- Long term kidney damage
- Infections gained while immuno-suppressed
- Flare up of long term infections -- particularly those responsible for the immune disorder!
- Ignoring the underlying problem
Many forms of immune disease originate from a long term low level
infection of _any_ sort, including bacteria, yeast, viruses, or parasites,
or other persistent factors that the body has not been able to completely
eliminate. With the immune system on alert and without rapid success, the
natural mutation processes of the immune system begin to generate a
broader set of antibodies. This is a strategy which will likely find
another chink in the offending organism's armor; but may also hit upon a
chink in the body's own armor, _possibly_ resulting in auto-immune disease
if a prolonged battle ensues.
At this point, we should note one of the less appreciated functions of
the immune system. When you are injured, some cells die, others begin to
malfunction. Those cells which are damaged, express so called "heat shock
proteins" on their cell wall membranes. (The cause is not only heat, as
originaly thought, but is now understood to include many other forms of
stress and damage.) To clean up the site of the injury, these damaged
cells must be attacked and destroyed by the immune system, and the debris
flushed into the circulatory system, or as in the case of a sunburn or
blister, allowed to fall off. To do this, the immune system has to be
able to form antibodies against the normal cells of the body. That is to
say, a healthy immune system, like a good police force, HAS to have the
ABILITY to kill you, to do its every day work.
Take the example of a viral cold. During the initial period, the
virus takes over cells and turns them into factories manufacturing more
viruses. In response, the immune system sets out a two pronged attack,
one aimed at destroying viruses outside of cells, and another aimed at
identifying those cells acting as viral factories, and killing them before
they disgorge thousands of new viruses, dying in the process. If your
body could not kill your own cells, the virus would eventually take over.
Together, they damage your body to the point where you will feel terrible
for a week or two, as your body replaces the cells that it and/or the
virus killed.
In some cases, those antibodies generated against your own
cells, may persist for a long time, and the generation of
replacement antibodies may continue. In most cases, however, the
disulfide bonds within the antibodies, hold them in "closed" or
inactive position until they are needed. But more on that later.
A number of well known diseases have been found to be based
upon this kind of persistent antibody action.
Late onset diabetes, we now believe, occurs when antibodies are
formed which end up slowly destroying insulin generating cells in
the pancreas. Milk consumption has been statistically related to
this; but the major cause is speculated to be viral.
Rheumatic heart disease is another antibody related disease.
It is triggered when a form of streptococcus infects the throat. In
the course of fighting this off, the body makes antibodies which
will also attack a protein in the heart valves. If treated quickly,
the body does not continue generating these antibodies. If not
treated, the cross reactions of these antibodies with heart valve
tissue eventually convinces the immune system that there is a
continued threat. As damage accumulates, the valves become leaky and
must be replaced to avoid lethargy and death.
Hansen's disease, also known as leprosy, is another auto-immune
disease. It is triggered by a fungus which begins growing on the
skin. In short term exposures, not much happens. The second phase
involves some scarring of the skin. As the immune system becomes
seriously involved in the third phase, it begins generating
antibodies which target other proteins. In those with a genetic
predisposition, some of those proteins targeted, are those used in
the nerve sheaths of a class of pain nerves, leading to a
comfortable lack of pain. The horrors of this disease are not due
to the disease itself; but rather, the lack of pain to discourage
self damaging actions. People with leprosy are no longer aware they
are harming themselves when they pick up hot objects, drink overly
hot liquids, walk with sand or pebbles in their shoes, and the many,
many little things we don't do because we find them uncomfortable or
painful! With open wounds, chronic infections set in; these are
often not treated adequately because they are just not painful.
Like a rented car, without the warning pains of ownership, the mind
is no longer prompted toward caution in the minutea of the body's use.
Soon, the body shows the signs of abuse; burns, repetetive wear,
infections, all lead to missing digits, even limbs, and death. All
due to the missing "inconvenience" of pain.
