I don't get sick much. Disease and I are not friends. We haven't had the time to get acquainted. Colds and other maladies that knock dyingwife down for a week, I shrug off in a day or two.

I'd like to attribute such resilience to my clean livin'. I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't hang around loose women (you might talk me into the last one if I hadn't said that "'Til death do we part" part 12 years ago.) My diet isn't perfect but it's rather sensible compared with most and some might consider me monkish. My exercise regimen is laughable. (More on that soon.) I eschew drugs of all kinds and treat headaches with liquids and sleep. Sleep is my number one weapon against disease. When I need a nap, I know I've got something serious. That's what it takes to get me to say, "I'm not feeling well."

No. I need to give credit to my father, mother, or both. They don't get sick much either. I'd had the hubris to think this was a result of hearty stock. Folks that were taught "mind over matter" , "quitcher bitchin'", and "the stiff upper lip." Modern medicine has told me otherwise so some humility is called for. I'm a mutant. So is my son.

My son had a fever for a week and doctors get nervous when a kid doesn't shake a fever so long. (Lawyers would jump at any chance to hit a doc who ignored a kid who was feverish for a week before dying of a natural cause.) We brought him in and he was engaging the doctor. Not as energetic as he usually was, but feeling pretty good, so they took some blood to see if they could find anything dangerous swimming around in him. The results came back quick enough. They'd done an antibody titer count. (Titer just means how much of something they find in a given amount of a liquid like blood.) They talked among themselves a great deal explaining that most patients with antibodies this high were usually wheeled in on a stretcher.
Wow.

And there's mah boy. Rapping with the doctor, getting his temperature taken. Dr. Phillips, the pediatrician (I like him a lot), was at a loss (I think.) I think he was a little puzzled (maybe secretly worried), and he sent us down to get an X-ray to rule out Tuberculosis TB. Dyingson didn't have anything that showed up on X-ray and he was fine days after the visit when his fever broke, but the memory of that visit with astonished nurses made me smile.
M boy is a mutant too. He has an immune system like a machine gun. We spray antibodies all over germs and pound the worst of it into submission. The little beasties never know what hit 'em. It's easy to feel blessed.

That's the good news. Fever is body heat produced by chemicals released by the immune system. Fever combined with swelling are the components of inflammation. Inflammation has been accused of a chief cause of heart disease. inflammation can be caused by stress hormones like adrenaline and stress has been accused of weakening the immune system. (Perhaps because the inflammatory response is muted because of the constant flow of hormones caused by the stress?) Suppose my boy and I have an immune system on constant alert and it has a dark side? Do our system overcompensate even on the weak germs? Does a common cold put our heart and blood vessels and who knows what else through the wringer?

Further, a recurring theory by Dr Mirkin is that a great many autoimmune diseases (Crohn's disease, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis) may be caused by undetected infection. It's not the germ that causes the awful symptoms, it's our immune system's inability to fight off these hidden nasties that causes us so much grief. The germs, if left alone, might not bother us. (They might also fester and grow and kill us if our ineffective immune systems didn't keep them in check, I can't say.)


The question is: If I get one of these chronic tough-to-kill diseases in my joints or colon or in some other place that causes most people to get "autoimmune diseases", is it going to be that much worse? I'll either get no arthritis and chronic disease or I'll get a worse case than anybody else. When I get a new symptom, I think about this blog and report it. So far, most of my arthritic symptoms seem to stem from injuries and they have gone away, if slowly. Will my luck hold indefinitely. Is my immune system an unconditional gift? We'll find out.

* DM

Next: Zero = Death

Fitness Goals:
60 beats per minute resting pulse.
10 minutes hard cycling. (intensity 5 out of 5)
Weights: 3 days - 100 lbs. - 6 cycles of 5,5,5,10 repetitions (2 cycles/day)

Current Fitness Record: (since last entry)
Pulse: 60 beats per minute (unconfirmed)
6 x 3 min cycling - intensity 4 (Pulse = 112 at last check)
0 day - 65 lbs. - 0 cycles 
Blood Pressure: 125/69 11-2007

RECENT SYMPTOMS : None
ONGOING SYMPTOMS: Weak, clicking knees, Slight pain in right knee when kneeling and shifting knee to the right. Hyperhidrosis.
DIAGNOSIS: Unknown injury to right knee, possible impact from small stumble onto landing of concrete stairs. Injured knee joints from sprinting.
ONGOING TREATMENT: Tri-Annual dental visits. Cycling / Spinning for strength training.
DRUG REGIMEN: Aspartame. (3 diet sodas daily) Caffeine (three cups of coffee daily. One cola.)
PROGNOSIS FOR FOLLOWING WEEK: Slow improvement of knees. Good health.
POTENTIAL TREATMENTS: Fish Oil supplements. Leafy greens. Axillary curettage.

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