August 2020 Newsletter
In defense of the body’s own defenses… I reviewed text books on human immunology in order to address the subject. We have more than an army, we have a full military force, a level ten, multi-faceted system of self-protection. Organs, glands, nodes, vessels, and fluids are all involved, even fighters that punch holes in the enemy’s shells – like real battle techniques. The skin constantly repels micro-organisms; it is permeable and yet resistance to invasion. There are special skin immunity cells: keratinocytes, Langerhans and Granstein cells, helper T, killer T, and suppressor T cells. The entire lining of the esophagus, and intestines have similar epithelial cells. Skin is amazing. A break in the skin causes a chain reaction of events to surround the opening and wall off the area. Swelling slows down circulation, clotting by itself takes twenty-six chemical chain reactions, some of which we can only guess at but that we know are there. Cleaning up the debris and re-knitting the skin is another defense strategy.
Every orifice of the skin; the mouth, nose, anus, ears, and eyes have several ways to keep an ordinary attack by external pathogens from getting inside the body. Mucus, saliva, tears, and wax, etc. are especially able to trap and repel micro-organisms. Even sweat is salty and can detoxify carcinogenic compounds. Lymph glands abound around these openings just for that reason. At the back of the throat are the adenoids and tonsils. The intestines have a similar army of lymph glands. The lymph system parallels the blood’s circulatory system, but moves much slower. All along the lymph system are lymph nodes. These are like forts along the trek, providing the ‘soldiers-of-you’ a place to bring and deal with the enemy. This is partly why the lymph glands swell when the body is fighting off a sickness. The same blood that appears so red with red blood cells, also has white blood cells, neutrophils, basophils, neutrophils, platelets, plasma, B lymphocytes, T lymphocytes to include killer T, helper T, suppressor T cells.
Some players in the immune system get very little press. The spleen constantly sifts blood, both to filter out old cells and to recycle the parts. In the spleen, the vessels get increasingly tinier so that the red blood cell (RBC) has to curve itself a little bit to get through. When the RBC is about one hundred and twenty days old, it gets too brittle to do this and bursts. The spleen then sends the parts to the liver to recycle. If you lose a lot of blood, the tiny capillaries in the spleen dilate and the blood flows right through. In that regard, the spleen is a reservoir of extra blood in an emergency.
The gut is lined with lymph nodes, but also has Peyer’s patches, which are associated lymph nodes. Saliva is acidic and so is the gastric juice that a pathogen might encounter in the stomach. It is important to note that these acidic substances are not always completely effective to your good. Some bacteria manage to survive to reach the large intestine, where they continue to flourish. This is currently referred to as the natural flora. It was always thought they were harmless, now we know that they are actually helpful! This resident flora competitively suppresses the growth of potential pathogens that have managed to escape the antimicrobial measures of the digestive tracts. Probiotics are needed when we take antibiotics to help the body maintain the natural flora. There’s an intersection organ at the junction of the small and large intestine that used to be called a useless little worm of tissue left over from our evolution from ameba to humans. (If you can believe that). Turns out the appendix is a member of the immune system: it secretes substances that stop invaders that are trying to come in through the anus from reaching the small intestine.
Let me tell you about your thymus gland. It is located about mid-sternum (breastbone), a little below the thyroid, but above the heart by the upper lungs. There was so little on the thymus online, I resorted to my old text books for information. In early scientific animal experiments, they removed the thymus of in-utero fetuses. At the time, it didn’t appear to make much difference, so its role remained obscure for quite a while. It was later learned that in the fetal stage and in early childhood, it is mostly functioning to ‘educate’ or ‘train’ T lymphocytes to become killer T or helper T cells. Once they are ‘thymus-ized’ (my word), they move to lymphoid tissue or circulate throughout the body. These cells can replicate themselves. The thymus gland is quite large in childhood. Dissections noted that the thymus shrinks quite a bit as we age, which made it appear unimportant after childhood. With better imaging abilities, we’ve learned that the thymus swells in order to fight off disease, but shrinks back afterward, much like a well-functioning lymph node. The thymus also secretes thymic hormone, which acts as a stimulant. The text used these words: “Supposedly thymic hormone spreads through the body fluids and increases the activity of T lymphocytes that have already left the thymus and are moving around the body. Thymic hormone is believed to cause further proliferation and activation of the T lymphocytes. Little else is known about the thymus.” Some books on natural healing teach that lightly thumping on the sternum over the thymus stimulates it, and is a good health practice. Not pounding the chest, but using a couple of fingers and a flick of the wrist, thump it a few times daily to increase vitality.
