That the stronger survives is a universally valid law of nature. But the daily trial of strength does not concern only what is visible. Most of our natural enemies are invisible to the naked eye: bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa, parasites, and also prions. This page explains how our defence system works, what weakens it, how we examine it and how it can be strengthened.
Our defence system
Fortunately, we have a defence system that checks every intruder and destroys it immediately. It also notices when cells in our body suddenly become “different”, for example dead, inflamed or tumour cells (every second a cancer precursor cell arises!), and likewise removes them in no time.
Our immune system is an immense army of cells; 110,000,000,000 immune cells are formed every day. We find it above all where there is direct contact with the outside world: intestine, lungs, kidneys, bladder, mouth, eyes, skin. Defence cells and defence substances are also found in the body fluids, in bile, tear fluid, digestive juices and semen. In the case of an immune deficiency or a highly infectious pathogen, we fall ill with an infection. Once our immunity has flagged, as after death, we are literally overrun and plundered by microbes: decomposition sets in.
How the defence works
Responsible for the defence are the leukocytes, the “white blood cells”. They consist of many different kinds, such as lymphocytes, macrophages and granulocytes, each of which has particular tasks and which depend on one another. Only as an intact community can they fulfil their task.
Macrophages that have “eaten” intruders and thus “know about” them carry the information to the centres of the lymphatic system (thymus, spleen, liver, lymph nodes, intestinal tonsils, appendix, lymphatic vessels). There the T helper lymphocytes are informed, and they pass the message on to the B lymphocytes. These begin to form immunoglobulins, substances that enter into destructive bonds with the pathogen or a cancer cell. Without the macrophages, the T helper cells would therefore be like players of “blind man’s buff” and would only wander about.
In addition to the helper cells, the T lymphocytes also form “killer” cells, which can attack and destroy intruders and tumour tissue. And there are the T suppressor cells, which slow down the formation of immunoglobulins and young T cells again in order to prevent overstimulation. In AIDS there is a deficiency of helper cells relative to suppressor cells, resulting in a weakened defence. With the reverse ratio, diseases arise in which the immune system attacks the person’s own body, as in rheumatoid arthritis. An intact T cell system, the thymus-dependent part of the defence, is therefore of enormous importance.
The organs of the immune defence
- The thymus gland is the “brain of the body’s own defence” and lies at the front of the base of the neck. Animals or infants without a thymus die of immune weakness within a short time unless they are given thymus hormones. This is because there is then no stimulation of the bone marrow cells, no maturation of the T lymphocytes into usable cells and no formation of lymphokines (interferon, interleukins), which activate other immune cells and control hormonal glands.
- The spleen is a filter station for dead or outdated cells. It trains the B lymphocytes and thereby promotes antibody formation, but inhibits excessive immune reactions.
- The liver forms special substances that take part in the defence (complement factors). Many activities of the lymphocytes would not be possible without them.
- Circulation and lymphatic system transport the lymphocytes. Added to these are their “barracks”, the lymph nodes, the bone marrow and the connective tissue, where all inflammatory processes take place.
Practically every organ is involved in the immune process in its own way!
Training, age and stresses
For the immune system to work optimally, it must be trained constantly, like the muscles. For this reason, almost weekly infections up to the third year of life are usually no cause for concern; they should be treated only with gentle measures (for fever above 39 degrees: calf and chest compresses, vinegar socks, cool enema). After that the immune system stabilises, only to become less stable again in old age. At the age of 40, only 12 per cent, and at 80 only 8 per cent, of the thymus hormones are released compared with the age of 20. Not only the increasing susceptibility to infections, rheumatism and tumours but also the declining performance in old age are partly due to this. Chronically ill patients show an immune deficiency in 95 per cent of cases! Even arteriosclerosis is said to be accelerated by chronic viral inflammation.
Unfortunately, our immune system is not always treated with the necessary care. It is exposed to X-rays, UV rays, medicines (cortisone, cytostatics), chemicals, environmental pollution, nicotine, stress and much more, and yet it must fulfil its task.
New findings indicate that the community of immune cells is also closely linked with our nervous system and our hormone balance: a “sixth” sense organ that rapidly reports changes via nerve pathways and messenger substances (interferons, interleukins) to the control centres in the brain and to defence cells, which in turn trigger regulatory processes such as fever, chills, vomiting and sweating. Emotional stimuli such as grief and stress also weaken our defence, just as joy, happiness and hearty laughter can strengthen it massively.
Assessment: the cellular immune profile
A cellular immune profile shows not only whether the individual cell groups are present in sufficient numbers. By determining activation markers, it also gives indications of how active these cells are. In many underlying diseases, specific changes in the cellular immune system can be detected, for example in tumour diseases or in autoimmune diseases.
When should an assessment be carried out? In chronic exhaustion, in chronically recurring infections and fungal diseases, when there is no recovery even after mild illnesses, in very slowly healing wounds, in rheumatism and kidney disease, and before operations.
Strengthening the immune system
- Fitness, mental and emotional relaxation
- Air, light, cold, warmth, skin stimulation therapies
- Wholefood diet (Paracelsus: “Let your foods be your remedies”)
- Intestinal care, colon hydrotherapy, microbiological therapy with intestinal bacteria
- Search for focal infections and chronic suppurations and their removal
- Avoidance of harmful substances such as nicotine, alcohol and drugs
- Supply of minerals and trace elements (calcium, magnesium, potassium, zinc, copper, selenium, germanium, lithium) and vitamins (C 1 to 3 g, beta-carotene 50 mg, D, E 75 mg)
- Echinacea, Eleutherococcus and mistletoe
- Autologous blood injections
- Vaccinations
- Haematogenous oxidation therapy
- Fever therapy
In the flu season
This is how you optimise your immune system when a wave of flu is going round:
- Vitamin C 1000 mg per day, preferably in the morning
- Zinc 30 mg daily, preferably after a meal (zinc can cause nausea in those predisposed to it)
- L-lysine 500 to 1000 mg daily with a meal
- Echinacea
Vaccination medicine
Every year we are visited by flu viruses, and as in a déjà vu we do not know from year to year how we should act: do I need to be vaccinated against flu now? In the media, at any rate, there is no lack of controversy.
At Seegarten Klinik we have had good results for years with a special oral vaccination that is free of side effects, the biological oral flu vaccination with Influenzinum. We will be happy to give you information on request.
Caution regarding vaccination
Pandemrix® and, under certain circumstances, also Focetria® contain an old and actually obsolete mercury-containing preservative called Thiomersal! Mercury can be very harmful to health! For this reason it was also banished from modern vaccines. That Thiomersal has found its way back into production can no longer be justified according to today’s state of knowledge.
Should you nevertheless have yourself vaccinated, make sure you have sufficient detoxification capacity with selenium, zinc, glutathione and alpha-lipoic acid.
Fever as therapy
Fever is usually interpreted as the “illness”, yet it is our most important healing instrument. For this reason it should not be constantly “fought” with fever-reducing medicines.