Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Channelopathy as an Etiology

I just ran across some interesting medical journal articles about something called channelopathy. This sounds like a strange word, like something from a fairy tale book but the word actually makes sense. The "pathy" in something means a disorder in the body while the "channel" part refers to the channels on the cell membrane. So channelopathy means there is disorders on the channels found on the cell. The main focus is on the ion channels, ions are electrically charged particles, this is also known as electrolytes such as magnesium, potassium, sodium and others.

The cell membrane are made up of certain types of fats that serve as the outer shell of the human cell. It acts as a structural piece but as also as a gate. This gate is like a door which lets things in but also lets things out. For instance, the cell may produce something (remember that cells do things, or perform tasks), they may produce a hormone like thyroid. That gate opens up on that thyroid cell and lets thyroid out into the bloodstream.

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Gates also let things in. For instance, you just ate some spinach. Spinach is just not spinach but has a whole host of things in that. We will look at magnesium as being one of those items found in spinach. Magnesium is a mineral which means it comes from the earth. Magnesium is pretty critical for human health and deficiencies of it show up in a number of disease such as cardiovascular, anxiety, high blood pressure and so on.

The gate (channel) opens and allows the magnesium into the cell. Magnesium is needed in the cell much like you need plastic to produce the widgets; without the magnesium, the cell does not work correctly which means you get sick.

There are many gates (channels) on the cell membrane. The researchers looked primarily at the ones controlling electrolytes. Electrolytes do many things including neurological, detoxification and energy production.

The researchers found these gates (channels) are damaged in a number of disease states that would be categorized as degenerative. Degenerative would be considered auto-immune, neurological problems and even cancer. There would be three possibilities the first would be a viral agent that is damaging the gates, the second would be a genetic problem and the last due to oxidative stress.
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There is not much you can do about the first two but the last one (oxidative stress) is largely the culprit. There is a good chance that reducing oxidative stress will take care of the viral issue and may not resolve the genetic defect but would allow the cells to act more normally).

Oxidative stress comes from a number of things including toxins found everywhere. Oxidation also comes from immune system activation and stress.

Anti-oxidants negate oxidants, if you reduce the oxidants then the gates work so you feel better. Nutrients are vital for proper functioning of the cells.

This article is for educational purposes only, this is not medical advice. If you have problems, consult your doctor first.