We are facing an epidemic of allergic (60 million people), asthmatic (30 million people), and autoimmune disorders (24 million people). Autoimmune diseases include rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, celiac disease, thyroid disease, and the many other hard-to-classify syndromes in the 21st century.
An autoimmune disease is a condition in which your immune system mistakenly attacks your body. Your body’s immune system protects you from disease and infection. But if you have an autoimmune disease, your immune system attacks healthy cells in your body by mistake.
The immune system normally guards against germs like bacteria and viruses. When it senses these foreign invaders, it sends out an army of fighter cells to attack them. White blood cells.
Normally, the immune system can tell the difference between foreign cells and your own cells. In an autoimmune disease, the immune system mistakes part of your body — like your joints or skin — as foreign. It releases proteins called antibodies that attack healthy cells.
Some autoimmune diseases target only one organ. Type 1 diabetes damages the pancreas. Other diseases, like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, affect the whole body or joints.
Doctors don’t know what causes the immune system misfire. Yet some people are more likely to get an autoimmune disease than others.
Women get autoimmune diseases at a rate of about 2 to 1 compared to men — 6.4 percent of women vs. 2.7 percent of men (1). Often the disease starts during a woman’s childbearing years (ages 14 to 44).
Some autoimmune diseases are more common in certain ethnic groups. For example, lupus affects more African-American and Hispanic people than Caucasians.
Certain autoimmune diseases, like multiple sclerosis and lupus, run in families. Not every family member will necessarily have the same disease, but they inherit a susceptibility to an autoimmune condition.
Because the incidence of autoimmune diseases is rising, researchers suspect environmental factors like infections and exposures to chemicals or solvents might also be involved.A “Western” diet is another suspected trigger.
Eating high-fat, high-sugar, and highly processed foods is linked to inflammation which might set off an immune response. However, this hasn’t been proven. Another theory is called the hygiene hypothesis. Because of vaccines and antiseptics, children today aren’t exposed to as many germs as they were in the past. The lack of exposure could make their immune system overreacts to harmless substances.
Whatever the reason for autoimmune disease most people are given life altering drugs to help alleviate the pain and discomfort, unfortunately these medications often lead to other conditions developing and thus a cycle of disease and pain start to manifest.
It is my belief that we manifest these diseases ourselves through wrong dietary choices, or from stress which has been thrust upon us. Be it from an emotional trauma as a child,such as a death of a parent or as an adult such as a divorce, these are just two examples of emotional stress,of course.
A new study has raised the possibility that stress may cause autoimmune disease, such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, because it found a higher incidence of autoimmune diseases among people who were previously diagnosed with stress-related disorders.
There are many more, so if you are a person who suffers with an autoimmune disease I would urge you to look back at your life to when these conditions first came upon you.
Then ask yourself, was there any stressors in my life in or around this time, and if there was- I suggest you start to deal with them through counselling or whatever you feel will be useful for you and you might be surprised how your body will react on it.
Nine Steps You Can Start To Overcome Autoimmune Condition
- Check for hidden infections — yeast, viruses, bacteria, Lyme, etc. — with the help of a doctor, and treat them.
- Check for hidden food allergens with IgG food testing or just try The UltraSimple Diet, which is designed to eliminate most food allergens.
- Get tested for celiac disease, which is a blood test that any doctor can do.
- Get checked for heavy metal toxicity. Mercury and other metals can cause autoimmunity.
- Fix your gut.
- Use nutrients such as fish oil, vitamin C, vitamin D, and probiotics to help calm your immune response naturally. Eat more veggies and organic foods.
- Exercise regularly — it’s a natural anti-inflammatory.
- Practice deep relaxation like yoga, deep breathing, biofeedback, or massage, because stress worsens the immune response.
- Get optimal sleeping hours.
- Functional medicine, acupuncture & physiotherapy can provide a huge improvement.
If you have any questions- feel free to reach out!
It is extremely importanrt to identify and address the ROOT CAUSE of this disease.
I’m pulling out all the wisdoms to share what I know from years of helping thousands of people improve their health, and get back to living their best life.
