In the midst of a time of ever looming threat of viral infection, it becomes more important than ever to support our immune system.

A healthy immune system can make the difference between your ability to fight off common cold more easily or becoming sick every 1-2 months, or experiencing long term consequences from more severe viral infections.

Post-viral syndromes are not a new phenomenon, with infections such as Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and other infections including Ross river fever, Bartonella (Lyme disease) and more recently, Covid-19 being known to potentially cause this.

Post-Viral syndrome can cause symptoms including:

• Chronic severe fatigue
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Brain fog and cognitive impairment
• Gut pain
• Joint aches and pains
• Headaches
• Dizziness
• Lowered exercise tolerance
• Persistent cough
• Shortness of breath

Not everyone will experience long term complications after a viral infection, and it is thought that the likelihood of developing these consequences is influenced by several things – some of which can be modified.

The immune system needs a strong foundation in order to be able to thoroughly fight off infections and reduce long term reactions.

While vaccinations can significantly reduce the likelihood of a severe reaction to infections, there are some concerns. Many have concerns of side effects from vaccinations, and while the rates of occurrence are low, it is still a cause of fear for many. It is also a concern but many that one can still get sick with Covid-19 even after vaccinations, but it is believed that they will not get as severely sick and may have 50% less chance of transmitting the virus due to a lowered viral load.

The same principles that influence a health immune system will apply when we consider our likelihood of having an adverse reaction to a vaccination, as well reduced vaccine effectiveness. While the majority of people will experience minimal acute symptoms from a vaccine and no long term symptoms, there are a small group of people who may experience more severe symptoms. It is still not completely understood why some people will react more than others, but there are many things we can do to give ourselves to least likelihood of a negative reaction.

There are many things which influence our immune system, which impact on our ability to fight off infections, have a positive response to vaccinations and to process toxins.

“The microbe is nothing. The terrain is everything” -Claude Bernard 1813-1878

The terrain theory was first proposed by Claude Bernard, and later built upon by Antoine Bechamp (1816-1908). It was rivalled by Louis Pasteur, although some belief that he stated on his death bed “I was wrong. The germ is nothing. The Terrain is everything”.

There are aspects of truth in all of these concepts. Indeed, before Pasteur introduced the germ theory it was believed that disease came from non-living things such as dirt, foul air and ‘vapors’. Harmful micro-organisms can and do cause disease, but the severity of this disease is influenced by the health and genetics of the person – the overall aspect of this being referred to as the terrain.

Key Foundations for a Healthy Immune System

Stress

Chronic stress can affect the gut microbiome which means you can’t detox chemicals as effectively, and also dampens the immune system.

Lymphatic system

Your lymphatic system works alongside the immune system to help protect you from harmful substances such as infections and toxins. A stagment lymphatic system means a more prolonged infection duration and an increased likelihood of side effects from vaccinations.

Our lymph is moved by muscular contractions – if you don’t move, neither will your lymph. Exercise, dry skin brushing and rebounding are ways to increase the lymph drainage. By allowing our lymph to drain effectively

Sleep

Our immune cells follow a daily rhythm, with some types of immune cells peaking in the night and others during the day. Getting sleep before midnight helps developed your naive T cells.

people who sleep less than 6 hours a night have been shown to have 11.5x less of an immune response to a vaccination.

In addition, those who have a nap after a vaccination had a better immune response.

Gut Health

Our microbiome is so important when it comes to improving immunity, as the multitude of beneficial microbes within our digestive system will impact how well we can fend off a virus, the severity of an inflammatory response, and will also influence vaccine response.

Taking pre and probiotics for 2 weeks before a vaccine helps to reduce the potential of adverse reactions, if you don’t have that amount of time then take it for as long as possible.

Check out my latest post about medications and your microbes.

Age

Generally, the older you are the weaker your immune system, but the concept of ‘immune age’ is something that doesn’t always correlate with your actual age. Your age will also determine how well you can fight off a bug, as well as how you respond to vaccinations.

Your immune age is determined by your genetics, as well as inflammation. Other things that affect this include your levels of sleep, exercise, diet and stress. A lower immune age means your innate and adaptive immune system becomes disrupted.

