Two days ago, I fell ill, cough, cold, fever etc. The usual combination. Friends, relatives who knew I am not well, keep asking me whether I went to a doctor or taking medicines? Also wishing me to get well soon etc. I was irritated every time to explain how I handle my illness. To avoid loving arguments I even lie to them that yes I went to doctor and taking the prescribed medicines. This have happened several times in the past.
This post is inspired by those well-wishers.
So to cut the suspense, let me tell you clearly, I don't visit doctor if I fell ill. I use some common sense to treat myself. I am doing this for more than 15 years. In those 15 years I must have fallen ill more than 10 times. My process of treating the illness worked every time. And trust me there is no painful treatment, rather a much pleasurable treatment. It doesn't involve eating bitter medicines, getting a bitter mouth, feeling of weakness etc.
To understand how do I do it, let's first understand some basics about our body-
We are complex biological organisms. (you must have heard it several times in this blog that our body is a complex adaptive system ๐) We already have everything built in our body required to survive. It also have the mechanism to fight with any biological attacks.
If you have ever observed how you or anyone falls ill, you must have seen, 3 distinct phases-
Phase #1 - The person first goes through some kind of physical hyperactivity, or sleep deprivation or drastic change in climate or food intake, may be cycles of these, resulting in to he or she experiencing fatigue. (In short the person does something extra than normally does or gets less sleep than normal or both.)
Phase #2 - The person starts coughing and/or sneezing, his or her nose starts running, headache, he or she feels irritated.
Phase #3 - Increased body temperature or fever, muscle pain, other symptoms associated with fever.
Ever observed these three phases? Identification of these phases is important in treatment. Questions still arise, why these three phases? What happens in the body during these phases?
To answers these two questions we must know how our IMMUNE SYSTEM works?
Scientifically we are classified as JAWED VERTEBRATES. Which means we belong to the class of organisms having jaws and vertebral column to support our back.
One of the other characteristics of these jawed vertebrates is they have very sophisticated IMMUNE SYSTEM. This immune system protects them from the attacks of any pathogens.(Pathogens are any organisms which infect our body, including viruses.)
Their immune system works in the form of layered defence. One can easily understand the nature of this layered defence by comparing it with defence forces of any developed nation.
Our immune system has 3 layers of defence. The force and specificity of counterattacks increases with each layer.
1st layer of defence - PHYSICAL BARRIERS
This is our first line of defence. We have our skin covering all of our body, which performs the function of a physical barrier, just like any nation have it's border, a fencing of barbed wire etc. preventing any unauthorised entry physically.
Our whole body can't be completely sealed from it's environment, it must have openings for different purposes, just like any nation has airways or railways or roads or ports so that people and goods can pass through. But any nation employees guards to keep check against any unauthorised entry of person or goods. Similarly we have mucus in our nose which traps any incoming pathogens or any foreign particles thereby preventing them from entering into lungs, where they can do much more damage but at the same time it allows air to pass through, moisten it, adjust the temperature of incoming air to body temperature. Our stomach has gastric acids and protease (protease is an enzyme used in the digestion of proteins, this enzyme breaks down complex protein molecules into smaller basic units) which kills any incoming pathogens. Our eyes gets flushed with tears containing antibacterial our antifungal enzymes. Our genitourinary tract is also flushed with acidic liquids, which prevents the growth of any pathogens by creating a harsh environment.
2nd layer of defence - INNATE IMMUNE SYSTEM-
This is the second line of defence, whenever the first line of defence is successfully breached by any pathogen, the innate immune system comes in to action.
Just like any alert citizen of a nation raises an alarm when he sees any crime in action or recognises any criminal, there are some receptor cells spread all over our body which recognise any pathogen roughly or recognise any bruise or damage and sends out distress signal, thereby activating the innate immune system. (this is just like a citizen recognising a thief in general or a terrorist in general, the citizen can't recognise him by name and his abilities etc.) These receptor cells do it by identifying an antigen(a specific molecule), which are generic to a group of pathogens.
