Men's health blog

UNDERSTANDING IMMUNE-SYSTEM TESTS: TOTAL LYMPHOCYTES
Lymphocytes are the T- and B-cells, special kinds of white blood cells associated with your body’s lymph tissue. When the laboratory sends the results of your blood tests to your physician, it will tell him what the WBC count is and what percentage of those are lymphocytes. We doctors simply multiple the WBC by the percentage of lymphocytes to determine the number of lymphocytes.
Let’s say your WBC is approximately 7,000 per cc of blood, and the percentage of lymphocytes is 30 percent:
7,000 WBC
x .3 .3 = 30% lymphocytes
2,100 Number of lymphocytes per cc of blood
Results: In healthy people, the lymphocyte count should be greater than 2,500. One-third of malnourished patients have counts between 1,500 and 2,500. Less than 1,500 is associated with greater death rates in surgical and other medical patients. Some people who have counts of less than 1,200 have no obvious disease, but they don’t feel good. I have seen many chronically ill patients with lymphocyte counts of 1,000 or less. Low lymphocyte counts are associated with immune system problems.
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UNDERSTANDING IMMUNE-SYSTEM TESTS: COMPLEMENTS, VITAMINS AND MINERALS
Complements
The complement system, as we’ve seen, is a vital part of your immune system, whether working on its own or teaming up with other immune fighters. The different complements (called CI, C2, C3, C4, etc.) line up in just the right order to attack, boring holes in invading organisms, altering their molecular structure and otherwise making their life difficult. I look at complement C3, the complement that has been studied the most. It takes less than a month of poor eating to bring C3 down to about 60 percent of normal. Results: Complement C3 is usually between 80 and 155 mg/dl.
Vitamins and minerals
In addition to the protein and immune function tests, I often look at the levels of these vitamins in the blood: vitamin A, beta carotene, vitamin BLT vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin C and vitamin E. I may also check zinc levels in the blood, and iron is also included in my regular test panel.
As I pointed out earlier, a deficiency of even a single vitamin or mineral can hamper the immune system. Lack of B[ may cause an increase in infections. A shortage of B2 is associated with depressed antibody formation. A deficit of B6 impairs nucleic acid synthesis and leads to a depression in delayed hypersensitivity reactions. Lowered levels of zinc in the blood are associated with depressed T-cell function (cell-mediated immunity).
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MORE COMMON IMMUNE -SYSTEM DISEASES: CHYLAMYDIAL DISEASES AND COCCIDIOIDOMYCOSIS
CHYLAMYDIAL DISEASES: a common, sexually transmitted infection, which is occurring in epidemic proportions. It can cause sterility in women and problems such as inflammation of the urinary tract and prostatic inflammation in men.
Signs and Symptoms: may be nonexistent, but generally it causes infections of the lining of the uterus, the uterine tubes and ovaries; vaginal discharge; abnormal pap smears; pelvic pain; genital infections; enlarged glands in the groin areas; inflammation of the rectum; fever. The liver and a part of the testicle (epididymis) can be involved. Chylamydial diseases are one of the major causes of sterility in women.
COCCIDIOIDOMYCOSIS: a disease caused by fungus infection, common in the Southwest U.S., which can involve the lungs, skin, lymph nodes, spleen, brain, bones, kidneys or liver. Most cases begin as a flu-like syndrome and may not progress any further.
Signs and Symptoms: depend upon where in the body the fungus is doing the most damage. Generally there is a chronic, low-grade fever; loss of weight; generalized loss of strength; loss of appetite; shortness of breath; cough, which can produce yellow or green sputum; can be aches in joints. If the fungus gets into the brain, there can be destruction of tissue, with confusion and coma. If in the bones, there can be bone pain.
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MORE COMMON IMMUNE-SYSTEM DISEASES: SARCOIDOSIS AND SCLERODERMA
SARCOIDOSIS: we don’t know what causes it; possibly a virus.
Signs and Symptoms: may be fever; pains in joints; generalized body aches; cough; weight loss. Can have shortness of breath, lumps on the skin; enlarged liver; inflammation of a portion of the eye, which can lead to glaucoma and loss of vision. May get into heart and cause chest pain. Usually gets into lungs, causing shortness of breath. Many times I have made the diagnosis of sarcoidosis from the characteristic appearance of the X-ray, which shows enlarged lymph glands in the chest.
SCLERODERMA (progressive systemic sclerosis): chronic disease with generalized fibrosis (thickening) of the skin, joints and many internal organs.