In a manner analogous to the disabling of the nervous system by
Leprosy, cyclosporins disable another vital but occasionally
irritating system of the body -- the immune system. Suppressing it
is like getting a mild case of AIDS. The initial infections or
other problems are not dealt with, and may continue to cause more
and more damage to the body, while other low grade problems begin to
occur. In addition, it is my understanding that there is often
kidney damage which often leads to dialysis after a number of years,
and the incidence of cancer rises as the body fails to suppress
malfunctioning cells at a stage where this is easily done.
Now a quick jump back to the antibody story. It has been
proposed that antibodies are normally inactive in a healthy
individual. It has been said that 60% or more of the action of a
healthy immune system is to deal with the leakage of larger food
molecules from the gut. There is, after all, a high degree of
similarity between various mammalian animal proteins in our diet and
those found in our bodies, even without considering the cases of
cannibalism formerly found in various primitive societies, or
occasionally encountered in conditions of extreme deprivation. If
our immune system were to attack all instances of these proteins, we
would all have arthritis, lupus, and many other auto immune
diseases. Yet, in some people this type of antibody based damage
does occur.
A typical antibody consists of two light polypeptide chains and two
heavy polypeptide chains held together by disulfide bonds. When most of
these bonds are reduced, the antibody is "closed" and unlikely to attack
anything. It is believed by Dr. Cathcart and others, that in the normal
state, these key bonds are closed, and the antibody circulates relatively
inertly in the blood. (A link to his articles is at the end of this
article.)
When the antibody encounters an area of free radical activity,
such as an area where phagocytes are attacking other cells or
invaders, the free radicals oxidize some of these bonds, causing the
antibody to open, becomming primed. Any loosely matching item the
antibody then encounters, is attacked by the antibody. This
provides a highly localized method of dealing with invading
organisms. Since there are times when the body must destroy its own
cells, and phagocytes do use free radicals as an attack method, this
scheme of activating antibodies would seem a relatively safe design
for Nature to employ. In addition, the presence of adequate free
radical scavengers will reduce the mean free path of the free
radicals generated by the phagocytes, sparing nearby tissue from
damage by "ricochet" free radicals during battle.
The natural fresh food diet of our distant tree dwelling
ancestors use to contain large quantities of ascorbate laden fruits
and vegetables, insuring a good reductive blood ph. Most
foods would be in season for but a few weeks, providing a natural
rotation of perhaps two thousand different foods. And our elevated
status kept us away from dead things and "droppings",
somewhat reducing our exposure to pathogens and parasites. Meat was
relatively rare. Thus, Dr. Stone and others suggest, we had
considerably more antioxidants in our blood, and permitted Mother
Nature to propagate a genetic "defect" that turned off our primate
ancestor's ability to turn glucose into vitamin C. Later on, when
some primates transitioned from the high garden to the grasslands of
the savanna, periodic famines may have killed off those who
converted glucose to vitamin C too freely in times of nutritional
stress.
Along with the benefits of modern civilization, our diet
changed to include far more "dead" foods, such as meat and
vegetables which have been picked weeks, even months before
consumption. Some studies in the sixties have shown that the
ascorbate content of these vegetables drops dramatically after
picking; and when it reaches near zero, the foods begin to rot.
Thus, our diet no longer has the grams of ascorbates and other anti-
oxidants our bodies evolved to use. Nor the seasonal nutritional
stress and famines which helped kill so many.
As a side note, if we were to feed our modern processed food
diet to a monkey, the SPCA would likely charge us with maltreatment
of the animal as we would not be providing it with adequate
ascorbates and other nutrients. The FDA's RDA (Recommended Daily
Allowance) of most nutrients is based not on biological need, which
we are not very certain of; but upon the FDA's compilation of the so
called "average" diet. There have been some strong discussions
between the National Academy of Sciences and the FDA regarding these
recommendations, resulting in the reluctant increase in some of the
values. (Not to mention the open recommendation of "eat more
vegetables", take vitamin C to avoid colds, and now, rumors that
vitamin E combats heart disease. )
Back in our blood, the lower levels of antioxidants result in a
higher average free radical concentration. With any disease
processes or other perturbations, this can reach the levels at which
statistically more and more of the antibodies become open and
"armed", ready to strike anything similar to their intended targets.
