CYTOKINE STORMS
Purely an orage d’horreur within the body when the immune system becomes far too powerful for its own good.
Cytokines are valuable little worker bee proteins that naturally cause inflammation like histamine reaction, swelling, heightened body temperature. Our immune system, or our wei qi, sends these guys out when the time comes to fight off infections from external pathogenic factors.
The immune boosting supplements you take on a daily business feed the immune system’s defense against pathogens. Cytokines can often grow out of control when they are naturally released during a viral invasion especially when still being fed good immunity tonics like echinacea and astragalus, becoming an exaggerated and powerful systemic reaction.
A cytokine storm can over time exhaust the body and cause multiple organ system dysfunction. This is why a pathogenic agent like influenza can wreak havoc on the respiratory system. Infection causes immune cells to activate in the lungs leading to difficulties in respiration (shortness of breath, tight/heavy feeling in chest), inflammation (that cough you just can’t kick after a bout of being sick) and then a build up of fluid in the lungs (chronic bronchitis) the longterm effect resulting in pneumonia and all around system failure.
SYMPTOMS OF AN ACUTE CYTOKINE STORM ARE MUCH LIKE THOSE OF A COMMON COLD/FLU: FEVER, FATIGUE, MUSCLE ACHES, JOINT PAIN, NO APPETITE- NAUSEA, VOMIT AND/OR DIARRHEA, FAST BREATHING, RAPID HEARTBEAT, RASH …
Maintaining a strong immune system means providing your body with a strong defense, immunity supplements should be taken regularly but then stopped once an infection has set in, at this point the best thing to do is let the body kick into gear and clear it on its own or with the help of pathogen fighting formulas. These formulas clear the surface, as in venting the pores and inducing sweat, and should be used in place of the immune tonics in the first stages of becoming ill and until the sickness has run its course. Tonic immune support can be resumed as soon as sick symptoms have vacated the premises.