Why does medicine treat symptoms rather than diseases?

[molbol2000]

I paid attention to 2 cases.

1. The main problem of diabetes mellitus is that the tissues do not absorb glucose, however, therapy is reduced to lowering blood sugar

2. Hypertension is a symptom of some kind of problem or genetically predetermined, depending on the characteristics of the organism, however, a general norm has been established and everyone is adjusted to fit it.

Why is this approach not practiced, for example, for melanin content or the shape of the skull?

[Prometheus]

Two cases is not enough to draw the conclusion that 'medicine treats symptoms rather than disease'. It's true that there are cases for which medicine can only treat symptoms - these usually reduce to not understanding a disease sufficiently. But there are plenty of cases where the cause of the disease is directly addressed - antibiotics, for instance. Even your own example of diabetes is not representative - all type 1 and many type 2 diabetics take insulin , which is not treating a symptom. 

I didn't understand the points about hypertension, melanin or skull shape.

[Bufofrog]

Chemotherapeutic drugs are made to kill cancer cells not to treat symptoms.  Your hypothesis has been disproven.

[swansont]

1 hour ago, molbol2000 said:

I paid attention to 2 cases.

1. The main problem of diabetes mellitus is that the tissues do not absorb glucose, however, therapy is reduced to lowering blood sugar

...by helping cells absorb glucose. Metformin, for example. “metformin also lowers blood sugar by increasing the body’s sensitivity to insulin.”

https://diatribe.org/everything-you-always-wanted-know-about-metformin-were-afraid-ask

 

Quote

Why is this approach not practiced, for example, for melanin content or the shape of the skull?

Explain, please.

[molbol2000]

11 hours ago, swansont said:

Explain, please.

Why we do not take into account individual characteristics, because these indicators may be dependent on genetics, and the norm should not be the same for everyone. For example, if a person has good blood vessels and a heart, hypertension is less dangerous for him.

11 hours ago, swansont said:

..by helping cells absorb glucose. Metformin, for example. “metformin also lowers blood sugar by increasing the body’s sensitivity to insulin.”

As I understand it, this is not mainstream, right?

14 hours ago, Prometheus said:

all type 1 and many type 2 diabetics take insulin , which is not treating a symptom. 

This therapy does not improve the absorption of sugar, it acts as an artificial substitute. If speculate like this, crutches treat leg fractures

[StringJunky]

Bespoke medicine is an aspiration that is not yet a reality.

Edited October 18, 2020 by StringJunky

[molbol2000]

14 hours ago, Prometheus said:

can only treat

The question is "can" or "want". In the case of diabet they not only treat symptom, 
they replace the very essence of the disease, claiming that the main problem of diabetes is hyperglycemia

[molbol2000]

14 hours ago, swansont said:

.by helping cells absorb glucose. Metformin, for example. “metformin also lowers blood sugar by increasing the body’s sensitivity to insulin.”

by the way, according to wikipedia, this is not true

there is no such an effect in description.

if I understood correctly, everything there is based on the suppression of neoglucogenesis. That is, it is a barbaric drug that only aggravates tissue starvation.

[molbol2000]

Also: asthenic has low blood pressure, and hypersthenic has increased

[Prometheus]

5 hours ago, molbol2000 said:

This therapy does not improve the absorption of sugar...

That's exactly what insulin does - without insulin cells cannot absorb glucose through facilitated diffusion thus blood glucose levels accumulate. Giving insulin treats this. Unless by treat you mean only therapies which would restore function to the pancreatic beta cells which fail to produce insulin in type 1 diabetes.  This is not currently possible. Perhaps there is a language barrier here.

[John Cuthber]

We have medicine; we don't have magic.

If someone's pancreas is damaged by an autoimmune disease we can not go back in time and stop that.
Nor can we build them a new pancreas. (we might be able to give them a transplant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancreas_transplantation  )

We can provide insulin from an external source.

Whether that is treating the symptom or the cause is a matter of definition.

1 hour ago, molbol2000 said:

Also: asthenic has low blood pressure, and hypersthenic has increased

It really isn't that simple.

Edited October 18, 2020 by John Cuthber

[molbol2000]

1 hour ago, Prometheus said:

That's exactly what insulin does

I meant improvement at the expense of my own mechanisms, their restoration

1 hour ago, Prometheus said:

without insulin cells cannot absorb glucose

By the way, can. This only applies to GLUT4

1 hour ago, Prometheus said:

Unless by treat you mean only therapies which would restore function to the pancreatic beta cells which fail to produce insulin in type 1 diabetes.  This is not currently possible.

Firstly, no attempts are visible. Secondly, they also do not try to treat type 2 in this way, in the third, the masses of people are misinformed,  saying that, allegedly, the problem is in an increase in blood sugar, and not in tissue starvation, which is generally a pseudoscientific lie

57 minutes ago, John Cuthber said:

It really isn't that simple.

but they could at least take this into account

Also there is a contradiction: if therapy with insulin is works, why do people with type 1 diabetes still diet and suffer from different diabetes consequences?

Edited October 18, 2020 by molbol2000

[John Cuthber]

48 minutes ago, molbol2000 said:

Firstly, no attempts are visible.

