3 things you ought to know about autoimmune diseases but may not
Immune dysregulation is at the heart of autoimmune conditions. It is deeply connected to the health of your gut.
Traditional healing systems like Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine have known about this concept for centuries. They have been following this principle while dealing with chronic diseases.
Yet, this extremely important connection in your body is only now being understood properly by modern science.
The primary role of your immune system is to assess and tolerate and react only when appropriate
That means a healthy, balanced immune system should be choosing to tolerate threats a majority of the time. This would help it to respond when needed in a timely and appropriate manner.
There are 3 things that I would like to share with you here.
1. The connection between your microbiome and immune health
Your gut is host to thousands of species of microbes (parasites, yeast, fungi, bacteria) residing in an ecosystem known collectively as the “microbiome“. They all compete for space and nutrients inside your gut.
You need to nourish and feed this ecosystem (a highly regulatory human organ) so that you can enjoy optimal health.
When you properly nourish and feed yourself (and your microbiome), your immune system is also primed to be balanced and tolerant by the microbes in your gut.
About ⅔ rds of your immune system resides in your gut and is called the Gut Associated Lymphatic System (GALT). The health of this immune system depends on the health of your gut.
Your microbiome does many things but as far as your immune health is concerned,
-it plays a key role in the initial development of the immune system
-keeps pathogenic infections under control
-promotes tolerance to human tissue
-facilitates ongoing communication between your gut and your immune system
This is why, when you have an imbalanced or unhealthy microbiome, your immune health suffers.
2. Chronic immune dysregulation and symptoms
Your immune system should be able to respond to any kind of threat in an appropriate manner.
At the same time, it should neither be under responsive nor over responsive to foods that you eat and your body’s own cells. In this, your microbiome plays an important role to keep your immune system from getting out of control.
Autoimmune disease is a progressive disease that has vibrant health at one extreme end and a degenerative state at the other. This is known as the autoimmune spectrum. And immune dysregulation is underneath this disease progression.
The thing is, when we are in the beginning stages of an autoimmune disease, there may not be any obvious symptoms. This means that we can suffer from autoimmune damage long before we are diagnosed. Or even before we notice any major symptoms.
I have written more about this topic in an earlier post and you can read it here.
The good news is that you can take the necessary steps to move towards a more balanced and healthy immune system.
3. Symptoms are often the last straw
Symptoms occur when the body is not able to deal with the tissue damage being caused by the immune system. However, our bodies give us enough signs to let us know that something is wrong and needs our attention.
These are in the form of common but not normal symptoms like headache, anxiety, insomnia, depression, constipation, bloating, fatigue. Unfortunately, we often accept these symptoms as “normal” and we tend to ignore them.
You should neither accept these symptoms as “normal”, nor neglect and try to suppress them with medications.
These symptoms are your immune system’s way of sending you a message. It is letting you know that there is an underlying imbalance or mechanism which needs to be addressed.
There is nothing wrong with taking medications for managing severe symptoms occasionally. However, we need to tune into and be able to look for the hidden “gift” in them.
Your immune system is constantly reacting to all kinds of threats every second of every day. It does this without your knowledge. And inflammation is a natural response of your immune system as it responds to a threat.
Inflammation becomes a problem only when it becomes excessive and chronic
Inflammation will continue if the threat remains. It is necessary for defense, repair, and healing.
Oxidative stress is a mechanism by which the body produces free radicals as it takes in oxygen to create energy. It occurs every day due to normal functioning like breathing, digesting food, countering stress.
Our bodies deal with oxidative stress with the help of antioxidants from the foods we eat.
However, it can become a problem when there is excessive inflammation. This can lead to more oxidative stress than the body can handle. And can lead to tissue damage if left unchecked.
When enough tissue damage has occurred, organ dysfunction begins and eventually progresses into organ disease.
Most people get a diagnosis at this point of their disease progression.
You just don’t develop a chronic disease out of the blue. Chronic disease progression does not happen overnight
There is much that you can do to stop the disease progression by addressing immune dysregulation. And it starts with creating a healing environment and laying the foundations of good health.
If you would like to know how to do this, schedule an APPLICATION CALL using the link below!
As Tracy Harrison has said-
Your body is an exquisitely evolved and sophisticated organism that is responding to the environment that you are asking it to live in
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“Autoimmune Disease 101” is a carefully curated and comprehensive collection of carefully selected books, podcasts, websites, blogs, and other resources from the field of Functional Medicine with a focus on autoimmune diseases.
The Functional Medicine model of care for chronic diseases seeks to answer the question “Why do you have this disease” so that you can get personalised and effective care for your unique condition.