Weight

Research has shown that those people in the obese category are less responsive to vaccinations and have a worse effect from viral infections. This is partly due to the chronic low grade inflammation that obesity can cause which dampens the immune system.

Exposure to chemicals

PFAs are one of the worst offenders here. These are found in sources such as fire retardants, fast food containers, non stick cookware, some beauty products. Higher blood levels of PFAs are associated with a worse effect from viral infections and a poorer response to vaccinations.

Nutrition

Having enough of the good stuff, and not too much of the bad stuff. Simple right? Here’s a few things to consider: get enough nutrients which your immune system needs like zinc, vitamin c, vitamin d, iron, vitamin a, vitamin e, selenium…. these nutrients are required for adequate immunoglobulins which helps your body to clear out viruses and process spike proteins.

Stay away from foods which your immune system doesn’t like, such as refined process food and excess sugar. Try to avoid eating foods which you are intolerant to as these can upset your immune system too.

Hormones

Yep, might not be obvious but your hormones are important when it comes to a healthy immune system. Natural oestrogen and progesterone are involved in your immunity and controlling inflammation.

If you suspect your hormones need some support chat with your health care provider.

Ten tips for supporting a healthy immune system

1. Spend time in nature
2. Don’t smoke
3. Eat a wide range of plant foods that are high in fibre
4. ‘Eat a rainbow’ – a broad range of colours in your fruit and vegetables is a good way to know you’re getting a variety of nutrients
5. Get plenty of sleep
6. Try to manage stress by taking time off from listening to stressful news, incorporating stress management techniques into your day and creating healthy boundaries. If that doesn’t help, chat with a herbalist or naturopath about herbs that can help your stress response.
7. Exercise regularly and try to maintain a healthy weight
8. Include prebiotic and probiotic foods in your diet such as fermented foods
9. Support your lymphatic system with practices such as dry skin brushing, exercise and drinking plenty of water
10. Avoid processed and very sugary foods

References

Abraham, K., Mielke, H., Fromme, H. et al. Internal exposure to perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and biological markers in 101 healthy 1-year-old children: associations between levels of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and vaccine response. Arch Toxicol 94, 2131–2147 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00204-020-02715-4

Aric A. Prather, PhD, Martica Hall, PhD, Jacqueline M. Fury, BS, Diana C. Ross, MSN, RN, Matthew F. Muldoon, MD, MPH, Sheldon Cohen, PhD, Anna L. Marsland, PhD, RN. (2012). Sleep and Antibody Response to Hepatitis B Vaccination. Sleep. 35(8) 1063–1069. https://doi.org/10.5665/sleep.1990

Besedovsky, L., Lange, T., & Born, J. (2012). Sleep and immune function. Pflugers Archiv : European journal of physiology, 463(1), 121–137. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00424-011-1044-0

Calder, P. C., Carr, A. C., Gombart, A. F., & Eggersdorfer, M. (2020). Optimal Nutritional Status for a Well-Functioning Immune System Is an Important Factor to Protect against Viral Infections. Nutrients, 12(4), 1181. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12041181

Classen, J. B., & Classen, D. C. (1999). Public should be told that vaccines may have long term adverse effects. BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 318(7177), 193. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.318.7177.193

Galmés, S., Serra, F., & Palou, A. (2020). Current State of Evidence: Influence of Nutritional and Nutrigenetic Factors on Immunity in the COVID-19 Pandemic Framework. Nutrients, 12(9), 2738. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12092738

Hagan, T., Cortese, M., Rouphael, N., Boudreau, C., Linde, C., … Pulendran, B. (2019). Antibiotics-Driven Gut Microbiome Perturbation Alters Immunity to Vaccines in Humans. Cell, 178(6), 1313–1328.e13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2019.08.010

Hashemi, S., Thijssen, M., Hosseini, S. Y., Tabarraei, A., Pourkarim, M. R., & Sarvari, J. (2021). Human gene polymorphisms and their possible impact on the clinical outcome of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Archives of virology, 166(8), 2089–2108. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-021-05070-6

Herrero, L. (2021, July 8). Yes, you can still get COVID after being vaccinated, but you’re unlikely to get as sick. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/yes-you-can-still-get-covid-after-being-vaccinated-but-youre-unlikely-to-get-as-sick-163870.

