Wisdom Of The Human Body :: Health and Disease

Wisdom Of The Human Body
by author Christine Craig, ND

Just as there are robbers, rapists and terrorists in the world, there are many different types of "bad guys"–known as viruses, bacteria, parasites, fungi and antigens—that invade the body. Whether you have the flu, an allergy or an autoimmune disease, your body is just trying to protect itself.

Your immune system is simply a game of cops and robbers. It has a police force–a.k.a., the immune cells of your body. They originate from either bone marrow or from the thymus, which is a gland that sits in the upper chest right in front of your heart. These immune cells have different divisions to deal with each type of criminal. Some recognize and alert other cops that there are bad guys around. Others injure the bad guys, while others kill them. Some haul the bad guys off to jail and some train other cops to watch out for this type of bad guy in the future.

Once captured, the criminals are subjected to the justice system, incognito as the lymphatic system, which consists of the spleen, lymph nodes and lymph vessels. The lymph vessel system is the transport route used to move the bad guys to jail and is powered by muscle movement. Jail is the spleen, an organ located on the left side of your belly, and your many lymph nodes, which are those lumps you feel in your neck and/or groin area when you’re sick. They are also your tonsils and the little glands behind them known as adenoids. Lymph nodes have several consecutive filters, each containing killer immune cells to complete the eradication of the bad guys.

As with any justice system, taxes are required for funding. Your body, or the government of your immune system, relinquishes more than 70 per cent of its resources to support the immune system’s police force. That means more than 70 per cent of the energy your body produces is not going towards moving or thinking, but to your immune system.

Colds And Flus

Cops are out in full force trying to get the bad guy, a virus. When you have a fever, it means your body is heating up to speed up the activity of the cops and slow down the virus. This is why it is usually not a good idea to suppress a fever. You are weakening a healthy immune response.

Allergies

The cops have seen this bad guy before and are a little hypersensitive to seeing him again. So they produce an inflammatory response to quickly alert your immune system. Unfortunately, some cops are a little zealous, causing the government to over-react. This histamine response may ultimately result in an anaphylactic shock where hives develop and the bronchial tubes impede proper airflow. When the body is over-reactive like this, it often indicates a deficiency in the building blocks of a healthy immune system. This might include a deficiency in bioflavonoids and vitamin C, and even possible adrenal fatigue.

Autoimmune Disease

Sometimes the bad guy greatly resembles the government, so the cops mistakenly attack it. This is autoimmune disease. Many diseases are considered to be autoimmune, including rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes mellitis, lupus, hypothyroidism and multiple sclerosis. When a bad guy enters the body, the immune system produces cops to recognize it. But unfortunately, the bad guy may resemble the cartilage in your joint (arthritis) or the myelin sheath that surrounds your nerves (multiple sclerosis). Where do these look-alikes come from? Suspects include vaccines, dairy proteins, leaky gut syndrome, food allergens, processed food, Candida albicans (yeast) and environmental toxins.

Cancer

Figuratively speaking, cancer occurs when the bad guys overtake the justice system and the government. The immune system does its best to contain and kill the cancer, but all government resources have been taken over by the cancer cells. Chemotherapy and radiation are like an atom bomb, blasting both cancer and immune cells to death. The quickest to regain control of the government wins the battle.

Vaccines

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Dr. Christine Craig is a naturopathicphysician practising in Kelowna, BC. Dr. Craig can be reached by calling 250-762-5200 or by e-mail at: drcraig@okanagan.net.

Source: alive #242, December 2002

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