Very poor immunity

[frozenborderline]

I think i only have low subclasses of IgG, unfortunately, not low total. I have some high subclasses, but I still would benefit from it. hope colostrum is as good

 

[Lucy1996]

I thought for several years I was getting 6-8 colds and flus a year, even in the summer and they would last 5-7 days each.

About 3 months ago I realized that by lowering the herbs I was taking to kill off a bacterial overgrowth in my gut, I could stop the "cold or flu" within a day or so, every time!

Since then I have also realized that these "colds and flus" often show up within a few days of me being more active physically. What I have learned is that they aren't colds or flus, they are actually CFS flares.

Usually being caused by too high a dose of herbs I'm taking, over-doing it physically or both. They feel EXACTLY like a cold or a flu but they are not.

If they were, I wouldn't be able to cut down their duration from 5-7 days to 1-1 1/2 days by lowering my intake of herbs and resting. They are also very different from PEM.

I used to take immune boosters like echinacea and astragalus when I started to feel those cold and flu symptoms coming on. Now I realize that they were actually prolonging my flares, rather than helping a cold or a flu!

EDIT- Another thing I couldn't figure out was why I was catching all these colds and flus. I would wash my hands after every time I went out and would often get sick without having any contact with anybody for days!!

Jim

Apart from the flu which was 100% flu rather than CFS, I am wondering if the other infections are just CFS flares but then if they were, would I have green mucus etc?!? It would explain certaintly why I was getting cold/flu in July August and September.

I am not taking any herbs though - perhaps it’s just from over doing it?

 

[Lucy1996]

Most ME/CFS patients seem to have increased immunity from catching the colds in circulation, but a smaller percentage of patients seem to catch everything going, this poll found.

You would seem to fall in the latter category, although are your sure the respiratory infections are not just the chronic or recurrent sore throat that is a known symptom of ME/CFS?

But the norm is for ME/CFS patients to have increased immunity from catching the colds. It's not clear why some patients become more susceptible to infections



Rich Van Konynenburg had a hypothesis of how this seemingly increased immunity to viral infection arises: he thought that because some parts of the immune system in ME/CFS were working under par, this resulted in other areas of the immune system getting up-regulated in order to compensate. In particular, Rich though that our first line in immune defense — the interferon alpha and interferon beta response — was ramped up in ME/CFS patients in order to compensate for weaknesses in other areas of the immune system (weaknesses in natural killer cell and CD8 T cell function).

If you have your first line in immune defense (interferon) ramped up 24/7, this may mean that any cold virus that happens to land in your mouth or respiratory tract may tend to get immediately eradicated by the interferon response before it has a chance to take hold in the body.

Thanks for your reply!

The first 18 months of my illness I got no colds and no infections - that fits your theory... I was too ill to get any colds because my immune system eradicated it straight away. Since then, I get something every month.

I get to a point my CFS is “manageable” and predictable to then being struck with another infection randomly sometimes when I’ve been active and sometimes when I’ve been doing nothing at all! Could be a mixture of catching colds easily and potentially, CFS flares too (explains July and August !)


I’m just hoping I’m young enough to shake this immune problem before my old age lol!!!

 

[Lucy1996]

Low glutathione, either from it being used up too fast or being produced too slowly in methylation as Richvank pointed out, can cause impaired immune function.

There are numerous studies supporting this.

Jarred Younger, at UAB, found a subset of patients with immune dysfunction and another subset with chronic infections. At the OMF Symposium, he told me that there's definitely a subset who have infections and immune problems.

I'm one who had both, and boosting my immune function, while fighting infections has dramatically improved my function.

That’s really interesting to hear. It’s good to know why it might be happening!

And for sure I am convinced it has affected my immunity - it must have affected my immune system because I was never like this before!

 

[Hip]

I’m just hoping I’m young enough to shake this immune problem before my old age lol!!!

