General Immune Support
for COVID-19 and for any life-challenging or life-changing illness
Preventive and supportive measures to keep your immune system in top shape:
helpful medicines, remedies, supplements, therapies, and activities
What we can do – in order to be stronger and better prepared,
improve overall health and well-being, and increase our capacity to manage challenges
In times like these, or whenever faced with a difficult health challenge, what matters mostis what we can do – to strengthen our own capacities – to change our own issues and attitudes -to improve our own situation – and to make a difference for ourselves. Learning what we can do to become more capable of meeting the demands placed on us in this pandemic, or in any stressful life or health situation, gives us the tools to eliminate or at least mitigate the effects of fear and stress and to deal successfully with any health crisis.
Health is maintained by an intricate web of many different factors. Any imbalance or weakness in this web can negatively impact our health and well-being in various ways. When there is a health related problem or challenge, when something is “wrong,” it makes sense to figure out what we can change or support to strengthen and repair that web. We can look at physical, genetic, emotional, psychological, spiritual, environmental, and world situations (among others) that predispose us to various illnesses, diseases, and injuries and impact their outcome. Some of these factors can be avoided, some can be modified, and others can simply be understood and worked with or around.
This summary of thoughts and recommendations is an attempt to look at some of the things that might be modified to optimize our health, strengthen our web, and change things for the better. It was started as an effort to put together helpful suggestions for dealing with the COVID-19 illness and then expanded to include things that might help with the COVID jabs, post-COVID, long COVID, the pandemic itself, the long-term effects of the shots, and ultimately any serious health situation including cancers and various autoimmune disorders.
First, as Franklin D. Roosevelt said at the beginning of his 1933 inaugural address during the worst of the Great Depression (with unemployment through the roof and high anxiety all around):
Revised 5/11
“Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is… fear itself.” which is not to say that fear, in and of itself is not sometimes appropriate and even potentially helpful, as when it makes us aware of a danger and motivates us to do something about it. However, anything that activates our “fight, flight or freeze (or avoid)” -response also suppresses our immune system, at least temporarily. And, when a nagging low-level fear continues long-term, we have chronic long-term immune suppression. Fear makes us more vulnerable to (and promotes the development of) disease – always. And, in addition, chronic fear produces a kind of addiction to fear which is self-perpetuating and equally bad, or worse, because it precludes any attempt to be rational about it or to overcome it, and sets us up to look for the next thing to be afraid of whenever the current issue begins to dissipate.
When we talk about negative emotional “stress,” how bad it is, and what it does to us, we are basically talking about fear, in one way or another, even if it is just the fear of a negative outcome that stresses us, or of negative consequences, or worry about what others will say or think… Fear, shock, and emotional stress or distress are all “cold” forces that weaken the constitution. Negative emotional stress is a major immune suppressant that reduces our ability to fight off infection, dramatically increases our chances of getting sick, promotes inflammation, and impacts our well being on all levels.
Along with a decreased ability to fight new infections (due to prolonged stress) comes a decreased ability to keep chronic latent viruses (like varicella zoster/shingles, CMV, EBV, and herpes) controlled. Many people harbor these without knowing it, and these viruses can result in various flu-like symptoms and out-breaks that have nothing to do with COVID-19. However, they are also induced by stress, are helped to proliferate, are given fertile ground to manifest, and are ultimately brought out – by stress.
Fear is the coldest cold, or: There is nothing as cold as fear… and cold is the opposite of what we need to stay or to get well again. Our immune system protects us in and through warmth, (and its other manifestations: light and love) and these are the things that make and keep us healthy. Continually re-creating and maintaining a “mantle of warmth” is something we have to be aware of, to keep in our consciousness and attend to, for ourselves and for those we are responsible for – always. These are the things we have to work with, to surround ourselves with, and to put out to others:
WARMTH – includes physical, emotional, and spiritual warmth (and enthusiasm) LIGHT – encompasses both inner light and outer sunlight
LOVE – denotes both the feeling and a spiritual commitment
And, HOPE – which is a spark of warmth, light and love that can dispel the grip of fear and change the playing field entirely.
