What Happens When We Get Sick
Immunity, Iron & Infections
Bacteria love iron so your body will remove it from the blood and store it in the liver. This is why its important to check if anemia is due to chronic disease, iron deficiency or another cause.
White blood cells are produced to destroy the bacteria and viruses as well as transport damaged and irritating tissues from the site of infection. Antibody production goes up exponentially.
People experience appetite loss and fatigue in order to conserve energy for repair.
Fevers occur for a good reason.
Why Fevers are SO Important
Fevers indicate the body is fighting off an infection. It’s a symptom, not the root illness. A strong fever shows the body has a healthy immune response. They also raise heart rate, create lethargy and hallucinations. In children a fever may even produce convulsions.One in twenty children will experience what is known as a febrile seizure. These can last a few minutes but have no lasting or harmful effects.
Interestingly a high temperature does not result in convulsions more often than a lower one. Recently in my clinic a patient reported a febrile convulsion as part of their history. It resulted from the common cold combined with a hot, summer day and no noticeable fever.
Think Twice Before Intervening
I’m a parent of a young child. I understand the concerns that arise when our little ones are sick. When my son has a fever I enjoy how much it slows us down and reconnects us. I trust his body’s immune response is in full gear. The impulse to use medication to bring his fever down does come up and this winter I did give him a small dose one night. We were in Mexico at the time. It was very hot already so I was more concerned than I usually would be. What I noticed is the fever needed to come back to kick whatever it was he was fighting. I actually prolonged the length of time his immune system was in high gear.
Keep In Mind
A strong response from the immune system is a good sign. Chronic and recurrent infections happen when the immune system can’t rise above it. This kind of ongoing or low-grade illness can be exhausting and lead to other issues. I’m working on rolling out more information to help those with chronic symptoms recover and rebuild their immunity. Our immunity is housed in our gut. Much of this is based on new discoveries in the world of strain-specific probiotics so you can stop buying broad spectrum ones that don’t result in much.
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