Information

Virus Infections

Common Virus Infections

Cold viruses – usually gradual onset, only nose and throat, symptoms self-limited and usually resolves within one week

Flu viruses – usually sudden onset of fatigue, and may have other symptoms -respiratory, digestion, headaches, muscle aches, etc. Usually more severe, can last for weeks, and can predispose patients to residual postviral syndrome symptoms, as well as bacterial overgrowth, and eventful need for antibiotics.

Flu viruses continue to mutate. During the fall/winter flu season there is often a new one every month or so, and that is why there is no specific effective universal antiviral.

There is also well-known postviral syndrome – which means that many of the same symptoms remain even when the active infectious stage of the flu virus has resolved. There are many different treatment options for this, depending upon specific preceding flu virus, and sometimes the patients immune system

Extracellular Matrix/connective tissue

This is the missing link to optimal health.

We focus only on our various organ functions, but that is only a fraction of our body’s weight.

The extracellular matrix includes the blood circulation, the lymphatic transportation, the immune system, and all the “flesh” that is the majority of our body’s weight. ECM includes all the connective tissue (including collagen) that surrounds every cell and every organ in our body. Its role is to provide the communication system-including all hormones and neurotransmitters-between every cell and organ in our body, and provides all nutritional and detoxification of every cell and organ in our body.

Therefore, it is the physical regulations center of the entire body (homeostasis) – as well as dealing with local and generalized inflammation.

Recent scientific research indicates that this plays a major role in the development and progress  of all types of chronic disorders and degenerative disease.

Probiotics/Acidophilus/microbiome

There is currently excessive amount of commercial promotional misinformation about probiotics/acidophilus supplements. Scientific investigations indicate that every one of us has more than a trillion different species of these organisms in our intestines-and every one of us (even in the same family) has different species and different amounts of each species. Therefore the use of a single probiotics is hardly rational. Again, these are the “seeds” and these grow and change depending upon our personalized internal environment or state of health (“soil”) which is continually influenced by our nutrition, toxicity, stress, inappropriate use of antibiotics etc.

This is why the current scientific name is microbiome (not probiotics).

Infections/Microbiome

All microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites etc.) are living organisms and continue to grow and change-“pleomorphism”. They are the “seeds” and the environment in which they live is the “soil”. That is why our own level of health and immune functioning is critical in protecting us from development of pathogenic forms of various microorganism that live in and on most of us including Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Helicobacter pylori, and Clostridium difficile. These potentially harmful bacteria become pathogenic when our immune system is compromised by inappropriate antibiotics, inappropriate or inadequate nutrition, toxicity, viral infections especially flu viruses.