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Unless you change direction you are likely to end up where
you are headed!

Since anything can cause anything – it may be difficult to know what’s causing what? As a result it’s entirely possible that the cause of your symptoms lies in a place that hasn’t even been considered, let alone identified. To find it – you’ll need a MAP!

 A Vicious Cycle Disorder (VCD) is a symptom with no apparent cause. In fact, chronic symptoms represent undiagnosed causes. Ongoing symptoms associated with a lack of objective findings and negative test results simply suggest that a cause has yet to be identified. In order to successfully resolve any symptom you must be able to accurately identify the cause.

The cause of any symptom can be rooted in one of three places. It can be rooted in the physical structure of the body or it can be entrenched in the biochemistry. But it can also be ingrained in the virtual realm. This realm is comprised of the psychological, emotional, and spiritual aspects of our being.

For the cause of vague and persistent symptoms to be detected in the absence of a diagnosable disease, the challenge is to determine which symptoms are associated with which cause. The goal is to restore balance to the whole person. Too often the emerging symptoms of an imbalance are simply masked with medications to create the illusion of balance.What’s In a Name?
Imbalances associated with VCD will present themselves as symptoms of commonly diagnosed ailments. All too frequently, the symptoms are diagnosed and treated as a disease. In reality, most of the conditions treated with conventional solutions are only symptoms of imbalances or deficiencies. They are usually given names that, in no way represent, the actual cause of the symptoms. In fact, they are simply names for the symptoms being experienced.

Think about it! What do the names of some of the most common disorders have to do with the cause of the related symptoms? If you go to a health care professional with the symptoms of painful joints and are told that you have arthritis, what have you really learned about the cause of those symptoms? You’ve just been given a name for the symptoms you are experiencing.

Now think about other common names for similar experiences. What about allergies, depression, insomnia, indigestion, irritable bowel syndrome, acid reflux, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, elevated cholesterol? Is it possible that any commonly diagnosed disorder is simply a name for a routinely observed group of symptoms for which the cause has yet to be discovered?

Or how about this! Is it possible that these routinely observed symptoms have different causes in different people? What if they simply represent a chronic imbalance or deficiency with a common manifestation? Is it possible that a vicious cycle disorder is at the root of all these symptoms?

The Secret Cycle

By definition, VCD is a chronic imbalance or deficiency that eventually results in symptoms that are difficult to accurately diagnose and rarely respond to conventional treatment. The underlying imbalance or deficiency that produces the symptoms of VCD is a process, rooted in a behavior that becomes a habit resulting from repeatedly making choices associated with your experience. The cause of the resulting symptoms typically either goes undiagnosed or is diagnosed as something other than what it really is – a vicious cycle disorder.

For example, an individual goes to the doctor with any one of a group of common symptoms. This individual has tested negative for any disease by all conventional standards. This is the profile of an individual with chronic, low-grade unresolved symptoms. This is also the hallmark of VCD.

So, how can you know if you’re suffering from VCD? If you’re one of the growing numbers of people being told that nothing is wrong but you know that something’s not right

And you’ve been told that………………….· All your tests are negative
· Your symptoms are normal for your age,
· They will go away in time,
· You’ll have to learn to live with them,
· We can’t find anything wrong, or
· They’re all in your head
…a Vicious Cycle Disorder (VCD) may be at the root of all your problems!Herein lays the challenge! Now what? Shall we wait and see? Should we suppress the symptoms? Should we go to a psychiatrist? Or perhaps looking at other possibilities might be a reasonable alternative.

When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. This is one of the seven caveats or guidelines discussed in “Beyond Medicine” that I use for navigating the alternative world. This speaks to a couple of issues. First, it provokes awareness when you’re consulting any health care professional in that it allows you to recognize that you are being exposed to a particular point of view. In fact, it is a bias known as a premature cognitive commitment or conditioned response evoked as a result of the individual’s beliefs, experiences, training, etc. For instance if you consult 6 different specialists regarding something as simple as a headache you’ll get 6 different opinions as to why you have it, how it originated and what you can do about it. Therefore, it is most important to seek out a professional with a broad perspective who is not limited to one idea or one approach.

Similarly related to this aspect, the ideal health care professional would be one who recognizes their role as a problem solver and not necessarily the identity established by the letters following their name. Their job is to help to identify the cause of the problem and point you in the direction of correction, regardless of who or what it involves.

Why is this important? Well, other than the obvious time, money, and effort benefits, this approach weaves nicely into the actual contextual nature of biological healing. This means that since dis-ease is a reflection of any underlying imbalance or deficiency, a contextual (or whole person) approach to restoring function will automatically incorporate a multi-dimensional evaluation with solution-oriented recommendations. It will take into account the various aspects of an individual’s lifestyle to encourage the restoration of balance and harmony to produce a true recovery.

