History of the Lymphatic System and Why No One Seems to Know about It

Way back in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, there were many papers written about "a milky, white substance" found deep within the body. Lymph fluid is a milky, white substance when it is mixed with fat cells, but usually lymph fluid is a yellowish colour that you can see when you burst a blister or have a weeping wound.

These writings were documented in Ayurvedic (Indian) medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, and Greek and other European writings. The study of the lymphatic system never gained any momentum back then, because when they tried to extract the fluid for testing, the very small, fragile vessels would break. They became impatient with this and found an alternative: veins. Using the veins, they could extract blood and then study it under microscopes, which led to many discoveries. Thus, the study of the circulatory system came about, and most medicine and diagnostics are based around finding out what is in the blood.

Between the 1960s and 1980s, an Australian husband-wife team called Casley-Smith made ground-breaking work with the lymphatic system by using certain techniques to reduce swelling in the limbs. These are still taught today. They also started a lymphology association to assist in addressing these issues.

From the 1970s to 1990s, Dr. Vodder, a Denmark-born remedial therapist, brought lymphatic massage training to North America: first Canada and later the United States. His technique is the main technique still taught worldwide today.

In 1980, the Foldi Institute in Germany began research, treatment, and education of patients and professionals on the lymphatic system.

The lymphatic system is the largest system in the body and, as you read, has been skimmed over time and time again throughout history. No one really took any notice of its importance until the 1960s. You may well ask yourself, "Why don't I know anything about it?" or "Why doesn't my doctor know about it?" Well, that is a fairly easy question to answer.

You might only learn about the lymphatic system when or if it becomes "broken," and maybe not even then. I will cover this later.

If it does become "broken," there is no cure. It will remain that way for life.

There are no prescription medications that will assist in its functioning properly again, and there are only a few surgeries that will address chronic cases. There are some experimental surgeries being performed, but surgery generally creates more damage to the lymphatic system because of the effects of internal scarring.

This is where food and education for management begin.

As a lymphatic therapist, I treat patients with broken lymphatic systems and educate them on how to manage their condition, to the best of my knowledge and with the products that are available.

Management demands knowledge of anatomy, lymphatic aids such as compression garments and herbs, skin care, exercise, self-massage, and infection control. Travel and diet advice is also important, which should be provided by a specially trained lymphoedema therapist.

What I would like to see is education, beginning with this book, for stopping or deterring this system becoming broken in the first place. In some patients, this is unavoidable, but in the majority of people, it can be achieved with the right information and early intervention.

The lymphatic system has two main functions: waste removal and immune-system building.

Waste Removal

The lymphatic system is similar to your average plumbing system. As a therapist, my aim is clearing out fluid from larger pipes, so when I start moving fluid from smaller pipes, it has someplace to go.

Let's begin with the circulation system.

The circulation system consists of your arteries, veins, and capillaries. The blood is pumped around your body by your heart under blood pressure, similar to a watch battery that makes the hands move and the watch tick.

Veins are parallel and have valves that open and shut to move the blood around and prevent backflow. When a valve becomes broken, the blood will backflow slightly. This is called a "varicose" vein.

When the blood is pumped out of the heart, it needs to be re-oxygenised and cleaned in order to keep the major organs working properly. Some of this fluid seeps into the area between cells. Because cells are round, there are gaps in between, and this is where this fluid goes. Then it is picked up by the lymphatic system.

The lymph collectors soak up the fluid like little mops and buckets and begin transporting the fluid to lymph vessels.

Lymph vessels act similar to veins. They have valves that open and close when the fluid builds up, which moves the fluid on. However, unlike the circulation system, lymph fluid is not moved around by the heart but by smooth muscle that is attached to the walls of the lymph vessels. The muscle contracts and expands from movement, and this pushes the fluid on to its next port of call. Movement and breathing move lymph fluid around your body, and just like a watch without a battery, if you are not wearing the watch and put it away in the cupboard, it ceases to tick. This is the same with the lymphatic system. If you cease to move, it will too. It stops working during surgery and when patients are in a coma. There are special mattresses for comatose patients to lie on so their lymph fluid moves.

Lymph vessels are similar to a spider web. They are approximately the same size and strong yet fragile. They sit just under the surface of the skin. This forms the superficial lymphatic system, and it covers you from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. It is this system that is mainly treated by a lymphatic therapist. Remember that whatever you put on your skin or in your mouth will find its way to the lymphatic system for screening and cleaning.

