Auto = self
Immune = protection
Disease = something ain’t working as it should!
Examples include rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, coeliac, psoriasis, ‘fibromyalgia’, CFS, Crohn’s, and more.
A lot more. Most don’t really get diagnosed as they’re not so easy to do so and many have a vast range of symptoms from none to debilitating.
But what’s actually going on? What the hell are these and what do they have in common?
Well, the body is attacking itself. It’s a civil war and that makes people feel like crap. This is grossly oversimplified but it’s a decent way of looking at it.
Your body is at war.
Our bodies are complex organisms and the key to auto immunes typically lies with the villi. These are the gatekeepers in your intestine that determine what we absorb and what we pee and poop out. They’re clever, and when they work, they work really well.
For example, if you need a little more of a certain protein or vitamin, the villi say, okay cool, you’re coming into the bloodstream. If you don’t need it, they say nope, not interested, carry on!
But they’re also delicate and can get damaged.
If they get damaged they can allow stuff to pass through into your bloodstream that they shouldn’t. Typically this isn’t a big problem as our body recognises them and deals with them.
But some stuff, particularly certain proteins don’t get noticed and stay…
The ones that don’t get noticed usually look similar to our own proteins. This is called molecular mimicry.
However, once they pass through the blood-brain barrier and into our nervous system, which is super smart they get noticed.
And THIS is where all hell breaks loose. The body says ‘oi’, you’re not meant to be in here and starts off a chain reaction attacking not only what got in but also itself.
This is the key mechanism for autoimmune diseases.
Essentially, if you’ve got a war going on inside your body, it’s going to knacker you to say the least. Think inflammation, tiredness, and exhaustion.
And how does the medical profession treat it?
Usually… drug therapy is to treat the symptoms.
After a bunch of ‘tests’
But what about treating the cause?
Perhaps that’s a smarter way…. What about if the villi in your intestines were given the chance to heal themselves?
Is this possible? It depends. In most cases, yes. However, it depends on what caused the damage.
Now, there can be numerous causes ranging from genetics (both expressed and otherwise), trauma, diet, and a bunch of other factors.
Maybe, just maybe… giving them a rest will help.
Consider this. You go to your doctor and start banging your head on the wall giving yourself a headache.
Which solution is best for a long-term outcome of no headache?
1. A painkiller
2. Stop banging your head on the wall.
Right.
So now we move into modalities for allowing the villi to heal (and they won’t always) but often they do.
And when they do; the autoimmune stops progressing or even reverses.
Wanna know more about this? Let’s communicate.. contact me
Adam 🙂