Immunine Disorders

This is part of a series of articles on health psychology.

The body has great defenses to prevent disease.  These include it's physical design with organ placement and the skin covering as well as chemical and metabolic activities designed to ward off changes in cell abnormalities and disease.  With all this in place things still go awry and the body will sometimes have the immune system designed to protect us go haywire and start attacking itself instead.

Immune system problems require a great deal of medical understanding on the part of patients for them to cooperate in treatment.  Health psychologists can provide this understanding.

Our understanding of the immune system today is relatively small.  General scientists, microbiologists, immunologists, geneticists, and others have really been highly focused on the immune system since the big financial push to research Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome back in the 1980's.  Added to that were big financial pushes to research specific diseases such as cancer and autoimmune disorders in the 1990's. 

The immune system is based on complex interactions between the skin, the gastrointestinal system, the blood, and bone marrow.  Each of these produces changes to circulating cells which help to protect the body and keep it functioning optimally.  When some cells recognize abnormal cells are present such as viruses or bacteria, these cells signal the brain to produce cells to attack these abnormal cells.  They will produce chemicals like antibodies to make fighting these types of abnormal cells easier should they show up in the future.  They will send compliments which will speed the up the bodies response to antibodies.  They will send cells to clear up cellular debris.  They will thin or thicken the fat in the blood to assist to assist with the speed of reaching to infected or abnormal areas and produce inflammatory chemicals to help with defending the body.  Physicians will prescribe chemicals like antibiotics, antivirals, and anti-inflammatory agents to assist in the body's natural process.  These medications will reduce the risk of complications and reduce the possibility of death from these disorders.

Sometimes the diseases, like the virus responsible for HIV and AIDS, will set up inside a cell and trick the cells into thinking it's functioning normally by creating a protective shell around it.  It then changes chemicals and send out material to trick other cells into functioning in the same manner.  Sometimes the body will have a difficult time in switching off after fighting an infection and will turn on other organs or appropriately functioning cells causing an autoimmune disorder.  Sometimes the body's defenses will just get overrun.  Sometimes the bacteria or viruses mutate into forms that we have no medications to treat.  Sometimes the abnormal cells will grow rapidly and incorrectly becoming cancerous.

By understanding what the medical condition is, what medications are being used for, how medications work, and how the immune system functions, it's possible for the health psychologist to help the patient be informed about treatment options and to take a more active role in treatment.

My husband had a cold.  It didn't go away after a couple of weeks.  He went to his doctor who prescribed an antibiotic for what was presumed correctly to be a bacterial infection.  Immediately after starting the antibiotic he felt sicker.  But he wasn't running a fever.  He wasn't sure what was happening.  So I explained what happens when there is a sudden influx of antibodies to kill off cells.  As the bacterial cells die people get symptoms.  They sweat and get chilled.  They may have diarrhea, bloating, frequent urination, and nausea.  They feel hot or cold.  These symptoms last for a few days as the bacteria are being suddenly killed off and flushed from the body.  There are no changes in actual temperature or blood pressure suggesting a worsening of infection.  The antibiotics are doing their job.  Complements are being released to help speed up the body's recognition of the offending cells and storing that in cell memory so the cells that kill off bacteria will be able to more easily recognize this bacteria should it recur.  If the antibiotic is not completely used there is the possibility that the body will only be able to kill off the weak cells while the strong cells will grow and multiply and become resistant to that medication.  If the antibiotic is trying to fight off a viral infection rather than a bacterial infection it will not be effective.  After 10 days on the antibiotic his symptoms were gone.  My input was only a couple of sentences to explain that feeling worse was a normal part of the antibiotic doing it's job and how to tell if his infection was worsening.  He was able to stay on the antibiotic and let it complete it's job and recover.