Thomas Sowell, one of the most brilliant thinkers of our time, said, "There are no solutions. There are only trade-offs." In this blog, I explain how this is true at the most fundamental level of health.
I recommend everyone read Dr. Paul Ewald's "Plague Time" book for context.
The figure below is from my paper on COVID-19 and the cytokine storm. We point out that your "pre-cytokine storm" status is the driver behind poor outcomes in COVID and ALL diseases and afflictions. The pre-cytokine storm is measured with white blood cells and markers of inflammation.
In the graph, the dark black bars are the mortality rates reported for COVID in China early in 2020. The separate lines are for specific pre-existing conditions like heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, respiratory disease, and diabetes. The much lower death rate occurs in people WITHOUT a pre-existing chronic condition.
The grey bars are the number of PubMed publications that show an association between infection and the specific pre-existing condition. Note that the number of references is in the millions!
For example, cancer and infection yield 5 million hits. This search was performed today. When the search was conducted in 2020, 6 million hits were obtained. Why the difference? Censorship?
My mentor, Dr. Trempe from Harvard Medical School, often said to patients, "Do you think God doesn't love you, or do you think there is a reason behind your poor health?"
The medical-industrial complex leads you to believe that your ailment is due to a deficiency. For example:
Acid reflux: Proton pump inhibitor deficiency
Cancer: Chemotherapy deficiency
Heart disease: Statin deficiency
Sleep apnea: CPAP deficiency
High blood pressure: ACE inhibitor deficiency
The truth of the matter is that most chronic diseases are caused by an immune system deficiency. And when this occurs, organisms ALREADY IN YOU proliferate and cause your immune system to react (inflammation).
What is one of the very first things that happen to you when you die? You are taken to the undertaker. You are "pickled" with a preservative, so you don't decompose. Organisms cause decomposition. Since you are no longer interacting with the environment, they are already in your system. Before death, your immunity was working to keep them under control. However, at death, your immunity drops to ZERO.
Everything in nature responds log-linearly - that is, the curve depicted below - not a straight line. Immunity declines as we age for a variety of reasons. Some of those reasons are induced by our behaviors, governmental policies (like subsidizing junk food ingredients), and immunosenescence. Death is an endpoint of zero immunity. However, immunity is a continuum and declines following the green curve below. Note, the red curve is NEVER zero - we all have some level of pathogens.
We are born with infections (chicken pox, EBV, etc.). Some infants start life with greater burdens compared to others. Be careful how you choose your parents! And we experience exposures during life. Some of these are from the air, water, ground (through your feet), and intercourse.
Infectious burden tracks with immunity (red curve)
We swallow about a liter of saliva each day. This sticky substance traps airborne particles, including pathogens and toxins. Strong acid breaks down the membranes of pathogens through a process called saponification. Fortunately, we evolved with good organisms that are resilient to strong acids and thus survive. This is our microbiome.
As an example of adaptation, on the island of St. Lucia, organisms thrive in the high temperatures of volcanic sulfur springs. The water temperature in these springs varies from 100 to 212 Fahrenheit. I enjoyed these springs back in the 80s.
How do you know where you are on the immunity / infection continuum?
Testing
Here is an approximation of measurements that help you understand your immunity and infectious burden. The blue lines reflect relative immunity, while the red bars reflect chronic infectious burden. Being at the top of the chart in immunity is good, while being at the top in infectious burden is bad. These two circumstances probably never go together.
However, no one is free of infection since there are only compromises, not solutions. The best we can do is achieve a compromise between ourselves and the infections. That is why in the chart above, the infectious burden is never represented as zero.
Treatment of chronic infections is very different compared to acute infections. The treatment is "chronic," meaning long-term - months, even years. A lady in her early thirties nearly died from a chlamydia pneumoniae infection. As a result of her experience, she created a site called "the intracell group." Last a spoke to her, she was in year 4 of treatment. In the humble opinion of myself and Dr. Carter, this is probably overkill. However, since this organism may cause heart disease, arthritis, and Alzheimer's, it may not, as the risk-benefit is probably positive. Testing most always reveals the truth.
This is how I explain treating acute vs. chronic infections. First, identify the organism through testing. That helps define the nature of the treatment. However, in all cases, the individual must take natural measures to improve immunity.
Acute infection: These organisms are like the Redcoats of the revolutionary war. They are usually obvious and often easy to kill!
Chronic Infections: These are more like the Taliban. They hide for years or more and then strike with stealth efficiency.
It took more than a decade to find Bin Laden. And the plan to eliminate him was crafted and executed over the years. It was quite tactical.
Chronic diseases have a root-cause explanation. According to Dr. Ewald, chronic diseases that inflict more than 60% of American adults are the true pandemic.
"If you are not testing, you are guessing." - Institute for Functional Medicine
"If you are not treating long-term, you are failing." - Thomas J. Lewis, Ph.D.
"There are no solutions, only trade-offs." - Thomas Sowell, Ph.D.
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