Viva For Your Health » immune disease

De-mystifying a Mysterious Disease Called Lupus

admin — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 00:46:35 +0000

Though many people have not even heard of Lupus, it is common – more common than some well-known diseases such as multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy and leukemia. But because not much is known about the disease, treatment of lupus is made more difficult. What is lupus, exactly?

Diagnosis and treatment of lupus(http://www.mitamins.com/disease/Lupus.html) is made more complicated by the fact that currently, there is no one single test that can positively identify the disease. In fact, lupus is often mistaken for other diseases with some similar symptoms, such as multiple sclerosis or arthritis. In fact, lupus is an auto-immune disease in which the body essentially “turns” on itself. When this happens the body creates antibodies that attack the body rather than protect it.

Lupus(http://www.mitamins.com/disease/Lupus.html) sometimes only affects a single area of the body. Some of the most common areas to be affected are:

# Lungs: lupus can cause inflammation of the lungs’ lining, which can lead to pneumonia or pleuritis

# Kidneys: Inflammation of the kidneys can be caused by lupus, and this inflammation can lead to nephritis. The onset of nephritis is usually not accompanied by pain, so the lupus may not be detected.

# Heart: Chest pains, and subsequent hardening of the arteries, may be caused by lupus

# Blood: Anemia and inflamed blood vessels can result from lupus.

Lupus can often be identified by a rash on the body, most often on the face. Sunscreen can help to treat this rash. Some medications for other illnesses can trigger attacks, so this should be kept in mind in the treatment of lupus. Flu shots are recommended for lupus treatment, as they can prevent secondary infections which commonly occur in those with lupus. Other suspected triggers of lupus are dental fillings and hair dye, though there is no conclusive evidence of this. Because fear and anxiety may be triggers of lupus attacks, discontinuing use of certain products believed by patients to trigger attacks may be beneficial, even if these substances do not truly affect the body physiologically.

Natural Treatment of Lupus(http://www.mitamins.com/disease/Lupus.html)

A healthy diet containing necessary vitamins and nutrients, as well as regular exercise, are most effective in the prevention and treatment of lupus. Other kinds of meditative or calming activities, such as breathing exercises, can be effective in lupus treatment and can prevent skin flare-ups.

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World first: Celiac disease VACCINE trialed in Australia â?? April 09. Will it cure all celiacs & will you still need or want to eat Gluten Free Food?

admin — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:09:58 +0000

If you are a celiac, your miracle cure is under way – being trialed in Melbourne Australia from April 2009! It could conceivably desensitize people with celiac disease to the point that the villi in their small intestine are not damaged by the gluten protein. However with the need for extensive testing in this three phase trial, the vaccine may not be ready for release for several years.

Before we go into the details of such a cure it should be noted that this vaccine might not be a â??magic bullet’ that makes people permanently immune to the gluten protein, it might ‘only’ desensitize them.Â Also be aware that if you choose to undertake the â??therapy’ there are no guarantees of how you will react, and the only way to regularly check to see if you have been â??cured’ would be regular intestine biopsies. As it is known that some people take over two years to heal their intestines from gluten damage, how risky will this strategy be? It is expected that testing will be extensive so these questions may all sit under the â??devil’s advocate’ category, and all may be well.

An even more philosophical question is what effect covering up the cause of your disease will have on your body. Books have been written that suggest that it is the increased gluten potency in wheat and other gluten grains as well as increased use in manufactured foods that has led to an overdose of gluten. Our bodies then pass a â??tipping point’ where our genetic predisposition to CD turns into an active disease. If this is true, how wise would it be to continue ingesting unnaturally high levels of gluten, once â??cured’ just because we can? Sure it would make life simpler not following a gluten free diet, however maybe we should wait for gluten to be decreased at the source, the growing fields, before we return to a gluten filled diet.

Different types of celiac disease identified

With all these issues under consideration, I am sure that every celiac would still be interested in a â??cure’. A July 2007 article based on research conducted in Victoria, Australia, showed that “Celiac disease – is strongly associated with human leukocyte antigen (HLA) DQ2 and to a lesser extent with HLA DQ8.”

