Autoimmune Disease

We are witnessing an epidemic of autoimmune disease in the US and around the world. Conventional medicine does not offer much in terms of treatment solutions except steroids and other immunosuppressive drugs. While these medications can certainly help calm down an overactive immune response and quickly reduce symptoms, they don’t address any underlying causes of autoimmune disease, and their long-term use can lead to adverse side effects.    

I tend to view autoimmune disease as a glitch in the software running the immune system. Sometimes all that’s needed is a system reboot, and other times the software needs to be reprogrammed. There are many causes for the development of an autoimmune disease including genetic predisposition, environmental toxicity, infections, etc.  In my clinical experience “leaky gut" is probably one of the most common sources, so treating the gut is a must with practically every autoimmune patient that I see.

Here are some of the auto-immune related lab findings and conditions I commonly treat:

• Unexplained elevated ANA (anti-nuclear antibodies) with no auto-immune diagnosis  

• Hashimoto’s thyroiditis

• Celiac disease