Auto-Immune diseases are on an alarming upward trend, with more than 150 now officially recognised.
Autoimmune Disease: A Disease Of The Immune System
The first thing to understand about autoimmune diseases is that they are a disease of the immune system. If you have an autoimmune disease, somewhere along the way your immune system went rogue and began attacking your own tissues. No matter what part of your body is under attack, the main culprit is your immune system. This means that in order to treat, prevent, and reverse autoimmune disease you’ll need to get your immune system back under control.
Under the current conventional medical system, autoimmune diseases are not recognized as diseases of the immune system but are treated as diseases of the particular organ that is being affected. What that means in reality is that if you are suffering from an autoimmune disease, you will see a specialist who focuses on the organ system that is being affected: a rheumatologist for rheumatoid arthritis; an endocrinologist for Hashimoto’s and diabetes, a gastroenterologist for celiac, ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s; and so on. If you have multiple autoimmune conditions, as many people do, you will see several different specialists, each of whom will likely prescribe a different medication. And, there is a good chance that none of these specialists will look at how to strengthen and support your immune system, which leads me to my next point.
You should be supporting, rather than suppressing, The Immune System
In conventional medicine, the belief is that once you have an autoimmune condition, there’s nothing you can do to reverse it, only ways to manage the symptoms. Managing the symptoms typically involves harsh medications that are aimed at suppressing your immune system. While these medications can be effective at reducing some of the symptoms of the disease, since they suppress the entire immune system, they are not without many unwanted side effects such as fatigue, weight gain, depression, increased infection rates and even cancer.
In contrast, functional medicine sees the body as a whole and works on the principle that the health of one system impacts the health and function of the others. Instead of focusing on disease symptom management, we focus on supporting and strengthening the immune system by getting to the root of why the immune system went rogue in the first place. While there is no known cure for autoimmune disease, it is believed that there are five key elements that are at the root of all autoimmune conditions:
1. Leaky gut
2. Gluten
3. Toxins
4. Infections
5. Stress
In order to heal yourself you would need to:
1. Heal your gut – under the supervision of your Functional medicine practitioner
2. Remove foods you are sensitive to – I recommend doing a Cyrex food panel, either
panel 4 or 10, depending on your specific condition. You can’t go wrong removing
gluten, grains and legumes as a start though.
3. Do the necessary tests for toxins and infections (including screening for mould)
4. Manage your stress
5. Maintain your program!
If you or someone you know has an autoimmune disease, or suspected autoimmune disease, please call 01444 410944 for a FREE 15 minute consultation with Dr. Lee
