Understanding the Role of Medicines in Chronic and Emergency Care

Why Emergency Drugs Save Lives but May Not Cure Chronic Illness

 

Dear Bibi,

 

Thank you very much for your email and for your concern about your mother’s health.

Let me briefly share with you the background of our modern drug-based medical system. Much of it can be traced back to the influence of John D. Rockefeller. Interestingly, he himself used the natural healing powers of his own body to recover from severe illness, yet he later promoted petroleum-derived chemicals as “medicines” to the medical profession, naturally for commercial reasons. This is the beginning of what we now call allopathic medicine, the system that relies heavily on pharmaceutical drugs.

You may read the full story here:

The Secret of the Body’s Own Inner Medicines and the Rockefeller Transformation

https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/search?q=rockefeller

Now, I want to emphasize something important: drugs are not useless. Many modern medications are truly lifesaving when used appropriately — especially in emergencies such as heart attacks, severe asthma, infections, trauma, anaphylaxis, or acute organ failure. In these situations, drugs and medical interventions can mean the difference between life and death.

Here are some of my articles explaining the vital role of emergency medicines:

https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/search?q=emergency+medicine

https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/search?q=Emergency+drugs

https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/2025/08/emergency-protocol-for-management-of.html

 

However, problems arise when we begin using these chemical agents long-term to manage chronic lifestyle-related diseases. In such cases, medication often suppresses symptoms without addressing the root causes. Symptoms are not enemies ,  they are the body’s distress signals, asking us to intervene at a deeper level.

 

This is why many chronic diseases do not resolve. Instead, patients accumulate more symptoms, more diagnoses, and more drugs — a situation known as polypharmacy, which sadly becomes a major cause of complications and even mortality in the elderly. Controlling disease is not the same as curing it.

 

Fortunately, there is now an emerging and evidence-based discipline called Lifestyle Medicine, which is increasingly taught in medical schools internationally. It focuses on reversing chronic diseases by addressing diet, physical activity, sleep, stress, social connection, environment, and other root causes. Many countries — including Malaysia and Singapore — are now integrating lifestyle medicine and other traditional systems with allopathic medicine, just as recommended by the WHO.

No single healing tradition has all the answers. Modern medicine is sometimes like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: one face offers lifesaving help, while the other face can unintentionally cause harm when used without balance. What we need is integrative healthcare — taking the best from each system to give patients real healing, not merely lifelong disease management.

I have written many articles on this subject, and I am happy to share them if they may help you or your mother.

Thank you again for writing, and I wish your mother comfort, healing, and guidance toward the best path for her health.

Warm regards,

Lim Ju Boo