Dealing with Autoimmune Conditions

There's been a huge rise in autoimmune conditions over the last decade, and it's now predicted that around 250 million people are diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, with many, many, more suffering undiagnosed or with chronic inflammatory conditions.

I blame our pace of life. We race around desperately trying to squeeze every last minute of the day, fuelling our bodies with rubbish, stealing from our sleeping hours, living with stress, and when we finally accept that we are fatigued we use caffeine or sugar to trick the body into thinking it can do a little more.

If you're interested in learning how to slow down and step out of the race for just a few minutes each day, then sign up for my free mindfulness course by clicking here. It's a small suggestion for a simple habit that you can introduce to your day, each day for 21 days.

This type of chronic stress (physical, chemical or emotional) can lead to long term damage to the body, in fact, there are over 100 different recognised autoimmune diseases and chronic inflammatory conditions, including:

• Brain dysfunction - like Multiple Sclerosis or Guillain Barre Syndrome

• Blood disorders - like lupus

• GI conditions - like Crohn's disease, celiac, ulcerative colitis etc...

• Nervous conditions - like peripheral neuropathy and fibromyalgia

• Thyroid conditions - such as Grave's disease or Hashimoto's thyroiditis

• Bone conditions - like rheumatoid arthritis and polymalgia rheumatica

• Skin conditions - like psoriasis, eczema, vitiligo and scelroderma

• Lung conditions - such as Wegener's Granulomatosis

• And many more!!

All of these conditions are caused by inflammation. Inflammation is a normal reaction with the body, to attack foreign substances, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites. Sometimes our bodies can over react to things that aren't dangerous though, such as pollen, dust, food particles and even our own body tissue. This tends to happen when our body has been in 'flight or fight' mode for extended periods of time - we start filtering all of our logic and reasoning through the amygdala and telling our bodies that we are in danger, even if we are not.

Chronic inflammatory conditions are always present in those with autoimmune diseases, but the same is not always true the other way around. For example, you can experience long term, chronic inflammation - such as a pollen allergy, inflammatory bowel disease or asthma - where the body over reacts and causes collateral damage to the bodies tissues, but not have an autoimmune disease.

Autoimmune conditions are defined by the body creating a specific antibody that will attack an enzyme or tissue that is actually a part of the body; such as in Hashimoto's disease when the body is producing an antibody which attacks the enzymes peroxidase or thyroglobulin which are produced by thyroid tissue.

The key to managing both of these conditions though, is developing immune tolerance. Teaching the body how to attack precisely invaders, without causing too much collateral damage, or attacking the bodies own tissues.

There are a few ways to do this, and I personally don't believe that one alone is particularly useful. It will take a multifaceted approach to get the best results.

The first approach is to eliminate sensitivities. Food sensitivities wreak gastro-intestinal havoc, disrupting gut bacteria, creating inflammation, preventing the gut from healing and reducing the availability of nutrients in the food you consume. Elimination diets are a great way to start working out what your sensitivities are, and can help you start to see relief from symptoms like migraines, asthma, eczema and digestive discomfort fairly quickly, but an elimination diet doesn't go far enough for my liking. I like to help my clients to also remove sensitivities from their homes. It's not just what you eat that affects your body. It's what you inhale and what you touch too. In fact, scientists have recently started calling synthetic fragrance the new second hand smoke!

If you're interested in my chemical free living classes (they're free) get in contact and I'll let you know when the next one is in your area.

The second approach is to fix a leaky gut. My GI protocol can help you with this, so get in contact if you would like me to coach you through this.

Balancing your blood sugar is the next key to managing autoimmune conditions. The most powerful anti-inflammatory chemical in our body is cortisol (you may have heard of this 'stress hormone'). The antagonist of cortisol is insulin, which causes a LOT of inflammation. Unfortunately, insulin is vital to pushing glucose into cells - if you eat a lot of sugar, or have high blood sugar levels, then your body will produce a lot of insulin to manage it, and the inflammation is collateral damage.

Increase your intake of glutathione is the next step. Glutathione helps to make toxins and free radicals (stored in fat) water soluble. This allows you to excrete them through urine. By helping to remove these substances from the body, we can reduce the stress levels the body is dealing with. Sprouted seeds are a great source of glutathione.

My final step is to optimise your vitamin D levels. Most people, particularly in the UK are vitamin D deficient, and it's almost universally acknowledged that if you have an autoimmune condition, you need more vitamin D.

In fact, the supplements that I would recommend for anyone suffering with chronic inflammation or an autoimmune disease would be vitamin D, glutathione, zinc, omega oils and probiotics. Not all supplements are created equal though, so don't be fooled into grabbing a cheap one at the supermarket. A good quality supplement is rarely cheap!

If you need help purchasing supplements, book an appointment and I'll help talk you through what you are looking for and the best ways to purchase them.