AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES AND YOUR BLOOD

AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE AND BLOOD MS is a chronic, inflammatory disease of the central nervous system [CNS], which is the brain and spinal cord. Many physicians believe that MS is an autoimmune disease. This term refers to a group of diseases in which the immune system goes awry and attacks certain tissues of the body. The cause of MS is unknown, but viral infection has been considered as a possible triggering factor. The end result, it seems, is that components of the immune system target the myelin sheath covering the nerve fibers of the CNS, leaving plaques or lesions on the myelin, which is an important fatty substance. Indeed, the name multiple sclerosis refers to the multiple patches of scar tissues appearing on the nerve fibers. Myelin shields certain nerve fibers, providing a form of electrical insulation. So when myelin breaks down, electrical impulses may be completely blocked, or they may short-circuit to adjacent nerves, producing an abnormal impulse. And because damage can occur anywhere in the CNS, no two patients have exactly the same symptoms. One patient may even have different symptoms with each attack, depending on which part of the CNS is affected. Still, symptoms often include fatigue, weakness, numbness in the extremities, walking difficulties, blurred vision, tingling, burning, and disturbances of bladder and bowel function as well as inattention and impaired judgment. On the positive side, however, many patients “do not become severely disable,” says The National Multiple Sclerosis Society in the United States. As in TOLA case, diagnosis may be difficult early on because symptoms may fit a number of disorders. But once a history of recurrent episodes is established, physicians can usually make a more accurate assessment. Worldwide, about 2.5 million people have MS. That figure includes approximately 50,000 Canadians and 350,000 residents of the United States, where about 200 people are diagnosed with the disease every week. “With the exception of trauma, [MS is] the most frequent cause of neurologic disability in early to middle adulthood,” states one medical reference. And it affects nearly twice as many women as men, with the onset of symptoms usually occurring between the ages of 20 and 50. MANAGING MS Because MS is still incurable, doctors try to manage the disease by arresting or slowing its progress and by managing the symptoms. Medications designed to arrest or slow the progress of MS and to lessen the severity of attacks include at least two forms of interferon [a natural protein made by immune cells] and a drug called glatiramer acetate. Doctors also prescribe drugs called corticosteroids for some patients, in order to suppress inflammation and to speed up recovery when relapses occur. However, “long-term corticosteroid treatment is rarely justified and can cause numerous medical complications including osteoporosis, ulcers, and diabetes,” says the medical publication The Merck Manual. Furthermore, steroid therapy may not alter the long-term course of the disease. Hence, some doctors prefer not to treat a mild attack. Recent studies show that between 50 and 60 percent of people with MS take vitamins, minerals, and herbs, and other dietary supplements. Although some of these may be harmless to MS sufferers, others may be counterproductive or even dangerous. So before patients take any additional therapies or dietary supplements, they should consider the potential risks. Taking a different approach, some researchers are studying ways to restore damaged myelin. In laboratory studies they have identified certain progenitor, or ancestral, cells that can give rise to mature myelin-producing cells. If they learn how to encourage this process, they may be able to stimulate the body to repair damaged nerves. THE FOUR MAIN TYPES OF MS 1. RELAPSING-REMITTING: This is the classic form of the disease, and it affects 70 to 80 percent of patients at the onset of symptoms. Relapses, or flare-ups, are clearly distinguished from periods of remission, during which symptoms resolve or partially resolve. Between relapses there is no sign of disease progression. 2. SECONDARY PROGRESSIVE: Of patients who initially have the relapsing-remitting form, about 70 percent go on to develop secondary progressive MS. They may continue to have relapses, but they also experience a slow, steady loss of neurological function. 3. PROGRESSIVE-RELAPSING: Affecting about 10 percent of patients, this form of MS steadily worsens from its onset. Patients have acute relapses with or without recovery. Unlike the relapsing-remitting form, the disease progresses between flare-ups. 4. PRIMARY PROGRESSIVE: This form of MS affects 10 to 15 percent of patients. From its onset it progresses almost continuously, without distinct relapses and remissions. However, the rate of progression may vary over time with temporary minor improvements. It is more common in people who develop MS after the age of 40. BLOOD AND M.S The conventional symbol of blood is red, and this generally signifies the danger that might follow the spilling of blood through accident or violence. The red flag of revolutionaries is purported to be symbolic of the blood spilled by heroes during popular uprisings. Scientifically, blood is the agent that carries the vitalizing agent oxygen to all tissues of the body, and carries carbon dioxide from the tissues for excretion in the lungs. Blood is given to hospital patients in order that they may not die from excessive bleeding or from severe anemia. Such is the value and importance of blood to all animal and human life that this list could continue indefinitely. Yet all such value and significance can be attributed mainly to tiny particles in blood –the red blood cells. They are so minute that they cannot be seen by the naked eye and yet no mammalian life is possible without them. Their recognition requires at least the magnification afforded by light microscopy. The average red blood cell is shaped like a biconcave disk measuring 7 microns in diameter. It has a volume of 90 femtoliters and contains 30 picograms of hemoglobin. About five million of these tiny elements are in a microliter of blood, and nearly 300 microliters