“HLA genes are part of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), which plays a pivotal role in the immune system. HLA-DQ2 mediated celiac disease is common in people of European ancestry, with about 90 per cent of sufferers positive for DQ2. Another five per cent possess HLA DQ8. In China and East Asia, DQ2 genes are rare while DQ8 genes are as common as in Europe.”

So it appears that this preliminary research has been able to isolate two main versions of celiac disease. However the molecular workings of the immune response in the two antigens appear to be very different. The researchers discovered that T-cells in people with DQ8-associated celiac disease reacted quite differently to the small proteins in gluten than the T-cells in people with the DQ2 form of the disease.

“At the moment a gluten-free diet is the only treatment for celiac disease but nearly half the people on the diet still have damage to their small intestine. Consequently other therapies, including a vaccine and three different drugs, are in various stages of development. The research team believes celiac disease might be the first example of an immune disease where treatments are customized according to the genetic make-up of the patient.”

The celiac vaccine discovery

The discovery that lead to the creation of the vaccine was that the one critical part of wheat gluten protein that was toxic was the common genetic version (HLA DQ2) of celiac disease. “As much as the identity of the toxic component of gluten was important, it was the way in which it was found that has proven to be even more important. By eating gluten in wheat, rye, or barley for three days (even a single meal will suffice in some people), immune cells (T cells) that damage the small intestine are mobilized into blood for a few short days. The T cells in blood can be monitored and analyzed to define what part of gluten they recognize. The parts of gluten recognized by the vast majority of T cells involved in celiac disease can be condensed to a few “short” fragments of gluten that remain after its digestion in the gut. These gluten fragments can be synthesized using fairly standard chemistry and are the basis for the celiac vaccine.”

The Celiac Vaccine Trials

The original research began at Oxford England in 1997. The work continued in Australia in 2002 and by April 2009 Bob Anderson from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical research (Melbourne, Australia) will commence the first world trials of a celiac vaccine that could reduce or eradicate the need for being gluten free. In fact Bob Anderson calls the vaccine a “next-generation desensitization therapy” that has been successful in mice and is soon to be tested on celiacs.

“The vaccine will be tested on 40 volunteers with celiac disease over 11 months to establish that it does not harm them. In a subsequent phaseÂ 2 trial, which is designed to find out if the treatment is effective, volunteers will receive the treatment and then be challenged with foods containing gluten. Their immune response and intestines will then be examined to see if a tolerance to gluten has developed. The therapy involves repeatedly injecting solutions of gluten at increasing concentrations. The aim is to desensitize the subjects slowly, in a similar way to hay fever and dust allergy desensitization treatments.”

Testing process

“For a new drug to be accepted for use in people in Australia, Europe, or North America it must have progressed successfully from Phase 1 (safety) studies usually involving up to about 30 volunteers, to Phase 2 (efficacy) studies to show that “it works” in people with the medical condition of interest (typically about 200 volunteers in several locations around the world), and to Phase 3 (similar to Phase 2 but involving several thousand volunteers in many sites around the world).”

The celiac vaccine future

Due to difficulties in funding, Bob Anderson (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute) co-founded a commercial company called Nexpep to develop the vaccine. Nucleus Network, Centre for Clinical Studies (CCS) in the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, will be conducting the Phase 1 clinical trial.

The difficulty he has faced, besides the technical issues, is the low diagnosis level of celiac disease and the mass of associated symptoms has made a vaccine cure unattractive to traditional pharmaceutical companies. These companies always prefer well defined markets to accurately forecast payback periods for their R&D and marketing expenses.

The facts are that for this vaccine to prove financially viable, The US will need to approve the drug and doctors and celiacs will need to accept the treatment. One report estimates that only 600,000 people are diagnosed with celiac disease (out of the 5 million with celiac disease in North America and Europe).Â Â

Compounded to the funding challenges is that previously, globally, there have only been three “randomized, controlled” studies of the gluten free diet – one in children and two in adults – the largest with 57 participants.”

