Treating Symptoms vs Curing Disease

My doctor wants to treat the disease, I just want to address the symptoms.

I have  written before about the struggles I have with chronic fatigue and pain.  I have been told by doctors for years that there isn’t anything wrong with me physically.  It’s emotional in origin.  Most telling me that I am depressed, but not treating me for depression, they sent me home with nothing more than a vague sense of condemnation.

“You don’t fit in any of my boxes” one doctor said.  Another declared, “You’re depressed.” To which, I responded that he too would be depressed if he couldn’t keep up with basic activities.  “There is something wrong with you, but I don’t know what it is or how to treat you” was the word from the head of Brigham and Woman’s Hospital, back in the early 90s.  He told me to keep trying diets and supplements.

With no real direction, I tried all kinds of stuff.  From bovine raw adrenal to eating nothing I normally eat and introducing one food at a time to juicing, I had no lasting improvement.  The symptoms would wax and wane all these years.  In November of 2014, I began to experience one of the worst bouts ever.  Not since 1998, had I been so incapacitated. I couldn’t manage my symptoms.  Unable to take over the counter pain relievers at all, I met an herbalist.

One of the women there asked about my symptoms and suggested an undiagnosed case of Lyme.  I sought out a specialist and he concurred.  He prescribed antibiotics, probiotics, supplements and a very restrictive diet.  Much to my dismay, the only two things that I currently use to control my symptoms were on the blocked list.

Coffee to raise my blood pressure enough to walk around without holding the walls and wine in the evenings to ease the pain are not available to me, if I am to be compliant.  His theory is that these things precipitate the symptoms that I am trying to relieve.  Although I have gone periods of time excluding them before with no effect, I didn’t have the other prescriptions that he gave me to assist in dealing with the disease.  So, I will be compliant and see what happens.

The Great Physician has a prescription for us too.  While we are using the things of this world to manage the symptoms of the disease of a sinful nature in our lives, He knows that those things are often precipitating the symptoms even more.  We all have a void in our lives.  Ben Kinchlow called it a “God shaped void.”  We try to fill it with achievement, status, conquest or despairing, we may turn to drugs, crime, alcohol or sex in order to manage the emptiness.

His prescription is simple: Believe that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.  That is the way to heal the disease of a sinful nature.  But, like the doctors that told me I was depressed or that they didn’t know what was wrong, we aren’t sure how to deal with that.  So, we continue to manage our symptoms.  We just want relief.

The key is to be compliant with all of the recommendations at the same time.  It is actually easier than it sounds.  The Bible tells us to do a few things to heal.  Most importantly, to read the Scriptures.  The Word of God has transforming power and further direction.  If one doesn’t believe initially, there will surely be a time when not believing can no longer be found.  Reading the Word reveals His intentions to fill us with His loving kindness and relieve our burdens.  At first, it may seem like we have to give up the things that relieve symptoms temporarily, but just like my restrictive diet, we adjust and find the things that are allowed are just as soothing.

It is the cure for the disease that He is interested in. He isn’t as concerned with our symptoms, as much as He wants to love us and live with us forever by curing the dis-ease.  Spending time reading Scripture and listening to worship music, meeting new friends and serving others with our time and talents is fulfilling and rewarding. Romans 12:1 “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind” is the Word to live by.

What are your thoughts about the prescription of the Great Physician?