Naperville Integrated Wellness
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Functional Medicine Health Pyramid # 5 Immune System
HEAL YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM!
Your immune system is one of the key regulating systems of your body. When this system is out of balance it will be virtually impossible to restore your health. Sometimes this system is overburdened, and unable to function optimally. This leads to frequent illness and prolonged periods of recovery. More commonly, however, the immune system becomes out of balance. When this happens, it may be doing more harm to your body than good! (More on this later)
Your immune system is a specialized network of organs, cells, and proteins (antibodies) that defends the body against most organisms (bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi) that can cause it harm. The immune system’s 3 lines of defense, one of which is to protect the body via physical and chemical barriers. It is also tasked with identifying and destroying any invading organisms. Once the threat has been handled, the immune system then helps to restore the body to a normal healthy state. The immune system is so good at its job that most often we are not even aware that it is doing this job! It is often only when an invader attack is aggressive that we exhibit the symptoms of illness. The symptoms we feel are part of our immune defenses and this manifests as inflammation.
Your immune system has 2 major functions:
Protection
This means that it finds and destroys anything that can harm you. This includes yeast, bacteria, viruses, parasites and even unhealthy cells produced by your body (i.e. cancer cells).
Healing
Your immune system is also the key system for healing your body. When you damage any part of your body, the immune system sets off a series of reactions that remove damaged tissue and initiates the healing process. You will notice that Level #4 of the Functional Medicine Pyramid that I created is Stress/ Inflammation. Inflammation is part of the healing process but when inflammation is out of balance it causes more damage than good.
How does your immune system get out of balance?
Let’s say for example you are eating foods that are causing inflammation in your body; that means inflammation and your immune system are “fighting” a false enemy. The food itself will not hurt you like a virus or parasite would; so that is why I call it a “false” enemy; the result however is the same…inflammation and a burden on your immune system.
Stress and Inflammation
You will notice I have paired Stress with Inflammation at Level #4; this is because excessive stress will also lead to poor immune function and regulation. If you are overworked, not getting enough rest or under considerable emotional stress, you are more likely to get sick and more likely to trigger inappropriate immune reactions. Stress can even cause autoimmune conditions to be triggered or flared up. Additionally, this can lead to the activation of additional autoimmune diseases.
Thyroid
70% (some sources say 80%) of your immune system is present in and around your digestive tract. The function of this system is found at Level 1 of the Pyramid. You can see how the lower levels of the Functional Medicine Pyramid must be addressed if you hope to heal your immune system and experience appropriate immune responses. What is an appropriate response, you ask? That is when your immune system attacks only true dangers and not your own body. When your immune system starts to react in such a way that it results in your own body being damaged/destroyed, we call that autoimmunity. One of the most common organs that is damaged by the immune system is the thyroid gland. This can result in Grave’s disease or Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. The first causes hyperthyroidism and the second ultimately results in hypothyroidism. This is one of reasons I have placed Thyroid at level #6 of the Pyramid.
Healthy Digestion Is Important
To “heal” your immune system, you need to have a properly functioning digestive system (level #1 of the pyramid). The other part of level #1 in the pyramid is nutrition. You need both a fully functioning digestive system and proper nutrition entering the body for the immune system to do its job.
If your digestive system is not healthy then your ability to detoxify (level #2 of the pyramid) and keep your body and cells clean will not work properly. If your blood sugar (#3 in the pyramid) is not balanced, this will put stress on your body and can lead to inflammation. When this occurs, your immune system is now burdened by all of the levels below it; so it either becomes overworked and exhausted or it starts to make “mistakes” and attacks your own body (autoimmunity) or it fails to identify and destroy unhealthy cells (cancer).
Based on the “Physio-LOGICAL” Functional Medicine Health Pyramid, you would start with your Digestive System (Level #1). This will immediately begin to take pressure off your Immune System and also make sure you are getting the nutrients required by your immune system to function properly.
The purpose of this Pyramid is to provide a very reliable and logical approach to restoring your health. This Pyramid is backed by almost 20 years of clinical experience and thousands of patient cases. The bottom line is that it works when applied properly.
Schedule An Immune System Appointment Today
Your body is a complex web of related systems. An experienced functional medicine doctor understands this. With all the information out there today, it is easy for people to become confused and become uncertain about where they should begin. How do I get healthy? Where do I start? Do I need more bone broth or spinach smoothies? Must I have vitamin K added to my vitamin D supplement? Is intermittent fasting the answer to all my problems or should I just eat Keto to lose weight? Is my microbiome healthy and how would I know? Should I take a probiotic, and if so which one? Should I be doing the Mediterranean diet, Carnivore diet or go vegetarian or vegan? The list goes on and on! There is no shortage of contradictory information out there about what you should eat or what supplements you should take. The reality is that not all diets are right for every person, and no supplement is likely to solve all of your health problems.
Are you looking for a functional medicine doctor? We offer service to Lisle, Mokena, Plainfield, Chicago, Frankfort, St. Charles, Oak Park, and other surrounding areas!
I want to make functional medicine simple for you, not complicated. It has always been my belief that a true expert makes complicated subjects easy to understand, not more difficult. If you want to learn about how to give your body what it needs to be healthy, call us to schedule a complimentary phone consultation to discuss your unique situation. You can reach us at (630)210-8391.
In my next article I will be covering Thyroid which I have placed at Level #6 of the FMHP.
I hope you have found value in this information.
I wish you health, happiness and a better quality of life!
If you would like more information about functional medicine and integrative medicine or Dr. Borkowski go to napervilleintegratedwellness.com
Do your own research, inform yourself and ask lots of questions. When collecting information, you MUST consider the source. There is no shortage of false, misleading, outdated, profit-driven and utterly biased information in healthcare today; even from the most respected sources and organizations.
This approach to healthcare is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, mitigate, or prevent any disease. Why? The FDA enforces its position that these words can only be used with drugs. This approach does not use drugs.