Adrenal glands are another part of this team. Located on top of the kidneys, they secrete a hormone too. For example, when there’s an injury, pain signals the adrenals to send out some adrenaline, which is another part of the inflammatory response. A lot more could be said here, but I want to spend time on lungs too and have limited space.
The respiratory system is the largest surface of the body that comes into direct contact with the environment. Those little alveola sacs in the lungs increase the surface area of the respiratory system that is exposed to the outside world, about thirty times that of the skin. In the bronchi and bronchiole are very little hair like projections known as cilia.
These constantly beat in an upward/outward direction. They can literally lift a particle up the air tube as if it were like a moving staircase and has been referred to as the mucus elevator. This mechanism provides a huge defense against bacterial infection that might be trying to enter the body riding in on dust particles. There are IgA antibodies in the mucus, and alveolar macrophages that scavenge and ‘eat’ invaders. Coughing and sneezing are defense mechanisms, throwing/spewing out irritating invaders. Cigarette smoking suppresses these normal respiratory defenses. The smoke from a single cigarette can paralyze the cilia for several hours and over time destroys them. Cigarette smoking overwhelms the macrophages and reduces their ability to engulf foreign material. After all my advice on how to beat Covid-19 and stay healthy, I hope you know that “quit smoking” would be on the top of my list of things to do.
Ideally, this constant defense system is sufficient to squelch any invader of the body before it does any harm. Each component works collectively and cooperatively to save us on a daily basis from certain death by infection. Ask anyone who has had their immune system literally lowered to nothing by chemotherapy (me) and they can tell you how carefully one has to live. Unfortunately, we live in a fallen world where sickness and disease can still overtake us, in spite of all our efforts to be healthy, to stay active and to be engaged in life. This week, I came down with shingles, which I’ve never had before. Of course, I’m doing all that I can to get well: acupuncture, infrared heat treatments, many supplements, avoiding coffee and chocolate, as well as things with L-arginine. It’s quite an ugly bout. Hopefully, I will be back at work by the time you read this newsletter. Until then, remember that you can’t always believe what you hear or read. Do what you can to stay healthy, try not to be filled with fear. Get outside and live life, for each day is precious.
Every orifice of the skin; the mouth, nose, anus, ears, and eyes have several ways to keep an ordinary attack by external pathogens from getting inside the body. Mucus, saliva, tears, and wax, etc. are especially able to trap and repel micro-organisms. Even sweat is salty and can detoxify carcinogenic compounds. Lymph glands abound around these openings just for that reason. At the back of the throat are the adenoids and tonsils. The intestines have a similar army of lymph glands. The lymph system parallels the blood’s circulatory system, but moves much slower. All along the lymph system are lymph nodes. These are like forts along the trek, providing the ‘soldiers-of-you’ a place to bring and deal with the enemy. This is partly why the lymph glands swell when the body is fighting off a sickness. The same blood that appears so red with red blood cells, also has white blood cells, neutrophils, basophils, neutrophils, platelets, plasma, B lymphocytes, T lymphocytes to include killer T, helper T, suppressor T cells.
Some players in the immune system get very little press. The spleen constantly sifts blood, both to filter out old cells and to recycle the parts. In the spleen, the vessels get increasingly tinier so that the red blood cell (RBC) has to curve itself a little bit to get through. When the RBC is about one hundred and twenty days old, it gets too brittle to do this and bursts. The spleen then sends the parts to the liver to recycle. If you lose a lot of blood, the tiny capillaries in the spleen dilate and the blood flows right through. In that regard, the spleen is a reservoir of extra blood in an emergency.
