5 Root Causes of Autoimmunity

Did you know there are 70-80 million people in the U.S. alone that are suffering with an autoimmune disease and  up to 150 million people worldwide?  These numbers have increased threefold over the last 50 years and are continuing to rise.

What is Autoimmunity?
Autoimmune disease is a whole spectrum of illnesses that all have common root causes, even when they show up in different parts of the body.  The commonality among these illnesses is that the body is attacking its own tissues. This can happen when our immune system no longer recognizes our own cells as safe, it identifies them as harmful intruders and launches an attack against them.  There are many things that can change the shape and appearance of your cells which is what's at the root cause of these chronic illnesses. 

The traditional western medicine approach to these illnesses to prescribe steroids and other immunosuppressant drugs to reduce the immune system's response.  They are focused on "diagnosing" your illness and then "treating" you with pharmaceuticals to reduce symptoms. These drugs to do not to anything to cure or reverse your illness or help you heal, they are simply "masking" the symptoms of your illness at best. And they come with horrible side affects like a insomnia, depression, and immune deficiency making you more likely to get infections that will only make you sicker. 

As someone who was diagnosed with 3 different autoimmune conditions by 3 different specialists, I understand just how frustrating and hopeless it is be given a diagnosis(s) without any answers as to the known cause. That's why I became a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner so that I could figure out my own answers, reverse my illness,  and help others do the same. 

In Functional Medicine, our approach is to ask the questions, "why are you sick?", "why did you develop this set of symptoms or this illness?", "what is at the root cause of this illness?".  What we find when we ask these questions is that regardless of the type of symptoms that are being expressed or the type of autoimmune disease that has been diagnosed, there are common things that we find at the root cause of every autoimmune condition. 

5 Root Causes of Autoimmunity:

1. Genetic Predisposition
   Some of us inherit a genetic code with mutations or variations on certain genes that will put us at a higher risk of developing certain autoimmune conditions.  BUT, your genes are not your destiny - I cannot stress that enough!! Just because you carry a mutation or polymorphism, doesn't mean that mutation will be expressed and lead to disease so this alone is not a root cause of autoimmunity. Your genes express themselves using the "information and instructions" we give our body. How do we do that? Through our daily lifestyle, food, and environmental choices.
   
   As Dr. Ben Lynch describes in his book, Dirty Genes, if you are living in a clean, non-toxic environment, eating quality, organic, anti-inflammatory foods, and leading a balanced life without too much stress, your good genes or strengths will be expressed and your bad genes (mutated genes) will be silenced or turned off. If you are eating an inflammatory, nutrient deficient diet,  exposing yourself to harmful toxins, or/and are consumed by stress in your world, the opposite will happen.  When we treat our body poorly, it will react poorly, it's that simple!  
   
   
2. Hidden, Chronic Infections
   ​Microbes like bacteria, viruses, parasites, and yeast and fungus have been found to play a large role in autoimmunity. Often times the tissue that is being attacked by our immune system is tissue that has been altered in some way by infection, making it look foreign and instigating the attack on self.  When I was first diagnosed with an autoimmune condition,  I didn't know that I had over a dozen different infections present in my body. These infections raise inflammation by activating our immune cells, stealing our nutrients, throwing our metabolism and hormones out of balance, and causing damage to our tissues all of which contribute to autoimmune manifestations.  
   
   
3. Toxic Burden
   Let's face it, we live in a toxic world! We are getting daily exposures to things like heavy metals in our water and air supply, pesticides from our food sources, BPA from plastics, chemicals in our personal care and cleaning products, and mold and other environmental toxins from our immediate surroundings.  
   
   For example, did you know that one BILLION pounds of pesticides are used annually in the U.S.? These saturate our air, our water, our food and our body's cells.  In fact, the CDC has an ongoing study that tests patients for 246 toxic chemicals and heavy metals. The results are showing that on average, 108 different chemicals and heavy metals are found in EVERY PERSON. 
   
   These are toxins that were not even in existence 50-70 years ago.  Our bodies simply cannot keep up with this level of toxicity in our modern environment and these toxins start to pile up in the body where they can affect and change the shape and functionality of our cells.  This is another reason why the immune system becomes overactive and we are seeing such a huge rise in autoimmunity, 
   
   
4. Intestinal Permeability or Leaky Gut (leading to Food Reactions & Allergies)
   The single layer of cells that lines your intestinal track creates a physical barrier between your bloodstream and the outside world. As foods come into your body, they may contain bacteria, viruses, and parasites as well as pesticides. Your gut lining if your first line of defense against these pathogens and toxins. The second line of defense is a network of immune cells that line the track; in fact over 70% of your entire immune system is located in your intestines, so how those cells act determines how your immune system responds overall. 
   
   The lining of your gut can get damaged by inflammatory foods like gluten, bacterial imbalances, pharmaceuticals like antibiotics and NSAID's, as well as pathogenic and toxic exposures. A damaged gut lining gets holes in it and you develop what's medically named, intestinal permeability, or  "leaky gut". This means that pathogens, toxins, and food proteins can now pass through those "leaks" and into your bloodstream where they interact with your immune cells. The immune system sees these food proteins and toxins as "dangerous intruders" because they are not supposed to be in the bloodstream. This is is when systemic inflammation rises and we experience symptoms like fatigue, pain, skin rashes, and brain fog. 
   
   
5. Stress (leading to Hormonal Imbalances)
   In today's society, we receive continuous stress in the form of daily hassles like fighting traffic or standing in line, relationship and family stressors, high stress jobs, stressful work environments, deadlines, fully booked calendars,  and big life changes like divorce, raising children, moving, losing a job, battling a serious illness, or losing a loved one.  
   
   When we don't balance the stressors with enough de-stressors, downtime, mindfulness, and personal connection we keep our body in a constant state of stress from a metabolic standpoint. Overtime, this adds up as the body compensates and we end up with hormonal imbalances that start to show up as symptoms like fatigue, brain fog, weight gain, weight loss, mood swings, depression, and anxiety. Scientists also believe these hormonal imbalances play a role in the development of autoimmunity, this is demonstrated by the fact that two-thirds of all autoimmune disease is found in women whose hormonal system is more complicated than men's. 

The good news is that once you know the underlying cause(s) of your condition, you can truly support your immune's system ability to heal itself.  In my practice I use special functional lab work to identify what's at the root cause of your autoimmune condition and then design a personalized dietary, nutrient replenishment, and lifestyle protocol to help lower inflammation and slow or reverse autoimmunity. 

So if you are sick of being sick and tired of not having answers as to the development of your condition, check out my approach and read about what it's like to work with me,. If you like what you see, consider a 15 minute free consultation to learn how to identify the underlying causes of your autoimmune condition and get rid of chronic symptoms that dominate your daily life!