The assessment of the vaccine treatment will require repeated endoscopy and collection of small intestine biopsies which are expensive and un-enjoyable for volunteers. However a recent trial in Italy has shown that biopsies are still the only â??almost’ guaranteed method of assessing gluten damage. The study findings showed that “two years after adopting a gluten free diet, about half those people diagnosed with celiac disease continued to have villous atrophy as severe as when they were first diagnosed. Only about one in five of those with severe intestinal damage (villous atrophy) on a gluten free diet had raised (abnormal) blood levels of transglutaminase antibody, meaning that standard blood tests to monitor disease activity were relatively ineffective.”

So while the development of this vaccine is an important step in potentially eradicating celiac disease, philosophical questions still remain as issues for the long term efficacy of the vaccines. As an Australian first, this research is applauded by the gluten free community. We wish the researchers and medical staff all of the best in demystifying this illusive disease.

Article references are available on the gluten free pages website.Â

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Autoimmune Diseases: Causes, Symptoms and Treatments

admin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:52:49 +0000

The immune system of our body is a collection of cells, tissues and molecules which work together to protect the body against any attack from foreign bodies like bacteria, viruses, fungi etc. Autoimmune disease occurs when the body’s immune system fails and starts producing antibodies which react against some of the body’s own tissues. This can have a lot of effects on the body and can even prove to be fatal in many cases. It is said to be the 3rd most common disease in USA. It is said to affect one in thirty one Americans.

An autoimmune process can cause the destruction of a particular type of cell or tissue, can cause an organ to grow excessively, and can even affect the organs’ functionality. The endocrine glands are mostly affected by this kind of disease. The generally affected areas include are the red blood cells, adrenal glands, thyroid, pancreas, connecting tissues and many skin and muscle joints. Women are more susceptible to auto immune diseases than men. The reason for this is yet to be discovered by researchers.

One of the main reasons for this could be that women have great immunity when compared to men for all kinds of diseases. So this makes them more prone to auto immune diseases.

Autoimmune diseases can be classified into 2 types:

Type1: Non organ Specific.

Type 2: Organ specific.

The first type of the disease can be spread throughout the entire body. Some of the non-organ specific disorders are: myasthenia gravis, multiple sclerosis, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.

The second type is specific to a particular organ of the body. Some of the organ specific disorders are: chronic hepatitis – a disease that affects the liver, Addison’s disease affecting the adrenal glands, pernicious anemia which affects the stomach, diabetes (insulin dependent) affecting the pancreas and Hashimoto’s disease that affects the thyroid glands.

Researchers believe that there are many factors that can be attributed as the cause of autoimmune diseases. Drugs, pollution, certain types of viruses, heredity are some of the attributed causes. Many doctors also believe that close marriages or marrying family members is also a major factor for the auto immune diseases.

Doctors conduct various tests like checking your blood samples, radiological studies etc to diagnose if you have the autoimmune disease. There symptoms accompanied by the auto immune disease are specific to each disease and widely vary. The general symptoms are fever, low grade infections, fatigue, dizziness and loss of appetite.

Most autoimmune diseases are given treatment according to the symptoms. Doctors prescribe corticosteroid drugs, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and some very powerful immunosuppressant drugs like cyclophosphamide, azathioprine and methotrexate that suppresses the response of the immune system and there by the progression of the autoimmune disease.

There is no best remedy other than self care. If one takes proper care of themselves without leading an unhealthy life these diseases can be prevented. Doctors recommend a diet highly rich in vitamins and minerals can help reduce the effects of the auto immune disease.

To Your Health!

