What Actually Happens When You Are Sick?

Summary

The immune system fights disease aggressively, often damaging the body. Repeated infections can cause permanent scarring and loss of organ function over time. Vaccines safely train immune defenses without harming the body, providing better protection than natural infection in most cases. Individual immune responses vary; the healthiest can still die from new diseases. Climate change is another solvable global crisis requiring cooperation.

Takeaways

• 😊 Getting sick can make you weaker in the long run by damaging organs and leaving scars
• 👮‍♂️ Your immune system mobilizes like an army switching to war economy when you get sick
• 🔥 Methods like fever are draining and use up resources needed for recovery
• 😠 Both infections and immune cells can damage organs, leaving permanent scars
• 😥 Cumulative scarring over a lifetime can diminish organ function
• 🎖️ Surviving an illness gives you immune memory to fight it better next time
• 💉 Vaccines train immune memory safely without real weapons that risk damage
• 🥋 Vaccines are a safer 'dojo' than real infections to gain immunity
• 🌟 Vaccines tap into immune memory creation more productively than nature
• 😎 Overcoming disease for good is possible if humanity works together

Q & A

What happens in the body when you get sick?

When you get sick, your body activates an immune response, releasing signals like cytokines that trigger sickness behaviors like fatigue and loss of appetite. Your body also breaks down muscle to fuel the demanding immune response.

Why can getting sick make you weaker?

Activating a strong immune response places great demands on the body, burning calories and amino acids. In weakened patients, just keeping the immune system going can overtax the body's capacities. The immune response can also cause collateral damage like scarring.

How can your immune system damage your own body?

Immune cells like neutrophils release harsh chemicals to kill invaders that can also damage healthy tissue. Infections themselves release toxins and cause tiny wounds in organs. Repairing this damage can leave non-functional scar tissue.

Why is each person's immune system unique?

Everyone has a slightly different immune system that's stronger or weaker against certain pathogens. This spectrum protects humans from being wiped out by any one disease.

What are the risks of relying on "nature's dojo" for immunity?

Getting sick to gain natural immunity can lead to scarring, permanent organ damage or even death. You never know how severe an infection will be based on your unique immune response.

How do vaccines tap into the immune system's memory?

Vaccines mimic disease to train immune memory without real infection. This creates memory cells ready to respond if the real pathogen arrives later, for milder illness.

How can vaccines provide better immunity than nature?

Vaccines are engineered to optimally engage immune defenses. The resulting vaccine-induced immunity can be better than natural immunity gained from fighting actual disease.

What are limitations of vaccines?

No vaccine provides 100% protection. Pathogens can mutate quickly to evade vaccines. Some people also respond less effectively to vaccines and gain less immune memory from them.

How has medical progress impacted disease mortality rates?

Thanks to progress over the past century in areas like sanitation, vaccines, and treatment, humanity has made dramatic strides against infectious disease and related mortality.

What can individuals do to boost immunity without risk?

Getting vaccinated allows people to safely train immune defenses against disease without real infection. This builds protective memory cells to fend off pathogens.