After developing a natural, non-drug, method for preventing otitis in children, we were confronted with finding how it worked. That path led to the confirmation that our physiologic defenses have been wrongly seen as symptoms to be treated with drugs. That error is a result of our reductionist thinking in wanting to understand and describe human physiology and health in mechanical terms. The numerous elements in our physiology, their nonlinear connections, and above all our realization that they are adaptive, defy reductionist thinking. Our bothersome secondary defenses exemplify this problem. They are most apparent as they defend us where we are most vulnerable—at the openings to our bodies, primarily our GI and respiratory tracts. These are mostly washing defenses that translate into the GI tract's nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, and the respiratory tract's rhinorrhea. The homeostatic model sees these symptoms as bothersome and in need of treatment. The allostatic model acknowledges that temporary imbalances often occur in order to restore a homeostatic balance, but does not yet consider these physiologic defenses as within that model.