When the lymph fluid has been picked up by the lymph collectors, the little mops and buckets, and transported to the lymph vessels, it goes along specific pathways to lymph nodes. Lymph nodes look and filter like little kidneys.

There are approximately 600 to 1,500 lymph nodes in your body, and just because someone is bigger than another, it doesn't mean he has more lymph nodes. (A horse has fewer lymph nodes than a dog.) It is all based around when you were coming through the Pearly Gates and God was handing out lymph nodes as to how many you were given. It has just been discovered that the lymphatic system is individual to each person, just like a fingerprint is.

Lymph nodes sit at various locations in the body and can range in size from pinheads to olives, depending on their location. They are found behind the knees, in the groin, in the elbow, under the armpits, down the side of the neck, and underneath and along the clavicle bone; the majority are found in the deep abdominal area. The dirty fluid that consists of dust, hormones, pollutants, dead cells, cell debris (particularly from surgery), viruses, excess proteins, and heavy metals enters the lymph node, where it is cleaned and screened, then exits the other side to continue moving through lymph vessels onto the next station.

The items that cannot be cleaned and sent back out the other side need to be held in the germinal centre of the lymph node like a little vault. These items are cancer cells, heavy metals, and proteins.

After all the cleaning and screening has been done from each section, which happens between six and twenty times per minute — six times during rest and up to twenty times during exercise — the fluid is moved through to the deep lymphatic system.

The superficial lymphatic system drips into the deep lymphatic system, similar to water that seeps through rock in an underground cave, by way of the greater omentum.

The greater omentum sits across your stomach and can be stretched out to several meters long if removed. It concertinas up to fit in and contains many lymph nodes and vessels. The lymph fluid drains into the deep lymph nodes, which are located around the pelvis and lumbar area for women, leaving the birth canal free, and around the prostate and lumbar area for men. The dirty lymph fluid goes into a reservoir called the cisterna chyli, where it is expelled through the kidneys. The clean lymph fluid runs up the thoracic duct and dumps back into the circulatory system by way of the internal left jugular vein, where it begins its journey back around the major organs.

To make a comparison, I will talk about it like the plumbing system.

After we go to the toilet, we flush, which sends water into the bowl, pushing the waste through a number of smaller pipes to larger and larger pipes until it eventually ends up at the treatment works. The solid products are treated and dissolved and go back to the ocean. This is how the waste side works in the lymphatic system.

Just imagine your body is like the toilet system. If your toilet gets blocked, sometimes with tree roots or someone flushing something they shouldn't have, the waste has a difficult time getting through the pipes. (In our bodies, we call it constipation.) If the waste comes back out of the toilet, we call this reflux. If the waste generally has an unpleasant odour, this might be bad breath, heavily coloured or stinky urine, or body odour. If there is a pipe that could burst, this resembles bloating. If the waste seeps into the yard, this will be like having diarrhoea. If any of the toilet problems did happen to you, I'm quite sure you wouldn't just leave it. You would call a plumber because everyone wants a working toilet, right?

This should be the case with your body, too. It needs to be assessed in order to prevent more complications. In medicine, they only treat the symptoms; something to ease the constipation. Well, maybe there is something else causing the constipation. They may only treat the reflux; maybe there is something else causing the reflux. Most times body, breath, or urine odour isn't bought to anyone's attention to be addressed, and this would be the same with bloating; maybe a good burp will help fix that. You may need to look a little closer to what your body is trying to tell you.

If you are experiencing any or all of these symptoms, it is your body's way of saying your lymphatic system and digestive system are under pressure. You need to get to the bottom of the symptoms (excuse the pun), and I generally start with food.

If we have a poor diet, our system reacts, causing a whole host of digestive issues.

Digestive Issues Checklist

• reflux

• colic

• bloating

• burping

• gas

• diarrhoea

• constipation

• extreme body odour

• darkened urine with odour

• bad breath

• coated tongue

• pimples

Ways of easing digestion is not only choosing the right foods for you but also what you put with the foods, where you eat the food, and when you eat the food.

Try to eat foods and drink fluids at room temperature, warm or hot; this prevents the stomach muscles going into spasm when something cold goes down and prevents mucus build-up.

You can add "warming foods" to salads like cracked black pepper, lemon juice, chili, cilantro, or coriander. Cinnamon, ginger, and cumin are warming spices and can be added to cold desserts to warm them up.