You can consider Echinacea, a herb which stimulates the immune response. Years ago when I was healthy, I used Echinacea a lot to effectively prevent colds. I found Echinacea effective for preventing a cold from taking hold, but only if I took a good dose of Echinacea within 4 to 6 hours of the very first sniffles indicating a cold is coming.

We all know that subtle feeling that we are about to get cold; if you take Echinacea at that point, I found it would prevent the cold from manifesting.

But if you don't take the Echinacea early enough, and if the cold has started to hit in full, then I found Echinacea will not work. So echinacea seems to have little effect once the cold has started, but it works great to kill off colds entirely in their incipient stage

 

[Learner1]

Echinacea may help with a simple cold.

There are several natural substances that can help boost immune function, but how well they work depends on what the load is on your immune system and how well it works to begin with.

I tried a huge list of immune boosters, but my fatigue and infections didn't budge until I started intravenous immunoglobulins as my immune system was so dysfunctional.

If one has a history of difficult to get rid of infections, looking into immune system function might be worthwhile.

 

[frozenborderline]

Wondering about subcutaneous IgG. Over years of testing, IgG total almost always tests low. iga total has been low too. Several subclasses of IgG are also consistently low, although IgG total Is borderline normal—usually under 700 but it’s Been slightly over once. My new doctor feels this qualifies me for subcutaneous iG even though I passed the pneumovax. He also wants me to try thymosin alpha 1. Wondering if the low dose IG has helped anyone. And if my immune function is truly abnormal. I do seem to get whacked really hard by infections that go around. I think part of my immune function being low is environmental toxicity. My house Is so moldy that it affects even family members who dot have mcas and aren’t severely ill

 

[frozenborderline]

So I am considering starting the insurance approval process For subq immunoglobulin until after moving

 

[Goldfishbowl]

Have you tried taking Keifer or any other pro-biotics? We all tend to go for immune enhancing medication vit c etc when we feel we have a cold coming on but an important issue is gut microbiome. We don't tend to think of our guts as an organ ( they are just are intestines afterall) but they are a major part of our immune system and should not be overlooked.
I used to get loads of sinus infections and used antibiotics to clear them up. Laterly I used homeopathy which worked very well.
If I'd have known what I know now I would have in investigated pro biotics.....

 

[Learner1]

That sounds like an excellent idea. I have improved a lot since I started IVIG.

My ME/CFS doc said my dose was too high to make SubQ practical, and im not sure id like to feel like crap all the time - dealing with symptoms once every 2 or 3 weeks is plenty for me...

I got approved with IgG numbers like yours. You may wanr to look into a different vaccine challenge just to make approval easuer, but it sounds like you definitely could benefit.

The immunodeficient dose is about .4g per kg, I've been on .75g/kg for autoimmunity AND immunodeficiency. If your doctor prescribes IVIG, definitely make sure you get support meds like Solumedrol or dexamethasone, benadryl, an NSAID, Zofran, and supplements to decrease brain inflammation like boswellia and curcumin.

You might also contact IDF the Immunodefociency Foundation, and get their big book - I think it's free (courtesy of Big Pharma).

As for the mold, binding it and glutathione have been helpful.

This sounds very promising - good luck!

 

[andyguitar]

Yeah give it a go @debored13

 

[Learner1]

Have you tried taking Keifer or any other pro-biotics? We all tend to go for immune enhancing medication vit c etc when we feel we have a cold coming on but an important issue is gut microbiome. We don't tend to think of our guts as an organ ( they are just are intestines afterall) but they are a major part of our immune system and should not be overlooked.
I used to get loads of sinus infections and used antibiotics to clear them up. Laterly I used homeopathy which worked very well.
If I'd have known what I know now I would have in investigated pro biotics.....

I tried a whole host of natural immune boosters and immunomodulators and infection fighters, but spent a lot of money with little progress before doing IVIG. My immune sysyem was just too competent to fight snd I had 7 infections at the point I started IVIG.