The Hidden Link Between Trauma, Immune Health And Cancer Prevention

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We live in a world that we are designed to survive in, with built-in mechanisms that enable our bodies to survive. This includes the existence of a vast collection of germs (pathogens), including viruses, bacteria, and parasites, or unicellular organisms like yeast, fungi, and amoebas, our bodies are exposed to continuously.

The Body’s First Lines Of Defense

What prevents us from getting infected by these germs? Our first line of defense is biochemical and physical. Skin keeps bacteria out, and the sebaceous oil glands in your skin keep it moist so it does not crack, and lose its protective abilities.

The body’s openings to the world — your mouth, nose, eyes, vagina, urethra, and bladder — all have protection against germ invasion. Your eyes make tears, which contain lysozyme, a natural antimicrobial enzyme that causes bacterial cell walls to dissolve. This is why you walk around with your eyes wide open, yet you rarely get eye infections.

Saliva contains lysozyme and mucins, which are heavily glycosylated proteins causing the sliminess of saliva. Mucins coat bacteria and prevent them from attaching to and entering your cells.

Likewise, spermine in the semen sterilizes seminal fluid. The vagina, urethra, and bladder also have mucous membranes bathed with antimicrobial secretions including lysozyme and mucins. In the sinuses and lungs, mucus traps germs, while the little wavy tails of ciliated cells move material in the lungs up into the throat, where it is swallowed and digested in the stomach.

Symbiotic bacteria in the gut and vagina help digest food, make vitamins (including vitamin K, which helps in blood clotting), and prevent gut and vaginal infections by outcompeting pathogenic organisms. This is why it is important to take probiotics when you take antibiotics. Certain probiotics even help protect your skin and prevent acne.

The Immune System Is Your Back-Up Defense System

Your immune system is the backup plan if germs get through your physical and biochemical defenses. The immune system is composed of white blood cells and proteins that circulate through the body to eliminate anything it sees as foreign, including germs, cancer cells, tissues, and objects that are not made in your own body. The immune system has multiple layers of defense.

1. PATHOGEN GETS EATEN BY AMOEBOCYTES. When germs first enter your body, the first layer of immune defense is the amoebocytes — single cells that are like little amoebas. When they encounter a germ, they surround and engulf it, digest it, and spit out the pieces, like little PacMan cells. They are found in every tissue in your body, and usually clear up an infection in one to three days.

2. KILLED BY NATURAL KILLER (NK) CELLS . If a virus gets into the body and the PacMan cells did not clear them on day one, then the virus will invade the body’s cells by taking over the cell’s replication system, multiplying, and spreading. Infected cells fight back by releasing Type 1 interferons, which activate NK cells to kill infected cells before they can manufacture too many viruses. This forces the infected cells to flag themselves so they can be easily recognized, which is how NK cells track cancer cells so well. While the body is producing cancer cells all the time, NK cells are destroying them as soon as they are formed.

24 hours after a traumatic shock, the number of NK cells circulating in the body dramatically drops by half. This explains why 24-48 hours after a traumatic shock, people often get sick with viral upper respiratory infections. Since NK cells also detect and kill cancer cells, when NK cell function is inhibited by trauma, it can allow cancer cells to survive, take root, and grow.

The theory that severe traumatic shock could predispose one to getting cancer was originally proposed in 1981 by Dr. Ryke Geerd Hamer following his own testicular cancer diagnosis a year after his son was killed. Dr. Tad James, a pioneer in the field of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, reported that he found cancer to occur one to three years after a third major loss trauma.

How long does it take for NK cell function to recover after a traumatic experience? For a single, acute instance of severe psychological or physical trauma, NK cell function typically returns to normal baseline levels within 1-24 hours, while recovery from severe, prolonged traumatic stress can take several weeks to months.

3. BODY ACTIVATES KILLER T CELLS, HELPER T CELLS AND B CELLS. If the virus is still in your body three to seven days later, it triggers T cell and B cell activation to start multiplying and killing that type of germ with antibodies. Unfortunately, psychological trauma, chronic stress and malnutrition inhibit these cells from properly multiplying, creating antibodies, and clearing tumor cells, weakening the body’s natural anti-cancer immune surveillance system. It typically takes 14 days to month a full antibody response. If a person is malnourished or stressed, it can take 30 days or longer.

4. MEMORY B CELLS. After the infection is out of the body, the T and B cells specific for that germ die off. However, some of the T and B cells specific to that germ remain as memory cells, which can live for decades. If the body ever encounters that germ again, the body mounts a complete immune response within three days, preventing that infection from ever getting started.

How do vaccines work? They expose the body to parts of the germ to stimulate the body to make antibodies and prevent infection. With the immune system now primed to react rapidly, later exposure to the germ results in no infection, or in the case of flu or COVID vaccines, a milder infection.

Why Is Trauma An Ongoing Problem?

A traumatic experience is one in which the body perceives it is in danger (physical or emotional) and triggers the fight/flight/freeze reflex to ensure its survival. Because this trigger is a reflex, it can be conditioned such that anything that was in the environment at the time can be associated with that memory. Later on, these environmental cues can trigger the original reflex reaction (like a body flashback), resulting in a traumatic reaction, even when nothing dangerous or upsetting is occurring in the present moment.

Survival is a good thing. The problem is that the trauma memory lasts long after the original event is over because it remains stored in the nervous system unless it is specifically cleared directly from the body. Even a single trauma in early childhood can be triggered over and over again throughout a person’s whole life, seriously undermining one’s immunity response.

This could explain the results of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study, published in 1998, and conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Kaiser Permanente. The study found that the more trauma a person experienced in childhood, the higher the risk of chronic diseases (cancer, heart disease), mental health issues (depression, suicide attempts), and behavioral problems (alcoholism, drug use, smoking).

Recommendations To Support Your Immune Systems

Consider taking care of your immune system proactively as part of your daily wellness regimen with these recommendations.

SUPPLEMENTS: A vitamin regimen consisting of a good B vitamin complex, vitamin C, vitamin D, and pycnogenol (an antioxidant that boosts your immune system), plus phytonutrients, which are the colored compounds in fruits and vegetables.

TRAUMA TREATMENT: Use body-oriented psychotherapy techniques that release trauma memory directly from the nervous system; energy psychology techniques such as Natural Bio-Destressing (a meridian tapping technique similar to Emotional Freedom Technique); TAT (Tapas Acupressure Technique); AIT (Advanced Integrative Technique), and TWR (Transformative Wholistic Reintegration). EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) techniques are also very effective.

DESTRESS. Use any of the techniques mentioned above or meditation daily to calm the nervous system. For serious or ongoing trauma, consider reaching out to a professional for training and support.

Judith A. Swack, Ph.D., is a biochemist/immunologist, Master NLP practitioner, mind/body healer, best-selling author, and leader in the field of Energy Psychology. Dr. Swack is the originator of Healing from the Body Level Up® (HBLU®), an innovative and powerful healing methodology. Her latest book is Clear Trauma Now: A Powerful Solution for Getting Unstuck. Visit www.hblu.org

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