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Resolving Immune Diseases in Humans and Pets Naturally

admin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:51:59 +0000

The current population exceeds 300 million people and 150 million domestic cats and dogs! Drug stores are popping up everywhere. The computer models that project human and animal health over the next 50 years must reveal great opportunity for the pharmaceutical industry.
People and their pets are already on more medication then ever before: Many are on multiple medications. Yet medications do not cure. Oddly, they are designed to treat the symptom instead of the actual cause. That hardly seems scientific.
Today, not only are people and their pets are getting the same diseases; they are transferring them to each other. According to The Royal Society of Medicine of Great Britain, “Fully 90% of all disease is caused by an unhealthy digestive system”.
Why have American doctors and veterinarians not picked up on this fact? Why, indeed!
Gastro-intestinal (GI) diseases usually starts out as relatively simple conditions. Symptoms might include eczema, eating disorders, foul smelling gas, loose stools, diarrhea, vomiting, and light constipation.
Advanced GI diseases like IBS, Crohns Disease, and chronic constipation are the result of GI imbalance combined with severe intestinal wall inflammation.
Contrary to popular medical opinion, most human and animal disease is reversible! The steps to make sure that you, and your pets, get healthy and stay healthy are relatively simple, and far less costly than doctor visits, medications, and health insurance!
The intestinal wall is the gatekeeper. This is where blood picks up the nutrients from the digested food, and takes them to feed every cell, tissue and organ in you or your pets body. The degree of illness is directly related to the degree to which the intestinal wall is compromised.
In extreme cases, the intestinal wall is so inflamed that nothing can pass through. Advanced GI and Immune disease soon follows. Until the inflammation is addressed the benefits of improved diet, or medications will be negligible!
Sadly, prednisone is the medical professions anti-inflammatory of choice. Like antibiotics, this is case where the treatment needs a remedy.
When GI and immune disease is treated with natural anti-inflammatories, healing soon follows. Simple GI disorders can be quickly remedied with just a few doses of SBOs.
SBOs are all natural non-dairy probiotics. They are more effective than dairy based probiotics. They are essential to maintain or restore intestinal balance. If inflammation is involved, it must first be resolved before the SBOs can be effective.

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How Do You Boost Your Immunity?

admin — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:52:23 +0000

Some people, it seems, are endowed with a healthy immune system. They never seem to get sick and, if they do get the odd cold, they continue their daily routine and snap out of it in no time flat. Then you see others who barely have to hear the word ‘flu or see someone blowing their nose and bam, they’ve got it!
Is it all in the head? Are you born with a strong immune system to fight off disease? Can you do something about it, if you’re not? Anyway, what does it mean to have immunity? Well, a very simple explanation is that there are basically two types: active and passive immunity.
The definition of “immune” is that your body is so strong and resistant to any disease that you will not succumb to it.
Active immunity is considered to be long-lasting and tends to be life-long. If you’re in this category then, whenever you’re exposed to a disease organism, your immune system will instantly start to produce antibodies to that disease. Furthermore, if you should come into contact with that disease in the future, your immune system will identify it and immediately fight it off with the stored antibodies.
Passive immunity is not inherent in your system. It is when you cannot produce enough antibodies to fight off disease, and get an external boost by injection, medication or nutritional supplements.
Healthy people with an active, innate immunity are usually referred to as being resistant to disease in general. The term immunity is usually applied to general protection against a specific organism. Even if you are generally healthy, you may from time to time need a boost in order to help fight off a virulent strain of a specific infection or virus. The more severe the disease producing organism, the more the passive immunity is applied.
The medical profession recommends boosting your inherent immunity with specific antibodies to fight off a potentially dangerous infection or virus.
A good digestion and healthy appetite are indicators of a strong immunity. “Getting better quickly is a better indicator of immune health,” says Dr Dennis Alexander, head of molecular immunology at the Babraham institute in Cambridge.
Immune globulin can be administered to provide immediate protection from specific health threats to those who have a severely impaired or suppressed immune system. For instance, some who may normally have fairly good resistance to disease suddenly realize that their system cannot handle the sudden onslaught of germs in the hospital.
Likewise, the body under stress, i.e. disease or sudden accident, is often not capable to fight off multiple vaccines in one shot.
Judging by the large numbers of people coping with disease, the human system is inherently fragile and cannot handle multiple onslaughts, like the ones discussed above.
Many believe that if you are generally healthy and look after your health, you will only have a mild version of what’s going around. “In truth, there’s no such thing as a normal immune system,” says Angus Dalgleish, professor of oncology at St George’s Hospital, London, who researches cancer vaccines. He says the system is naturally very variable.
The rise of allergies, auto-immune diseases (where the body attacks itself) and inflammatory bowel disease are all indicators of immune resistance performing under par.
Both types of acquired immunity respond to peptide sequences called antigens. Antigens help the acquired immune system recognize invading bacteria, viruses and other harmful organisms (pathogens).
Leftovers, non-organic foods, and foods laced with preservatives can severely tax the digestive system. This can, in turn, clog your circulation, and create a sluggish, compromised immune system.
Going to be late, working at night, irregular eating habits, sleeping during the day, and exposing the body to stress and fatigue can all affect the digestion and body rhythms and thus compromise your resistance.
Therefore, be good to yourself. Eating nutritiously and keeping an active, happy lifestyle will go a long way to boosting your immune system. Don’t worry; be happy because “a merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.” (Prov. 17: 22)