A quick note on how chemistry works at this point. Atoms and
molecules react only when they bump into each other hard enough. No
collision, no reaction. Thus if the free radical concentration is
low enough, few antibodies will become primed by collision with free
radicals, and those so primed, are more likely to become un-primed
by collision with free radical scavengers before they encounter
their would-be targets. Also, whether an antibody latches on to a
target depends not just upon fit, but also upon how hard the
collision. A hard enough collision can jam an antibody onto a much
poorer fitting target. There is a considerable spread of velocities
in any solution, the curve tapers to an extreme range, enough to
destroy the molecules involved in somewhat more rare occasions.
These higher speed collisions give rise to a half-life phenomenon
for antibodies and other bodily chemicals. (Rest assured, this
molecular velocity has nothing to do with how quickly blood travels;
it is orders of magnitude greater! Any observed relation between
exercise and allergies is caused by Very Different means.)
So we see that as the free radical levels in the blood rise
and/or antioxidant levels fall, more and more antibodies may become
active, hammering away at anything resembling the targets they were
designed to attack. Eventually, the sheer numbers of mistakes build
up to the point where the accidental damage these antibodies cause,
becomes noticeable as "allergies". As the quantity exceeds the
body's ability to repair the damage, it becomes a form of
degenerative disease.
What kind of damage is noticed first, would depend upon your
immune history -- which antibodies your body has produced more of.
During such attack's, some notice a strange phenomenon -- an injury
at one site on the body, prompts faint symptoms at other similar
sites on the body. Say you catch one finger in a door, or are bitten
by a bee on one knuckle; in a day or two, the other finger may also
begin to twinge. Antibodies created to mop up a specific class of
damaged cells in one area, may be cross reacting with similar cells
at another area because your general free radical scavenger status
is too low. The sites of old injuries may also begin to hurt for
similar reasons. Old mariner's tales of scurvey from the days
before the British use of Lime to prevent scurvey, (hence the slang
term Limy for a British sailor,) talk about old wounds spontaneously
opening. Some of this is mentioned in Pearson and Shaw's books
"Life Extension", and "Life Extension Companion", along with
experiments on wound healing strength vs ascorbate dosage in guinnie
pigs, another animal which does not make its own ascorbates.
Here is where the rotating diet means of treating some
allergies comes in. The constant collisions do take their toll on
antibodies, with some kinds of antibodies lasting only days before
neeting to be replaced by new ones. Rotating the diet provides
lulls, suggesting to the immune system that additional production of
replacement antibodies is not required. Days later, when levels are
low enough, eating that particular food will not cause as many
matches, and so will not stir up the rest of the immune mechanisms.
In the the six to eight hours it takes to ramp up antibody
production against those food macro-molecules, most of that food
will have been used up by the body, keeping the immune system from
becoming stirred up.
Sometimes, with some of these foods, one may note faint traces
of the food odors released a day of so later as the antibodies break
down and release the molecules. Other foods with molecules that
better fit these antibodies may even "flush" such odors on to the
breath. This is not to imply that this is the only cause of delayed
food odors, but a phenomenon which has been noticed by some patients
with food and other allergic materials. At times, massive doses of
vitamin C have been noticed to produce similar releases of food,
allergen, even pesticide odors on the breath.
This mechanism can also explain the occasional faint releases
of potential allergen odors a day or so after exposure. This has
been taken by some patients as an indicator that they are developing
an allergic sensitivity to those allergens. The implication is that
the body has learned to generate antibodies to that chemical, and
may do so in larger quantities next time. Perhaps.
Then there is the strange matter of addictive food disorders.
If free radical levels are high enough, large numbers of these
antibodies become active. If there is enough of the allergen present
in the blood, all the antibodies may be used up by the allergen,
preventing cross reactions and hence allergy symptoms. As long as
supply outstrips the immune systems ability to produce antibodies,
symptoms subside. The combination of faint odors and accompanying
aches soon teaches the victim to crave these foods or allergens to
avoid the pain of allergy. The problem is that the body will divert
other resources to the production of more and more of these
antibodies, neglecting the production of more important antibodies,
and potentially opening the door to infective disease and cancer.
Also the individual may at some time end up in a situation where he
or she can no longer get enough of that particular food, triggering
massive allergy symptoms.