This is followed by release of histamine, which increases the blood flow in the affected area, resulting in some swelling along with permeability of membrane of blood capillaries to white blood cells. (white blood cells are our soldiers, basic units of our immune system, we will learn more about them soon) These white blood cells eat or kill the pathogens. The distress signal also causes some generic response, this response is a quick response and it is non specific response. Just like police responding to an alarm and visiting the scene of crime to assess the situation setting up roadblocks to prevent escape of criminals.
For example when there is an infection through nose, as the cells in the mucus membrane(inner lining of nose) send out distress signal it immediately responded with coughing or sneezing to force the pathogen or foreign particles out of the body, if that doesn't work then the mucus membrane starts secreting much more quantity of mucus to keep the pathogen or foreign particles trapped, preventing it from reaching the lungs where it can cause much more damage. (Our respiratory tract is the most vulnerable to infections, because we are constantly breathing in air and this respiratory tract is always in moist state. Therefore mostly the symptoms of infections starts with runny nose, throat pain, cough, sneezing, these are the responses of our innate immune system. Though we eat food many times a day, our gastric acids and protease enzymes are very effective in killing any incoming pathogens.)
Some pathogens also use this response of our body to spread themselves in the air through coughing and sneezing so as to find a new host.
3rd layer of defence - ADAPTIVE IMMUNE SYSTEM
If the pathogen attacking our body successfully breaches our first two layers of defence then the ADAPTIVE IMMUNE SYSTEM comes in to action.
This works in a specialised manner. It mounts specialised attacks on the pathogens, specifically tailored for a particular pathogen.
This layer of immune system is made up of white blood cells (Leukocytes). They are the soldiers of our body. They are expert in different kind of killing techniques, they can distinguish between our own cells and the pathogens, they can even locate compromised cells, they can remember any pathogen (how to recognise him, tactics used by the pathogen, easiest way to kill them, how to find them etc.), they are deadly, they are intelligent, they are loyal.
There are different types of leukocytes, some are killers (they kill the pathogen by engulfing them and digesting then, in short they eat them or after engulfing they inject free radicals formed as an intermediate in the process of oxidation in to the pathogen, thereby killing it).
There are marker cells which produce some compounds, which are recognised by killer cells, which gets attached to the pathogen thereby marking it for destruction by killer cells. Just like a spotter illuminating the target with laser to guide a laser guided missile towards the target.
Some create antibodies which kills the pathogens.
Some are memory cells which remembers the pathogens and helps in tailoring the attacks for a particular pathogen. Because of these cells it is possible for adaptive immune system to mount a faster and stronger attacks each time when attacked by the same pathogen again. These memory cells are the basis for vaccination. These memory cells make our immune system adaptive. That is why we can cope up with the adaptations of the pathogens.
Then some are natural killer cells, they kills the compromised cells of our own.(when viruses attack our body, they get into our cells and transform it into a photocopying machine, to make copies of themselves. Just like a computer virus. Therefore our cells which are infected by viruses don't remain ours anymore, they became a production facility for the viruses, therefore they must be killed to stop the viruses from multiplying. These are called compromised cells.)
Whenever need arises these leukocytes multiply themselves, they grow their number as per the requirement. All the nutrients available in the body are diverted to the immune system so that required number of leukocytes can be produced and keep them in working condition. Just like soldiers need food to remain alive and operational. This results in less or almost no nutrients for normal muscle maintenance. This causes muscle pain, as any damage to the muscles because of our day to day activities is not repaired.
Some leukocytes keeps patrolling the whole body in search of any remaining pathogen or foreign bodies and destroy them.
You must have noticed that this is a form of chemical warfare. The obvious thing is that, the rate of chemical reactions is proportional to the temperature. Therefore some cells of our immune system sends out chemical signals to our hypothalamus (lower part of our brain, just above our inner part of mouth, this part is responsible for various hormonal control mechanisms and temperature control of our body). These chemical signals prompts the hypothalamus to raise the temperature set point of our body.(hypothalamus acts just like a thermostat of the air conditioner)
When this set point is raised, all our body starts preserving heat by contracting the blood vessels near the skin, making us shiver thereby producing heat by muscle movement and thereby achieving the new set point temperature. We recognise this condition as FEVER. The third phase of illness.