Im, J. H., Je, Y. S., Baek, J., Chung, M. H., Kwon, H. Y., & Lee, J. S. (2020). Nutritional status of patients with COVID-19. International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases, 100, 390–393. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2020.08.018

Shinde, T., Hansbro, P. M., Sohal, S. S., Dingle, P., Eri, R., & Stanley, R. (2020). Microbiota Modulating Nutritional Approaches to Countering the Effects of Viral Respiratory Infections Including SARS-CoV-2 through Promoting Metabolic and Immune Fitness with Probiotics and Plant Bioactives. Microorganisms, 8(6), 921. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms8060921

Torjesen I. Covid-19: Norway investigates 23 deaths in frail elderly patients after vaccination BMJ 2021; 372 (149) https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n149

The post The foundations for a healthy immune system appeared first on Alison Mitchell Naturopath.

Many of my patients have been asking about what steps can be taken to boost their immunity surrounding the fears of the coronavirus spread.

My recommendations are very similar to what I usually suggest to protect yourself from the ‘flu, however there are some specific herbal medicines which I have listed below that would be most helpful in the prevention of this specific virus. These herbs have not been studied against this particular virus and I am in no way claiming they can be used as a treatment nor offering complete promise of prevention, but rather sharing information about herbs that have been used in previous instances against similar viruses.

It goes without saying that limiting the spread of infection is one of the most important considerations of reducing any viral threat, so I suggest be prepared with remedies at home to take at first sign of any infection.

As with any viral infections, it is kind and wise not to intentionally share your germs.

What do we know about coronavirus

The virus is thought to have originated from a seafood market in Wuhan, a central Chinese city. Currently, all confirmed cases of the virus in Australia are in individuals who have recently visited Wuhan with minimal human-human transmission occurring in Australia, although such cases are expected, and have occurred in China.

In all the cases of those who have died from this virus, the individual has suffered from an underlying condition, was elderly or frail, and therefore had reduced ability to mount an appropriate immune response. Currently, there are no available effective medical treatments.

Thankfully many natural preventative treatment options are available. Please read this information to learn how you can improve your immune system.

The main causes for concern relate to what is not known about the virus:

• It is not known how virulent this strain of coronavirus is.
• It is not known how it is transmitted or how long it lives on surfaces; however, it is thought that coming within a 1 metre radius of an infected person increases the likelihood of transmission
• It is not known if the person is able to transmit the virus before symptoms appear

The Corona Virus Family

This current coronavirus is part of a family of viruses, named as such because they have crown like spikes on their surface. There are seven coronaviruses that affect humans, the most well known of which is the SARS virus.

Thankfully, the 2019-nCoV recently named as COVID-19 appears to have a much lower fatality rate than previous coronavirus outbreaks such as SARS and MERS, or other deadly viral diseases such as Ebola. The current estimated fatality rate of the 2019-nCoV is variable, approximately 1-3% for those who are not classed in an ‘at risk’ group.

Individuals who have died from this coronavirus are individuals who would have been at similar risk from a common seasonal influenza, which helps to contextualise the lethality of this outbreak. However, it is possible that the virus could mutate and become more deadly.

For perspective, the mortality rate of SARS was 10%, MERS was 36%, whilst the Ebola virus killed half of all individuals infected.

Those at most risk:

• The elderly
• The very young
• Those with compromised immune systems or other severe health issues

Symptoms

The main symptoms include:

• Fever
• Fatigue
• Cough
• Difficulty breathing.

Other symptoms can be a sore throat, runny and stuffy nose.

Viruses are deeply interwoven into our planet and are highly adaptable. They can alter their structure rapidly based on their analysis of the environment that surrounds them. Viruses are highly intelligent and so if we are to adapt to improve our own resilience, a novel approach to viruses is called for. Natural medicine provides many answers here.

Arming yourself with knowledge and natural medicines to help support your immune system and respiratory health can help you to feel prepared.

