Lets talk about the Immune System
Now more than ever, in the midst of a global pandemic, health and our body’s immune system is a topic at the front of our minds. Firstly, we must be clear on what the immune system is. Is there any system (a visible set of organs) in our human body, which represents our immune system? Actually, the right answer in modern medicine is NO.
In the human body, we have the nervous system, digestive system, endocrine system, respiratory system, cardiovascular system, skeletal system, muscular system, lymphatic system & so on. The term “the immune system”, however, is somewhat of a misnomer, because our body’s immunity is a response or function. It involves the tissues of the lymphatic as well as some of the other systems, such as the brain, the red bone marrow, the white blood cells, the thymus gland, the spleen, the stomach, the small intestine, the pancreas, even the skin, sweat, tears … All of these organs and cells contribute to our body’s immunity, and the sum total of these is “the Immune Response”. When the immune response is either over- or under- ‘worked’, illness occurs, like hay fever, asthma, eczema or lupus.
Because the immune system is not a visible organ, its function depends on the contribution from so many different parts of the body. So it would be a complicated problem when it doesn’t run well. It can’t be fixed up in a mechanical way by an operation, or simply using steroid/ anti-histamine for a long term treatment.
In my opinion, steroid or antihistamine is good for emergency or temporary solution. But in trying to treat a chronic problem, these simply cover up the symptoms up and don’t address the development of the cause. The risks of more severe side-effects would become more significant. It could make the medical situation more complicated,
According to Chinese medicine, everyone’s body stores the kind of material called Essence in the kidneys. The essence could be likened to an Energy (Qi but pronounced ‘chi’) bank as support centre. Under the steroid’s effects, the essence would turn into Qi to support the body for the emergent need. It works just like the credit card. You could use the credit card when you need financial support. The bill paid by the credit card is the debt that you temporarily borrowed from the bank, You must remember to pay it back maybe plus interest. If you were not able to do that, and when the amount of debt had reached your limit, the bank would refuse to lend your money anymore. You see, the credit card is helpful , but it is also dangerous if you have no control of it. You must know as well, it is also the reason why some patients have taken up to 5 times the normal dosage of steroid, but their problems simply got even worse.
The movements and mutations of Qi explain all the physiological activity. In the human body, Qi appears in various forms, includes all the functions of the organs, the body’s defense ability, self-healing ability, self-adjusting ability are part of Qi’s functions. So through strengthening up or nourishing the function of the organs that is related to the formation of Qi, Qi could perform better, then the body’s immunity becomes stronger; Through adjusting the function of the organs that are related to the Qi’s performance, Qi could flow all over the body more smoothly more regularly in order , blood circulation and fluid circulation also could run normally, so the immune response could act/react very well, the body itself could target the invader or stranger, clear up the “immune battlefield”, could repair the damage itself and heal itself.
In Chinese medicine, the lung, the spleen and the kidneys are regarded as three critical organs for the Qi’s formation and performance. These three organs must work in harmony from upper, middle and lower level of the body, inside and surface of the body. In addition, the liver and the heart also play important role at managing the flow of Qi and blood. These 5 key organs are only the core of the whole “immune network”. Now you could find the right explanation for the many different symptoms that can result when the immune response is over-active or less-active. For example, after having suffered from sinusitis/ bronchitis for a long time, some patients get Hay Fever and / or asthma or eczema. Some asthma patients couldn’t perform any heavy labor work or physical exercises because the body couldn’t afford enough Qi flow. After some people got over-stressed, they often found themselves catching a cold or the flu.
So the key is to remember how to take care of your body when your immune system is still ok. That is to live a good lifestyle; a healthy diet for metabolic health, Vitamin D, don’t skip your breakfast or lunch, don’t stay up too late, try to do exercise regularly, try not to be over-stressed mentally or over-tired physically…all these good behaviors would contribution to the strength of your own immune system. When your immune response has become abnormal, steroids and antihistamines work faster for emergency sake, but you know which is the better choice when the long term treatment is required and when the steroids didn’t work on you anymore.
