How do you boost your immune system to fight off a cold, allergy, or flu if you have an autoimmune disease?
Thursday, May 6th, 2010 at
6:14 am
Am writing a school paper about multiple sclerosis, so if you can relate your answer to MS, that would be awesome. I am very puzzled: The immune system is misidentifying myelin as a foreign invader, so if you "feed" nutrition to the immune system to fight off a virus or pollen, for example, doesn’t it also increase the autoimmune response that destroys the myelin sheath?
Filed under: Alternative Medicine
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i think you should really do a research paper on the credibility of the theory of autoimmune diseases. are they really the cause of the immune system fighting the body?
autoimmune diseases are kind of controversial.
You don’t. If you have an autoimmune disease, you already have a hyper vigilant immune system.
For the immune system to be so weakened that it cannot do any significant damage on the myelin sheaths, you would be looking a chemotherapy treatments etc.
Yes, MS is caused by a strong and aggressive immune system, but strengthening the immune system should not trigger attacks. What is believed to trigger attacks are situations that activates the immune system above its normal vigilance, such as fighting off an infection, virus or receiving immunization treatment for allergies. Neurologists and allergy experts don’t seem to agree on this, though. I’ve had neurologists and allergy experts advice me against vaccinations/immunization treatment and I’ve had neurologists and allergy experts say that vaccinations/immunization treatments are unlikely to trigger an MS attack.
Autoimmune diseases occur when the immune system confuses normal body tissue, "self", with a foreign intruder, and mistakenly attacks its own healthy tissues and organs.
Many parts of the body such as the red blood cells, blood vessels, connective tissues, digestive system, endocrine system, muscles, joints, nerves and skin may be affected. Autoimmune disorders predominantly affect women, frequently during their childbearing years. These diseases often tend to be hereditary, and certain environmental factors may also contribute to a weakened immune system.
Symptoms for autoimmune diseases vary from individual to individual, with each disease being different. Ranging from mild symptoms to more debilitating conditions, a malfunction of the immune system occurs in all of them.
If you suffer from any autoimmune disorder, in some way or another, part of your immune system is worn out. There are two general immune system issues in an autoimmune disease. One, poor cellular communication because there is a lack of cell markers on the cell walls. Two, an over-activated, out of balance immune system that attacks those cells.
Poor Cellular Communication
Proper communicating with the cells within your body is critical. Cell that are part of the body normally has “markers” that indicate they belong “self”. When cells have these markers, they won’t be attacked. Any cell that doesn’t have these cell markers is treated as “non-self” by the immune system and can be attacked.
Immune System Out of Balance.
Your immune system has two different modes or sides. Th-1 or T helper-1 cells fight pathogens like viruses, mycoplasma and bacteria that are inside the cells. Th-2 or T helper-2 cells fight pathogens outside the cells. When the immune system is healthy, these two modes function together, supporting each other in keeping the body healthy. But if they get out of balance, if the Th-1 side becomes weak and the Th-2 side over-activated, or the reverse, serious problems develop.
Probable Causes of Autoimmune Diseases
Scientists believe multiple factors such as exposure to various toxins, heredity, stress, poor diet, lack of exercise, lack of sleep, abuse of alcohol or tobacco, and certain drugs may play a role in causing an autoimmune disease.
Some studies have shown that a enzyme deficiency can cause cell markers not to produce, therefore explaining why some “self” cells can’t communicate that they are part of the body.
By developing healthy lifestyle habits like exercising, eating nutritiously, reducing toxins in and outside your body, can help get your immune system in proper balance, thus preventing or treating various autoimmune diseases.
For ways to get your immune system in balance inorder to fight off colds, allergy or the flu, go to
http://www.immunesystemremedies.com/strengthen-your-immune-system.html