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The Biological School evolved from the Naturalistic School of medicine. It comes from a different viewpoint—it considers germs to be normal in our environment (where they have always been and always will be) and thus their eradication is not practical. This is even more so true today, thanks to the additional presence of “man made” carcinogenic and toxic elements that have been introduced into the environment during the industrial, and now nuclear, ages.

The naturalistic school views disease as the response of a body that has a weakened resistance to germs and other influences. This is the result of the interplay of human physiology and the environment; given its emphasis on the body’s response to disease (not the emphasis on the disease or germ) this natural school of thought is called Biological Medicine today.
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Biological Medicine understands disease to be caused by an “upset” to the body’s natural biochemical and metabolic stability due to nutritional deficiencies, excessive ingestion of protein, prolonged stress, insufficient exercise, weakening of the body due to insufficient rest and/or poisoning by alcohol, tobacco smoke, drugs, etc.
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The harm by poisons is not limited to illegal drugs and alcohol; overuse and miss-prescribed medications cause considerable illness, especially among individuals with weakened resistance such as the elderly. Antibiotics are often the first-line approach, weakening their utility. There is even
a term for this, “iatrogenic,” to refer to illness caused by physicians and their treatments. Every one is aware of various statistics about developing illnesses from hospital stays (referred to as “nosocomial” disease), but did you know that the very hospital food (that everyone jokes about) may be responsible for prolonging hospital stays and inhibiting recovery? Many studies have found malnutrition widespread, by as much as 50%, in patients hospitalized over two weeks or more, to the degree that they were worse off on discharge.

This approach has special value in the treatment of pain. Consider that back pain is the second most common reason for medical office visits in the US. Yet less than 5% of this pain is ever diagnosed as systemic pathology, which would provide a target for Allopathic Medicine. The immediate use of pain relief treatment in appropriate patients, coupled with a biological medicine, supervising alternative and complementary medical approaches, make sense in a pain treatment setting.