The most common description of autoimmune disease is that it is a condition that occurs when the “body
attacks itself”. This definition doesn’t even begin to encompass what autoimmunity really is. This disease is
much more than inflammation caused by body “attacking itself”.
The fact is that an autoimmune condition doesn’t just
“happen” to you. It is both passively and actively created by your lifestyle and the greedy practices of food
manufacturers, who lace your meals with toxins. You eat, drink, and expose your way to immune dysfunction. With little exception,
everything you put into your mouth, your surroundings, and even the air you breathe is either making you healthier or sicker.
How much control can you actually
have
over immune dysfunction?
Let’s consider “the sunburn analogy”
When was the last time that you had a sunburn? At that time, did you
consider your sunburn a terrible disease over which you had no control? Of course not! Most likely you accepted the
sunburn as a natural consequence to prolonged sun exposure.
Although painful, the burn was not a mysterious malady of unknown
origin, but your body doing exactly what it was designed to do under those particular circumstances.
I am sure you realize that the answer to not walking through life
with red, irritated, or blistered skin is protecting yourself from the sun’s damaging rays. Keep your skin in
a safe environment and you will avoid the pain that a sunburn brings.
Autoimmunity is a lot like a sunburn. It is also a natural consequence
brought about by certain conditions in the environment. Only in this case, I am referring to the internal environment of the
body.
The often painful result is the immune system turning against the
body’s own tissue. Controlling those circumstances is more complicated than simply avoiding prolonged sun exposure,
but they can be controlled. The goal is to change the internal environment and by doing so, avoid the pain caused by the immune
system turning against the body.
A Natural Occurance
What you may or may not realize is that autoimmunity occurs naturally
in everyone to some degree. In an ideal environment, the cells that are capable of attacking the body's own tissue are kept
under control by the body itself.
If the body's environment falls out of balance, it can cause dsyfunction
and breakdown of its internal safety mechanisms; causing the body to mistake itself as an enemy.
Just as your genetic make-up can cause greater susceptibility to burning
in the sun, your genes can make you more susceptible to autoimmunity. However, genetics do not guarantee that you will develop
any type of autoimmune disease.
According to the researchers at the University of Utah, genetics aren't
everything. In the case of identical twins, when one twin develops Multiple Sclerosis, there is only a 30% chance of the other
(genetically identical) twin also being diagnosed with the disease. A separate study showed the incidence of lupus between
identical twins even lower at 24%. With Rheumatoid Arthritis, there is a 1 in 4 chance.
Why does one twin get sick and not the other the majority of the time?
It is the same as one redheaded, fair-skinned twin who went out in the sun and got a sunburn, while the other avoided sun
exposure and did not get burned. The answer is the environment. The twins with MS, lupus, and arthritis had allowed an internal
environment that was conducive to autoimmunity.
According to immunologist, Dr. Jesse Stoff, there are four key things
that damage the body’s internal environment (terrain). They are:
• poor eating habits and nutrition
• man-made
toxins in our environment
• disease causing organisms and the toxins they produce
• trauma on
the immune system from things like x-ray radiation and cross country flights, and stress.
The immune system, like most of the body, requires balance to function
properly. T-helper 1 (Th1) cells and T-helper 2 cells (Th2) help regulate the body’s response to foreign invaders.
Th1 uses white blood cells to go after viruses and cancer cells. Th2
immune cells use antibodies to go after bacteria.
Normally, the body strikes a balance by switching back and forth between
Th1 and Th2. In a person with an autoimmune disorder, one dominates and suppresses the other.
Trans fats, mercury and other heavy metals, sugar and processed foods,
alcohol, lack of sleep, lack of exercise, and stress are part of a modern lifestyle that can disrupt the Th1/Th2 balance.
Autoimmune Disease and Women
Th1 dominance in women is associated with autoimmunity and recurrent
miscarriage in the first trimester of pregnancy. Additionally, children in the autism spectrum tend to be Th1 dominant.
Besides autoimmunity, Th2 dominance is characterized by a tendency
toward allergies, frequent colds and viral infections, and cancer.
Both Th1 and Th2 cells make a protein substance known as cytokines.
Cytokines cause inflammation.
Cytokines are a necessary part of our immunity. Inflammation
should be a temporary response to injury or infection. It is the over-production (too many) of certain small cytokine molecules
that leads to the invasion and inflammation of an organ or body system.
Changes in the Brain
In the brain, cytokines can cause behavioral changes. They can either
prompt or worsen depression, anxiety, or anorexia. They may cause a person to become withdrawn.
Cytokines create fatigue and interfere with sleep patterns. They are
one thing responsible for what has been termed “brain fog.”
Autoimmune conditions are named or categorized according to where in the body cytokines are being
overproduced and how the disease manifests itself.
For example, an overproduction of these cytokines in the joints causing pain and swelling is
called Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). It may go by different names and occur in different places in the body, but ultimately,
autoimmunity is one disease with many different faces.
Because immune system cytokines are the culprit, the most
common conventional treatment for autoimmune disease is immunosuppressive drugs, like steroids. Steroids are used because
they are able to suppress the over-productive cytokines.
Unfortunately, the steroids don't just stop the over-active part of the immune system, they also
suppress the already under-active segment of the immune system.
This practice is not unlike the use of chemotherapy, which poisons the good and the bad cells
of cancer patients. Steroids can also affect your mood and cause depression, muscle weakness, osteoporosis, high blood pressure,
and diabetes.
Is Your Diet to Blame?
Your diet plays a major role in activating or suppressing cytokines. I can't stress this
enough. Just about anything you put into your mouth will have a negative or positive consequence on your autoimmune condition.
It is as if everything that you swallow is sending a signal to your immune system to either cause
more cytokines or less.
