At a workshop I gave over the weekend I had a woman come up to me afterwards to ask about her auto-immune disorder. She ate amazingly clean but was still having many ups and downs with her progress and symptoms. I could tell in the first minute of this conversation that she was someone that always had to be in control of her life.
So I asked about her home life and marriage. “They’re great but my husband and son won’t do what I tell them to improve their health.”
Would you say you are often frustrated and irritated by their lack of drive to seek health like you do? She said, “yes, they just don’t get it.”
I said, that’s why your symptoms go on roller coasters. You like control and the easiest thing to control is what you put in your mouth. You can’t control other’s motivations, especially grown men and children.
Your immune system has 2 basic branches. TH1 and TH2. Simplistically, the TH1 side is more responsible for the symptom side of sickness like coughing, runny nose, fever, vomiting, diarrhea, etc. The TH2 side is more for antibody formation.
In times of stress (physical, chemical, emotional, social, and spiritual), your body, via Cortisol, will suppress the TH1 side. It’s not going to be efficient to your survival if you have to stop and throw up or stop to fill your pants if there is a lion chasing you down. Short term, no problem.
Long term, you suppress your first line of defense (TH1) enough to the point that the antibody side (TH2) gets over enhanced and makes your auto-immune progress up and down. I know this first hand.