Healing autoimmune disease with functional medicine

Words Dr R Dajana

Autoimmune illnesses are becoming more common than ever in today’s culture. According to the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, autoimmune illness has a $30 billion impact on the Australia economy -twice that of cancer.

There are between 80 and 100 different forms of autoimmune disorders or diseases, according to modern medicine, that they have now reached epidemic proportions.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), Hashimoto’s Disease, Grave’s Disease, and Lupus are some of the most frequent. Autoimmune cases appear to be on the rise, especially among those over 50, for reasons researchers don’t fully understand.

Most individuals assume that once they are diagnosed with an autoimmune condition, their only choice is to manage their symptoms while waiting for modern medicine to discover a cure. That is not necessarily the case.

Functional Medicine is a worldwide movement based on a different approach to diagnosing and treating disease — one that focuses on causes rather than symptoms, an understanding of the dynamic way our genes interact with our environment, and goes beyond simply treating diseases based on their labels.

Understanding the body as a system, seeking the causes of illness; understanding the body’s basic functional systems, where they go awry, and how to restore balance; and understanding the interconnections between symptoms and organs rather than categorizing diseases into specialties are all taught in Functional Medicine.

When it comes to autoimmune disorders, a functional medicine approach has the potential to reverse the disease process by allowing your body to repair itself. Traditional medicine focuses on preventing attacks and managing symptoms when it comes to autoimmune illnesses. This can be performed by suppressing the immune system, reducing inflammation, or alleviating other symptoms with pharmaceutical medicines.

While some treatments provide symptom relief, they also make your body more susceptible to infections and raise the risk of certain malignancies. While this can provide patients with some relief from symptoms, restoring genuine health requires determining WHY the immune system shifted from working normally to attacking the body. This did not happen by itself. Something happened to cause the body to become hyper-immune in an unnatural way. Functional medicine focuses on this. To put it another way, instead of giving Aspirin to someone who is in pain from standing on a tack, you remove the tack.

Functional Medicine offers a road map for determining which molecule the cells are imitating. It investigates the source of the inflammation and inquires as to why it exists.

Autoimmune Disorders: The Root Causes

Every autoimmune illness is linked by a common biological process: an overactive immune response that causes your body to attack its own tissues.

The study of functional medicine has found a few typical causes for the body to become hyper-immune.

Autoimmunity is influenced by food sensitivities and a leaky gut

In order to absorb nutrients from our food, a well functioning GI tract, or gut, must be fairly permeable. When the gut is exposed to particular meals, illnesses, toxins, or stress, it can become “leaky,” allowing toxins, germs (including bacteria), and undigested nutrients to enter the bloodstream. It can also hinder critical vitamins and minerals from being absorbed. This can lead to inflammation in the body, giving rise to autoimmune disease.

Autoimmune Diseases and Chronic Viral Infections

Viruses have long been considered to play a role in the development of autoimmune conditions, according to scientists. Some people can simply tolerate low-level viruses better than others.

It can induce the hyper-immune state that leads to autoimmune dysfunction if you are unable to tolerate the viruses or if your immune system is otherwise damaged.

Autoimmune Disease and Toxicity

In today’s environment, toxicity is another widespread issue. Toxic levels in our surroundings and body are increasing, whether we recognize it or not. Toxins are found in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the foods we eat. Furthermore, many of the products in our homes are created from chemicals whose health effects have not been thoroughly investigated and may be harmful to our health.

Toxic exposure can sometimes harm or change your body at a cellular level. These modifications may cause your body to confuse these cells for foreign tissue and attack them. In other circumstances, the effect is less immediate, resulting in persistent inflammation and subsequent hyper-immunity.

Nutrient deficiencies have an impact on autoimmunity

Many vitamins and nutrients, such as vitamins A, D, and K, as well as Omega 3s, Iron, Zinc, Magnesium, and Selenium, have a role in immunological dysfunction. However, before you walk to the supplement aisle, it’s critical to understand what’s going on in your body.

A functional medicine practitioner will run tests to discover which nutrients are deficient in your body and then suggest natural and supplement based approaches to boost them.

Taking Care of Autoimmune Diseases

Each patient’s functional medicine treatment plan will be unique, but the first step is always to collect a thorough medical history. What we learn about that patient’s past history will guide the direction of the more in-depth testing required to find the source of the problem.

Following the completion of the testing, they turn their attention to resolving the issues that they have discovered. Dietary changes, lifestyle changes, and nutraceutical supplements are all part of this multifaceted strategy.

If you have an autoimmune condition and aren’t getting relief from traditional treatments, it might be time to consult a Functional Medicine specialist.

This journey will help you find the root cause of your condition, cure your body in non-invasive and natural ways, so you can start living a new life full of health, energy, and vitality.

FUNCTIONAL

Medicine Practitioners

LOTUS HOLISTIC MEDICINE

5/13 Norval Ct

Maroochydore, QLD 4558

Phone 07 5313 3577

DR. SHELLEY CAVEZZA

Yaroomba, QLD 4573

Phone 0419 821 666

ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE

Telehealth and Medical Testing

Available Australia Wide

Suite 3668,9/204 Alice St

Brisbane, QLD, 4000

Phone 07 3096 0002

PULSE HOLISTIC MEDICAL CENTRE

Unit 1A/68 Jessica Blvd, Minyama, Qld, 4575

Phone 07 5477 5522