When all the pathogens are neutralised, the set point is again set to normal, then we lose the excess heat by sweating and become normal.
This is how our immune system works.
Now what happens when we visit a doctor?
We tell him about the symptoms like running nose, cough. The doctor never tells the patient that, just bear with it, and you will be fine soon. Because he is afraid of losing his customer also as Warren Buffett's says, "Never ask a barber, if you need a hair cut."
So he gives you medication to suppress the innate immune system response.
If a patient goes to doctor in the 3rd phase complaining about fever. Doctor gives him some Paracetamol (Acetaminophen) which reduces the body temperature and the patient feels good. Now you must have understood that doing this is not a good idea.
There are so many types of pathogens infecting human that any doctor cannot pinpoint them by mere observation of symptoms. He needs to do pathological tests to pin point the pathogen. (But our immune system already knows it.)
Pathological tests can only identify infections when the infection grows more than a certain limit.
This means that going to the doctor many times causes interference in the working of our own immune system. Which makes us more vulnerable to the attack.
So the basic question arises, how to help our own immune system, how to make it strong at the times of infections?
Hint- the answer is already given above.
I have told you above that at the time of attack our leukocytes starts growing in number and to do it they need nutrients, proteins mainly. I have also told that this all starts with sleep deprivation or hyperactivity, which results in more proteins demand which is when unfulfilled, the person becomes vulnerable to the attack. Therefore sleep is also a necessity for our immune system to work properly, sleep also conserves proteins.
It is very necessary to spot the 1st phase and start taking more proteins and more sleep till you feel normal. If you are in the 2nd or 3rd phase then also you will need to do the same. That is protein rich, easy to digest diet and sleep till you get fine.
Now how do I do it?
Now how do I get those proteins?
The cheapest, easy to digest, easy to ingest, easily available source of protein for me is raw eggs. Generally we know it in advance when we are going to fall ill, so we have sufficient time in our hand to act and get normal without ever needing to go through 2nd and 3rd phase. I just gulp down more than 10 whole raw chicken eggs and sleep. And repeat the cycle till I get normal. I prefer whole raw eggs because they have all the nutrients in right proportion. Raw eggs are readily digestible rather they contain the proteins which are readily usable without any further processing, more than 90% of the protein available in the egg gets absorbed in our body.
For those who think they don't like raw eggs, they just need to do it 2 or 3 times and they will start liking them. This is because our brain subconsciously assesses the nutritional value of what we eat, it automatically makes us feel pleasure when we eat nutritious food. So when we gulp down just the whole raw eggs, our subconscious registers it and make us like it afterwards. Our liking doesn't depend on the taste. Otherwise people would have hated liquor.๐(liquor manipulates our brain in different way, that we will discuss some other time)
One may consume whey powder if available, it is generally available in the market in tasty flavoured form so no question about the taste here. But with whey, you have to take a light meal to get carbohydrates, fats, vitamins etc. I have tried it with good results.
Now one last question remains..
What about the uncomfortable feeling of running nose or cough or fever?
About the running or choked nose -
Very rarely or both nostrils are choked at the same time, one is slightly open. You just have to figure out which one is more open than the other and then sleep on the opposite side, the slight open nostril will start opening up. A few hours later that nostril will start closing up and the other will start opening up, at that time you should also change your side. Once you understand this cyclical functioning of nostrils you won't find any trouble following it.
Keep your mouth shut, breathe only through your nose. The cough won't cause much trouble then.
In case of fever, get more quilts so as to aid your body achieving the new set point, but if you're experiencing dizziness, severe headache then you need to reduce your body temperature by keeping damp cloth on forehead our taking Paracetamol etc. But this seldom happens.
Also you can divert your mind by thinking about how your body is fighting against the infection, your body has became a battleground now, you must help your soldiers to survive, how bloody the battle is, millions of pathogens are being killed, millions of your own leukocytes are also being killed, there is a do or die situation. Observe the changes in your body.
This is how I am doing it for more than 15 yrs. If you don't understand it then don't do it.