(Some have speculated that a component of "home sickness" for
one's prior abode and diet, etc. may be related to a weak version of
this phenomenon. Perhaps.)
Statistically, a "cure" rate, is measured by the percentage in
whom treatment controls symptoms till some specific date, or till
the patient is removed from the study group by unrelated causes,
like death from cancer, or at times, bancrupcy, loss of insurance,
and other things that prevent paid contact with the
medical practitioner.
Do you consider this acceptable to YOU?
Some medical researchers, looking beyond the immediate, are
just now beginning to sound the alarm that there is a statistical
rise in cancer from antihistamines and many related drugs.
(Science News, circa 1994.)
There
may, however, be other pathways that these drugs use which could
also explain the increase in cancer rates. One suspected pathway is
interfering with pancreatic function.
Other medications, as we have heard, lead to problems with bone
damage. Even the matter of just taking enough pain killers to
remove the pain so one can go on, encourages the patient to ignore
the primary problem, and just go on with life as best as he or she
can till something else breaks down.
Is this method of just treating symptoms acceptable to YOU?
This is your body. Your life as you know it will end when your body
breaks down and stops. We do not know what will happen after that.
If you work at it, you may be able to delay that event.
(If you are interested in what may lay beyond, I would
reccomend the rather curious book, "Children Who Remember Previous
Lives", written by a medical doctor who became curious on the
subject, and dedicated much of his life to researching actual cases.
It's food for thought; and perhaps, hope.)
I deal with complex computer systems, often those which have gone
wrong. Quite often, the cause is a flaw in the design of the system,
which NO ONE went back to fix. Everyone just kept adding more and more
instructions (which we call code,) and fixes to the system. No one took
the time to LOOK at WHY there was a problem. Finally, either that problem
manifested itself in a way that could not be readily fixed, or the weight
of additional problems which the additional code introduced, rendered the
program no longer suitable.
Correcting the initial design flaw was often considered too
time consuming or too expensive. By the time I am called in, we
often find that MANY times that amount has been spent in "unrelated"
costs and schedule slippages in other areas of the company. It is
not that uncommon to find those costs exceed several million
dollars.
How does that old saying go? For want of a nail, the horseshoe
was lost. For want of a horseshoe, the rider was lost, for want the
rider, the battle was lost, for want of the battle, the kingdom was
lost.... Not in all cases, to be sure; but the cumulative weight of
problems "dealt with" one at a time, usualy exceeds the cost needed
to resolve the fundamental causes.
If you LOOK for the REAL problem, for the MECHANISMS behind the
symptoms, and deal with those, either fixing the PROBLEM or
arranging this so that it is not aggravated; then all the side
effects Go Away! This usually involves taking a Different Approach;
one that deals with fundamental mechanisms, not statistics.
It is NOT just taking more things like vitamin C. Vitamin C is
a stop-gap measure, a way of helping the body. But you do need to
get yourself to a point where you have the luxury of saying NO to
risky, short term oriented treatments. Vitamin C can, at times
help people gain some of that slack, and help the body heal. But if you
don't clear whatever caused your problems in the first place, this becomes
a never-ending race between damage and healing. Cure the Cause!
(See
Dr. Cathcart's articles
for more information. Jump button repeated at end.)
Some doctors actually prescribe a long term round of
antibiotics as a start of treatment. There are SERIOUS problems
with this approach as well, but sometimes, it DOES work at killing
the microbes which caused the original problem. Those such as
myself, who have or have had candida albecans may recoil in horror.
Perhaps rightly so -- FOR THEM! But the right kinds of antibiotics
with the right kinds of antifungals and intestinal cultures, and the
right foods, CAN help SOME people get rid of the root cause of their
problems. Not all, not without problems. It's a trade off.
(If you have gut ecology problems, be particularly carful of
Tetracycline and tetracycline derivatives. They are known to promote
candida and other yeasts and fungi. Ask about alternatives.
Check them out in the PDR - Physician's Desk Reference, and/or NDR -
Nurses Drug Reference. Both are available in most libraries or
can be bought (or borowsed,) in most larger bookstores.
DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH, don't simply let your physician read to you
what HE thinks you should know, as he is too prone to leave out
anything he thinks might fuel your imagination or lead to
that catch-all, "Hypochondriasis".)
A friend of mine started having strange allergies and heart
palpitations. It was only AFTER the slow failures in attempting to
treat him with medications and the installation of a heart
pacemaker, that anyone thought of testing him for Lyme disease!
Once that was rectified, many of his problems went away.
Unfortunately, his heart remains damaged, and with the pacemaker,
the FAA (Federal Aviation Agency) will no longer permit him his life
long joy of piloting an airplane. (Not to mention the sharp
reduction in estimated life span this all has caused!)
This is not to say that Lyme disease is the only possible, or
even probable cause. Neither is the Candida Albecans, which Very
Often preys upon those with misbehaving immune systems. But they
are things to look in to, and Doc finds that the general anti-candid
a protocol helps most patients, as it relieves the immune system and
strengthens its ability to select and deal with Specific problems.
How long do you want to live? A hundred and thirty is about
the upper limit given the way healthy bodies seem to age. Can you
attain that if you say that you will accept an improvement now, in
exchange for kidney failure, cancer, or other terminal problems five
to twenty years from now?
Take your life in YOUR OWN HANDS! Keep LOOKING for the ROOT
causes of your problems!
Who is most strongly motivated to keep you alive for
more than ten to twenty years?
Is your doctor?
Or is he more concerned at getting in and you out quickly,
perhaps with fewer symptoms, so he can see other patients? What is
more important to him, you, or his schedule? He DOES have to live,
so he does have watch that clock. So whom does that leave? YOU!
There ARE good doctors who go beyond this near term point of
view. They may be harder to find; but they ARE out there!
Find out WHAT is the root cause; what initial incident,
infection, chronic or otherwise, CAUSED this immunological alert
status. Deal with it!
DO whatever is necessary to QUIET, not suppress, your immune system.
Vitamin C can only be PART of the solution. (Link to C articles at end.)
DO rotate your diet. DO try to avoid many of the immune stressors in your
environment. KEEP a diary so you can LEARN what those stressor are! Start
comparing them, you may find common ingredients which are the Real cause.
This too, gives you more slack, as you can then use things without those
ingredients.
Note that some allergies are cyclical -- if you avoid that food
long enough, then you may be able to have it again once every X days
without symptoms. (X is usually 4, 7, or sometimes, over 20. Part
of that depends on your elimination rate, and other things. Here
too, C can help. Ref. "Brain Allergies", by Dr. Pangborn and "The
Yeast Syndrome" by Trowbridge and Walker.)
Who knows best what is around you? Does you doctor, or you?
Most, NOT ALL, of the doctors, when they see a patient with a list,
WILL NOT LISTEN, they think "Hypochondria!" Good immune specialists
DO want you to keep that diary, to make an ORGANIZED list, and try
to identify what triggers or worstens your attacks. If your doctor
is not interested in your keeping that kind of diary, GET ANOTHER
DOCTOR! (Or if he talks more about what you were thinking, more
about what your psychological state was at those times, than how your
body reacted, same thing. Not to say that psychology is not a
component; but a computer with low voltage will NOT get the right
answers no matter WHAT the program does! During a reaction, you
very likely have the brain equivalent of "low voltage" -- blood with
low oxygen, low glucose, the wrong ph balance, etc. for at least
part of the brain you use. This manifests itself as serious
muscle spasms and/or confusion. If you don't plug the computer in
first, there is NO Point in trying to program it!)
YOU have to TAKE CHARGE of your own condition. That does NOT
mean energy zapping arguments. It simply means asking polite
questions till you understand WHY things happen, or till you see
that the person you are talking to does not know. It means
SELECTING what you will do, and whom you will see. It means LOOKING
BEYOND tomorrow, looking TEN to THIRTY years into the future!
What should you do if your doctor says "Look, let's just deal
with today?" Is that going to get you where you want to be ten to
thirty years from now? I started looking for another doctor each
time that happened.
