Target Immune System NOT Pathogens to Heal Chronic Illness

Target immune system not pathogen In chronic illness cases, using antimicrobials can be a recipe for disaster. Take it from me: I was sick for nearly 15 years because of the overuse of antibiotics and other natural antimicrobial supplements.

In this article, we will go over a new approach to healing from chronic illness. This will help you make consistent progress in your efforts to overcome your symptoms. To get started, let’s discuss the common way of approaching chronic illness cases.

Traditional Paradigm: Mask Symptoms or Use Antibiotics

If you have a chronic illness and see a traditional physician, chances are, they will try to put you on pharmaceuticals. These pharmaceuticals are often not a solution but rather an attempt to mask the symptoms. By manipulating the inflammatory response with synthetic medication, relief comes, but at what price? These medications have side effects, and at some point, you may develop a tolerance. Once the tolerance develops, the symptoms start increasing again. You then increase the dose to control the symptoms, and in return, the side effects get worse. Since you don’t know what to do now, you try to ignore the side effects because you have become dependent on this medication.

If the traditional physician considers a pathogen as the cause of the problems, this is where it gets really dangerous. At that point, they can start prescribing antibiotics that have the potential to wreck your immune system. If the first antibiotic doesn’t work, they usually try to combine multiple ones, thinking this will solve a problem actually tied to immune dysfunction. It’s like a game of Russian Roulette. At some point, your luck will run out! Disclaimer: There are times when antibiotics can save someone’s life. My point is that using them very selectively and sparingly is most prudent.

Modern Holistic Paradigm: Pathogens are Cause of Your Symptoms

Most holistic health practitioners treat pathogens as if they cause nearly all chronic illnesses. They order tests to verify their theory, choose the pathogen that seems most likely to be the cause, and then start their seek-and-destroy mission. This approach is founded upon the idea that the environment within the body doesn’t affect the pathogen’s survival. Though this may be true with acute infections, it is not the case when dealing with chronic infections. They are often nested in pockets in the body where there is inadequate circulation. This means it is hard to get the proper dose to these areas to kill the pathogen. In short, if you want to keep these things from causing you issues, you must keep the immune system calm.

The most dangerous part is that holistic doctors usually recommend antimicrobials, not realizing they increase histamine and aggravate mast cells. A perfect example of this is oil of oregano. Though it can kill pathogens, it also can knock out your good bacteria and trigger a histamine response that is hard to recover from. Like oregano, many of the other natural antimicrobals also disrupt the gut microbiome and even impair detoxification function.

What do doctors say when these products backfire for their clients? The doctors tell their clients that the worsening of symptoms is caused by a “die-off” of the pathogen. Though this can SOMETIMES be true, the flare-ups are RARELY caused by pathogen die-off. They are actually a sensitivity response the immune system is having to the product, which has no benefit for the body. This misunderstanding leads people on a wild-goose chase that rarely pays off, since you can’t beat a chronic infection while your immune system flares. I tried this strategy for 15 years, and though I made progress, I could never fully heal by adopting this ideology.

New Paradigm: Immune System is Cause of ALL Symptoms

The latest science shows that inflammation is the only thing present in every condition. In fact, it’s the root cause of every symptom you’re experiencing. If you pay close attention to what triggers inflammation and then make changes, your immune system will eventually calm down, leading to symptom relief. Though this requires a willingness to change your diet, lifestyle, and other things, it is the path to a true recovery that lasts.

Keep in mind, the pathogen will only be as active as your immune system is dysfunctional. It is not out roaming around most of the time, it comes in and out of hiding to avoid immune detection. If you remove the irritants in your food, environment, and life that are triggering you, the pathogen will not be signaled to come out of hiding. For example, broccoli won’t draw parasites out of hiding to eat, but meat sure will. Once your body has stabilized and your flares are infrequent, it’s time to reassess the situation. If it appears your symptoms resemble those of someone still battling a pathogen, it’s time to start theorizing which type of pathogen. At that point, you can choose a supplement to experiment with to see if there is a benefit.

