Preventative Strategies for Optimizing the Immune System

Over time our immune system undergoes a slow trek towards senility known as Immunosenescence.  Our bodies become vulnerable to the environment and can no longer take on the battle between the infectious agents we face and ourselves.  Should I get the Flu vaccine or the Shingles vaccine becomes the common question of the day.
The declining-frail immune system becomes a major contributory factor to the increased frequency of morbidity and mortality among the elderly.  Implicated in the increasing frequency of diseases such as cancer, chronic inflammatory disorders and autoimmunity.
Moreover, the constant stresses and strains of the taxed immune system become a set-up for what once was our friend, i.e., inflammation, which is the main cause of nearly every chronic disease that we encounter as we age.
This article will outline some of the main causes of immunoscenescence and provide you with natural remedies to battle back and regain the health of this most vital part of your health.
MAIN CAUSES OF IMMUNE SUPPRESSION
In modern medicine we sometimes treat diseases with toxins.  The overuse of antibiotics has seen a rash of resistant bacteria that can have lethal consequences.  In fact the most common cause of infection seen in the emergency room today is Methicillin Resistant Staph Aureus, otherwise abbreviated as MRSA.  This organism once thought of, as a mutated-bug only in hospitals and institutions is now common to nearly every person on earth.  Medications also deplete the body of many minerals and vitamins that are necessary for optimal health of the immune system.  A qualified health care provider can help you decide which nutrients are being depleted based on the medication you are on and will be able to replete them.   Depleting vital nutrients for the production of immune cells with antacids is an important example.
Emotional stresses, anger, resentment, un-forgiveness and many more emotions are all stressors to the immune system leading to it’s premature death.
Sleep is an important part of a healthy immune system.   However, advancing age typically causes us to have less sleep.  This is due to hormonal imbalances that are common to all of us.  Proper balance of these hormones with bio-identical replacement is the solution to the problem.  In some cases neurotransmitters may be the cause, and therefore, proper measuring and therapeutic targeting of any imbalance will overcome this problem.
An improper diet and one that is ladened with pesticides and other harmful chemicals makes it necessary to have your healthcare provider design a specialized diet that will decrease the toxic burden while replacing nutrients and vitamins that will enhance your body’s ability to flush these toxins out of your body by feeding the organelles of detoxification, the mitochondria in the liver and by adjusting the pH of the body for proper voiding of these toxins through the kidneys.
Bowel health is also very important for immune health.  In fact, it is thought that 70-80% of the immune system resides in the GI (Gastrointestinal) system.   Knowing the proper amounts and types of friendly bacteria are an important factor to maintaining excellent bowel health.  Both aerobic and anaerobic bacterium in the trillions is the goal.  Many believe that colonics is a way of ridding the body of harmful poisons.  Yet in my view, colonics not only slough off the layer of immunoglobulin’s that protects the bowel lining from harmful parasites, bacteria and yeast, but the trillions of bacterial colonies will be washed out with this form of therapy as well.
Heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, and mercury are hugely responsible for the many cases of immune suppression.  Since these heavy metals are fat soluble and up to 50% of one of our immune producing organs (the bone marrow) is made up of fat, the marrow becomes exceeding vulnerable to the toxic effects of these metals.  Blood tests are not able to pick up tissue ladened metals, so specialized testing is necessary.  At our institute, we provide our patient’s with state of the are ways to find these metals and established FDA approved natural ways to get them out without harming the body.  Through intravenous and oral chelation, we can eliminate this common cause of immune suppression.
The peer-reviewed medical literature is loaded with information on nutritional aids to combat the failing immune system.  Intravenous use of glutathione, high-dose vitamin C (ascorbic acid) and other vitamins and minerals are employed because of the inability to get these substances through the gastrointestinal barrier in the doses required for immune repair.
Finally, the literature tells us of the numerous spices and foods that one can purchase to aide in the support of the immune system.  Many of these natural foods are showing great promise in battling cancer and are being studied at major institutions such as MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas and Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute in New York City.  Discoveries with Curcumin, Wheat Germ, Inositol, EGCG, Mushroom extracts and many more are amongst the top of the list.
Studying the literature has allowed me to develop and put together novel protocols to boost the immune system.  Hormones are the center to this approach.  As we age our hormones naturally decline.  Many of these hormones are vital to immune strength.  Proper balance of hormones that build-up the body is necessary to accomplish this goal.   The literature and modern medical physiology teaches us about the beneficial effects of optimizing hormones such as DHEA, Growth Hormone, Testosterone, Estrogen, Progesterone and even Melatonin.  The important word in hormonal therapy, however, is balance.  Taking too much or too little of anything is what we call “pathology” or disease.  Proper measuring and an understanding of the physiologic benefits of all the hormones are necessary for proper function.  A well-trained physician in Antiaging Medicine, certified and fellowship trained by the American Board of Antiaging Medicine and the American Academy of Antiaging and Regenerative Medicine would be your first choice. 
Under no circumstance should any therapy be used without a proper knowledge of the benefits and effects of such compounds.
With proper medical guidance the immune system can be revitalized to youthful levels so that the consequences of aging will be left behind.