Worst Immune System Assault of All Time

admin — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:52:36 +0000

The immune system is under attacks more now than ever in the history of mankind. Reduced to simplest terms, the immune system has tow functions: identify self from non-self and to destroy or eliminate non-self. This can only work when the immune system functions optimally. With an intact immune system there can be no chronic or severe disease. In the hostile environment in which we live, we need protection from the multitude of microorganisms and toxins that are omnipresent. Our sole protection against them is our immune system.

Then, why is there so much sickness and disease running rampant through our society? Why our senior citizens die from viruses that they have successfully combated their entire lives? Why there are deaths caused by bacteria (e.coli) from improperly treated water? Why is there so much sickness and disease running rampant through our society? SARS is killing hundred worldwide. The public is being warned at large against bird flu and West Nile virus. The answer is easy…jeopardized immune systems.

If we are distinct as an individual and separate entity is because of our immune system. Medical research has established that every severe and chronic disease is directly associated with immune dysfunction. Also, research has shown that decreased NK (Natural Killer) cell activity levels are present with almost all illnesses. There are over one hundred and eighty-seven cell types identified with the immune system. Cells known as helper T cells are the brain of the immune system. They coordinate the response to any immune threat. B cells lead to an antibody response to bacterial and viral invasion. Cytotoxic T cells respond to viruses and cancer. Suppressor T cells are used to diminish the actions of the immune system after the threat has been eliminated. Macrophages are involved in all aspects of the immune response. Natural killer cells function to kill tumor and virus cells, bacteria and parasites on contact without need of direction from the immune system. This combat between self and non-self can only work when immune system functions optimally.

Complications arise when our immune system

- incorrectly identifies an invader and/or attacks “self” (auto-immune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and many more), pure example of disease when the body attacks itself;

- fails to identify an invader (or wrongly manufactured cell such as cancer);

- is compromised due to poor nutrition, toxicity or stress to the extent that it is unable to overcome immune insult.

All these errors result in some form of disease. There are several areas that can stress the immune system and most of these can be affected beneficially by our actions.

Since nutritional deficiencies decrease a person’s capacity of his immune system, in that case to boost the immune system is a must to protect himself from diseases .Choosing food wisely can help., but the vast majority of the population consumes less than 66% of the recommended daily allowance for one or more nutrients. Since our food sources have been deficient in both vitamins and minerals and since that it is almost impossible to get adequate nutrition from our current food supply, there is ample evidence to suggest that the public will benefit from the adoption of healthy dietary patterns and healthy lifestyle habits including the regular use of nutritional supplements. There is ample evidence that supplementation can replace what is missing to better support our immune system and decrease risk of diseases.

Gilles Coulombe B.A. B.LL D.S.A.

For more information, go to My Site

Viva For Your Health » immune disease

De-mystifying a Mysterious Disease Called Lupus

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