Addressing and overcoming our fears means changing what we can change and transforming the potentially self-destructive energy that comes with fear into the life-affirming forces that enable us to take hold and do what is right for ourselves and for others. We have the power to look at what makes a difference and do the things that are helpful to put us in a stronger position going forward. We can prevent, mitigate, and change the course of “the virus” or any other illness or challenging life situation.
Managing our stress, maintaining healthy life rhythms, not becoming wrapped up in the fears that surround us, being proactive, and learning how to “relax” (see below under: keeping the immune system in shape) is an absolute necessity for health. Indeed, being able to relax is one of the prime indicators of who stays healthy and who recovers well in most viral/flu-like illnesses (including this pandemic).
No matter what is happening “out there,” you are not a statistic until it is over. Looking at numbers doesn’t tell you where you fall on any statistical outcome analysis, no matter what your circumstances. You have your own particulars, your own situation, your own potential. You can do things to improve your ability to overcome, prevent negative consequences, and help steer things in a positive direction. You can make a difference – for yourself and for others.
When faced with a highly contagious illness to which few can as yet be immune (because it is new to us and because it is changing all the time), or any big life or health challenge which can in some people rapidly evolve into a life-threatening illness in an as yet poorly understood manner, the numbers don’t really matter – for you. What does matter is what you can do to improve your own capacities, to change your own issues and attitudes, your own situation. In this case, the chances are low. Whether it is a 1%, 3%, 5%, or 10% chance is not so important. It is all pretty low, together with a very good chance (90%-99%) that you are going to be fine. Those are pretty good odds that all will be well. What matters, is what you can do to make sure you have the best chances of avoi ding it if possible and dealing with it if you get it. You are not a statistic until it is over.
Learning what we can do to become more capable of meeting the demands placed on us in this pandemic (or in any stressful situation) gives us tools to at least reduce the effects of fear and stress. We can diminish their harmful effects by learning how to relax; we can strengthen our immune systems so we are less vulnerable; we can improve our physical, emotional, and spiritual health; and we can avoid unnecessary exposures. So, don’t buy into the hysteria being drummed up and compounded by those that benefit from it, but do be proactive to support health and healthy practices now and in the future!
Understand what you can do for yourself and for those around you – and act on it. Prioritize a list of things you can do and review it periodically. And, in addition to getting all your ducks in a row and doing what you have to do for your own well-being, always keep in mind that “loving compassionate helping among people”* (people helping and caring for other people) is the most important antidote to this and any other virus, epidemic or pandemic, for the individual, for the Community, and globally.
The following suggestions are all recommendations that can help; each one helpful in its own right. Look over them, and see what you can do to improve your current situation and your overall health. Every change in the right direction is a positive one, but these are general goals and guide lines. Not everyone will be able to do all of them, in fact, most everyone won’t be able (or want, or need) to do everything. Which recommendations are most (or more) important will vary for different people, and even vary for the same person at different times depending on what else is going on. However, generally speaking, the steps that make the biggest difference for any particular person are usually the ones that seem to be the hardest for that person to implement. Do the easy things, of course, but when you want to make a big difference, work on the things that seem hardest.
Although all supportive measures ultimately work together, it is not expressed or implied that they all have to be in place for any one measure to make a difference. Getting to optimal health is a journey – and (as Lao Tzu has told us) every journey begins with a single step. However, it is also true that it is important to do all that we can. As Dr. Sidney Baker, MD has pointed out with his “Tacks Rules,” taking care of part of the problem does not necessarily fix it.
Rule #1: If you are sitting on a tack, it takes a lot of aspirin to make it feel good.
Rule #2: If you are sitting on two tacks, removing just one does not result in a 50% improvement.
________________________________________________________________________ *as Rudolf Steiner pointed out in two separate lectures for members of the Anthroposophical (then Theological) Society: …loving compassionate helping among people … is the most important antidote to this and any other virus…
The first lecture, given 5/5/14, is included in GA 154 and translated as The Presence of the Dead on the Spiritual Path, Seven Lectures Held in Various Cities between April 17 and May 26, 1914.
The second lecture, given 5/9/14 in Kassel: “Commemorative Address for Oda Waller and Christian Morgenstern” is included in Our Dead, Memorial, funeral, and Cremation Addresses 1906 – 1924 (GA 261), pp 4-7.