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DISEASE or to be ILL or to have an AILment is to be "NOT at EASE". For early
Christians, to be SICK, implied that a demon or vampire drained the VITality of
the victim.
DIS implies separation, as in DISsolve, DIScourage, DISease, DISability and DISorder. The ancients linked
DISEASE to DIS, who ruled in HADES or the underworld. The
belief was that DIS victimized mortals by DISassociating them from their VITality.
Those who lose their salubrity or health often feel separated from their
VITAL resolve, courage, sense of ease or ability to order
or control their capabilities.
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Meningitis
can cause seizures and strabismus (squint). |
Disease
Distress |
Organic DISeases cause physical SIGNS perceptible by others.
Functional DISeases result in SYMPTOMS that patients report to others. One
example of both is an altered PSYCHE which may cause some to complain and others
to behave abnormally and be called "insane" or having a mental disease.
DISEASE in Ukrainian is KHOROBA and JOROBA in Spanish is HUMP or GIBBUS. KHOROBA and JOROBA
underscore the idea of being "burdened" and HUMP conveys ideas of bend or bent.
Since antiquity, people had a HUNCH that a HUMP was a sign of a serious disease later
called tuberculosis. Artists also knew that humps were common among gnomes.
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Once humps
were a sign of tuberculosis. A hunchback refers to spinal
Kyphosis or bending. |
Many legends perpetuate the HUNCH that touching the HUMP of a HUNCHBACK will
bring good fortune. This HUNCH is probably rooted in the idea that GNOmes, being
small, KNOw
where treasures are hidden. GNOme, dwarf, midget, pigmy, leprechaun, elf are a
few of many words that describe nuances of various sorts of "little people".
Short stature syndromes are complex and we had to dedicate several illustrated
overviews to the subject. In any case, consider if "little people" are
"dis-ease-d",
and if not, are they "normal"? This question underscores core issues of what
is meant by "disease". Most physicians think of disease as an active process
associated with diminished stability or homeostasis.
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| LIVEr DISease
DISsolves LIVliness (Cirrhosis). |
It is self-evident that sub-optimal VITtal STAbility implies
a lessened chance for surVIVAL.
Many DISeases DISsolve some degree of VITality or homeoSTAsis, a
concept concerned with biologic STAbility or health. To avoid DISsolving the
VITality of this review, further comments about DISease are omitted except to
afFIRM that inFIRMity implies "less firm" or less "STAble"
and therefore is consonant with the idea of DISease, fundamentally being a diminished homeoSTAsis.
In contrast, the homeoSTAsis of STAtic DISabilities is often STAble.
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| DISabilities
caused by neuromuscular
syndromes are incapacitating. |
"Natural" healing occurs when DISeased organisms recover their homeostasis, and
become "healed" or "healthy". Other ailments cause a permanent scar (sequelae)
or diminished homeostasis and the organism remains DISabled or DISfunctional. The FATe of organisms with FATal disorders
implies that loss of homeostasis needed to uphold VITal FUNCTions cannot
prevent the organism from becoming deFUNCT.
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