• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Flu pandemic?

#41
spade2you said:
How do you compare "strength" of immune system vs. higher exposure?
Click to expand...

The immune system builds antibodies or "resistance to" things it's exposed to. If one is in a sterile environment regularly, that won't happen. Then when something does come along, they can't fight it.

Exposing sick kids to each other, or letting them play in the dirt to help build their immune systems has been common practice for a very long time. Not saying it makes people be able to fend off anything but it certainly helps with common colds, milder types of infections, etc. This doesn't end at adulthood, our systems always need to be maintained. The body will stop making what it figures it doesn't need, or what it is getting from an external source.

Sidebar...but the "external source" thing is part of how addictions work. When you get the chemical that makes the brain release dopamine or whatever from an external source, the system will stop doing that on its own...then you are dependent on the external source to function.
 
#44
will33 said:
The immune system builds antibodies or "resistance to" things it's exposed to. If one is in a sterile environment regularly, that won't happen. Then when something does come along, they can't fight it.

Exposing sick kids to each other, or letting them play in the dirt to help build their immune systems has been common practice for a very long time. Not saying it makes people be able to fend off anything but it certainly helps with common colds, milder types of infections, etc. This doesn't end at adulthood, our systems always need to be maintained. Tue body will stop making what it figures it doesn't need, or what it is getting from an external source.

Sidebar...but the "external source" thing is part of how addictions work. When you get the chemical that makes the brain release dopamine or whatever, the system will stoo doing thst on its own...tuen you are dependent on the external source to function.
Click to expand...

I'm sure growing up on a farm exposed you to a lot of things. I would add that living in an urban enviroment and doing things like jamming into mass transit where you can count the fillings on the person next to you exposes me to a few things as well.
 
#46
slobake said:
I'm sure growing up on a farm exposed you to a lot of things. I would add that living in an urban enviroment and doing things like jamming into mass transit where you can count the fillings on the person next to you exposes me to a few things as well.
Click to expand...

If sterile environments were a problem, a lot of lab or surgical workers would potentially have a weak immune system. My immunology prof basically said the idea "too clean" of an environment is anecdotal/circumstantial.
 
#48
slobake said:
I'm sure growing up on a farm exposed you to a lot of things. I would add that living in an urban enviroment and doing things like jamming into mass transit where you can count the fillings on the person next to you exposes me to a few things as well.
Click to expand...

I can see that too.

Personally, I'd rather wade through pigpoopie naked than be crammed in a subway car full of other creatures like me. :D
 
#51
will33 said:
The immune system builds antibodies or "resistance to" things it's exposed to. If one is in a sterile environment regularly, that won't happen. Then when something does come along, they can't fight it.

Exposing sick kids to each other, or letting them play in the dirt to help build their immune systems has been common practice for a very long time. Not saying it makes people be able to fend off anything but it certainly helps with common colds, milder types of infections, etc. This doesn't end at adulthood, our systems always need to be maintained. The body will stop making what it figures it doesn't need, or what it is getting from an external source.

Sidebar...but the "external source" thing is part of how addictions work. When you get the chemical that makes the brain release dopamine or whatever from an external source, the system will stop doing that on its own...then you are dependent on the external source to function.
Click to expand...

It works best against things it has already seen, once it has an immunological memory of the nasty (i.e. how vaccination works).

Though it's certainly true in a generalised sense, plus lack of exposure, lack of stimulation can lead to overreactions.
 
#52
i_got_a_mohawk said:
It works best against things it has already seen, once it has an immunological memory of the nasty (i.e. how vaccination works).

Though it's certainly true in a generalised sense, plus lack of exposure, lack of stimulation can lead to overreactions.
Click to expand...

Yeah...I don't really know how that would translate to things the immune system has never seen before, other than to just "be on guard" <----really high-brow medical term there :) ).

I did once work with a guy who had some disorder where his immune system basically went nuts and started attacking his own body and destroying stuff it wasn't supposed to. Weird deal that is but I didn't catch it. I think it may've had a little to do with the guys general health/lifestyle, but also a whole lot to do with side effects from some other treatment he had for some other condition. One of those deals where modern medicine starts collapsing on itself and the answer to too many pills isn't more pills. Pills can't take the place of physical work and natural food.
 
#53
will33 said:
Yeah...I don't really know how that would translate to things the immune system has never seen before, other than to just "be on guard" <----really high-brow medical term there :) ).

I did once work with a guy who had some disorder where his immune system basically went nuts and started attacking his own body and destroying stuff it wasn't supposed to. Weird deal that is but I didn't catch it. I think it may've had a little to do with the guys general health/lifestyle, but also a whole lot to do with side effects from some other treatment he had for some other condition. One of those deals where modern medicine starts collapsing on itself and the answer to too many pills isn't more pills. Pills can't take the place of physical work and natural food.
Click to expand...

He probably had some sort of rheumatic/auto-immune disorder. Those tend to have a genetic component.
 
#54
will33 said:
Yeah...I don't really know how that would translate to things the immune system has never seen before, other than to just "be on guard" <----really high-brow medical term there :) ).

I did once work with a guy who had some disorder where his immune system basically went nuts and started attacking his own body and destroying stuff it wasn't supposed to. Weird deal that is but I didn't catch it. I think it may've had a little to do with the guys general health/lifestyle, but also a whole lot to do with side effects from some other treatment he had for some other condition. One of those deals where modern medicine starts collapsing on itself and the answer to too many pills isn't more pills. Pills can't take the place of physical work and natural food.
Click to expand...

It's hard to generalise.

I know a few people who have had their immune system attack their own body, requiring medication which can't be replaced with work or natural food (Type 1 Diabetes mellitus). Just kinda hard to generalise!
 
#57
My family (and a bunch of others) were staying at my MIL's for a funeral. The night before the services , one girl got the trots and was nauseous. (Don't know if she barfed or not , I don't think I ever saw her the two days we were there.) Within 48 hours , everybody that was in that house (14 of us I think) came down with it. Now that's what I call sharing with family and friends.
On another note , I have worked in the plumbing trade most of my life. For 4 of those years , I was working for a sewer cleaning company in the Wash.D.C. metro area. During those 4 years I'm sure I was exposed to some of the nastiest stuff out there.I never got so much as a case of the sniffles during that time so maybe there is something to building up immunities.
 
#60
zachoff said:
Never had a flu shot
Never had the flu
Click to expand...

Knock on wood. Once you have it and are in bed for a week with fever though, you might consider shots.

I never got shots. I will from now on every year though. And it's not like it's my first flu (though it was easily one of the worst, i dont remember fever for 6 days on any other flu, pretty sure it was H1N1). I probably had the flu at least ten times in my life (i had it ALL THE TIME it seems when i was a kid and teen, and i had colds at least three times a year), but at this point i'm, as they say, too old for this ****. I feel there's just no reasons to risk it. Between 100% certainty i wont catch it and maybe a 90% chance I won't (din't know what the numbers actually are but id say one out of ten people might be right, at least in canada..) , i'll take 100% chance from now on.


Is been two weeks now and all i have is a slight cough and some mucus in my lungs. The cough though has for the past two days been annoying enough when i lie down to still occasionally wake me up at night.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back