As the months go by, the prepared mind -- YOUR mind, will begin
to see patterns in all that information you are accumulating. You
will not always be right. You must proof your ideas against
reality. But if you watch how you react, and always seek to find
out the specific causes of your problems, YOU will become the expert
on your own body and your own illness. That's how it should be.
YOU are the one with the greatest motivation to spend the time
researching and experimenting with your disease. Your body is the
only body you are likely to have in this life time. Your doctor, on
the other hand, will see many. Each of you has a different focus,
different information to share.
If your doctor disagrees with you, politely ask him to educate
you as to MECHANISMS, not statistics. What if he refuses? Can you
walk out? Can you look for another doctor? I did.
Ask yourself if you can trust this man to keep you alive thirty
years. Is this man on an ego trip? Does he care for anything
besides getting you in and out quickly so he can get on to the next
patient? Does he want to be thought of as The Expert, any you as
The Ignorant Patient? Would you put up with this kind of behavior
if this were a garage or a used car lot? Just as there are many
mechanics and salesmen, there are many doctors. Whom you consult,
is up to you. It's your life this mechanic is tinkering with. Can
you trust him to take your best interests to heart? If not, just
walk out and keep looking.
YOU have to take YOUR LIFE into YOUR OWN HANDS! And do it in
an intelligent, informed manner! It is up to YOU to hire good
competent, trustworthy _Consultants_ to help you when you need
advice or help, or just to get that other point of view. Working as
partners, you and your doctor can improve your life. But just like
auto mechanics, doctors do come in all kinds.
In the course of this, you need to find some keeping point,
some coping point that will give you enough slack that you CAN say
NO without too much pain. For me that was extreme vitamin C and a
gas mask. (excuse me, OSHA / NIH approved industrial respirator.)
Now, it is just vitamins, mostly C, [Co Q 10, some coconut oil] and diet. I am still looking,
still trying various things. I have lasted ten years [now almost thirty years] this way,
and
may well last another ten to twenty years. I have become accustomed
to it. Life IS good; so I have to keep reminding myself to keep
looking. But if I don't understand the theory behind something, I
refuse to try it till it is explained well enough so I can
understand and believe. I look at most "cures" with suspicion,
because they are NOT cures, just palliative measures to reduce or
eliminate symptoms on a short term basis without regard to other
long term consequences.
Not dying in thirty years, is NOT simply not dying each day. It
is thinking and planning about how to avoid dying in the future from
what you might do today, even if, at times, what you reject happens
to be the best advice available today; sometimes, tempting advice
which may make you more comfortable in the short run can cut your life short in the longer
run.
It is up to YOU. You have to want to live those ten to thirty or more
years. No one can want for you as much as you. No one can do what
you can do, for you. First comes Desire;
a calm, deep rooted
desire that will motivate your actions.
Read, ask questions, learn what you can. But
remember, knowledge is secondary. That's right, secondary. If there is
no desire, all the knowledge in the world is useless.
Then do something. Take the initiative. Make it a
habit. If you can only crawl one inch forward, do it. If the consequences
of failure are minor, try it. Get in the habit of trying. Action is the
third step. It's your initiative, take it before someone
else steals it; when people see you are trying, they will be more willing
to help. Action inspires action. And empathy.
Immune System as Scavenger
A Few Well Known Allergy Diseases...
Antibody Function
Dietary Triggers and Avoidance
Cures, "Cures", and You
Find the Cause
How Long Do YOU Want to Live?
Quiet, Don't Suppress
Who Knows More?
It's Up To YOU!
Gaining Slack
Three Steps
Disclaimers:
I am no doctor. This is not medical advice. I am not responsible
for your health or faith. Do not blindly accept what other people
tell you. Think before you act. If you follow what I have
suggested, you will be taking your life into your own hands.
REFERENCES
Dr. Cathcart's articles on:
Why your doctor won't
talk to you.
This document should not be construed as medical advice.
The contents are not guarenteed as accurate.
Comments should be
submitted to mcs@mall-net.com
Other MCS Articles
Related Resources:
Allergy *
Candida and Yeast *
Chronic Fatigue *
Immune
Enviro
Illness and Multi-Chem Sensitivity
Health *
Other Medical Links
Immune med. org.
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