Try eating fruit prior to a meal, because the acids may help to break down foods. If you have issues eating bread, try toasting it.

Where you eat and when is important also. Eating regular, small meals (breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and supper – no later than three hours prior to going to bed – keeps the digestive fire burning); it is equally important to sit in a comfortable, relaxing place, without the distraction of phones or computers while eating. Chew slowly, and notice the aroma, flavour, and texture of what you are eating or drinking.

Red meat can take up to forty-eight hours to digest and requires a large amount of water to break it down; this can clog digestion and lead to dehydration.

These are just some of the dietary issues connected with a poorly functioning lymphatic system; I will go further into this later on.

Digestion and Lymphatic Waste Test

Eat corn kernels, medium diced capsicum, or passion fruit seeds, swallowing them whole, not chewing prior, and then see how quickly your digestion works by noticing when it comes out via the bowel. A good digestion would take approximately eight to twelve hours. It is not a quick digestion, when you need to go after twenty minutes of eating something; this means that it hasn't agreed with you.

If you take a vitamin supplement with a fluorescent in it, like Vitamin B, you can see how long it takes to work through your kidneys when you go to urinate; if you're not taking a supplement with a fluorescent, you can eat asparagus. This will work the same way, only notice the smell when you urinate. This will indicate how fast your lymphatic flow is. A good flow would be four hours to have clear or odour-free urine.

You can also see how long the colour or smell stays around; this will indicate how hydrated you are, urine should be as clear as possible, the more yellow-brown your urine is would indicate that you are very dehydrated.

Most people I encounter are dehydrated due to one reason or another; they may not drink enough water, they may be on fluid tablets, or they may eat foods that are high in salt. When these people try to start drinking water, it is usually short-lived because they get fed up with going to the toilet and urinating all the time. I'd like you to think of it in another way. If you have a potted plant and don't water it for many months, you will notice the soil shrinking away from the sides of the pot. If you try to water the plant, the water will simply run off. What needs to be done is to sit the plant in a basin of water for it to slowly absorb the water and become saturated again. If you start by drinking a cup of water after you have had a coffee or tea, you will start to slowly increase your fluid amount each day. You can gradually add a cup of water to your midmorning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, and dinner, and you will have increased your fluid intake slowly. If you do go to the toilet more frequently, I find this will start to subside after approximately three weeks, when your cells have started to uptake the fluid.

Hydration helps with detoxifying through urination and regular bowel movements, and it may assist with regulating body temperature. Hydration doesn't just come from water or drinks; it can come from the following foods:

apples
bananas
blueberries
broccoli
broth
cabbage
capsicums
carrots
cauliflower
celery
cucumbers
eggplant
grapes
lettuce
melons
mushrooms
oranges
peaches
pineapples
plums
strawberries
tomatoes
yoghurt
water ice blocks made with fruit

This is your waste removal side of the lymphatic system; next we will look at the immunity side.

No. 2 Immune Building

If we get injured or sick, it is our lymphatic system that comes to the rescue. I like to think of it like a knight in shining armour.

These knights in shining armour are called white blood cells and killer T-cells.

In order to produce these cells, we have lymphoid organs to help out. Our bodies have approximately three litres of lymph fluid; the fluid contains white blood cells and is made in our first lymphoid organ, bone marrow. It then seeps into the area between the cells, where it is picked up by the lymph collectors, the little mops and buckets, and released into the lymphatic system for distribution.

The cells are then stored in these lymphoid organs, ready for when invaders come in to attack our system and cause us problems. White blood cells and killer T cells act similarly to Pac-man, gobbling up the invaders trying to destroy us. Lymphoid organs include bone marrow, tonsils, thymus, spleen, Peyer's patches and appendix.

Bone Marrow

Produces red blood cells and platelets for the circulatory system and white blood cells, which are the basis of lymph fluid. This fluid is the crucial component in fighting off foreign invaders coming into the body and supporting the body's health.

You can see what lymph fluid looks like when you have a blister and burst it. The yellow sticky fluid which flows out is lymph fluid.

Tonsils

These lymphoid organs are the first point of contact for any viruses trying to enter through the nose or the mouth. They will become sore, red, and inflamed, alerting you to fix this problem before the virus goes further into the body. In the old days, surgeons used to take them out because they didn't have an understanding of how important they are. Nowadays, they have a little more understanding and are not as quick to schedule their removal. However, due to the superbugs we have around today, the tonsils can't fight viruses off like they used to.