You have not looked.
 

 

1 hour ago, John Cuthber said:

we might be able to give them a transplant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancreas_transplantation 

"Sulfonylureas (UK: sulphonylurea) are a class of organic compounds used in medicine and agriculture, for example as antidiabetic drugs widely used in the management of diabetes mellitus type 2. They act by increasing insulin release from the beta cells in the pancreas.^[1]"

 

<sup>from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfonylurea

It really would  be better if you checked that what you believe is at least nearly correct before posting.</sup>

51 minutes ago, molbol2000 said:

but they could at least take this into account

Take what into account?

[molbol2000]

Also I have read description of experiment with rats. They found out that reducing carbohydrates in the diet leads to insulin resistance. So, it seems, claims about the dangers of sugar consumption are a myth, and even all the way around

[John Cuthber]

Just now, molbol2000 said:

Also I have read description of experiment with rats. They found out that reducing carbohydrates in the diet leads to insulin resistance. So, it seems, claims about the dangers of sugar consumption are a myth, and even all the way around

https://xkcd.com/285/

But, more importantly, we have (accidentally) done the experiment with humans, so who cares about rats?.

[molbol2000]

13 minutes ago, John Cuthber said:

You have not looked.
 

Do you have a link to such studies?

 

13 minutes ago, John Cuthber said:

"Sulfonylureas (UK: sulphonylurea) are a class of organic compounds used in medicine and agriculture, for example as antidiabetic drugs widely used in the management of diabetes mellitus type 2. They act by increasing insulin release from the beta cells in the pancreas.^[1]"

 

This is an illiterate statement because type 2 diabetes is not associated with insulin deficiency.

 

13 minutes ago, John Cuthber said:

Take what into account?

This factor. For example, adjust the rate taking into account the physique (as well as the size of the heart and the state of blood vessels and so on)

7 minutes ago, John Cuthber said:

But, more importantly, we have (accidentally) done the experiment with humans, so who cares about rats?.

This experiment not have success. People die

Edited October 18, 2020 by molbol2000

[swansont]

5 hours ago, molbol2000 said:

by the way, according to wikipedia, this is not true

there is no such an effect in description.

if I understood correctly, everything there is based on the suppression of neoglucogenesis. That is, it is a barbaric drug that only aggravates tissue starvation.

Because wikipedia is an exhaustive source. If it’s not in wikipedia, it’s not true.  </sarcasm>

[molbol2000]

3 minutes ago, swansont said:

Because wikipedia is an exhaustive source. If it’s not in wikipedia, it’s not true.  </sarcasm>

well. But your source not sciencific too, moreover, it looks like marketing

[John Cuthber]

12 minutes ago, molbol2000 said:

This is an illiterate statement because type 2 diabetes is not associated with insulin deficiency.

Increasing the levels of insulin  in type 2 diabetes works.

So, it's associated with a deficiency.

Also
 

1 hour ago, molbol2000 said:

Secondly, they also do not try to treat type 2 in this way

Yes they do- notably with sulphonylureas.

In any event, we know how to prevent and treat type 2 diabetes. It's just that people find it very hard to lose weight.

That's still the best available medical treatment- and it works.

[molbol2000]

19 hours ago, swansont said:

Metformin, for example. “metformin also lowers blood sugar by increasing the body’s sensitivity to insulin.”

By the way, if Metformin would work as you say, it would be widely used by athletes as doping and anabolic, it is safer than insulin. and by itself suggests itself as an addition to insulin

[John Cuthber]

10 minutes ago, molbol2000 said:

moreover, it looks like marketing

It isn't.

[molbol2000]

4 minutes ago, John Cuthber said:

Increasing the levels of insulin  in type 2 diabetes works.

So, it's associated with a deficiency.

but cannot work, since type 2 means insulin resistance

 

[John Cuthber]

5 minutes ago, molbol2000 said:

but cannot work, since type 2 means insulin resistance

 

It does work.

 

8 minutes ago, molbol2000 said:

if Metformin would work as you say, it would be widely used by athletes as doping and anabolic,

I think that's why it's banned.

Edited October 18, 2020 by John Cuthber

[molbol2000]

11 minutes ago, John Cuthber said:

Yes they do- notably with sulphonylureas.

In any event, we know how to prevent and treat type 2 diabetes. It's just that people find it very hard to lose weight.

That's still the best available medical treatment- and it works.

This is, in any case, not what was discussed (restoration of tissue susceptibility to sugar)

6 minutes ago, John Cuthber said:

It does work.

In this case, questions to theorists, because it cannot work by definition.

By the way, I read a little about metformin and it turned out that in addition to this, it is also used for fat burning, and one of its mechanisms of action is based on suppressing mitochondrial respiration. And here again the paradox: it is believed that fat is metabolized by mitochondria.

if fat is not burned by oxidation, how does it disappear?

[swansont]

1 hour ago, molbol2000 said:

well. But your source not sciencific too, moreover, it looks like marketing

It’s a .org site, not .com

Metformin is generic, so not a lot of money in pushing it, since there is no exclusive manufacturing and marketing

There are penalties for making false medical claims in advertising