What is autoimmune disease and what are the symptoms?
According to Wikipedia, autoimmune disease is,“a condition arising from an abnormal immune response to a normal body part.”Since there are over eighty different kinds of autoimmune diseases and almost any body part at all can be effected, it can be difficult to pinpoint at first. The body’s immune system can either be overactive or underactive. In cases where the immune system isoveractive, the body attacks its own tissues, often damaging them. When it’s underactive, vulnerability to further illness and infection increases. Symptoms vary and may fluctuate, but typically involve some type of fatigue and perhaps a low grade fever. No cause is known for sure, but such autoimmune diseases as lupus are known to run in families while others like psoriasis, celiac disease, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, Graves disease, vasculitis, and multiple sclerosis may be triggered by environmental factors.
What are the standard treatments?
Standard medical treatment ultimately depends upon which type of autoimmune disease you have. If you’re diagnosed with an overactive immune system, treatment is generally focused on suppressing the immune system back down to normal levels. Immunosuppressants, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and intravenous immunoglobin may be used. Although symptoms of the disease may decrease with treatment, a full cure is rare.
Now for the alternative practitioners’ perspective.
From a more holistic standpoint, since most disease is caused by a combination of nutritional deficiencies and an overload of toxins, autoimmune diseases are approached the same way. According to Dr. Mark Hyman of the Functional Medicine Department of the Cleveland Clinic, “Autoimmune conditions are connected by one central biochemical process: A runaway immune response also known as systemic inflammation that results in your body attacking its own tissues.” So, by essentially finding and eliminating what is causing the inflammation in your body, most forms of autoimmune disease can be resolved.
The numbers are staggering
Hyman states that there are a staggering 24 million people with autoimmune disorders, 30 million asthmatics, and 60 million people with allergies in this current epidemic. With the symptom of inflammation, he knows that your body is “fighting something — an infection, a toxin, an allergen, a food or the stress response — and somehow it redirects its hostile attack on your joints, your brain, your thyroid, your gut, your skin, or sometimes your whole body.”
Looking at the whole person, not just the symptoms
When attempting to heal the body’s immune system, such functional medicine doctors would initially assess the diet and adjust as needed, typically removing anything genetically engineered, any refined sugars, and anything containing unnatural or chemical ingredients. Then the household would be considered as well, removing any cleaning fluids with toxic ingredients, examining drinking water for pollutants, etc. Emotional and other stressors and allergies would also be included in the assessment. Nutritional supplements would be provided if deficiencies were found and lifestyle changes made if necessary.
Leaky gut would be an initial specific consideration in such an assessment since the body often responds to an overload of toxins with inflammation — in this case, of the intestinal tract. When inflamed as such, sometimes undigested food particles slip through the intestinal walls and get into other parts of the body which puts undue stress on the immune system. If left unchecked for too long, it can result in such problems as organ damage and overall systemic inflammation.
Functional medicine approaches this with a unique mapping process unknown to traditional medicine. This process is conducted in order to identify a source of “molecular mimicry” says Hyman, which allows them to discern which molecule the cells in question are “mimicking,” or, loosely, the body’s inability to distinguish itself from itself.
Overall, if you’ve got trouble with autoimmune disease, Dr. Hyman recommends trying out his treatment regimen, listed here:
- Check for unknown infections of any kind, such as bacteria, yeast, Lyme, etc., and treat them with your doctor.
- Check for hidden food allergens with using recommended functional medicine methods designed to eliminate most food allergens.
- Get tested for celiac disease by requesting a blood test from your doctor. Do not change your diet before the test or it may alter results.
- Ask your doctor for a test for heavy metal toxicity including mercury.
- Optimize your gut’s microbiome using methods illustrated on the Functional Medicine website.
- Up the probiotics and vitamins C and D, as well as fish oil.
- Get sufficient daily exercise.
- Get into meditation, yoga, massage, or other relaxation work.
Now Hyman predicts if these steps are taken, you will have identified and treated the root cause of your illness rather than just masking the symptom with prescriptions or pain meds. Have you considered trying alternative methods for your autoimmune disease?
*Be sure to give your physician a visit first to make sure these treatments are right for you.
