What causes Hashimoto’s and other weird Autoimmune diseases

 

It seems many of you are suffering from, or at least know someone who has some form of Auto immune (AI) disease. The truth is 1 in 5 people living in the western world suffer from one of the 80 existing AI diseases and this statistic is rising, including a doubling in the rate of Multiple Sclerosis in the last ten years.

Autoimmune diseases occur when the immune system loses the ability to detect self from non self and consequently launches an attack against it’s own healthy tissues or organs. The hyperactive immune activity triggers a chronic inflammatory response, through the production of anti bodies, which can destroy the anatomy of the effected organ over time.

Take Hashimoto’s and Graves Disease, two examples of auto immune (AI) diseases, both affecting the thyroid gland. The difference between Graves and Hashimoto’s, apart from their weird names, is Graves disease is the AI condition commonly accompanying an OVER active thyroid and Hashimoto’s is the AI condition that can accompany an UNDER active thyroid.

Autoimmune diseases can affect multiple tissues and organs, such as Lupus or Sjogren’s disease, or it can affect single organs, such as thyroid disease or Juvenile Diabetes, although in my 14 years in clinical practice it was very common to see the thyroid, adrenal and reproductive glands affected in most auto immune diseases. I’ll be explaining why in upcoming posts.

Conventional medicine has been baffled by AI diseases because it has proven extremely difficult to pin point an exact cause. This is because AI diseases do not have any single cause, but are usually triggered by a variety of causes.

Possible causes include:

• Genetics
• Stress
• Infection
• Diet
• Digestive function
• Vitamin D deficiency
• Environmental toxins

I will elaborate on each of these causes and the links to AI in my upcoming webinar series on AI disease, so if you suffer from one or know someone who does, be sure to register for my upcoming webinar series here

The main point of difference between one AI disease and another, lies in the organ/s or body system effected. For example,

• Hashimoto’s and Graves disease affects the thyroid gland
• Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus predominantly affects the joints and in the case of Lupus – the skin, heart, lungs, kidneys and liver can also be affected.
• Multiple Sclerosis attacks the body’s central nervous system.
• Ulcerative Colitis, inflammatory bowel disease and Chrohn’s Disease predominantly affect the large intestine or colon
• Sjogren’s Syndrome predominantly affects the salivary glands and tear ducts
• