Recently in immunity Category
Immune to Logic
I've been battling a bit of a cold for the past few weeks, somehow managing to keep it at bay with a regular regimen of sleep, vitamins, and the occasional intervention of Echinacea and homeopathic aconite. All in the service of buttressing my 59-year-old immune system. As the Zen monk said as he fell from the 20-story building: "So far, so good."
I've always been of the opinion that a hale and hearty immune system is the key to a graceful aging process, but suddenly I'm not so sure. A recent piece in The New York Times suggests that a powerhouse immune system might just backfire on you -- especially if you're trying to beat back the common cold.
The writer, Jennifer Ackerman, is an expert in this area -- or so her resume would suggest. She's the author of Ah-Choo! The Uncommon Life of Your Common Cold, and she argues that it's a too-aggressive immune system -- not that pesky cold bug -- that causes those sniffles and sneezes. She points to a 1984 study at the University of Copenhagen that compared the nasal tissues of people suffering from severe colds with samples from those same people after they had recovered. "To the scientists' surprise, none of the samples showed any damage to the nasal tissue," she writes.
"Here was a new insight in cold science: the symptoms are caused not by the virus but by its host -- by the body's inflammatory response. Chemical agents manufactured by our immune system inflame our cells and tissues, causing our nose to run and our throat to swell. The enemy is us.
"Indeed, it's possible to create the full storm of cold symptoms with no cold virus at all, but only a potent cocktail of the so-called inflammatory mediators that the body makes itself -- among them, cytokines, kinins, prostaglandins and interleukins, powerful little chemical messengers that cause the blood vessels in the nose to dilate and leak, stimulate the secretion of mucus, activate sneeze and cough reflexes and set off pain in our nerve fibers."
So, it appears that my highly functioning immune system isn't really fighting off the cold bug that's been hanging around our house. It's actually creating the symptoms I don't quite have.
Oh, wait. Here's the kicker:
"There's another intriguing paradox here. Studies suggest that about one in four people who get infected with a cold virus don't get sick. The virus gets into their bodies, and eventually they produce antibodies to it, but they don't experience symptoms. It may be that people like this are not making the normal amounts of inflammatory agents."
I think I get it now. Maybe I'm one of those people who get a cold that's not created by our own highly functioning immune systems because my immune system isn't really functioning at a high level, but at a level that doesn't quite create cold symptoms, making it possible for the cold virus to enter my body and also not create cold symptoms.
Glad I cleared that up. I'm feeling better already.
A Doctor in the House
I'm sitting at my desk on my
front porch this morning watching the October rain threaten to become snow, the
kind of weather that correlates nicely with my current mood: Is the bug that
hit me yesterday going to morph into something more serious today?
About mid-morning, while preparing
for a major budget meeting, my face grew hot and I began sniffling and
sneezing. I soldiered on, of course, and stayed upright through the meeting and
its aftermath, but felt pretty drained afterward. Plus, with H1N1 dominating
the news these days, you never know. . . . So, I called My Lovely Wife to see
if she could fetch me from the office, but our son had absconded with the
Crapmobile, which had delivered me to work that morning. Left with no other
alternative, I shouldered my computer bag and started walking home.
Years ago, when the kids
were small, MLW took some classes in homeopathy and essentially became our
family doctor (we were without health insurance). In fact, she became quite
adept at diagnosing our various minor maladies and prescribing the proper
homeopathic remedy. I was reminded of this as I strode across the bridge toward
home yesterday, because I began to feel a little better out in the autumn air.
Indeed, by the end of my 40-minute walk, my fever had almost completely
vanished.
When I mentioned this to
MLW, she simply noted, "You're pulsatilla." Meaning, that's the homeopathic
remedy I should employ if my fever returns. And then she went back to the
drawing she'd been working on. I made some tea, settled into my comfy chair and
marveled silently at my good fortune. Who else has a doctor who makes house
calls? (Even if you have to walk to the house to get your treatment.)
My fever hasn't yet
returned, but I'm watching for any symptoms to appear. The doctor is making
oatmeal.
Rest or Recreate?
Not my hammock, not my house -- but a guy can dream, can't he?
I skipped the gym last night and stayed home from work today in hopes of thwarting a cold bug that's had me sniffling and sneezing -- though not yet completely miserable -- for a couple of days. And, while there's ample evidence to indicate that exercise can help cure the common cold, older guys like myself like to rest rather than recreate when visited by our most familiar virus.
Former Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jim Marshall said it best years ago, when he explained why he liked to report late to training camp: "There's only so much tread on the tire." (Of course, this was a guy who made history by running the wrong way with a fumble during a 1964 game against the San Francisco 49ers, so . . . .)
More scholarly sources, however, suggest that Marshall may be right in pacing himself -- especially if you're fighting a cold. Dr. David Nieman, a professor at Appalachian State University, says moderate exercise may boost your immune system, but going too hard when you're sick could slow your recovery. That's because the body produces more cortisol and adrenaline during intense workouts, and these hormones tend to suppress your immune system for up to 72 hours after the session.
Not that I need any excuse to take a nap today.
The good news is that this fitness regimen I'm on -- as erratic as it sometimes is -- should actually keep the cold and flu viruses at bay. Forty minutes of moderate exercise a day (which I'm just going to assume includes walking to work) helps the body produce more macrophages, cells that destroy bacteria (the bad kind, I'm assuming), which, in turn, leads to a stronger immune system.
So, I'm hoping to be back at the gym tomorrow diligently producing macrophages and toning up my newly buff immunity.
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