Be kind to your thymus:
Supporting the immune system holistically

By Luana Collins Rubin

In these waning, stress-filled days of the ‘90s, the immune system has become a hot health topic. We rush from home to work, from health club to school play, from the airport to dinner, trying to make it all run smoothly. Digging ourselves deeper into the pit of long-term busyness, we then ask our doctors for a quick fix when our body breaks down. Seeking the Magic Pill, patients instead are confronted with a serious lifestyle imbalance.

"Immune suppression comes from toxicity, so there will never be a cure," says Justine Anderson, D.C. The patients who seek help at her office, Maximum Potential Chiropractic in Littleton, are usually suffering from imbalance caused by pollution, stress, emotional pain, toxic diet and other environmental challenges. "Their immune systems are just being ripped apart," she explains. She works through the layers of illness, starting with the highest priority symptoms and treating them structurally, chemically and emotionally. "You can’t just say, ‘The white blood count is low so let’s give echinacea,’" she says. Holistic health can only be maintained by a deeper approach.

Rena Bloom, MD, agrees. A Denver naturopathic physician in family practice, she encourages patients to pursue a simpler lifestyle with "real food." Even though she works with supportive botanicals, Bloom focuses on the basics: regular elimination, healthy diet, adequate rest and positive attitude. Realigning one’s priorities becomes the foundation for health. "Only then can the thymus gland respond" to immune system stimulants such as licorice, garlic, aloe vera, vitamins E and C, and yes, echinacea. She also uses selenium, zinc, beta-carotene and the adaptagen Siberian ginseng.

Bloom’s suggestions for home remedies seem to go against the norm. She says, "A swollen node is a busy node," and it shows that the system is working. "The fever is the cure," she adds, "not the illness." She instructs her patients to create a fever during illness, as this is the best tool to fight invading bacteria and virus. Take a hot bath and herbs to induce sweating; then go to bed and cover up heavily.

This naturopathic solution utilizes one’s own vital force. Medical attention need only be sought when the temperature lingers at 105° and the patient becomes lethargic. Sweating it out at 104° is OK, as long as the fever is supported with immune-stimulating herbs and vitamins. It doesn’t need to be quite so hot to fight a virus: 99° will do.

Recently the media have reported on the most over-used Magic Pill: unnecessary antibiotics. Jake Fratkin, OMD, a Boulder-based author and teacher in practice for 19 years, feels very strongly about this "easy out." He suggests that 50 percent of chronic illness is caused originally by antibiotics. Furthermore, he adds, "Research shows how children who take antibiotics get more ear infections." (And those who don’t take antibiotics get fewer ear infections.) Fratkin says that antibiotics should only be taken at the level of hospitalization, when bacteria goes into the blood, bones or organs.

Fratkin says the best alternative to antibiotics is Chinese herbs, with Western herbs as a second choice. "If you have taken more than two courses of antibiotics, you’re setting yourself up for a sequence of immune system degeneration," he adds. Seek a holistic practitioner who can administer lab tests showing the degree of damage. In the meantime, taking multi-strain acidophilus and insoluble fiber after antibiotics is the first line of defense.

Pill-popping is the cause of many illnesses Fratkin sees in his practice. Ibuprofen and antibiotics seriously damage the intestinal wall and can cause leaky-gut syndrome. Hormones (such as birth control, pregnazone and thyroid pills) and antacids create the alkaline environment which promotes candida. In turn, candida creates aldahydes, which inhibit the intestines’ ability to neutralize toxins and biosalts. What follows is the downward spiral of immunity collapse. Ninety percent of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is caused by leaky gut, he says. "When the liver is overwhelmed and shunts the toxins into the bloodstream, they are pushed into tissues cells, causing genetic changes," and, ultimately, even cancer, he says.

In the end, we are responsible for the daily maintenance of a strong immune system. Each day we make choices that affect our resistance to illness and our body’s ability to recover when we do become sick. Alternative healthcare practitioners are unanimous in citing stress as the number one cause of immune suppression and illness. What lifestyle choices have you been thinking about changing lately?