in the form of cholesterol patches, whose constant build up with ongoing underlying inflammation finally manifests as a heart attack, stroke, a hard cancer like breast or prostrate, brain destruction, kidney disease, and so on.

Silent inflammation is the root cause of most of our distress in pain and pocketbook, yet the medical community (who knows this) just can not come to grips with preventive measures that have nothing to do with drugs, machines, and big money. Inflammation has to do with lifestyle, lack of fitness, obesity, poor dietary choices, diabetes, unmanaged stress (and the hormones released), rocky relationships (same hormones), and so on. Oxidative inflammation is preventable and reversible.

Eventually our bodies succumb to DNA aging and other degenerative diseases, but this should not happen, all things being equal, in most of us until after we pass the century mark. In other forums, we can talk about life after death (or not) and the meaning of civilization and the evolving personality, but, bottom line, we need to take care of our small blood vessels at least as well as we take care of our car and pets regardless of world views.

I envision Wellness.com filing the void of information and personal action, as there are non pharmaceutical solutions to silent inflammation integrated with lifestyle changes. I see writing just on this subject for the next 15 weeks or so and discussing peoples' options.

Let me see... 80% of the health care bill is related to microvascular disease and silent inflammation. How many trillions of dollars is this? Might the solution path be better suited to the much less expensive Wellness Approach?

Much, much more will follow....