The key point to remember is, you must choose an antimicrobial that also has a calming effect on the immune system. You cannot simply choose a substance based on its antimicrobial properties. Your success depends on how this antimicrobial substance interacts with the immune system. If it calms your immune system down and discourages pathogenic growth, you can make progress without disrupting your immune function. If it triggers the immune system while killing pathogens, it must be discontinued immediately. This is how you must approach the removal of pathogens, or they will never be fully eradicated. If you kill the pathogen you were targeting at the expense of the rest of the body, you will regret it. Just like I did after 15+ years of chasing pathogen “ghosts”.

Control the Mast Cells to Overcome Your Symptoms

The most common ways for your mast cells to become triggered are diet, supplements, medication, indoor air quality issues, or some form of stress. To be able to get the immune system working properly, you must first identify what is setting it off. I do this with my clients by creating a symptom log to document their flares. We then examine the situation where their symptoms got worse and determine what was done so we can make changes. Over time, these changes eventually compound into a much calmer immune system. This then translates into less severe symptoms and a reduction in frequency.

At first, it’s hard to see what causes you problems because so many things are triggering you. Once you eliminate more and more things from your life that aggravate your immune system, it becomes easier to recognize the things that do. As you get better, the triggering episodes become less severe, but because they are less frequent, they are now more noticeable. The critical part then becomes consciously identifying these triggers and controlling your behavior to remain balanced. Though this takes some getting used to, it is both possible and sustainable.

Target Pathogens ONLY After Mast Cells Are Under Control

After eliminating the dietary, environmental, and stress triggers, symptoms are typically at least 60% better. In many cases, I’ve seen people improve entirely without ever targeting a pathogen. If they don’t recover fully, you may want to consider the possibility of a pathogen. Remember, if you think it’s a pathogen, you must determine what type of pathogen you are targeting. This will help you choose which natural supplements would be a good fit.

Once you have determined what type of pathogen you are targeting, you want to look for natural substances that are also immune modulators. You can check the effect of each substance simply by referencing studies. Just type in the substance you are using and then add “mast cells study” afterward. If there is any scientific proof that this substance calms down the immune system, it will show up in Google.

If you cannot find proof that it calms the immune system, move on to another supplement. You must always remember that your number one priority is to heal the immune system, and your number two goal is to reduce pathogen levels. The reality is, anytime the immune system becomes triggered, pathogens are signaled to grow back anyway.

Frequently Asked Questions – Healing Without Targeting Pathogens

How Can I Get Better Without Killing the Infection?

Your own immune system is causing your symptoms. If you can figure out why your immune system is being triggered, you can cause it to release fewer inflammatory chemicals. This will translate into an improvement in symptoms. The common causes of immune system triggering are diet, indoor air quality issues, stress, supplements, and medication. Once your immune system is triggered less, there will also be less pathogen activity. This is because the pathogen only comes out when it feels safe.

When Do You Know It Is the Right Time to Use Antimicrobials?

After you have done everything with your diet, verified that your living environment is completely free of mold, and implemented stress reduction practices like slow deep breathing, you will know how much of this can be controlled without antimicrobials. Typically, people can see 60 to 80% improvements without chasing a pathogen. In addition, they can see it within months instead of going down the pathogen rabbit hole like I did for over a decade.

If symptoms persist and appear to be pathogen-related, you start a slow, gradual removal process. REMEMBER, don’t swing for the fence. Think of it as something that may take months, not weeks. This is why keeping the immune system calm the whole time is critical to maintaining progress. It reduces flare frequency, which prevents pathogen levels from increasing again.

What Are the Most Important Changes I Can Make to Calm Down Mast Cells?

