Six ways you can help your immune system

If you didn’t have a functioning immune system, simply brushing your teeth would introduce enough harmful bacteria into your bloodstream to kill you. Luckily, your immune system protects you from these common, everyday bacteria.

Sight unseen, your immune system cells are constantly gobbling up bacteria and blocking viruses from invading your cells. Like your heartbeat or your digestion, the immune response is a function you don’t control. But there are plenty of things you can do to lend a helping hand.

1. Good hygiene. The first line of defense is to keep germs at bay by following good personal hygiene habits. Stop infection before it begins and avoid spreading it to others with these easy measures:

• Wash your hands with soap and water before preparing food and after using the bathroom.
• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you sneeze or cough, or cough into your elbow rather than your hand.
• Wash and bandage all cuts. Any serious cut, or animal or human bite, should be examined by a doctor.
• Do not pick at healing wounds or blemishes or squeeze pimples. Doing so allows germs to enter.

2. Vaccination. Many serious infections can be prevented by immunization. While some common side effects, such as a sore arm or low fever, may occur, vaccines are generally safe and effective. Consult your health care provider regarding your immunization status. In general:

• Children should receive the recommended childhood vaccinations.
• Adults should make sure their vaccinations are up to date.
• Travelers should get any necessary additional immunizations.

3. Food safety. Although most cases of food poisoning are not life-threatening, a few may lead to serious medical conditions, including kidney failure and meningitis. You can prevent most cases of food poisoning in your household by preparing and storing your foods safely. The following precautions will help kill germs that are present in the food you buy and help you avoid introducing new bugs into your food at home:

• Wash your hands with soap and water before and after each time you handle a raw food.
• Rinse all meat, poultry, and fish under running water before cooking. Rinse all fruits and vegetablesunder running water before cooking or serving them.
• Separate raw foods and cooked foods, and never use the same utensils or cutting boards with cooked meat that were used with raw meat.
• Cook foods thoroughly, using a meat thermometer to ensure that whole poultry is cooked to 180° F, roasts and steaks to 145° F, and ground meats to 160° F. Cook fish until it is opaque.
• Defrost foods only in the refrigerator or in the microwave.

4. Healthy travel. If you are planning a trip, ask your doctor if you need any immunizations. Discuss your travel plans with your physician at least three months before you leave. In addition:

• If you are traveling to an area where insect-borne disease is present, take and use an insect repellentcontaining DEET. In many tropical regions, mosquitoes can carry malaria, dengue, yellow fever,Japanese encephalitis, and many other serious infections. In many parts of the United States, ticks in meadows and woods carry Lyme disease or other diseases.
• Avoid getting any unnecessary shots, immunizations, or even tattoos abroad. Needles and syringes (even the disposable ones) are reused in some parts of the world.

5. Clean water. Some countries do not follow stringent standards of water safety. If you have any doubt about the food or water while traveling, take these precautions:

• Do not consume ice while traveling. Freezing does not kill all infectious microbes.
• Drink only bottled drinks — such as soft drinks or bottled water — that have secure caps. Be aware that some fruit juices contain impure local water.
• Boil all tap water before drinking or drink only bottled water; use bottled or boiled water to brush your teeth.
• Do not eat uncooked vegetables, including lettuce; do not eat fresh, uncooked fruit you have not peeled yourself.
• Do not consume dairy products (milk may not be pasteurized).
• No matter where you are, avoid drinking untreated water from lakes and streams, which can contain disease-causing organisms from human or animal waste. If you must drink the water, bring it to a rolling boil for one minute to reduce the chance of infection.

6. Safe sex. The only sure way to prevent sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) is to not have sexual intercourse or other sexual contact. But the next best choice is to follow these safer sex guidelines:

• Engage in sexual intercourse only with one partner who has been tested and who is having sex only with you.
• Use a latex or polyurethane condom or a female condom every time you have sex.
• For oral sex, use a latex or polyurethane male condom or a female condom.
• For anal sex, use a latex or polyurethane male condom.