Hope you can get something useful through my experience.
Do write your thoughts and experiences. I will be happy to read..
Have a nice day..
Sumit
The POWER is when,
You use ODDS,
To get EVEN.
This post is inspired by those well-wishers.
So to cut the suspense, let me tell you clearly, I don't visit doctor if I fell ill. I use some common sense to treat myself. I am doing this for more than 15 years. In those 15 years I must have fallen ill more than 10 times. My process of treating the illness worked every time. And trust me there is no painful treatment, rather a much pleasurable treatment. It doesn't involve eating bitter medicines, getting a bitter mouth, feeling of weakness etc.
To understand how do I do it, let's first understand some basics about our body-
We are complex biological organisms. (you must have heard it several times in this blog that our body is a complex adaptive system ๐) We already have everything built in our body required to survive. It also have the mechanism to fight with any biological attacks.
If you have ever observed how you or anyone falls ill, you must have seen, 3 distinct phases-
Phase #1 - The person first goes through some kind of physical hyperactivity, or sleep deprivation or drastic change in climate or food intake, may be cycles of these, resulting in to he or she experiencing fatigue. (In short the person does something extra than normally does or gets less sleep than normal or both.)
Phase #2 - The person starts coughing and/or sneezing, his or her nose starts running, headache, he or she feels irritated.
Phase #3 - Increased body temperature or fever, muscle pain, other symptoms associated with fever.
Ever observed these three phases? Identification of these phases is important in treatment. Questions still arise, why these three phases? What happens in the body during these phases?
To answers these two questions we must know how our IMMUNE SYSTEM works?
Scientifically we are classified as JAWED VERTEBRATES. Which means we belong to the class of organisms having jaws and vertebral column to support our back.
One of the other characteristics of these jawed vertebrates is they have very sophisticated IMMUNE SYSTEM. This immune system protects them from the attacks of any pathogens.(Pathogens are any organisms which infect our body, including viruses.)
Their immune system works in the form of layered defence. One can easily understand the nature of this layered defence by comparing it with defence forces of any developed nation.
Our immune system has 3 layers of defence. The force and specificity of counterattacks increases with each layer.
1st layer of defence - PHYSICAL BARRIERS
This is our first line of defence. We have our skin covering all of our body, which performs the function of a physical barrier, just like any nation have it's border, a fencing of barbed wire etc. preventing any unauthorised entry physically.
Our whole body can't be completely sealed from it's environment, it must have openings for different purposes, just like any nation has airways or railways or roads or ports so that people and goods can pass through. But any nation employees guards to keep check against any unauthorised entry of person or goods. Similarly we have mucus in our nose which traps any incoming pathogens or any foreign particles thereby preventing them from entering into lungs, where they can do much more damage but at the same time it allows air to pass through, moisten it, adjust the temperature of incoming air to body temperature. Our stomach has gastric acids and protease (protease is an enzyme used in the digestion of proteins, this enzyme breaks down complex protein molecules into smaller basic units) which kills any incoming pathogens. Our eyes gets flushed with tears containing antibacterial our antifungal enzymes. Our genitourinary tract is also flushed with acidic liquids, which prevents the growth of any pathogens by creating a harsh environment.
2nd layer of defence - INNATE IMMUNE SYSTEM-
This is the second line of defence, whenever the first line of defence is successfully breached by any pathogen, the innate immune system comes in to action.
Just like any alert citizen of a nation raises an alarm when he sees any crime in action or recognises any criminal, there are some receptor cells spread all over our body which recognise any pathogen roughly or recognise any bruise or damage and sends out distress signal, thereby activating the innate immune system. (this is just like a citizen recognising a thief in general or a terrorist in general, the citizen can't recognise him by name and his abilities etc.) These receptor cells do it by identifying an antigen(a specific molecule), which are generic to a group of pathogens.
This is followed by release of histamine, which increases the blood flow in the affected area, resulting in some swelling along with permeability of membrane of blood capillaries to white blood cells. (white blood cells are our soldiers, basic units of our immune system, we will learn more about them soon) These white blood cells eat or kill the pathogens. The distress signal also causes some generic response, this response is a quick response and it is non specific response. Just like police responding to an alarm and visiting the scene of crime to assess the situation setting up roadblocks to prevent escape of criminals.