Signs and Symptoms: joint pains; stomach upsets; heartburn; weight loss; malaise; difficulty in swallowing; shortness of breath. Skin of fingers and face becomes thick. Normal creases on the fingers and face disappear. Fingers become purple and hurt when exposed to cold. Face become thick, like a mask, and blood vessels on face, lips and tongue become prominent. Other symptoms may be esophogitis; (inflamations of the esophagus); pleurisy; pericarditis (inflammation of the sac surrounding the heart); heart irregularities; muscle weakness. Death from pneumonia often occurs.
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UNDERSTANDING IMMUNE-SYSTEM TESTS: TRICEPS SKIN FAT THICKNESS TEST
Next is the triceps skin-fat thickness test, a method of estimating how many of the pounds a person weighs are accounted for by fat. In other words, what percentage of the body weight is fat as opposed to bone, muscle and so on. This is a very quick and easy test. The doctor or nurse uses a skin-fold caliper, which looks something like a pair of pliers with a meter attached. A bit of skin and fat on the arm at the triceps (the muscle on the back side of the upper arm) is pinched, the caliper is gently applied and a reading is taken. It takes only a moment, and it doesn’t hurt at all. The goal is to measure the fat lying under the skin. Lean people will have little to pinch; hefty people will have more. Here are ideal figures:
Triceps Skinfold (in millimeters)*
Ages 25-64 Ages over 65
Male 12 11
Female 21 24
Figures less than half those shown above support a diagnosis of malnourishment. Numbers twice or greater than those shown above support a diagnosis of obesity (and possibly overnourished/ malnourished).
In my office, I take skin-fold measurements from six different places on the body, and calculate the percentage of body fat from all six measurements.
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MORE ABOUT VITAMINS: VITAMIN C
Years ago, when Nobel prize winner Dr. Linus Pauling announced that vitamin C has a beneficial effect on the immune system, I was unimpressed. Like many other medical doctors, I had little faith in vitamins. But as I studied vitamin C and saw the effects it had on patients, I became convinced that vitamin C is necessary for good immune-system functioning. Some years ago, when I met Dr. Pauling, I was pleased to tell him that he had helped me see the power of vitamin C. More importantly, his work increased my awareness of the health-giving properties of vitamins and minerals in general.
There is a genetic disorder called Chediak-Higashi disease, which is highlighted by a marked lowering of resistance to bacterial infections. Patients who have this disease suffer from recurrent tissue abcesses, sinusitis and pneumonia, all of which are difficult to treat, and the disease is often fatal. Their white blood cell count drops, and the killing power of the cells is reduced. This is a dangerous sign, because the white blood cells bear the brunt of defending the body against disease. Vitamin C has corrected the problem in many patients studied, and it therefore serves as a model for the use of nutrients in helping the immune system to function effectively.
Vitamin C also improves the mobility of white blood cells. Using a video camera and screen hooked up to a microscope, I have seen sluggish white blood cells taken from patients with recurrent infections. After giving these people an injection of vitamin C, I put a fresh sample of their blood under the microscope and watch as the previously “lazy” white blood cells move about energetically.
Vitamin C has been used to speed up recoverv from pneumonia, mononucleosis, hepatitis and almost all viral infections, including AIDS. Studies are underway to evaluate vitamin C as an interferon-releasing agent. (A natural substance produced by your lymphocytes, interferon is involved in the battle against virus and cancer.) Vitamin C stimulates T- and B-cells, as well as the giant “cell eaters” (macrophages) which gobble up and destroy bacteria, viruses, fungi and other disease-causing antigens. In addition, vitamin C is an antioxidant and scavenger of free radicals. (Oxidation of molecules in your body is analogous to the rusting of a piece of iron. See vitamin E, below, for more information on free radicals.)
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YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM: LIGHTS, MORE LIGHTS, AND LOTS OF ACTION
There’s more to your immune system than phagocytes, lymphocytes, complements, interferon and interleukin. Imagine you’re looking at a life-size picture of the human body. Pretend there are tiny lights flashing on and off all over the body. There are red lights representing the neutrophils, green for the macrophages, yellow for the fighting T-cells and blue for the B-cells. Gray lights mark the complement system that drifts through the blood, and orange lights identify the giant sentry macrophages found all over the body.
But there’s more. Add purple lights for the memory cells which remember the features of the antigen, and brown, which represents interferon. Silver lights mark the interleukins, with gold, pink, peach and other colors for immune components such as the prostaglandins, the leukotrines, basophils, eosinophils, histamines, kinins and the other parts of your immune system.
Visualize the whole body covered with lights of every color packed tightly into every corner and crevice, a brilliant display of the immense power your immune system commands. All that healing power is dedicated to health, your health.