make up a drop of blood! One dares not therefore attempt to calculate the number of red cells present in an average milliliter or cubic centimeter of blood –and even more frightening, the number of cells in one pint or 500 milliliters of blood, the conventional unit of collection and transfusion of blood. FLEXIBLE CELL WALL Each particle has a cell wall made up of fat [phospholipid] and protein in such a way that fluid cannot enter or exit from the cell unless there is a break in the continuity of the cell wall or if the cell is placed in a solution which is either weaker or stronger than its internal fluid environment. The cell wall is flexible, a characteristic which enables the blood cell to squeeze through tiny blood vessels, some of which have diameter smaller than its own. The cell wall encloses a cytoplasm which contains, among other things, enzymes which break down glucose, and thus produce energy in the process to aid the cell’s activity. And more importantly, the cell contains hemoglobin, a red pigment containing iron, which carries oxygen from the lungs to the tissues and carbon dioxide from the tissues to the lungs, and thence to the outside world, as mentioned earlier. It is, in fact, this pigment which makes the red cell unique among the cells of the body. Its importance cannot be overemphasized, as it is the life line of the individual. One gram of hemoglobin carries approximately 1.34 millimeters of oxygen. A normal hemoglobin level in average adult is around 15 grams per 100 millimeters of blood. Every minute the heart pumps about 5 liters of blood around the body in an average-sized man, the equivalent of 750 *1.34 milliliters of oxygen –to the tissues of the body per minute. VALUE OF HEMOGLOBIN The physiological value of hemoglobin as an oxygen carrier lies in its affinity for oxygen, which is so nicely balanced that hemoglobin becomes 95-96% oxygenated in the lungs, while in the tissues and capillaries, it can give up as much of the gas as is demanded. If the affinity were much less, complete oxygenation in the lungs could not be approached; if it were greater, the tissues would difficulty in removing from the blood the oxygen they need. Thus, both oxyhemoglobin and reduced hemoglobin exist in all parts of circulation but in greatly varying proportions. The hemoglobin that is freed after release of oxygen picks up carbon dioxide produced in the tissues as part of the tissues’ waste products of metabolism. The carbon dioxide combines with the hemoglobin to from carbonxyhemoglobin which travels in the veins back to the lungs, where the carbon dioxide is released by enzyme activity, and hemoglobin is once again free to take oxygen back to the tissues from the lungs. The cycle then continues, with oxygen coming into the lungs with each breath we take and carbon dioxide being expelled with each exhalation. Red cells are produced in the bone marrow and require iron, folic acid, and vitamins among other things for normal function. When the diet is persistently low in these elements, the hemoglobin content of the red cell becomes low and the situation called ANEMIA ensues. On the other hand, some people are born with red cells containing abnormal hemoglobins, such as in sickle cell anemia, and Thalassemia. Scientists using newer and more sophisticated tools have now described hundreds and hundreds of abnormal hemoglobins. Techniques used in these discoveries include electrophoresis, genetic studies, isotopy, x-ray diffraction studies, and “finger printing” of hemoglobins, to name a few. To the mystic, the air we breathe contains, quite apart from the oxygen we have been discussing, the positive aspect of Nous, viz., the vital life force. This comes into human body with the first breath of the newborn baby. Apparently, every subsequent breath replenishes it. Basically, however, the red cells are negatively charged, whereas the vital life force is positively charged. By the law of polarity, the negatively charged particle has an irresistible affinity for the positively charged force. So the vital life force in the air we breathe into the lungs passes from the lung air spaces to the red blood cells circulating in the blood vessels. In conclusion, we might like to remind ourselves that each cell of the body is a unique entity that has a psychic and a physical part. It is probable that the oxygen vitalizes the physical part and the vital life force vitalizes the psychic aspect of each cell. It is incontrovertible that the particle which coordinates the supply of both the oxygen and the vital life force to the tissue cells must be unique. The red blood cell is truly a “miracle particle.” YOUR SENSE OF TASTE Bite into your favorite food, and immediately your sense of taste is activated. But just how does this amazing process work? Your tongue –as well as other parts of your mouth and throat –includes clusters of skin cells called taste buds. Many are located within papillae on the surface of the tongue. A taste bud contains up to a hundred receptor cells, each of which can detect one of four types of taste –sour, salty, sweet, or bitter. Spicy is in a different category altogether. Spices stimulate pain receptors –not taste buds. In any event, taste-receptor cells are connected to sensory nerves that, when stimulated by chemicals in food, instantly transmit signals to the lower brain stem. Taste, however, involves more than your mouth. The five million odor receptors in your nose –which allow you to detect some 10,000 unique odors –play a vital role in the tasting process. It has been estimated that about 75 percent of what we call taste is actually the result of what we smell. Scientists have developed an electrochemical nose that uses chemicals gas sensors as an artificial olfaction device. Nevertheless, neurophysiologist John Kauer, quoted in Research/Penn State, notes: Any artificial device is going to be extremely simplistic in comparison to the biology, which is wonderfully elegant and sophisticated. No one would deny that the sense of taste adds pleasure to a meal. Researchers are still baffled, though, by what causes people to favor one type of taste over another. Science may have many of the basics of the human body down, “says Science Daily, “but our sense of taste and smell are still somewhat of a misery