A TYPICAL STRESS PHOBIC

Steve is a typical stress phobic. He came to see me suffering from ulcerative colitis, with rectal bleeding and general abdominal discomfort. This young man, who ran a retail clothing outlet for a major manufacturer, was frustrated by company regulations. «The damn rules get in the way. I could sell more if they let me run the place my way,» he complained.

When I asked him if he had explained this to upper management, he mumbled something about their not understanding. Then he admitted he was too inhibited to «make waves.» Instead, he turned his anger and frustration inward, becoming depressed. He felt useless, nothing more than a cog in the company machinery.

Now he had no goals, nothing to look forward to. He told me that what he really wanted was to work in the company’s publicity department. He took no steps to achieve that goal, however, because he felt he wasn’t good enough to make it. That only increased his frustration and sense of worthlessness. Those unhappy thoughts were converted into chemical messages inside his head. From there, it’s a very short journey to the immune system.

An 18-year-old named Fred was another stress phobic I treated. He was in the hospital with marked anemia and weakness due to severe intestinal bleeding, diarrhea, abdominal pain and gas.

I met Fred’s father in the hospital one day. A very strong-willed man who ran a rubbish collecting company, he wanted Fred to take over the business. Fred wanted to be a poet, but couldn’t tell that to his father. Every time Fred went to work at the rubbish company, he developed increasing symptoms of bleeding. Feeling weak and lost, he unknowingly turned the feelings he couldn’t express into a painful and dangerous illness.

Feelings that had no outlet turned on Steve and Fred, making them sick. Again, it was their interpretation of the facts that mattered. A stress seeker in their shoes would have geared up his body for a fight, not retreated inward. In either case, of course, the result is disease.

Stress Phobics invite Cancer

If you talk to cancer patients, you’ll find that 70 to 75 percent of them experienced severe feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, frustration and/or inability to cope one to two years before their cancer was diagnosed. These feelings released the powerful immune-suppressing chemicals that allow cancer to flourish.

It’s well known that after the death of a spouse, the widow or widower’s immune system often weakens and falls, hitting rock bottom in about six months. Another six months pass, on the average, before the immune system returns to normal. What cripples the immune system? Not the fact that a spouse has died, but inconsolable grief, the guilt and the feelings of helplessness and hopelessness we sometimes feel in the wake of a death.

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EXERCISING YOUR IMMUNE: WHY EXERCISE?

Let’s begin with the psychological benefits. My experience with patients, confirmed by other studies, is that regular exercisers tend to have a more positive outlook on life. Regular exercise improves your health, and healthy people are generally happier people. People who exercise have the great satisfaction of knowing that they’re working hard to strengthen their health; they have the discipline, energy and motivation to stick to their exercise program.

As we’ve seen, these positive feelings are mirrored by health-giving changes in body chemistry. Thus the pride, self-esteem and satisfaction that one derives from exercise goes a long way toward boosting one’s «doctor within.»

«I go out there and walk 30 minutes every day!» a patient will proudly announce.» Or, «For the first time since I was a kid, I can easily touch my toes!» Some tell me that they can finally see their toes again now that they’ve lost a lot of weight. I’ve seen many poor self-images go way up as people prove to themselves that they can accomplish something worthwhile. This is especially true for the unhappy and depressed among us.

Unfortunately, millions of Americans are unhappy, with symptoms ranging from a simple indifference to enjoyment all the way to full-blown depression. Many studies have shown that one of the best, and simplest, treatments for depression is regular exercise.

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SUPER FOODS FOR IMMUNE

FRUITS

Apples Figs *Peaches

Apricots Grapes Pears

Bananas Guavas Persimmons

Berries Mangoes Pineapples

*Cantaloupes Melons Plums

Cherries Oranges Pomegranates

Citrus Fruits *Papayas Tomatoes

• Fruits are low in fat and sodium and contain no cholesterol. Fruits provide vitamins, minerals and sweetness.

• Uncooked, unprocessed, fresh fruit should be your first choice, rather than canned, cooked or frozen.

WHOLE GRAINS

*Barley *Millet *Whole-Grain Rye

*Brown Rice *Oat Bran *Whole-Grain Wheat

*Buckwheat *Whole-Grain Oats *Wild Rice

• Whole grains are low in fat, sugar and sodium, and contain no cholesterol. Whole grains give you complex carbohydrates, fiber, B vitamins, minerals and low-fat protein.

