Autoimmune Conditions Are Just a Label for a Body Out of Balance
“I’m sorry to tell you the tests indicate you have X…”. Fill in the blank – multiple sclerosis (MS), lupus, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), celiac, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Graves disease . . . “Let’s talk about ways to manage it, medication options, your next visit . . . “ and so begins the typical spiral into the modern healthcare industry resulting in expensive medications, regular doctors’ visits, ongoing testing, and a label you then carry for life.
In fact, the symptoms you are experiencing are just a sign of your perfectly designed body being out of balance and desperately trying to right the ship. You can heal – and reverse the condition – if you find the root cause of the problem, and give your body the support it needs to recover.
Avoiding the Limelight
The three categories of illness that get all the attention these days are cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. They are the top killers (besides medical interventions themselves) but millions more people are suffering from a barrage of miserable and often debilitating symptoms. They might include any combination of digestive problems, allergies, asthma, brain fog, depression, skin problems, hair loss, headaches, infertility, joint/muscle pain, insomnia and more.
Perhaps you suffer in silence or perhaps you’ve been visiting different doctors for years, many of whom tell you there’s nothing wrong, as standard blood tests often appear “normal”. But then finally you hear those words and get your label assigned. You may even feel some comfort and justification that there is a name for what’s wrong with you.
These types of conditions have been rising sharply the last two decades with around 50 million people¹ in the US alone diagnosed with at least one – and if you have one autoimmune condition you’re at high risk for another.
Part of the reason it’s not getting more attention is the specialization of care in conventional medicine which treats them as separate diseases. You go to a neurologist for MS, a rheumatologist for RA, a gastroenterologist for celiac or Crohn’s, an endocrinologist for Hashimoto’s or Graves… and if you have more than one condition, you’ll be managing multiple doctors. There’s actually over 100 different autoimmune conditions but they’re not well understood by conventional physicians.
The labels serve to identify which medications are approved for use but otherwise are fairly meaningless.
There’s actually more similarities than differences between each of them. They’re all warning signs of a disordered immune system and a red flag of what’s to come if steps aren’t taken to reverse the process and restore balance. A pill is not going to do it.
Downsides of the Medical Route
The side-effects of medications for autoimmune conditions are common and often more disruptive than the condition itself.
First you’ve got the anti-inflammatories: NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories) like Advil, Aleve (naproxen), and Motrin (ibuprofen). These are used for all types of pain and inflammation, including joint or muscle pain and headaches. However, they can really wreck your stomach.
You may start with gas, heartburn, nausea, constipation or diarrhea and eventually vomiting and stomach pain. You may not even tie these symptoms back to the over-the-counter meds you start popping.
I had a back injury in my teenage years and carried around a huge bottle of naproxen prescribed by a doctor which has probably contributed to my ongoing digestive weaknesses even today. Twenty years ago another doctor told me he thought I had lupus and prescribed a similar pill. I had wised up by then and that was the last conventional doctor I consulted.
Next, your doctor may add steroids like Prednisone. You feel great when you first get on a steroid and assume it must be working; life is worth living again. But in fact it’s just suppressing your immune system, reducing symptoms. Steroids often lead to weight gain, increased blood sugar, mood swings, sleep problems, heartburn, acne and muscle cramps. But it’s the slow damage that you don’t see every day that is the real concern like cardiovascular and increased cancer risks linked to long-term steroid use.
If you wind up at a specialist, you might get put on one of the so-called Disease-Modifying Anti-rheumatic drugs like CellCept, Enbrel, and Methotrexate (a particularly nasty drug that is also considered chemotherapy to treat cancer). Specific side-effects differ for each drug and individual but include: a risk of serious infections, decreased red and white blood cell counts, bruising and excessive bleeding, fatigue, swelling of limbs, lymphoma, skin cancer, high blood pressure, heart failure, hepatitis, nervous system problems, anemia, hair loss, shingles, mouth sores, and irreversible lung damage.
Basically they are interfering with the natural processes in your body including DNA repair and cell replication. The side-effects are just manifestation of more imbalance created.
