Autoimmune disease
It's more common than you think
Autoimmune disease affects about one in ten people and women are 80% more likely to have it than men! But what is it exactly? Although you may not know about autoimmunity you’re probably familiar with conditions like psoriasis, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, lupus, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, etc. These are all autoimmune diseases. There are over 100 different types of autoimmune disease and new definitions are expanding to include things like migraines, endometriosis and Lyme disease. It’s hard to diagnose and therefore, the average person with autoimmunity sees four doctors before they receive a diagnosis🤯. We can only imagine what it tells us about how many people (particularly women) are walking around with autoimmunity and don’t even know it.
Autoimmune disease occurs when our immune system attacks your own healthy cells and tissues by mistake. Normally our immune system is there to attack unwanted viruses, bacteria, etc. 🦠 With autoimmunity our immune system can no longer decipher foreign harm from the healthy body. When this happens an excess of inflammation is created. Last week we looked at just how harmful uncontrolled and chronic inflammation can be.
What causes autoimmunity
In her book The Autoimmune Cure, Dr. Sara Gottfried posits that all autoimmune disease is the result of three things:
🧬Genetic predisposition
Intestinal permeability (leaky gut)
💥A trigger (trauma)
Luckily, she also posits that much of autoimmunity is reversible through diet and lifestyle changes. Given the causes of autoimmune disease it’s no surprise Dr. Gottfried’s approach to reversing it is via healing the gut and processing trauma. Both healing leaky gut and overcoming trauma are huge topics in and of themselves but some of the key protocols she points to include elimination diets (temporarily) and various stress management and healing therapies such as meditation, 12-step programs and psychedelics to name a few.
If you’re someone struggling with an auto-immune disease or think you might have one I recommend reading her book and reaching out to a function medicine practitioner.
Warm regards,
Donelle