Alternative Health Supplements and … Your Thymus

When it comes to discussion of hormone production and regulating biological functions, many people's minds move immediately to the brain. It is true that as the "Chief Executive Officer" of the body, the brain plays a large role in regulating our bodily functions. But, just like a real manager, it can’t be everywhere at once! When it comes to regulating your immune system, one of the key middle managers that the brain uses is the thymus, a gland located close to your heart. It is this gland that many alternative health products target when they are aiming to build up immune function. Today we get intimate with one of the most important glands in our bodies -- the general that wages war against foreign bodies.

What does the thymus look like, and where is it?

The thymus is located close to the heart, just behind the breastbone. You may actually be familiar with this from your dinners ... animal thymus glands are known as sweetbreads when they are used in cooking, and considered a delicacy. In children the thymus is grayish-pink in color, in adults it is yellow. It reaches peak mass at puberty, usually around 27-30 grams, and shrinks to around 6 grams by age 75.

What does the thymus do?

Here is where this little lump of lobules starts getting interesting! You have probably heard of T-cells, especially if you have ever known somebody with cancer. T-cells are so named because they are produced by the thymus gland. The thymus gland is responsible for creating and maturing thymocytes or T cells.

Although the thymus shrinks as we age (because a store of T-cells is built up early in life), the thymus still continues to play an important role in immune function even in the elderly.

Alternative health products to support your thymus

Most alternative health products which aim to support the health of the thymus use extracts of fresh healthy tissue from animal thymus glands. Tissue form the lymph nodes and the spleen is also included in many of the more respected brands, which are also involved in producing white blood cells under the charge of the thymus. A typical breakdown of these products is as follows:

• Thymic extract
• Lymph extract
• Spleen extract
• Goldenseal root
• Echinacea
• Cloves

Goodies from the Free Book on Natural treatment of Depression: All About the Zung Self-Rating Scale

One of the most difficult things about depression is how tough it is to diagnose. From the inside, people usually don't realize that they have clinical depression -- they think that they'll be fine as soon as one thing in their lives changes, or they attribute symptoms to a transient phenomenon. When depression is left longer without treatment, however, the neural pathways that are involved in depressed ways of thinking become more firmly entrenched -- and more difficult to break. One way of easily deciding whether it is time to see a doctor or investigate drug free treatment of depression, is using the Zung self-rating scale. We tell you all about it here.

The test

The rating scale was developed as a tool for initial self-diagnosis, or for a physician to initially diagnose depression, by William WK Zung. There is an adapted version of the test for anxiety, simply known as the Zung self-rating anxiety scale. The test has questions worded differently, at a ratio of half positively worded questions to half negatively worded questions. This helps to overcome the traditional bias that can be evident due to differing answering styles for quizzes.

The quiz itself is below.

ZUNG SELF-RATING SCALE FOR DEPRESSION	None or a little of the time	Some of the time	Good part of the time	Most or all of the time
1. I feel down hearted, blue and sad	1	2	3	4
2. Morning is when I feel the best	1	2	3	4
3. I have crying spells or feel like it	1	2	3	4
4. I have trouble sleeping through the night	1	2	3	4
5. I eat as much as I used to	1	2	3	4
6. I enjoy looking at, talking to and being with attractive women/men	1	2	3	4
7. I notice that I am losing weight	1	2	3	4
8. I have trouble with constipation	1	2	3	4
9. My heart beats faster than usual	1	2	3	4
10. I get tired for no reason	1	2	3	4
11. My mind isn't as clear as it used to be	1	2	3	4
12. I find it easy to do the things I used to	1	2	3	4
13. I am restless and can't keep still	1	2	3	4
14. I feel hopeful about the future	1	2	3	4
15. I am more irritable than usual	1	2	3	4
16. I find it easy to make decisions	1	2	3	4
17. I feel that I am useful and needed	1	2	3	4
18. My life is pretty full	1	2	3	4
19. I feel that others would be better off if I were dead	1	2	3	4
20. I still enjoy the things I used to do	1	2	3	4

The scoring key for the test is:

Below 50 = Within normal range, no psychopathology

50-59 = Presence of minimal to mild depression

60-69 = Presence of moderate to marked depression

70 & over = Presence of severe to most extreme depression

How to use the scale

Obviously, as you read through the questions, you'll notice that some of them are worded so that it might be difficult to give an accurate answer. For example, in the statement "I still enjoy doing the things I used to," your interests may have changed completely in the past few weeks or months, without any indication of depression. Temper the results with what you know of yourself.

Unconscious bias

Try to answer the questions as quickly as you can -- give an intuitive answer. If you are unsure of the results, have a physician administer the test, and give them your qualifications to any answers you feel might not represent you properly.

Alternative Health Products

Look into drug free methods for treating depression if you feel that you are mildly depressed -- and don’t forget common sense preventive actions like getting some exercise, even if you rate under 50.