The 48-Hour Rule
The 48 Hour Rule: Two days after doing something significant I typically feel like hell.So there is a thing that we refer to in my household as The 48-hour Rule. It basically means that roughly 48 hours after you do a health thing -- such as throw out papers, take a giant pile of supplements, etc -- you will feel really bad, worse than you did the day after.
If you are at all athletic, this should not be shocking news to you. Everyone acts like I am some weirdo just making crap up but the reality is that this is "common knowledge" in some circles, or so internet replies to me suggest. Unfortunately, I cannot track down the reply I have in mind, though I have tried.
So you will just have to take the word of my son's email, below, and whatever sources he bothered to cite that I am not simply making up random bullshit here, I guess. (The closing paragraph is on another topic, but I'm leaving it here anyway.)
Neutrophils are a kind of white blood cell found in the blood stream that hunts down and destroys bacterial infection. Unfortunately, it prioritizes simple sugars (Which includes glucose, fructose, sucrose, honey, and orange juice) over attacking bacterial infection, and so simple sugars can effectively harm your immune function.
Starch doesn't suffer from this, even though starch is actually made of sugars itself, being a chain of sugars where simple sugars are made of individual sugar molecules.
Neutrophils are, themselves, the disposable front-line of the body: they're far more common than other white blood cells but also have a shorter lifespan, and after they've absorbed an infectious agent they're designed to signal to other white blood cells to come consume them. Their three means of attack are: consuming and then isolating a cell to then bombard it with peroxides and other tools for disrupting cell integrity (Phagocytosis), tossing out toxins designed to destroy a cell's outer membrane (Degranulation), which is less safe than the first means as it can damage nearby friendly cells, and thirdly creating chains ("web-like", according to the neutrophile Wikipedia page) that stick to, trap, or block off passage to cells; the chains themselves contain 'poisonous' elements that break down cells on contact, making them directly destructive and prone to 'friendly fire'. (NETs, or Neutrophil Extracellular Traps) NETs are the primary tool for fighting fungal infection, though they're also used against bacterium. NETs also are prone to inducing blood clots! Notably, the wiki says: "Due to the charged and 'sticky' nature of NETs, they may become a problem in Cystic fibrosis sufferers, by increasing sputum viscosity. Treatments have focused on breaking down DNA within sputum, which is largely composed of host NET DNA."
Notably, the process of cell consumption involves attacking the devoured cell with hypochlorous acid, which is a weak acid that forms when chlorine breaks down in water. So basically one of the things you'll find in a typical swimming pool. Even though the chlorine is ostensibly the primary means of purging infection from swimming pools, I have to wonder if it's really a coincidence that hypochlorous acid is in swimming pools and is used by neutrophils to attack consumed cells.
Another notable point is that chemotherapy is ruinous to your neutrophil counts, which is part of why it leaves you dangerously vulnerable to infection.
SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE OF FORTY-EIGHT HOUR RULE: The Macrophages Wikipedia article notes (Under phagocytosis) that Neutrophils arrive at a site, consume infection, and forty-eight hours later produce signals that draw macrophages to them to then destroy them and their contents. Macrophages themselves have two 'active' forms: M1, and M2. M1 is the traditionally understood hunter-killer mode that seeks out infectious agents and destroys them, while M2 is instead a mode that discourages inflammation, promotes wound recovery, promotes regrowth of vascular epithelial growth/repair (ie blood vessel walls), and otherwise assists the body in self-repair. Notably, macrophages normally transition from M1 to M2 after the local infection has been dealt with. I say 'normally' because are are circumstances under which this can fail to occur, such as if the neutriphils in the area are impossible to consume for some reason, resulting in ongoing deleterious effects on the area.
Another forty-eight-hour rule thing is related to muscle repair: after you've exercised significantly or otherwise suffered serious muscle damage, macrophages swarm the area in two waves. The first wave peaks at around 24 hours after the event, and sharply drops off in its presence at forty-eight hours. The second waves shows up after that and works on muscle repair, with 2-4 days afterward being their peak, though their counts can remain elevated for several days afterward.
Yet another forty-eight-hour rule thing is general injury: initially a wound is mobbed by neutrophils, but two days after the initial wounding macrophages move in and do various things to encourage regrowth.
Macrophages are also important to regulating iron content in the body, and will store excess amounts in themselves.
Interestingly, macrophages in the intestines are very different from macrophages in the rest of the body -to avoid killing useful gut flora- though the only specific info I was able to get is that they don't induce inflammation.
The body will actually actively withhold iron when systemically infected in an attempt to slow growth of the invaders, as they need iron to get energy. (Iron metabolism Wikipedia link, down under 'bacterial protection')
Typhoidal salmonella is theorized to be protected against by cystic fibrosis' abnormal CFTR gene. (Source. When they mention 'Typhi Salmonella', that's typhoid salmonella) Also protects from tuberculosis, according to the same article.
