Building Your Immune System
The Immune System in the body protects us from invaders. It is managed by the part of the nervous system, the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) which acts automatically. Both body functions are often affected to varying degrees by neurological diseases or trauma.
There is testing that can measure the effectiveness of the ANS but it is extremely invasive, complicated, and difficult for your health. There are too many more risks than benefits to the testing. Therefore, it is not performed for your safety. The effects of a slower ANS controlling the immune system are noted by other conditions such as frequent urinary tract infections, respiratory infections, or other infections.
Keeping your body healthy is the best way to improve your immune system. Often individuals think they need a variety of medications and other treatments, but a healthy lifestyle is the simplest and best step to improving your immune system.
Try these tips to keep your body and especially your immune system in shape:
Wash your hands frequently for 20 seconds with soap and warm water.
Deep Breathe and Cough, suction when necessary, or use the sigh button on your mechanical ventilator to clear your airway.
Drink water as allowed. Some individuals have restrictions due to intermittent catheterization or other health issues such as heart disease. Avoid alcohol, sodas (both sugared and artificially sugared), sports drinks, etc. Slowly reduce your intake of caffeine to avoid severe headaches.
Maintain a healthy diet as you need all the nutrients for your body’s immune system to be effective. Watch out for high sugar content, caffeine, and other substances in foods that can affect your body’s functions. Sugar is a food that bacteria thrive on so be careful about hidden glucose in foods. Safe food choices can be found here.
Move your body, either under your own power or by someone moving your body. If you have adaptive devices that allow walking, do so for exercise. Leg muscles, especially the thighs provide the most metabolization avoiding diabetes, improving bowel function, and discouraging urinary tract infections.
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Sleep is critical for rest and resetting the brain. Establish a regular time to go to sleep and to wake up. If you snore or have breathing lapses, check if you need a sleep study to identify sleep apnea which affects blood flow to your brain and body.
Stop smoking or other inhalants that rob the body of oxygen as the nicotine or drug takes the place of oxygenation of cells in the body. There are medications available that can ease the process of fighting the addiction to smoking and other drugs.
Intermittent Catheterization should be carefully performed following timeliness and using clean technique to avoid infection. Catheter suppliers often offer sample packages to see if a different catheter may work better. Not always is the catheter of your dreams paid for, but recurrent infections are usually proof that a different catheter is needed. Sterile technique for indwelling catheters.
Evacuate your bowel completely to avoid interruption in the bladder emptying process.
Decrease Stress. Monitor your day for overactivity. Seek counseling if your health or other issues are overwhelming you.
Vaccines enhance your immune system. Pneumonia, flu, COVID, RSV, shingles, as well as childhood vaccines will help your immune system fight invaders.
Pediatric Consideration:
Children can have issues with all the above issues as well as stress. School can quickly become overwhelming especially if physical issues make activities more challenging. It can also be tiring to move differently. Allow plenty of time for your child to be able to verbalize their issues as they see the world. Children have much more insight into their own thoughts and feelings than adults realize.
Be sure to check with your child’s healthcare professional to ensure they are on the right dietary plan for their individual needs for health, growth, and immune system function.