For instance, if we’re looking at the symptoms of acid-reflux, indigestion, constipation, ulcers, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc., it is important to assess and evaluate habits, beliefs, activities, sleep patterns, stress management skills, diet, exercise, medications, and supplements, as well as the structural and biochemical status of the individual with the symptoms.

Otherwise we get a this-for-that type of remedy or a symptom based solution. The result may be a temporary respite from the symptoms but because the faux solution is designed as a conditioned response (premature cognitive commitment) to an expressed symptom, it will, at best, only address the mechanism of a disorder and not the cause. The danger in this approach is that it simply rearranges the expression of symptoms associated with a mechanism (e.g., side-effects) and produces a new mechanism of expression without addressing the cause of the original symptoms. It also interferes the true biological creativity of the body and makes it more difficult or impossible to affect a cure.

The other issue associated with the hammer/nail caveat is that it is used as and end-game approach to differential diagnosis as opposed to that suggested by another of my caveats – “when you hear hoof beats, look for horses”. This implies the use of the symptoms as a starting point for the assessment rather than the end-point used to recommend a course of action. When the symptoms dictate the solution the patient will be subjected to a linear, cause effect, symptom based, premature cognitive commitment of the highest order. This approach is an extremely ineffective and dangerous conditioned response rooted in prejudice, bias, ignorance, and laziness.

A word about biological creativity may be appropriate here. The human body is perfectly designed to alter its response in the most productive way to any stimulus. The same innate intelligence that monitors the six trillion functions per second activities of 60 trillion cells is fully capable of affecting a cure. In fact, the process is identifiable and reproducible. The problem is two-fold. First, we tend to interfere with the mechanisms of dis-ease (treat symptoms), while relying on research, outcome studies, and statistics to arrive at tentative solutions based upon the majority of responses to a symptom-based treatment. Secondly, we fail to recognize, support, and encourage the innate biological creativity of the body. In outcome-based research studies this is usually represented by a statistical summary that suggests something like 90% of the people with this (symptom-based condition) will thrive for 3-6 months if given this symptom based solution. What about the other 10%? They have experienced spontaneous remission denoted as anomalous due to the process of biological creativity, which we assume to be out of our conscious control as it produces results that are inconsistent with our previous experiences, belief systems, and typical responses. Biological expression is an interpretation of our perceptions. But where do our perceptions come from? Perceptions originate with our thoughts but are filtered through the limits of our ability to experience them with our senses. The thoughts that catapult the preliminary data into our awareness appear randomly based upon our exposure, environment, and social conditioning.

One of the reasons that this occurs is because we falsely assume that the physical experience is material in nature, when in fact, the physical universe is comprised of atoms, comprised of sub-atomic particles, comprised of photons (light), comprised of information and energy, comprised of probability amplitudes, comprised of possibilities (the essence of quantum physics). Quantum Physics goes on to suggest that nothing exists until it is observed. Therefore, unless you have a well-formed pathology in place, the cause of your symptoms is likely to go unresolved until it matures.

But one does not need to understand quantum physics to initiate this process. In fact this is the natural order of things. The ultimate expression of a possibility can be determined by the intention to experience a given outcome and the attention given to its expression (what you focus on expands). In nature (and biological evolution), these precise steps are enacted to achieve a desired result. On a practical level this amounts to identifying the problem, acquiring information about the problem and possible solutions, determining an intended outcome, incubating the information until we are inspired to act, implement a potential solution, integrate this solution into our attempts to restore balance, modify the details as we monitor the changes and ultimately arrive at the 10% solution (remission or incarnation).

Creativity (especially biological creativity) is a quantum, discontinuous, non-algorithmic jump in the punctuated equilibrium of the status quo producing a new and unique expression. Innovation simply rearranges the components of a mechanism to create the appearance of something new. Therefore, we are at risk of becoming a highly sophisticated, technologically advanced culture of sickly innovators who produce carbon copies of other mechanisms that have a short shelf life, limited application, and little potential to affect permanent change.

 Whatever you might be experiencing as chronic symptoms inevitably has a cause. Therefore, this “problem” cannot possibly exist without the presence of a solution. Since our external reality is merely a reflection of internal processes we have an opportunity to evaluate undiagnosed symptoms in light of imbalances and deficiencies, long before they become identifiable as diagnosable disease entities. Herein lie the power and the beauty of a Matrix Assessment Profile. Since nothing exists until you observe it, the M.A.P. presents us with the opportunity to shift our focus and seek out a cause in places of observation that few consider worth evaluating. For more information visit drvcd.com.