Academia Health Dictionary

This is our turf, the period of time when a potential disease is still potential, and a functional imbalance or tendency has not caused any organic disruption. Years of poor digestion, heartburn, and systematic suppression of upper GI function by adrenalin stress have not become overt gastritis, ulcers, or IBS. You have symptoms of distress (subclinical) but no real, ripened clinical disease. Some medical authorities (usually administrative docs from the “spokesman” and “quack-patrol” ranks of industry, academia or agency) actually insist that there is no such thing as a subclinical condition...you are either SICK or NOT SICK and presumably well. Sort of like the mechanic saying that the car works or doesn’t work...four quarts low on oil, but it WORKS. Only when it is five quarts low and has a siezed-up engine is there a need for a mechanic.... subclinical