For example when there is an infection through nose, as the cells in the mucus membrane(inner lining of nose) send out distress signal it immediately responded with coughing or sneezing to force the pathogen or foreign particles out of the body, if that doesn't work then the mucus membrane starts secreting much more quantity of mucus to keep the pathogen or foreign particles trapped, preventing it from reaching the lungs where it can cause much more damage. (Our respiratory tract is the most vulnerable to infections, because we are constantly breathing in air and this respiratory tract is always in moist state. Therefore mostly the symptoms of infections starts with runny nose, throat pain, cough, sneezing, these are the responses of our innate immune system. Though we eat food many times a day, our gastric acids and protease enzymes are very effective in killing any incoming pathogens.)
Some pathogens also use this response of our body to spread themselves in the air through coughing and sneezing so as to find a new host.
3rd layer of defence - ADAPTIVE IMMUNE SYSTEM
If the pathogen attacking our body successfully breaches our first two layers of defence then the ADAPTIVE IMMUNE SYSTEM comes in to action.
This works in a specialised manner. It mounts specialised attacks on the pathogens, specifically tailored for a particular pathogen.
This layer of immune system is made up of white blood cells (Leukocytes). They are the soldiers of our body. They are expert in different kind of killing techniques, they can distinguish between our own cells and the pathogens, they can even locate compromised cells, they can remember any pathogen (how to recognise him, tactics used by the pathogen, easiest way to kill them, how to find them etc.), they are deadly, they are intelligent, they are loyal.
There are different types of leukocytes, some are killers (they kill the pathogen by engulfing them and digesting then, in short they eat them or after engulfing they inject free radicals formed as an intermediate in the process of oxidation in to the pathogen, thereby killing it).
There are marker cells which produce some compounds, which are recognised by killer cells, which gets attached to the pathogen thereby marking it for destruction by killer cells. Just like a spotter illuminating the target with laser to guide a laser guided missile towards the target.
Some create antibodies which kills the pathogens.
Some are memory cells which remembers the pathogens and helps in tailoring the attacks for a particular pathogen. Because of these cells it is possible for adaptive immune system to mount a faster and stronger attacks each time when attacked by the same pathogen again. These memory cells are the basis for vaccination. These memory cells make our immune system adaptive. That is why we can cope up with the adaptations of the pathogens.
Then some are natural killer cells, they kills the compromised cells of our own.(when viruses attack our body, they get into our cells and transform it into a photocopying machine, to make copies of themselves. Just like a computer virus. Therefore our cells which are infected by viruses don't remain ours anymore, they became a production facility for the viruses, therefore they must be killed to stop the viruses from multiplying. These are called compromised cells.)
Whenever need arises these leukocytes multiply themselves, they grow their number as per the requirement. All the nutrients available in the body are diverted to the immune system so that required number of leukocytes can be produced and keep them in working condition. Just like soldiers need food to remain alive and operational. This results in less or almost no nutrients for normal muscle maintenance. This causes muscle pain, as any damage to the muscles because of our day to day activities is not repaired.
Some leukocytes keeps patrolling the whole body in search of any remaining pathogen or foreign bodies and destroy them.
You must have noticed that this is a form of chemical warfare. The obvious thing is that, the rate of chemical reactions is proportional to the temperature. Therefore some cells of our immune system sends out chemical signals to our hypothalamus (lower part of our brain, just above our inner part of mouth, this part is responsible for various hormonal control mechanisms and temperature control of our body). These chemical signals prompts the hypothalamus to raise the temperature set point of our body.(hypothalamus acts just like a thermostat of the air conditioner)
When this set point is raised, all our body starts preserving heat by contracting the blood vessels near the skin, making us shiver thereby producing heat by muscle movement and thereby achieving the new set point temperature. We recognise this condition as FEVER. The third phase of illness.
When all the pathogens are neutralised, the set point is again set to normal, then we lose the excess heat by sweating and become normal.
