Everyday Immune Resilience
From my fav Dr. Datis Kharrazian, DC PhD
Because autoimmunity can create such a diversity of immune responses, it’s important to take this into consideration if you want to take herbs, medicinal mushrooms, or other botanicals that influence the immune system.For instance, in some autoimmune patients, immune stimulating botanicals such as echinacea or maitake mushrooms can actually flare up their immune system and make their autoimmune symptoms worse. These people tend to be TH1 dominant.
At the same time, botanicals that stimulate delayed immune responses, such as antibody production, can make other autoimmune patients worse. These people tend to be TH2 dominant. TH stands for T helper cell, with TH1 being the immediate immune response and TH2 being the delayed immune response.
In my thyroid book and brain book I explain this concept more, but in a nutshell, some autoimmune people are TH1 dominant and some are TH2 dominant.
Compounds that stimulate TH1 and *may* be inappropriate for a TH1-dominant person but helpful for a TH2-dominant person:
Astragalus, Echinacea, Beta-glucan mushroom, Maitake mushroom, Glycyrrhiza (from licorice), Melissa Officinalis (lemon balm)
Compounds that stimulate TH2 and *may* be inappropriate for a TH2-dominant person but helpful for a TH1-dominant person:
Caffeine Green tea extract, Grape seed extract, Pine bark extract, White willow bark, Lycopene, Resveratrol, Pycnogenol