Autoimmune Diseases currently affect about 8.5% of the population and are a global health concern due to their chronic nature.

A healthy immune system protects itself from disease and infection by sending out innate and adaptive defenders to remove the invading pathogens from your body.

Autoimmune disease (AD) occurs when the immune system becomes confused and mistakenly starts attacking your own healthy cells instead of foreign pathogens. This self-reactivity may affect just one part of the body like Hashimoto’s disease which impacts the thyroid gland, or Psoriasis which impacts the skin. But the autoimmunity can also be systemic like in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) affecting the skin, bones, kidneys etc.

Of the more than 100 currently recognised autoimmune diseases, each has a variety of different symptoms making it tough to get a proper diagnosis.

Some symptoms commonly experienced by AD patients include:

inflammation and pain
fatigue
swollen glands
fever
headaches
skin rashes
stiffness or weakness in the muscles and joints
sensitivities to light, cold, touch and sounds

Studies have found that there is not just one trigger for ADs but that the immune system becomes confused over a prolonged period of time during which a variety of triggers combine to create a “perfect storm”.

Genes:

HLA-DR, HLA-DQ, HLA variants, CTLA-4, IL2RA, CD40, PTPN22, FOXP3

ADs can be genetic conditions that run in the family like rheumatoid arthritis or coeliac disease. Many variations in human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes predispose a person to AD. Whilst we cannot change our genes, we can influence the expression of those genes with our daily choices. Genes can be switched on or off based on our environment so don’t be disheartened by the fact that it runs in the family… diet, stress levels and toxins matter more!

Environment:

Diet, alcohol, cigarettes, toxic chemical exposures, stress, antibiotics, sunlight, nutrient deficiencies, hormones

By identifying and optimising the environmental factors impacting your day-to-day health, naturopaths can help you to decrease the severity of AD symptoms. I can help you to swap out inflammatory foods in your diet, educate you about ways to minimise the number of chemicals you are exposed to. Using various blood tests, hair tissue mineral analysis and stool testing I can identify what underlying factors may have contributed to your diagnosis and ensure the various contributors are addressed with an individualised approach specific to your needs.

Immune Regulation:

Vitamin D, gut microbiota, viral pathogens

Over 70% of your immune system lies in the gut, and your immune system activity is intimately linked to your microbiome (the community of bacteria, fungi and other microbes that live in your gut). These beneficial microbes work together to prevent pathogens from entering our body. But medications like antibiotics or steroids, certain foods and deficiencies of zinc or vitamin D can damage your microbiome leading to the permeability of the gut wall lining and predisposing you to inflammation. When this inflammation continues for long enough and severely enough it leads to AD onset.

I’ve been diagnosed, what can I do?

Naturopathic medicine practitioners have many treatment options available to support patients with autoimmune diseases. I can work with you alongside your medical professionals to minimise the harmful effects of immune-suppressing medications and offer you evidence-based natural options to alleviate symptoms like pain, skin rashes and fatigue.

By correcting nutrient deficiencies and supporting digestive health with probiotics we can repair your gut integrity. I can also check for hidden infections that may be compromising the delicate balance between beneficial and pathogenic bacteria in your microbiome and triggering intestinal inflammation.

I can teach you how to support your natural detoxification pathways with adequate exercise, quality protein sources, dietary fibre and plentiful water. This will enhance the elimination of chemical or hormonal burdens on your body reducing the stress placed on your immune system.

Ultimately, holistic health care is about individualised planning that is specific to you. Just as each person afflicted with eczema is unique and has a different combination of underlying issues, the treatment methods I apply to support them will be unique. These may include but are not limited to:

nutritional medicine
herbal medicine
dietary planning
nutrient supplementation
probiotics
lifestyle adjustments
stress reduction techniques
exercise therapy

Treating the underlying cause is the key to long-term wellbeing.

If you are suffering from an autoimmune disease book online now to see how you can benefit from working with me.

Book An Appointment

Sources

(Weinberg & Jennings, 2020)

(Ohkura et al., 2020)

(Shukla et al., 2018)

(Stojanovich & Marisavljevich, 2008)

(Leech et al., 2020)

(Khan et al., 2019)

Khan, H., Sureda, A., Belwal, T., Çetinkaya, S., Süntar, İ., Tejada, S., Devkota, H. P., Ullah, H., & Aschner, M. (2019). Polyphenols in the treatment of autoimmune diseases. Autoimmunity Reviews, 18(7), 647–657. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autrev.2019.05.001

Leech, B., McEwen, B., & Sekyere, E. O. (2020). Diet, digestive health, and autoimmunity: The foundations to an autoimmune disease food pyramid - Part 2. Alternative and Complementary Therapies, 26(4), 158–167. https://doi.org/10.1089/act.2020.29287.ble

Ohkura, N., Yasumizu, Y., Kitagawa, Y., Tanaka, A., Nakamura, Y., Motooka, D., Nakamura, S., Okada, Y., & Sakaguchi, S. (2020). Regulatory T Cell-Specific Epigenomic Region Variants Are a Key Determinant of Susceptibility to Common Autoimmune Diseases. Immunity, 52(6), 1119-1132.e4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2020.04.006

Shukla, S. K., Singh, G., Ahmad, S., & Pant, P. (2018). Infections, genetic and environmental factors in pathogenesis of autoimmune thyroid diseases. Microbial Pathogenesis, 116(December 2017), 279–288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micpath.2018.01.004

Stojanovich, L., & Marisavljevich, D. (2008). Stress as a trigger of autoimmune disease. Autoimmunity Reviews, 7(3), 209–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autrev.2007.11.007

Weinberg, S. E., & Jennings, L. J. (2020). HLA and autoimmune diseases. Advances in Molecular Pathology, 3, 207–219. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yamp.2020.07.016