Re: How to tell if you're just treating a symptom . . .

If the herb/vitamin/chemical regimen was in fact treating the source, then, it seems to me, you should see a gradual improvement in the symptoms, indicating you are, in fact, treating the cause. Though sometimes you may see a swift improvement of symptoms, that lasts, rather than a gradual improvement in symptoms.

Sudden, dramatic, but short lived symptom decrease would mean you were only treating the symptom and have not correctly determined the cause, and therefore the cause is not corrected.

Example: Treating a headache with aspirin or tylenol. Yes, you get pain relief, but often, when the drug wears off, you need a second dose. The headache often goes away with the drugs because the consciousness of the pain-spasm-pain cycle is interrupted, permitting the body set point to be re-set, but the underlying cause has not been addressed and perhaps it has been made worse due to toxicity of the remedy.