In health and healing circles, there are different belief systems regarding the cause of disease. Two of the opposites are: “pathogens (bacteria, viruses, molds, yeasts, parasites) attack the body and cause disease, therefore we have to kill them.” We use harsh drugs to poison these “bad invaders”, at the risk of killing the “good guys”, and in the hopes that the human host can withstand the treatment.
The opposite belief is that “disease” is not because of an outsider attack, but actually as a response to an unhealthy, unbalanced, undernourished body. That the cells themselves produce certain pathogens as they become sicker and sicker. For instance, you don’t “catch” a cold – a cold is the body’s response to a toxic, malnourished, imbalanced lifestyle or environment. The environment in the body is the host for the infection to occur. In a healthy body, it can’t exist.
Because auto-immune diseases are soaring in numbers and intensity, we are forced to deepen our understanding of the body’s immune and healing mechanisms. When the body is reacting to its own tissues as if those tissues don’t belong (“non-self”), and starts working to destroy it, we have to do some serious thinking about this mechanism. It really doesn’t make sense that someone can be “perfectly healthy” and “suddenly” they have this devastating auto-immune disease. Why would the body “suddenly” turn on itself? To me, that’s an oxymoron!
So, if there is more to the story than simply some unseen pathogen that “jumped on” the person and stimulated the body to start attacking itself and creating this advanced disease process, what does underlie it?
As we grow to understand the incredible workings of the body, so much of which is still a complete mystery, the one thing we can’t deny is that the body is a pretty intelligent mass of macro and microscopic intricacies that will probably take another 1000 years to understand! We also marvel at the body’s attempts at handling some pretty toxic substances and other insults that we continue to bombard it with day in and day out. Unfortunately, some of the body’s attempts to protect itself, to restore balance, to slough off or dump the garbage, results in symptoms that are not a lot of fun to endure.
For cells to be healthy – for the immune system to be healthy – we have to correct the internal dysfunction that is acting as a template for disease to occur. What is contributing to the unhealthy environment that the cell or the entity must react to needs to be the basis for treatment aimed at restoring health. Considering internal terrain as well as external terrain are both critical for reestablishing health, yet both are rarely examined. We do have more control over auto-immune responses than may appear at the surface – that’s the good news.
Autoimmune diseases such as Grave’s Disease (thyroid), Rheumatoid arthritis, Scleroderma (skin), Crohn’s Disease (bowels), etc. are red flags that the body is getting into serious trouble. All humans appear to have some type of auto-immune vector in their body. All have cancer cells. All have cholesterol plaque on their arteries. All carry viruses and bacteria known to cause serious infections. Even infants are born with these things, including a viral load. What separates “everybody” and those who get sick, is the degree to which the body is still capable of managing them. The body, fortunately, has more than one option to deal with a physiological insult. Disease occurs when the body loses one or more capabilities, or they become overwhelmed with trying to deal with the load.
It’s not a lot different from life. Stress happens. At times we have so much on our plate, too many irons in the fire that we are trying to manage, that at some point it becomes overwhelming. Our efforts seem futile as life seemingly spirals out of control. We manage the best we can, but some things get ignored or done haphazardly, or some of the strategies we use to try to gain control, backfire, and the result is worse than it was to begin with.
An example of this in the body would be cholesterol. Cholesterol is called into action when there is tissue damage that needs to be healed. If that tissue happens to be arteries, and there is a lot to heal, more and more cholesterol is brought in to address it. If too much, the blood thickens, the diameter of the artery narrows and blood pressure increases, or a cardiovascular event may occur. So what starts out as a good thing becomes a bad thing as the problem spirals out of control.
If there is an infection in the body, be it bacterial, viral, fungal, yeast or parasite, the immune system is going to try to handle it. When it does, inflammation results. Runaway inflammation can cause a significant amount of pain or discomfort and the byproducts can also overwhelm the system. An auto-immune response occurs when a sick system can no longer respond normally and the body sets out to fix it. It is the body’s attempt to control or arrest an infection. It is a sick system that is getting even sicker.
The whole body is designed to resist and fight infection. The best thing we can do is to support the system in doing that. While steroids are typically used to control the runaway inflammation, and the person may feel better, it actually interrupts the healing process. Options for supporting healthy functioning of the immune system are easily available. From acupuncture to herbal medicine, nutritional advice geared towards healing, not disease control, and others are paramount to helping redirect a sick body so that it handles infection better.
©2015 Holly A. Carling, O.M.D., L.Ac., Ph.D.
