Published March 22, 2003 in the North Island Weekender
With the latest
news about people dying from a very virulent form of lung infection that has
originated in China, I thought you might like to know what you could do to
improve your immune system to fight such a bug or virus. Twenty years ago one
of our teaching professors from Argentina warned us that the future of medicine
was going to be treating the immune system and how right he was! Even the
latest research concerning heart disease is that it is primarily an
inflammatory process and when treated as such patients have much better
outcomes.
When walking down
the street I observe the health of people’s faces. If they are grey and
colorless in my experience these folks are greatly lacking in anti-oxidants
such as vitamin E, C, Selenium, Vitamin A and Co-Enzyme Q10. If these people
start taking these in adequate doses within three months they will be getting
comments about how much better they look. The skin color loses that gray
appearance and they look a lot brighter!
It is as simple as
taking such anti-oxidants that will also increase the effectiveness of your
immune system. Those white blood cells circulating in your blood at all times
will simply work better at eating up bacteria, parasites and viruses that
shouldn’t be there. “If they work so well why is my MD not recommending them to
me?” you may well ask. If your MD has been trained in nutrition he or she will
be recommending them especially if you have a history of taking a lot of
antibiotics in your lifetime. The medical profession has been warned not to
over prescribe antibiotics due to the increasing numbers of resistant strains
of bacteria. If you have been prescribed a lot of antibiotics over the years
then when you really need them in a life or death situation they may or may not
work due to this resistance.
Here is where complementary medicine comes in. If you have a slight infection
that may not require antibiotics yet, then naturopathic medicine provides many
answers. The first thing I do is get the person off dairy and sugar. Sugar is
the primary food for bacteria and it slows the function of white blood cells
for hours after ingestion. Dairy contributes to mucous conditions in many
people, and usually respiratory illnesses are accompanied by lots of mucous
production. You don’t need any more! Drinking lots of water can further thin
these mucous secretions making it easier for patients to cough them up. Some of
the herbs I use in a liquid respiratory tonic include: licorice, goldenseal,
elderberry, baptisia and coltsfoot. When taken in good dosages this tonic helps
to bring up mucous and ease the cough and many infections can be cleared within
a matter of a few days. I also encourage the drinking of ginger tea. Five or
more slices of fresh ginger is boiled for 20 minutes and then sweetened a little
with honey and taken hot or cold. Ginger will loosen the mucous and ease chest
infections.
If you are prone to getting chest infections every fall, winter and spring I
suggest that by taking anti-oxidants throughout the year and, in addition,
taking immune enhancing herbs such as garlic and astragalus, you may well
reduce the number of infections and their duration.
From the sounds of
the folks coughing, sneezing and wheezing at the theatre the other night, the
people of Campbell River could sure use some common sense medicine to improve
their overall lung health.
Dr. Pincott has been practicing naturopathic medicine since 1985 and is currently practicing in Campbell River. She can be reached at (250) 286-3655 or www.DrPincott.com