Tips for Prevention

Common Sense Tips to Reduce the Spread of Viruses

• Regularly wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds
• Cover your nose and mouth when sneezing or coughing with a tissue or flexed elbow. Avoid coughing into your hands. Throw the tissue into a closed bin after use.
• Avoid close contact with individuals who display cold and flu-like symptoms
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth when out and about.
• Avoid travel if you have a fever or a cough
• Avoid travel if you are immunocompromised or have a chronic illness, or if you are regularly in close contact with individuals who are immunocompromised.
• If you have symptoms that you suspect may be the coronavirus, it is important to seek medical care early, but first notify your health authorities before attending a medical practice.
• Eat only well-cooked food while travelling

Natural treatment options

As yet no medications or vaccinations are available for the coronavirus. There are a range of herbal medicines which have shown efficacy against similar viruses such as SARS that can be used in a preventative manner.

Excessive stimulation of the immune system may be detrimental. In the case of the SARS-CoV / COVID-19 it is not known whether the virus itself is the causal fatal agent, or whether macrophages recruited to the lungs in response to infection with COVID-19 cause fatal immunopathological changes, leading to acute respiratory distress.

Herbal Medicine

Given what we know about the structure of this coronavirus, a formulation of herbs the below may be helpful. It is best to take these herbs in a preventative manner at first thoughts of any exposure, or at least at first signs of any symptoms. The Coronavirus is an encapsulated virus with a positive aspect, and the herbs that are most effective against this form of virus are what have been chosen for this formula.

The other consideration I have with the choice of herbs in this instance is that the virus thrives in what we refer to as ‘damp’ constitutions. You might recognise the signs of a damp constitution as symptoms such as a thick coating on the tongue, feelings of stagnancy and congestion and sluggish bowel movements.

Also included are herbs which do not overly stimulate but rather modulate the immune system are beneficial as the overactivity in response to the virus, also known as a cytokine storm can be responsible for harmful effects. Herbs such as Andrographis which can be valuable for regular infections may be too stimulating if this virus were to take hold.

Lung supportive herbs are also valuable to include, as the virus can cause damage to the lungs.

In addition to the formula I suggest that if a fever occurs, herbal teas that support sweating and reduce the aching can also be helpful, such as Boneset or YEP tea.

If this is something you are interested chat with your herbalist and naturopath about obtaining a personalised herbal formula that consists a version of the following herbs to reduce cytokine dysfunction, look after the lungs, strengthen the immune system and provide anti-viral activity.

• Isatis
• Baical Skullcap
• Licorice
• Kudzu
• Elderberry
• Astragalus

I repeat that these herbs have not been studied against this particular virus and I am in no way claiming they can be used as a treatment nor offering complete promise of prevention, but rather sharing information about herbs that have been used in previous instances against similar viruses.

Please seek advise from health care practitioner before taking if you have high blood pressure.

Individualised herbal formulas are available with consultation.

Helpful nutrients

The amino acid n-acetyl cysteine helps to reduce biofilm formation and is widely used in many mucous based respiratory conditions.

Zinc, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin D and selenium are beneficial for immune health.

Helpful foods

• Reduce intake of sugar which can impair immune activity.
• Include spices in your diet, as these have antimicrobial properties. Examples include garlic, thyme, oregano and sage.
• Mushrooms especially medicinal mushrooms (i.e. shiitake) have a lot of benefit. Supplemental forms of mushrooms are available in consultations.
• Broths and wholegrains provide nutrients that support immune health.
• Foods which warm you and reduce ‘dampness’ are helpful too. Ginger, garlic, chilli, cinnamon, clove and other warming foods and spices should be incorporated liberally into your diet.

Lifestyle tips

• Wash hands well.
• Stay well hydrated.
• Try to minimise stress.
• Avoid smoking and exposure to second hand smoke.
• Get adequate sleep.
• Enjoy moderate exercise.

If you would like extra support in this area chat with your Naturopath or Nutritionist who can discuss what is best for you.

Make an appointment.

Readings

• Buhner, S, H. 2013. Herbal Antivirals. Storey Publishing.
• del Rio C, Malani PN. COVID-19—New Insights on a Rapidly Changing Epidemic. JAMA. Published online February 28, 2020. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.3072

The post Coronavirus – Key Facts and Natural Prevention Options appeared first on Alison Mitchell Naturopath.