Treating Autoimmunity With Wisdom
Treating autoimmunity with conventional medicine can feel like a nightmare. Return to a common sense approach that treats autoimmunity at the root cause.
There are 80 autoimmune diagnoses. We treat most of them. The most common are:
- Celiacs Disease
- Addison’s Disease
- Hashimoto’s
- Graves Disease
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Rheumatoid Arthritis
- Sjogren Syndrom
- Lupus
Symptoms of Autoimmunity
Autoimmune symptoms can be confusing and seem disconnected. Because autoimmunity is a result of excess inflammatory chemicals in the blood, symptoms can appear all over the body.
Primary Symptoms:
- Skin Breakouts
- Swollen Glands
- Strange Body Pains
- Rashes
- Reoccuring Fevers
- Hair Loss
- Digestive Issues
Secondary Symptoms:
- Muscle Weakness
- Migraines
- Nausea
- Memory Loss
- Dry eyes and mouth
- Numbness & Tingling
- Skin Breakouts
- Rapid Heartbeat
The Root Cause of
Autoimmunity:
Chronic Inflammation
Autoimmunity happens when the immune system becomes overwhelmed, creating antibodies that accidentally attack our own body tissues. The real question is, why?
Inflammation is a normally occurring process in the body. However, with excess inflammation over a long period of time, the immune system becomes overwhelmed and confused. It begins attacking the body tissues instead of real invaders like viruses and bacteria.
The good news is, almost all sources of inflammation are lifestyle related, and can be reversed without medication.
You can think of this like a glass of water…
Glass Of Water Analogy
The Autoimmune Spectrum
Autoimmunity is not a black-and-white genetic diagnosis. It’s also not a disease that you can “kill.” Autoimmunity is the result of excess inflammation over long periods of time, and you can move up and down the spectrum of autoimmunity based on the inflammatory markers in your blood.
Lower-severity autoimmune conditions are correlated with lower overall inflammation, whereas more severe autoimmune conditions indicate higher levels of inflammation. You can move up and down that spectrum depending on your overall inflammation, which is why symptoms of autoimmune seem to mysteriously disappear and reappear. It’s also why if you have one autoimmune diagnosis, you are 2-3x more likely to receive a second(1).
Treating Inflammation:
A Common Sense Approach
Wisdom doctors treat autoimmunity primarily by reducing inflammation, and regulating the immune system. This is a fundamentally different approach than conventional medicine, which typically ignores the lifestyle factors of inflammation, and seeks to suppress the immune system.
We start by measuring inflammation by measuring C-reactive protein, IgA, homocysteine, and sedimentation rate through a simple blood test. After we get base inflammation rates, we help you identify the major sources of inflammation through an in-depth health questionnaire.
Once we reduce your inflammatory markers, our doctors also help you regulate the immune system. This is often done through advanced, individualized supplementation that target your specific issues. It’s crucial to take an individualized approach to supplementation for immunity, rather than blasting it with over-the-counter products.
SOURCES OF INFLAMMATION:
1. Hidden Food Sensitivities
Some food allergies create immediate, intense bodily reactions such as a severe peanut allergy. However, most people live with food sensitivities that go unnoticed. These are lower-grade immune reactions that often don’t occur for hours or days after you eat, making them difficult to detect. Fortunately, we can now run advanced tests for food sensitivity if you suspect you have one.
2. Gut Dysbiosis / Bacterial Imbalance
Everything you eat is processed by your microbiome; they eat what we eat. Different strains of gut bacteria produce different chemicals, which means the makeup of your biome is almost as important, if not equally important, as what you eat. When your gut biome is out of balance, it can transform food that is usually non-inflammatory, and create excessive inflammatory chemicals sent into your blood.
3. Infections
Previous viral infections like Epstein Barr, cytomegalovirus, and herpes simplex can become reactivated leading to chronic inflammation. These infections can be identified and dealt with by your Wisdom doctor.
4. Chronic Stress
While short-term stress exposure can be healthy (think exercise), lower levels of ongoing stress can exacerbate inflammation. Chronic stress has been proven to create inflammation and is linked to nearly every major chronic health issue, including autoimmunity.
5. Toxic exposure
Long term exposure to mold, pesticides, heavy metals and other environmental toxins can contribute to inflammation. These can be tricky to identify and treat, and should be done under the care of a doctor.
6. Metabolic Dysfunction
Eating highly processed foods combined with a lack of exercise can lead to obesity which can contribute to overall inflammatory levels.
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