· Changes in urine – When to see the doctor

· Urine is simply excess water and waste products that your kidneys filter from your blood. Its color usually ranges from pale yellow to deep amber, depending on its concentration — the proportion of waste products to water. That, in turn, depends partly on how much fluid you consume.

· For the most part, we pay little attention to urine, unless it looks or smells unusual. A surprising number of things can affect the color and odor of your urine. The most common ones are harmless and temporary, including foods, vitamins, and certain medications. But sometimes changes in urine signal a medical problem, which may range from relatively benign (a urinary tract infection) to serious (kidney or bladder cancer). Here are some suggestions on when you can relax and when you should consult your clinician.

· Vegetables, fruits, and vitamins

· Beets, blackberries, and rhubarb can temporarily turn urine pink or red, which can be alarming, because it may be mistaken for blood. The pigment that gives beets their deep magenta color is stable only at certain levels of stomach acidity and is usually too faint to show up in most people’s urine. The phenomenon — dubbed “beeturia” — occurs in only about 10% to 14% of the population. Even if you’re in that select group, eating beets won’t always have a visible effect, because the acidity of your stomach (and therefore your urine) depends on when you ate and what else you ate. Rhubarb can also turn urine dark brown or tea-colored, as can fava beans and aloe. Carrots, carrot juice, and vitamin C can color urine orange, and B vitamins can turn it a fluorescent yellow-green.

· Asparagus sometimes gives urine a greenish tinge and a distinctive smell. Why this occurs is a matter for speculation. Some blame it on the sulfur-containing fertilizers used on asparagus plants (there is no record of the vegetable changing urine odor before such fertilizers were introduced). Others suggest that only people who carry a particular gene break down the sulfur-containing proteins in asparagus that release the odor. Still another view is that the smell of everyone’s urine undergoes a change, but only some of us notice it. The current consensus seems to be that some of us produce smelly urine after eating asparagus, and some of us do not, while some can detect the odor and some cannot.

· Medications and medical problems

· Various prescription and over-the-counter medications can change the look of your urine. So can certain medical conditions, most commonly urinary tract infections (UTIs), which affect about half of all women at least once during their lives. The mucus and white blood cells associated with UTIs can turn urine cloudy and cause an unpleasant odor. Symptoms also include a frequent and urgent need to urinate, burning pain with urination, and abdominal pain. Contact your clinician if you experience these symptoms, which usually disappear quickly after you start oral antibiotics.

Medications associated with changes in urine color
Color of urine	Medications
red	senna (Ex-Lax), chlorpromazine (Thorazine), thioridazine (Mellaril)
orange	rifampin (Rifadin), warfarin (Coumadin), phenazopyridine (Pyridium)
blue or green	amitriptyline (generic), indomethacin (Indocin), cimetidine (Tagamet), promethazine (Phenergan)
dark brown or tea-colored	chloroquine (Aralen), primaquine (generic), metronidazole (Flagyl), nitrofurantoin (Furadantin)

· UTIs can also cause blood in the urine (hematuria). If the amount is very small, the urine appears normal, and the blood is visible only under a microscope. Larger amounts can cause urine to appear pinkish, red, or cola-colored.

· Another possible cause of hematuria is kidney stones — hard, crystalline masses ranging in size from a grain of sand to a pearl that form within the urinary tract or kidney. A stone may cause hematuria if it irritates the ureter (the tube that carries urine from the kidney to the bladder). Kidney stones can also cause extreme pain in your back or side, and fever, chills, and vomiting, for which you should seek immediate medical attention. But most stones will pass out of the body without medical intervention.

· Hematuria can also result from an injury to the upper or lower urinary tract (for example, in a car accident or bad fall). Strenuous exercise (especially running) can sometimes cause hematuria because the repeated jarring damages the bladder. Less common sources of hematuria are bladder cancer and kidney cancer or other kidney disease — so be sure to check with your doctor if your urine appears reddish for no apparent reason.

source: havard medical school