This is how our immune system works.
Now what happens when we visit a doctor?
We tell him about the symptoms like running nose, cough. The doctor never tells the patient that, just bear with it, and you will be fine soon. Because he is afraid of losing his customer also as Warren Buffett's says, "Never ask a barber, if you need a hair cut."
So he gives you medication to suppress the innate immune system response.
If a patient goes to doctor in the 3rd phase complaining about fever. Doctor gives him some Paracetamol (Acetaminophen) which reduces the body temperature and the patient feels good. Now you must have understood that doing this is not a good idea.
There are so many types of pathogens infecting human that any doctor cannot pinpoint them by mere observation of symptoms. He needs to do pathological tests to pin point the pathogen. (But our immune system already knows it.)
Pathological tests can only identify infections when the infection grows more than a certain limit.
This means that going to the doctor many times causes interference in the working of our own immune system. Which makes us more vulnerable to the attack.
So the basic question arises, how to help our own immune system, how to make it strong at the times of infections?
Hint- the answer is already given above.
I have told you above that at the time of attack our leukocytes starts growing in number and to do it they need nutrients, proteins mainly. I have also told that this all starts with sleep deprivation or hyperactivity, which results in more proteins demand which is when unfulfilled, the person becomes vulnerable to the attack. Therefore sleep is also a necessity for our immune system to work properly, sleep also conserves proteins.
It is very necessary to spot the 1st phase and start taking more proteins and more sleep till you feel normal. If you are in the 2nd or 3rd phase then also you will need to do the same. That is protein rich, easy to digest diet and sleep till you get fine.
Now how do I do it?
Now how do I get those proteins?
The cheapest, easy to digest, easy to ingest, easily available source of protein for me is raw eggs. Generally we know it in advance when we are going to fall ill, so we have sufficient time in our hand to act and get normal without ever needing to go through 2nd and 3rd phase. I just gulp down more than 10 whole raw chicken eggs and sleep. And repeat the cycle till I get normal. I prefer whole raw eggs because they have all the nutrients in right proportion. Raw eggs are readily digestible rather they contain the proteins which are readily usable without any further processing, more than 90% of the protein available in the egg gets absorbed in our body.
For those who think they don't like raw eggs, they just need to do it 2 or 3 times and they will start liking them. This is because our brain subconsciously assesses the nutritional value of what we eat, it automatically makes us feel pleasure when we eat nutritious food. So when we gulp down just the whole raw eggs, our subconscious registers it and make us like it afterwards. Our liking doesn't depend on the taste. Otherwise people would have hated liquor.๐(liquor manipulates our brain in different way, that we will discuss some other time)
One may consume whey powder if available, it is generally available in the market in tasty flavoured form so no question about the taste here. But with whey, you have to take a light meal to get carbohydrates, fats, vitamins etc. I have tried it with good results.
Now one last question remains..
What about the uncomfortable feeling of running nose or cough or fever?
About the running or choked nose -
Very rarely or both nostrils are choked at the same time, one is slightly open. You just have to figure out which one is more open than the other and then sleep on the opposite side, the slight open nostril will start opening up. A few hours later that nostril will start closing up and the other will start opening up, at that time you should also change your side. Once you understand this cyclical functioning of nostrils you won't find any trouble following it.
Keep your mouth shut, breathe only through your nose. The cough won't cause much trouble then.
In case of fever, get more quilts so as to aid your body achieving the new set point, but if you're experiencing dizziness, severe headache then you need to reduce your body temperature by keeping damp cloth on forehead our taking Paracetamol etc. But this seldom happens.
Also you can divert your mind by thinking about how your body is fighting against the infection, your body has became a battleground now, you must help your soldiers to survive, how bloody the battle is, millions of pathogens are being killed, millions of your own leukocytes are also being killed, there is a do or die situation. Observe the changes in your body.
This is how I am doing it for more than 15 yrs. If you don't understand it then don't do it.
Hope you can get something useful through my experience.
Do write your thoughts and experiences. I will be happy to read..
Have a nice day..
Sumit
The POWER is when,
You use ODDS,
To get EVEN.
