Hormone Optimization and the Immune System

Hormone Optimization and the Immune System

Right now, we’re all focusing on increasing our immunity and decreasing susceptibility to infection. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) encourages people to wash their hands more and practice social distancing to help to reduce risk. At Amethyst Wellness, we’ve also recommended nutritional support and stress reduction to enhance your body’s ability to fight off infection. We’ve also talked about peptide therapy for enhanced immunity.

Did you know that hormone optimization can also boost your immune system?

Much of the following information was provided by our BioTe mentors.

As we optimize our hormones, many crucial functions of the body are supported. Everything from how we sleep to how our bodies respond to foreign invaders can continue to function correctly when our hormones are optimized, giving us a better chance to remain healthy no matter what comes our way!

Encourage a Healthy Night’s Sleep

We’ve discussed the importance of adequate sleep for a healthy immune system. Many clients with hormone imbalance suffer from insomnia. Once the hormones are optimized many clients find relief and sleep better than ever. This is vital to well-being and immune function.

Help Reduce Stress

Who’s feeling some stress right now? We’re in uncharted waters and many of us are feeling the emotional strain. Stress makes you sick. When unchecked, stress can cause physical symptoms and can weaken immunity. Hormone optimization using the BioTE Method can help reduce anxiety and decrease the severity of depression, thereby improving immune function.

Promote a Healthy Thyroid

Thyroid optimization is an integral part of the BioTE Method. It has been reported in multiple studies that optimizing our active thyroid levels improves our neutrophils and lymphocytes, including our natural killer cells, which help destroy the viral particles (Frontiers Endocrinology 04 June 2019).

Once our innate immunity has attacked a virus, we need to consider what happens next as our adaptive immunity is called into action. The BioTe Method of thyroid optimization focuses on getting T3 levels into optimal range. As with most of the cells in our body, T3 is an essential thyroid hormone, promoting the maturation of our adaptive immune cells. These cells, once mature, promote pro-inflammatory cytokines, including IL-6, IL-12, and TGFB1. This adaptive response favors the development of cytotoxic T cells, which further modulates our immune system's response to targeting and killing viruses.

Neutraceuticals

At Amethyst Wellness, we’ve talked about supplementation with Vitamin C and Glutathione to enhance the immune response. Several of the supplements recommended in the BioTe Method can enhance immunity as well.

BioTE® IODINE+ 

Iodine enhances thyroid function which supports the immune response. 
The BioTe Iodine formula also includes 10mg of Zinc which has been shown
to reduce the severity of respiratory illness.  Zinc may improve the integrity of respiratory cells by protecting them from inflammation and infection (Molecular Physiology 2006; 290:433-441).

BioTE® ADK 5 &10 

Vitamin D is essential in maintaining the innate and adaptive immune responses (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). Individuals with a deficiency in vitamin D will have an increase in susceptibility to infection.  Although the mechanism is not clearly established, vitamin D is also known to have anti-viral effects. In 2017, a large prospective trial showed that taking vitamin D can reduce the odds of developing respiratory infections by approximately 42% (BMJ 17;356:6583).

BioTE®
PROBIOTICS 

We all know that our gastrointestinal tract is important to our overall immune system health. Probiotics, as recommended in the BioTE Method, can help improve a person's health by up-regulating their immune function. There are clinical trials that have shown probiotics reduce acute respiratory infections, many of which are caused by viruses (Cochrane.org). 

BioTe provides high quality neutraceuticals, free from harmful additives. Many of our clients are using some or all of these products.

In summary, there are many benefits of hormone and nutritional optimization, from increased quality of life, prevention of disease and also to enhance immune function.

During the Pandemic, BioTe clients at Amethyst Wellness will continue to receive pellet therapy for as long as it remains safe for clients and staff. We ask anyone who is ill, exposed to an ill person or who has recently traveled to not come into the clinic at this time. For anyone needing a refill on any neutraceuticals, we will gladly mail them to your home. Our phone lines remain open. Please call with any questions or concerns at 386-283-4180.

Please stay healthy and safe,

Dr. Amy and the staff at Amethyst Wellness

Author

Dr. Amy Coopersmith