There are seven stages of disease. The underlying cause of disease in all stages is
enervation and subsequent toxicosis.

1. Enervation
This first stage is called enervation. Most people call it nervous exhaustion, or just plain “tired and run down.” Enervation is a state in which the body is either not generating sufficient vital energy for the tasks the body must perform, or the tasks the body must perform may be greater than the normal vital energy supply can cope with. In any event, the body becomes impaired, and an impaired body generates less vital energy if the conditions of overwork or non-regeneration persist. The great revitalizer is sleep, for sleep regenerates vital energy. Insufficient sleep and rest are the primary causes of enervation. Once enervation exists, all body functions are debilitated and diminished. This can quickly lead to:

2. Toxicosis
When toxic substances from whatever source saturate the blood and tissues, the lymph system and interstitial fluids, then the condition of toxicosis exists. Living cells are surrounded by waste products - garbage. Tissue and blood saturation with toxic materials can be caused by both internally generated wastes and pollutants taken in from the outside which the body has not been able to eject from its domain. Intoxication occurs when we overload the body with toxic materials from the outside, or we fail to observe our capacities, and overwork, get insufficient sleep, or are subjected to great stress, or when any number of other factors deplete the body of vital energy or prevent its sufficient regeneration. For instance, stresses, emotional shocks, or traumatic experiences can drain our bodies of vital energy very quickly. Often toxicosis creates feelings of unease, vague discomfort and subtle negative emotional states. At some level of intoxication we begin to experience the next stage of disease which is called:

3. Irritation
Irritation results from toxic materials being sensed by our nervous system. Any toxic material, be it salt, caffeine, condiments or external chemicals will irritate or stimulate. This is a condition wherein the body sets in force its defensive mechanisms and accelerates its internal activities. This might well be likened to an alarm aboard ship where all hands are summoned. A frenzy of activity results in a bout with enemy forces. Unfortunately, this often temporarily makes us feel good or hyperactive or even euphoric. It is distressing to see a euphoric condition arise out of a situation that is damaging to the organism. If the causes of enervation/intoxication/irritation remain in force and the body can’t cope with it the body initiates a responsive crisis called:

4. Inflammation
This is usually the stage in which physicians recognize pathology. It is the stage where sufferers are keenly aware of a problem, for it involves pain. As well, it involves bodily redirection of vital energies. The intestinal tract is closed down. Energy that would normally be available for digestive activity is preempted and redirected to the massive effort to cope with a severe condition of intoxication. Energy is also redirected from use by the muscles. There is little or no desire to be active; all sensibilities demand that you sleep and rest. Lest the integrity of the organism be dealt a mortal blow or become crippled, the body musters its all to the emergency.

In inflammation, the toxicants have usually been concentrated in an organ or area for a massive expulsive effort. The area becomes inflamed due to the constant irritation of the toxic materials. When inflammation exists we are said to have an “itis,” appendicitis, tonsillitis, sinusitis, hepatitis, or nephritis for example. The names of “itises” are usually after the organ or tissue area that is inflamed. Thus if we have a cold we have rhinitis. If we have inflammation of the sinus cavities we have sinusitis. If we have inflammation of bronchial tissue we have either bronchitis or asthma. And so it goes. We have these peculiar pathologies because in each case the body elected to eliminate the extraordinary toxic load through the organ affected. For instance, asthma exists because the body has selected the bronchi as an outlet for toxic materials. The condition is chronic because the toxic condition is unceasing. While the sufferer continues to intoxicate himself or herself, the body continues to eliminate the overload through the bronchi or alveolar tissue.

Why does the body choose one site or another for elimination? There are many variables to consider to answer this question. There is the predisposing genetic “constitution” that you are born with. Some of us can handle increased elimination through normal channels, while others do not have this capacity and the body has to rid itself of the extra poisons through the skin via pimples, rashes, etc. Also we must consider that the type of toxic material being eliminated will tend to be detoxified by one or more particular organs. Also the outlet that is most convenient for excretion, nose, eyes ears, throat, lungs, bladder, rectum, etc. will be utilized to expel the morbid material.

Inflammation or fever is a body crisis response to a life-threatening situation. The body and the body alone creates the fever. It is an evidence or symptom of increased and intense body activities directed at cleansing and repair. The extraordinary energies employed for a fever are at the expense of energies normally involved in digestion, work or play, thinking and seeing, etc. Fever is a healing activity. The idea of suppressing it is equivalent to hitting a drowning man over the head so he'll stop struggling. For instance, if rhinitis or influenza sufferers are drugged, it amounts to hitting the body's healer over the head. Thus, the eliminative effort is suppressed, and the toxicity increases until other organs, usually the lungs, become saturated - not only with the toxicity but the drugs administered as well. When body vitality reasserts itself a condition known as pneumonia is likely to result. Inflammation is the fourth stage of disease and is the body’s most intense effort to cleanse and restore itself. The next stage of disease is destructive and degenerative. It will result if the causes of general body intoxication are continued.

5. Ulceration
Ulceration means that a staggering amount of cells and tissue structures are being destroyed. Physiological systems are wiped out due to the body's inability to live in an unceasing toxic media. Where tissue is destroyed there remains a void. An example is a canker sore of the mouth. Lesions or ulcers can occur in other areas of the body also. These conditions are often intensely painful, for there are exposed nerves. While the body may use an ulcer as an outlet for extraordinary toxic buildup thereby relieving itself, it will heal the ulcer if causes are discontinued, or if the toxicity level is significantly lowered. This process of repairing the damage is like patching up pants with holes in them. This patching up process is called induration.

6. Induration
Induration is a hardening of tissue or the filling in of tissue vacancy with hard tissue. Scarring is a form of induration. But in this stage of disease, there is direction and purpose in hardening. The space is filled, and the toxic materials that threaten bodily integrity are encapsulated in a sac of hardened tissue. The ulcer and the toxic materials are sealed off by the hardening of the tissue around them. This is a way of quarantining the toxic materials, often called tumor formation. It is this condition that is often diagnosed as cancer when in fact no cancer exists. Induration is the last stage during which the body exerts intelligent control. Should the pathogenic practices which brought matters to this stage be continued, cells and tissue systems go wild. They survive as best they can on their own. Cells become parasitic - living off the nutrients they can obtain from the lymph fluid but contributing nothing to the body economy. They have become disorganized. Their genetic encoding has been altered by the poisons. Thus, they are not capable of intelligent normal organized action within the context of a vital economy. When cells go wild in this manner, the condition is called cancer.

7. Cancer
The endpoint of the evolution of disease is cancer. It is the last stage of disease and is usually fatal, especially if the causes that brought it about are continued. Cessation of causes and indulgence of healthful practices may arrest it, for they can so revitalize the body that they may even destroy the cancer cells. It's all relative. Cancer cells live in a hostile environment but still divide and flourish as long as nutrients are available to them. Cancer cells may be regarded as cells that have become independent and have reverted to the status of uncontrolled primitive cells -- cells that live entirely on their own as do protozoa. These stages of disease are quite distinct in their characters, yet the lines are more or less arbitrarily drawn. This often happens in attempts at categorization where one form evolves into another. The dividing lines have no clear-cut delineation.

People sometimes ask when cancer begins. Natural Hygienists say that it begins with the first cold or rash of childhood. The first crisis a baby endures begins the pathological chain that leads to cancer. This evolutionary chain begins then because the phenomenon of life is one constant violation of the laws of life from beginning to end.