Finally, you may be prescribed a Biologic drug, like Humira which interferes with how your immune cells communicate with one another – just another compound trying to trick nature. But more nasty side-effects ensue including hepatitis, tuberculosis, full body bacterial infections, allergic reactions like hives, swollen face, numbness or tingling in your joints, blood problems, liver problems, headaches, and increased risk for cancer.
So what do you do instead?
Autoimmune conditions can be crippling. People have been known to commit suicide from the pain and disability. But there is hope. You can heal and restore vitality no matter how advanced your condition or how poor the prognosis you’ve been given.
Getting the Body Back in Balance
It does require a full lifestyle adjustment and a whole bunch of patience.
You have to get to the root cause(s) of what is going on potentially thinking back through months or years of when certain symptoms first arose. The culprit(s) and combination of issues vary by individual and your process will rival a great murder mystery. I provide a lot more detail in my book, How to Be a healthy Human, but here’s a few pointers to root causes and associated remedies that come up most often:
A damaged digestive system is one of the most common culprits and may take years to manifest. Essentially the walls of your intestines may be leaking substances into your bloodstream, perhaps toxins, but also unfriendly microbes and partially digested food. Your body’s reaction is creating your symptoms. Heal your gut and prioritize your microbiome to find relief.
Pharmaceuticals can contribute to leaky gut, especially antibiotics which disrupt the microbiome and can lead to yeast overgrowth (candida) and SIBO (small-intestine bacterial overgrowth). Steroids, acid-blocking medications, and birth-control pills are other common offenders. Limit medications as much as possible, although low-dose naltrexone (LDN) is an old (cheap) drug that seems to work with the body and is especially useful for autoimmune conditions.
Gluten is a huge contributor to autoimmune conditions. Even if you don’t think gluten upsets your stomach it can be creating havoc in your body. Cutting out gluten entirely can make a massive difference. Grains in general can be a problem, as well as legumes and nightshade vegetables. Cutting these all out can be a temporary solution while you heal and could be slowly introduced back later when your body is working better. Serious autoimmune conditions can respond really well to a keto or carnivores’ diet because of the difficulty in digesting healthy carbs when your gut is impaired. We can develop temporary sensitivities to just about any food though so cast your net wide.
Both physical stress like a lack of sleep or illness, but also emotional trauma and family pressures can contribute or exacerbate autoimmune symptoms. Prioritizing stress relief is a must. Get help for past trauma that may have been forgotten in your consciousness but your body remembers.
Ongoing infections can be a root cause and need to be addressed before healing can begin. Viruses like Epstein Barr (think mono in your college days) hide out in your organs. Lyme disease (bacterial in nature), candida overgrowth (fungal) or mold in your house or workplace are common culprits. Maybe a parasite you picked up from some bad sushi. Perhaps you have deep-seated infections in your gums or mouth. Addressing any and all infections using natural herbs and remedies is often the best place to start.
From personal care items, home furnishings and workplace chemicals, to the food and medications you put in your mouth. Beyond infections your mouth may harbor toxic heavy metals like mercury in fillings. Aluminum is another common adversary, in cookware but also added to vaccines precisely to excite your immune system to respond to whatever pathogen is being addressed. There is much evidence to suggest that the rise in the quantity of vaccines consumed has led to the massive rise in autoimmune conditions. Eating fast-food or shelf-stable ultra-processed food will unbalance your body in double-time as you are replacing nutrient-rich whole food with chemicals your body can’t process.
Often an underlying perpetrator that accelerates the impact from the items above, as your body doesn’t have the means to detoxify itself and fight infections. Eating a whole food anti-inflammatory diet is the most important priority. But individual deficiencies should be addressed with high quality supplements as well. Vitamin D is a good place to start as critical for optimal immune function. Niacin and vitamin C are also top contenders. Probiotics and/or fermented foods will help restore the microbiome and address leaky gut.
Autoimmunity can show up in all sorts of guises. It implies the body is attacking itself when in fact the body’s perfect complexity is trying to restore health. We need to help it along the journey and not keep adding to the burden.
Resources: Visit EmmaTekstra.com/Solutions for a range of resources, all independently compiled.
