The healthy human body is equipped with immunity to fight against
viruses, bacteria, and parasites—in short, disease. Unfortunately, this
immunity, known as the immune system, may become compromised such that, instead
of attacking the unwelcome foreign invaders to the body, it begins to attack
the cells and tissues in the body itself. In a healthy individual, the immune
defenses protect the cells from outside invaders. However, when a person
develops autoimmunity, the immune system mistakenly attacks the body's own
cells instead of protecting them.
Your
body is composed of negatively and positively charged molecules, which must be
balanced in order to enable your cells to function normally. A free radical is
formed when there is imbalance in these molecules. The presence of free
radicals may also damage other molecules, and thus causing them to produce many
more free radicals—and this is how a vicious chain reaction of damages by free
radicals is created, resulting in the scourges of aging and the sources of
disease and disorders, in particular, autoimmune diseases.
There
are several types of free radicals, and oxygen free radicals are most damaging,
especially to your DNA and cell membranes.
Your
cells require oxygen for survival. Unfortunately, what gives life also takes
away life. In the process of oxidation, harmful oxygen free radicals are
produced. Oxygen free radicals and other free radicals in your body cause
damages to your cells.
The
neurons in your brain may become damaged by free radicals. The damage may be
irreparable because the neurons, unlike other cells, cannot replicate
themselves.
The cumulative damage to your DNA by free radicals is a major contributing factor to many autoimmune diseases, including human cancers. \When your LDL or “bad cholesterol” is attacked by free radicals, they become more attached to the walls of your arteries, and thus forming plagues to block the free flow of blood to your heart.
The
only way to fight free radicals is by boosting your body’s own immunity. As you
age, your immune system becomes weaker, as evidenced by the high incidence of
influenza and pneumonia after age 25, not to mention among the elderly.
Therefore, it is important to boost your immunity, which is closely related to
your thymus (the commander-in-chief of fighters in your immune system
against foreign invaders).
Myasthenia gravis is one of the many
autoimmune diseases. The damage of free radicals is only one of the many
factors that may have contributed to a dysfunctional immune system. The
underlying causes of myasthenia gravis are complex, and medical science has not
been able to identify the real causes. Without really knowing the causes, it is
difficult to design a treatment plan to cure myasthenia gravis. Therefore, to date, there is no cure, only control
of the disease symptoms.
Copyright© by Stephen
Lau
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