Reduced immunity and disease

[HysteryDiagnosis]

http://www.diagnose-me.com/cond/C47006.html

Causes & Development
Immune responses can be depressed by various external influences including emotional stress, physical stressors such as inadequate sleep or athletic overtraining, environmental and occupational chemical exposure, UV and other types of radiation, common viral or bacterial infections, certain drug therapies, blood transfusions and surgery. Dietary habits also have an impact on immune response. Excessive fat, alcohol or refined sugar consumption or inadequate protein, calorie, vitamin, mineral or water intake fosters decreased immune performance as well. In addition, the biological state of aging counteracts immune function, particularly after age of 40.

Immune deficiencies are also attributed to acquired infections or diseases that target the immune system, such as AIDS, while others, particularly primary immunodeficiency diseases, are often due to genetic abnormalities. Not all primary immunodeficiency diseases are genetically determined, however. Some occur without a known cause. One of the most frequent immunodeficiency diseases, Common Variable Immunodeficiency (CVID), which includes hypogammaglobulinemia, adult-onset agammaglobulinemia, late-onset hypogammaglobulinemia and acquired agammaglobulinemia, usually occurs sporadically and has no clear pattern of inheritance.

Chronic and acute mobilization of immune defenses, induced by a variety of diseases and conditions, places undue stress on the immune system, weakening its capacity to deal effectively with infectious organisms and other immunological requirements elsewhere in the body. Such conditions include, but are not limited to, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, autoimmune disorders in general, primary chronic polyarthritis, chronic candidiasis, cancer, neurodermatitis, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, food and other allergies, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and chemical sensitivities.

Nutrient deficiency is a well-known cause of immune system malfunction. It has recently been demonstrated in an animal species is that nutrient deficiency in one generation can affect immune function in succeeding generations, even if they're not nutrient deficient. In that experiment pregnant mice were given a zinc-deficient diet. Their offspring had defective immune function, even though they and their mothers were fed a zinc-adequate diet as soon as they were born. Second and third generations of mice also had defective immune system function (although less severe), all while maintaining a zinc-adequate diet. "This study", the researchers said, "has important implications for public health and human welfare, as the consequences of fetal impoverishment may persist despite generations of nutritional supplementation. Dietary supplementation beyond the levels considered adequate might allow for more rapid or complete restoration of immunocompetence".

[FirstLight]

1. wanna hear a weird one...?

I wish we could get my family genetically tested for this. My sister and I both have auto-immune diseases, and both have to take immunosuppressants in order to stay in remission...(which is a real bitch with school age kids, who bring every cold home to share!)

Anyway, about a year ago i was just studying the connections between these genetic oriented diseases and trying to figure out where it could have come from... my dad was in the korean war, in the airforce and he was in the deep jungle in japan with the remote radio setups...i found a few websites talking about the chemicals they used to spray the camps for mosqiuitos and such...turns out there were lawsuits still pending and a whole bunch of info on the chemicals being worse than agent orange. that my dad's dna could have been damaged in the war and he could have unknowingly passed this disease on to us...

but the other thing you mention here is nutritional deficiencies...both my parents were children of the depression and had childhoods with limited food. My mom actually ended up in the hospital for an entire year with a bacterial infection in her heart muscle from drinking unpasturized milk... so i wonder if the damage could have been done even then?
my sister was told by her rheumatoligist that the gene basically lies dormant unless triggered by an accident or stress on the body... i have also often wondered if immunizations back in the 70s could have triggered that gene to turn on...?

immune systems are very complex things, and i often say if it ain't broke don't try and fix it.

like i say, it would be so cool to get them and my sister and i and even our kids tested to see if the gene is there and where...

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. This one's for you.

http://search.lef.org/cgi-src-bin/MsmGo.exe?grab_id=0&page_id=3133&query=autoimmune&hiword=AUTOIMMUN%20AUTOIMMUNITY%20autoimmune%20


Indole-3-Carbinol
I3C May Reverse Autoimmunity and Extend Life Span
By Terri Mitchell

One of the clues about what causes aging is that older animals develop autoimmunity, a condition whereby the body becomes allergic to its own cells and starts killing them off. “Auto” means self; immunity is a killing process. Autoimmunity, or self-killing, is not desirable.

The development of “autoantibodies,” or self-antibodies, can be induced in older animals by giving them a vaccine. A younger animal will react to a vaccination by producing beneficial antibodies. An older animal, however, reacts by producing antibodies against the infective agent as well as autoantibodies against its own body.1 Antibodies are somewhat like heat-seeking missiles in that they target things with specific characteristics. In this case, antibodies target proteins, or pieces of them. If the protein happens to be part of the body, that part of the body will be destroyed. Rheumatoid arthritis is a classic example of the autoimmune destruction of a body part.

Inflammation is one of the side effects of autoimmunity. Not necessarily felt or seen, it is there nonetheless, lurking behind every major killer disease, including cancer. Inflammation is something that normally comes and goes very quickly. The immune system launches an attack, the interloper is destroyed, and the immune response subsides, taking inflammation along with it. Autoanti-bodies, however, provoke a chronic inflammatory response because their focus is the body’s own proteins, which are, essentially, there to stay. A constant battle ensues. If the battle is localized to the joints, doctors call it “arthritis”; if it is in the kidneys, it is called “nephritis”; and so on. The human body can even make autoantibodies to cholesterol.2

The usual treatment for inflammatory disease is to suppress the immune system. This approach works, but it has a price—side effects. It is better to get at the cause itself. If that could be done, it would not only alleviate suffering from autoimmune diseases, but also could stop the ripple effect, and might help extend life span.

[FirstLight]

3. amazing....

we have psoriatic arthritis...where the skin and joints are targets... i take enbrel at the moment. but god, if gene therapy could target the problem directly instead of targeting my whole immune system, that would be amazing...

i will be following this info, thanks!