The gut is lined with lymph nodes, but also has Peyer’s patches, which are associated lymph nodes. Saliva is acidic and so is the gastric juice that a pathogen might encounter in the stomach. It is important to note that these acidic substances are not always completely effective to your good. Some bacteria manage to survive to reach the large intestine, where they continue to flourish. This is currently referred to as the natural flora. It was always thought they were harmless, now we know that they are actually helpful! This resident flora competitively suppresses the growth of potential pathogens that have managed to escape the antimicrobial measures of the digestive tracts. Probiotics are needed when we take antibiotics to help the body maintain the natural flora. There’s an intersection organ at the junction of the small and large intestine that used to be called a useless little worm of tissue left over from our evolution from ameba to humans. (If you can believe that). Turns out the appendix is a member of the immune system: it secretes substances that stop invaders that are trying to come in through the anus from reaching the small intestine.
Let me tell you about your thymus gland. It is located about mid-sternum (breastbone), a little below the thyroid, but above the heart by the upper lungs. There was so little on the thymus online, I resorted to my old text books for information. In early scientific animal experiments, they removed the thymus of in-utero fetuses. At the time, it didn’t appear to make much difference, so its role remained obscure for quite a while. It was later learned that in the fetal stage and in early childhood, it is mostly functioning to ‘educate’ or ‘train’ T lymphocytes to become killer T or helper T cells. Once they are ‘thymus-ized’ (my word), they move to lymphoid tissue or circulate throughout the body. These cells can replicate themselves. The thymus gland is quite large in childhood. Dissections noted that the thymus shrinks quite a bit as we age, which made it appear unimportant after childhood. With better imaging abilities, we’ve learned that the thymus swells in order to fight off disease, but shrinks back afterward, much like a well-functioning lymph node. The thymus also secretes thymic hormone, which acts as a stimulant. The text used these words: “Supposedly thymic hormone spreads through the body fluids and increases the activity of T lymphocytes that have already left the thymus and are moving around the body. Thymic hormone is believed to cause further proliferation and activation of the T lymphocytes. Little else is known about the thymus.” Some books on natural healing teach that lightly thumping on the sternum over the thymus stimulates it, and is a good health practice. Not pounding the chest, but using a couple of fingers and a flick of the wrist, thump it a few times daily to increase vitality.
Adrenal glands are another part of this team. Located on top of the kidneys, they secrete a hormone too. For example, when there’s an injury, pain signals the adrenals to send out some adrenaline, which is another part of the inflammatory response. A lot more could be said here, but I want to spend time on lungs too and have limited space.
The respiratory system is the largest surface of the body that comes into direct contact with the environment. Those little alveola sacs in the lungs increase the surface area of the respiratory system that is exposed to the outside world, about thirty times that of the skin. In the bronchi and bronchiole are very little hair like projections known as cilia.
These constantly beat in an upward/outward direction. They can literally lift a particle up the air tube as if it were like a moving staircase and has been referred to as the mucus elevator. This mechanism provides a huge defense against bacterial infection that might be trying to enter the body riding in on dust particles. There are IgA antibodies in the mucus, and alveolar macrophages that scavenge and ‘eat’ invaders. Coughing and sneezing are defense mechanisms, throwing/spewing out irritating invaders. Cigarette smoking suppresses these normal respiratory defenses. The smoke from a single cigarette can paralyze the cilia for several hours and over time destroys them. Cigarette smoking overwhelms the macrophages and reduces their ability to engulf foreign material. After all my advice on how to beat Covid-19 and stay healthy, I hope you know that “quit smoking” would be on the top of my list of things to do.
Ideally, this constant defense system is sufficient to squelch any invader of the body before it does any harm. Each component works collectively and cooperatively to save us on a daily basis from certain death by infection. Ask anyone who has had their immune system literally lowered to nothing by chemotherapy (me) and they can tell you how carefully one has to live. Unfortunately, we live in a fallen world where sickness and disease can still overtake us, in spite of all our efforts to be healthy, to stay active and to be engaged in life. This week, I came down with shingles, which I’ve never had before. Of course, I’m doing all that I can to get well: acupuncture, infrared heat treatments, many supplements, avoiding coffee and chocolate, as well as things with L-arginine. It’s quite an ugly bout. Hopefully, I will be back at work by the time you read this newsletter. Until then, remember that you can’t always believe what you hear or read. Do what you can to stay healthy, try not to be filled with fear. Get outside and live life, for each day is precious.
