Your immune system plays a vital role in your health. If you are not in top shape, your body will be more susceptible to many disease-causing pathogens. Moreover, your body cannot fight diseases like cancer that start from within.1 Sadly, there is increasing evidence that people with weakened immune systems – also known as immunocompromised – are on the rise.
More Americans are getting immunocompromised.
What does immunodeficiency mean? Basically, it’s a condition where your immune system isn’t working as well as it should. According to GoodRx:2
“Immunosuppressed means that your immune system is weakened. This may be caused by an illness or a medication you are taking. This means that you are more likely to get an infection. This means that you are more likely to develop a serious illness. Compared to a functional person (this is known as immunocompromised).
What’s worse is that the number of Americans who lack immunity continues to grow. In a study published in JAMA, researchers found that the number of immunocompromised Americans now comprises 6.6 percent of the population (about 18 million people), up from 2.7 percent in 2013.3
What are the causes of immune deficiency? According to The New York Times,4 There are various reasons for this, such as the increase in autoimmune diseases and the use of immunosuppressive drugs to treat chronic diseases such as cancer.
Whatever the cause, says Dr. Joshua Hill, MD, a specialist at Fred Hatch Cancer Center in Seattle, “it’s no longer a partisan group.” “These are people walking around in the community with immunocompromised conditions that you don’t know about,” he added.5
An In-Depth Look at Immunocompromised Systems
A weakened immune system can manifest in a number of ways. For example, you can be born with it – also known as primary immunodeficiency – and there can be hundreds of reasons for this.6 According to The New York Times,7 Researchers have identified more than 430 primary immune deficiencies caused by genetic variants that weaken the immune system.8
On the other hand, you can get secondary immunodeficiency, which is very common among adults. Health conditions that cause secondary immunodeficiency include:9
Autoimmune diseases Commonly diagnosed autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, lupus, and type 1 diabetes. |
Chronic diseases- Many of today’s chronic diseases in adults, such as liver cirrhosis and type 2 diabetes, weaken the immune system. |
Infections – Certain viral and/or bacterial infections, such as HIV/AIDS, measles, and tuberculosis, weaken the immune system. |
cancer – Any cancer weakens the immune system. Common cancer treatments such as radiation therapy and chemotherapy can boost your immune system |
Spleen damage or removal – The spleen plays an important role in the immune system. It filters your blood, removes microbes and removes old and damaged red blood cells. It helps improve immunity by producing antibodies and lymphocytes.10 If you don’t have a spleen due to a previous injury or your spleen function is reduced, your immune system will be weakened. |
Skin burns Severe burns weaken the immune system. According to the 2022 study11 Burns trigger a long-lasting immune response, which causes systemic damage to various organs such as the lungs, heart, blood vessels, and kidneys. |
In addition, medications such as immunosuppressants intentionally weaken your immune system. This is often done in people who receive organ transplants because their immune systems attack the new organ. While transplants prolong life, the obvious downside is an increased risk of infection.12
Other times, medications cause secondary immune deficiency as a side effect. Again, chemotherapy falls into this category, as do medications such as corticosteroids, cyclosporine, and methotrexate that are used to treat autoimmune disorders. Drugs designed to prevent bone marrow transplant complications can also cause secondary immunodeficiency.13
Despite the obstacles, the immune system will bounce back
Treatment for a weakened immune system varies. For example, people with serious illnesses sometimes need to use bone splints. This process replaces their old immune system with a new one to strengthen their natural defenses.14
This is because bone marrow is an important source of immune cells, which are white blood cells that help fight infection. As part of your lymphatic system, these cells travel throughout your body, searching for pathogens (such as bacteria and viruses) to remove. After they appear, they create an immune attack.15
In addition to those born with primary immunodeficiency, the good news is that your immune system bounces back after being attacked by immunosuppressants or other factors. After you stop chemotherapy or immunosuppressive drugs, your immune system will repair itself over several weeks or months. In severe cases, however, it may take years for the immune system to fully recover.16
Consider alternative cancer treatments
If you are immunocompromised, rebuilding your immune system is the main goal. There are a number of natural strategies available to you, but let’s start right away with the first step, which is looking for alternative cancer treatments.
In my decades of practice, I’ve seen enough to know that choosing chemotherapy is one of the worst choices you can make. In many cases, it is not only ineffective, but also destroys the hope of complete recovery.
