Autoimmune Health

Improve your health and overcome Autoimmune Disease

Autoimmune conditions have exploded over the last few decades. Living with an autoimmune disease can be an extremely lonely experience. Many people wait years to find out why they’re sick, and once they’re finally diagnosed, they receive few options from their doctor.

Autoimmune disease is a chronic inflammatory condition where the immune system causes organ or systemic damage to the host. Autoimmune disease affects 7–9% of the population.

Apart from adult-onset diabetes, which affects males more than females, and childhood diseases, which are proportionate across the sexes, the prevalence of autoimmune diseases in females is generally much higher—more than 85% in thyroiditis, systemic sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and Sjögren's syndrome patients and up to 60–75% in multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients.

 Different body systems may be involved in different autoimmune diseases; however, they are generally characterised by chronic inflammation with a loss of tolerance to self-(auto)antigens, which are immune cells that attack the host. The cause for this loss of tolerance—the shift from normal immune function to autoimmune pathology—is poorly understood. It is generally agreed that the cause is multifactorial, involving a combination of genetic, environmental, hormonal and immune factors.

 Symptoms of an autoimmune disease can range in severity from mildly debilitating to life-threatening. Although autoantibodies are not considered a trigger for autoimmune disease, they are markers of disease, and autoantibodies can be found in serum samples many years before disease onset.

 Common symptoms of autoimmune disease that people experience are:

•   Inflammation

•   Fatigue, malaise

•   Skin changes

•   Swelling in joints, arthralgia

•   Gastrointestinal problems, especially food sensitivities

• Dizziness / Vertigo

• Extreme sensitivity to cold in the extremities

• Sensitivity to light, sounds, tactile responses, smell

•   Weakness and stiffness in muscles and joints

•   Neuralgia

•   Weight changes

•   Low or high blood pressure

•   Irritability, anxiety or depression

•   Hormonal changes or infertility

•   Blood sugar irregularities

•   A change in an organ or tissues

•   Gait changes

•   Nutritional deficiencies.

•   Intermittent low-grade fever

What can be done to treat autoimmune disease?

 Numerous diets have shown benefits for certain individuals, so it is of the utmost importance to have a health professional with a minimum of 4 years of Nutrition training who is clinically qualified to assess your diet correctly.

 Diets that have shown benefits:

•   Mediterranean diet.

•   Gluten-free, grain-free, Paleo, Paleo autoimmune diets

•   Plant-based, vegetarian, vegan, raw-foods, vegetable-juice diets

•   Wahls protocol

•   GAPS (gut and psychology syndrome) diet

•   SCD (specific carbohydrate diet)

•   Low-sulfur diet

•   IBD-AID (anti-inflammatory diet)

•   Weston A Price Foundation diet

When done correctly, what a lot of these diets have in common is an emphasis on fruit and vegetables for their high antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds. Also, the exclusion of processed food and food with high sugar content is a common theme

In addition to dietary modifications, a Naturopath will use nutritional and herbal medicine to achieve the following:

·   Regulation of the immune response.

·   Prevention and reduced exposure to chronic infection.

·   Support and regeneration of affected organs or tissue.

·   Correction of any metabolic imbalances such as acidosis.

·   Support and manage psychological, emotional and physical resilience to stress.

·    Increase the capacity of cellular detoxification pathways. 

Autoimmune diseases are complex conditions that require complex treatments that target a variety of mechanisms. This debilitating disease can manifest over several years and in many cases, decades. The benefits of nutritional and herbal treatments can take time; however, minor symptom relief can take as little as two weeks and many patients generally experience big improvements within a 3 to 6-month period.

To find out how Naturopathic medicine can help you, book a wellness assessment by clicking the button below:

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Brad’s Treatments provide a method for re-balancing the body’s underlying physiological systems and addressing lifestyle issues that contribute to illness. Online Video Conferencing Consultations offer an affordable natural approach to understanding the terrain of autoimmune problems, allowing your biology’s inherent healing forces to be unleashed and chronic illness to be resolved quickly. Get started from the comfort of your home through convenient webcam consultations wherever you may be in the world.