You can implement a plant-based elimination diet. This would allow you to remove the triggers you are consuming. Most of the time, this is the most important change you can make. In some cases, your indoor air quality may be even more important. Believe it or not, many conditions are driven by extreme mold sensitivity. If this is not recognized, things will not improve. Lastly, a slow deep breathing practice of 25 minutes, twice daily at minimum would be extremely helpful. This is truly a game changer for the autonomic nervous system. If you don’t calm down the fight or flight response, the immune system will continue to be in overdrive and ready to jump on the next opportunity to inflame.

If Not Trying to Kill Pathogen Directly, What Supplements Should I Take?

When you first start trying to heal, the most important thing is identifying what things you are already doing that are contributing to your symptoms. As I mentioned before, most symptom flares originate from diet, environment, or stress, NOT PATHOGENS. Once you are through this process for the most part, you can start to implement prebiotics and binders. This can help to modulate your gut microbiome and calm down your immune system while improving your elimination channels. The key point, again, is that all of the things you use must have been proven to calm the immune system down. If they don’t, they can set you back.

Can Synthetic Supplements Eventually Aggravate Mast Cells?

Yes, absolutely. This is why I rarely recommend using any synthetic vitamins or supplements. Typically, I like to use plant-derived extracts that have a proven effect of calming the immune system down. What usually happens with synthetic supplements is that you get a profound effect initially when taking it, and then a couple of weeks into it, it turns on you. At that point, it’s almost too late to identify that it’s the reason for your new symptoms. What you remember is what it did for you initially.

How Can You Control the Pathogen Without Using Antimicrobials?

To answer this question, I must first explain pathogen signaling and activation. Most pathogens don’t cause problems in your body 24/7. In fact, they only come out of hiding when their cells sense certain molecules in the blood. Based on the molecules in the blood, they can tell how the immune system is functioning and if it’s worth it to come out or not. For example, if the pathogen senses high sugar in the blood, but immune function is strong, it will remain hidden. If the immune system is triggered currently, it might try to sneak out and get some of the sugar!

Another example would be after you have a food sensitivity. At that time, the pathogen can sense the immune system is dysfunctional and starts to come out of hiding. If the immune system was not triggered, it would be less active. If you figure out why the immune system is being triggered, and then stop it from happening again, you can control the pathogen’s desire to come out of dormancy.

Why Is a Pathogen-Oriented Healing Strategy So Dangerous?

It encourages you to believe that you can take something to resolve an illness that’s been around for an extended period of time. Also, most antimicrobials are more likely to disrupt the gut microbiome and aggravate the immune system. To add to it, because you are convinced it’s a pathogen, you will interpret your worsening symptoms as a die-off effect. In fact, it was just the immune system being aggravated by what you were using to try to kill the pathogen. No progress is retained when the immune system is triggered. The only real progress comes when the immune system is improving simultaneously.

Conclusion – Heal the Immune System or Relapse Is Likely

Like it or not, your immune system is the cause of all of your symptoms. It is the one that sends out the signals that trigger the inflammation and generate your discomfort. Yes, the pathogen can disrupt the immune system, but that is an elementary way of looking at it. Instead, you must realize that the pathogen is only relevant because your immune system is triggered or not working properly.

If you react to the foods you eat, things you inhale, supplements you take, or some other form of stress, metabolic signaling tells the pathogen it’s time to come out and play. In short, if you prevent the immune system from being triggered by various things, you can reduce the activity of the pathogen. In this case, you would have minimal to non-existent symptoms, depending on the situation.

If you’re battling a chronic illness, you must realize that the immune system is the target, not a pathogen. Once you get the immune system under control and your symptoms greatly reduce, you can start playing around with different antimicrobials. Even then, I would not use any antimicrobial that was synthetic or unproven to modulate the mast cells. If you are aggravating the mast cells, you are going backwards. It’s that simple!

I know this can be a lot of information to digest. This is why I offer coaching services for people with chronic illnesses. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions, and I will help you create a plan that best suits your condition.

Happy healing everyone!

Matt Nedin, B.S.
Certified Holistic Nutritionist
EndSickness, Founder
Phone: (734) 846-8619
WhatsApp: +17348468619
Email: endsickness@gmail.com