This brief discussion only begins to explore the immune system. There is now an information explosion concerning the immune system. It’s like the universe Einstein described: there’s no end to the new information pouring forth. But I hope you’ve learned a little and picked up a bit of the excitement I feel when I think about the miraculous and powerful defense system that nature has created for us. The least we can do is help it to take care of us.
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YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM: FROM MONOCYTES TO MACROPHAGE
The neutrophils and monocyte/macrophages don’t remain in the blood stream for long. Soon, they squeeze through tiny pores in the blood vessels, holes smaller than they are. How do they fit? Through a process called diapedesis, which means pushing small parts of themselves through the pore at a time, much the same way you’d work a half-filled water balloon through a hole in a fence.
When they arrive in the tissue, the monocytes begin to grow, swelling to four or five times their original size. As they grow they become more and more powerful, developing extra energy sources and poison packets. Pretty soon, they’re giant-sized. To match their new stature comes a new name: macrophage, which means “giant eater.”
And giant eaters they are. Neutrophils can only swallow and destroy 5 to 20 antigens before they die of “overeating.” The giant eaters, however can gobble up as many as 100 antigens. And they eat and kill bigger antigens than the smaller neutrophils do. In fact, one of the macrophages’ jobs is to help clear the battlefield by eating up dead neutrophils.
There are still more differences between the two kinds of cell eaters. While the neutrophils are constantly on patrol, most of the macrophages stand guard at strategic points in the body. There they remain, giant sentries, for months or even years, our first line of defense against antigens.
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MORE COMMON IMMUNE-SYSTEM DISEASES: DIFFERENT TYPES OF CANCER
Breast cancer may or may not produce pain. Symptoms of the cancer may be severe or may not appear until later on. There may be tenderness in the breasts, hardening or thickening of the breast or a sore on the breast. A lump may be discovered, and there may be swelling under the arms. The nipple may be ulcerated or inverted (turned in). There may be a discharge from the nipple, which can contain a bloody or a nonbloody fluid.
Pancreatic cancer may cause severe symptoms or no symptoms, although there is generally a loss of appetite and loss of weight as the disease progresses. The cancer may be characterized by severe abdominal pain, often in the center but spreading out to both sides of abdomen. In many cases the pain goes through to the back. In fact, back pain may predominate, causing the person to be treated for a back problem. If the head of the pancreas is involved, the bile ducts can be obstructed, and there is usually a painless jaundice (the skin and the whites of the eyes become yellow, the urine becomes dark and the stool becomes light in color). The liver or gallbladder may enlarge, and pain may be experienced under the lower right ribs or the right upper side of abdomen.
Uterine cancer may be indicated by vaginal bleeding from a woman who hasn’t had a period for a long time, or periods may become longer and irregular. There may or may not be pain.
Prostate cancer grows very slowly, so signs and symptoms occur gradually. There may be difficulty in urinating, frequent urination, or some trouble in starting or stopping urinatation. Later on there may be blood in the urine, pus or obstructions to urination. If the cancer spreads to the bones of the pelvis and lower back, there may be severe pains in those regions. In fact, many low-back problems in men over 65 are due to cancer of the prostate.
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IMMUNE ALERT
Let’s take a closer look at a few of the more common immune-system diseases. The signs and symptoms listed aren’t necessarily the only signals of the disease, and all of them may not occur in every instance. The point is to give you an idea of what the signs of impending immune difficulty may be.
AIDS: life-threatening, infectious disease spread by sexual contact, and other exchanges of body fluids, such as blood transfusions and intravenous-needle use. Caused by the HTLV-III virus. AIDS selectively causes immune suppression by destruction of T4 cells. Presently, it is not known what the incubation time for AIDS’s: It may be five years or more. We’ve only been tracking AIDS for five years, so we can’t say with absolute confidence that it is or is not easily spread. Presently, AIDS is considered fatal.
Signs and Symptoms: fever; cough; shortness of breath; sweats; enlarged lymph nodes in the neck, groin and other parts of the body; weight loss; often diarrhea; skin rashes; body wasting; muscle loss; may progress on to pneumonia, usually caused by opportunistic infections. Opportunistic infections are often caused by antigens that would ordinarily present little or no problem to our immune system. But with the immune system crippled by AIDS, these organisms cause a great deal of damage. Fifty percent of AIDS victims will have the opportunistic infection Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia; about 25 percent or so will have Kaposi’s sarcoma (first sign of Kaposi’s may be pigmented spots on the skin). A small number will have both penumocystis carinii and Kaposi’s. When you have AIDS, a simple infection such as herpes simplex or thrush mouth (Candida albicans) can be life-threatening.
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