• Make sure to eat unprocessed whole grains rather than processed grains such as white rice and white bread.

• Oat bran is not a whole grain. I’ve listed it with the whole grains because of its cholesterol-lowering effects, plus its high fiber content.

*Black Beans * English Peas *Garbanzo Beans

(Chick Peas) *Green Beans

LEGUMES

*Kidney Beans *Lentils *Lima Beans *Navy Beans *Peas

*Pinto Beans *Red Beans *Snow Peas *White Beans

• Legumes are low in fat, sugar and sodium, and contain no cholesterol. Legumes provide you complex carbohydrates, fiber, low-fat protein, vitamin B1( vitamin B6, calcium, iron, plus other vitamins and minerals.

Abalone Brook Trout Cod

Flounder Haddock

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THE IMMUNE SYSTEM: YOUR BUILT-IN DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

The immune system is one of the major components of your «doctor within.» To be immune is to be protected, to have resistance, to be exempt. That’s what your immune system is designed to do—protect you and give you resistance against disease. Your immune system is responsible for fighting off bacteria, viruses, fungi, cancer cells and other antigens (anything that challenges the immune system). It’s genetically programmed to swing into action as soon as disease rears its ugly head.

Germs are all around us, on us and in us. They’re on our clothes, in our food, in the air we breathe. If all it took to make us sick was for a germ to land on us, we’d all have died years ago. But we live, we thrive, because that part of our «doctor within» called the immune system maintains a constant vigil inside our body, always ready to destroy diseases before they harm us.

There are many parts to your immune system. You may have heard these names: T-cells, B-cells, phagocytes, complements, interferon, antibodies, interleukin. These are just some of the «immune warriors» your «doctor within» uses to fight disease. You can spend years studying the many fascinating details of the immune system, and I’ll tell you more about it in Part Three (page 215). But for now, the important thing to remember is that there is a powerful disease-fighting system within your body.

Many years ago, as a resident in Internal Medicine at Los Angeles County Hospital, I was in charge of the adult infectious-disease ward. For 10 to 15 hours a day, I was exposed to just about every infectious illness you can imagine. These patients had tuberculosis, meningitis, the very deadly septicemia and other dangerous diseases. They coughed and sneezed on me; I got their blood, sweat and even feces on my hands. But I didn’t «catch» any of their diseases. My «doctor within» kept me in perfect health.

Some time later, I was rotated out of the infectious-disease ward and into surgery. Months later I came down with meningitis, a potentially deadly infection of the covering of the brain. Why? None of the people I was treating had meningitis. I wasn’t near anyone with meningitis who could have «given» me the disease. What happened was that I was working double shifts, going to every class and lecture offered and moonlighting besides. In other words, I ran my immune system into the ground. Without immune-system protection I was «easy pickings» for any disease. If not meningitis, I would have «caught» something else.

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OTHER FORMS OF FOOD ALLERGY: THE RADIOALLERGOSORBENT TEST (RAST)

The radioallergosorbent test, or RAST, measures the level of IgE antibodies that a person has to a specific substance, such as a food protein or a pollen. There are four stages to the test:

1. An extract of the food (or other potential allergen) is applied to beads made of a substance called sepharose. This is an inert substance that simply acts as a surface on which reactions between the allergen and the antibody can take place. The food molecules remain attached to the sepharose beads throughout the test.

2. A sample of the patient’s serum (the liquid part of the blood) is allowed to flow over the beads. If the blood contains IgE antibodies to that food, these will bind to the food antigens on the beads. The beads are later rinsed to remove everything that is not bound – only the IgE molecules should remain.

3. Another liquid is poured over the beads. This contains a special type of antibody called anti-lgE, which binds specifically to the stem of IgE molecules. If there is IgE stuck to the beads, these anti-lgE antibodies will bind to them. If no IgE is present, then all the anti-lgE will be washed away.

4. The anti-lgE was previously marked with a radioactive marker or a coloured marker. This means that the amount of IgE present can be worked out by measuring the radioactivity or colour given off by the beads. The amount of anti-lgE present is a measure of how much IgE (specific for that food) there is in the patient’s blood.

Of course, the test will also give a positive result if the food contains something that specifically binds to IgE (as long as there is some IgE in the blood). This does indeed happen, in some patients with false food allergy.

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