Research shows that chemotherapy affects the body’s immune system, making it more susceptible to other infections. However, mainstream medical practice still favors chemotherapy as the main form of treatment. They also effectively ignore options that may cause less harm to patients.
why? The simple answer is profit. The cancer treatment industry is a multi-billion dollar industry, and there is little reason for the big players to research treatments that cannot be sold at high prices. And again, chemotherapy takes center stage here. It acts like a hammer, hoping to kill a small fly. You may be able to beat it, but the price you pay for the collateral damage is huge – your immune system.
Instead of choosing chemotherapy as your first line of treatment for cancer, I recommend that you look for alternative ways first. Don’t give in to pressure to take conventional treatments before exhausting your options.
As stated in my article “Cuts, poisons, burns – is radiation therapy on its way?“Both chemotherapy and radiation therapy have devastating effects on your body. Radiation therapy can cause side effects such as fertility problems, memory problems, hair loss, and blurred vision.17
Remember, your body has the ability to repair itself when given the right tools. Therefore, before resorting to traditional medical techniques, explore some interesting options.
Get your body moving to strengthen your immune system
Regardless of your current health status, regular exercise is one of the best things you can do for your health. For individuals who are already healthy, research18 Exercise has been shown to help maintain health markers such as improved physical recovery, improved homeostasis, better repair and regeneration, and better skin health.
For those who are immunocompromised, don’t worry that you haven’t been diagnosed. Research shows that consistent moderate exercise can help boost the immune system in adults and other people with chronic diseases.19 People undergoing conventional cancer treatments can improve their outcomes by increasing exercise. According to a study20 Published in Journal for Immuno Therapy of Cancer:
“As the immune system is highly responsive to exercise, one way to improve immune function is exercise and physical activity. A single exercise event increases the activity of leukocytes and releases a large amount of functional capacity into the circulation.”
Chronic or prolonged exercise leads to greater fitness in terms of greater heart rate function and/or muscle strength and endurance. A higher aerobic capacity, as measured by maximal oxygen uptake, is associated with a reduction in inactive T cells and an improvement in the number of certain T cell populations.
Exercise also has a big effect on your lymphatic system. It takes regular exercise to keep things flowing for optimal function. If you are sitting down, the whole system stops.
How does exercise support your lymphatic system? Each muscle contraction you make compresses your lymphatic vessels, which help lymph fluid move to the next node, and regular exercise ensures that the lymphatic system is properly lubricated. The pressure created during muscle contraction and relaxation causes changes in the lymphatic vessels, which ensures that the lymph fluid moves forward. Once the fluid reaches the nodes, pathogens and other debris are filtered out.
Do not forget about stress, which is another immune system destroyer. According to a published study21 “Chronic stress can limit or modulate innate and adaptive immune responses by altering the type 1/type 2 cytokine balance, thereby causing low-grade inflammation and limiting immune cell function.” With this in mind, exercise can help restore the immune system and improve outcomes for cancer patients.22
Prioritize sunlight
Vitamin D is an important factor in the immune system. It acts as a master regulator, controlling the activation of more than 2,500 genes. They also have a lower risk of certain types of cancer, type 2 diabetes and respiratory infections, all of which weaken the immune system.
Vitamin D does this by modulating the immune system and increasing your body’s ability to produce antimicrobial peptides. Vitamin D is also a powerful anti-inflammatory agent and is important for proper cell growth.
To maximize the benefits of vitamin D, I recommend reaching a blood level between 60 and 80 ng/ml. This is the area where vitamin D provides the greatest protection and benefits, including strengthening your immune system. The best way to increase your vitamin D levels is to expose your skin to sunlight. However, there are caveats to this approach.
Today, many people eat a high-volume diet. Linoleic Acid (LA)In my opinion, it is the most toxic ingredient in our modern food system. Once LA gets into your skin and is exposed to sunlight, it breaks down, causing inflammation and DNA damage. This is why I recommend avoiding sunlight for six months while you slowly remove LA from your body before going for a walk during peak sunlight (noon).
Although your body destroys LA more slowly, you can still go out in the morning or afternoon to reap the benefits of sunlight exposure without the risk of LA oxidation. Sunlight is not as strong during these hours, so this strategy offers many benefits in terms of protection from sunlight and skin damage.
For skin protection I recommend using low doses of aspirin, astaxanthin and/or molecular hydrogen and niacinamide cream on your skin. After six months away from LA, you can start going out in the sun at noon.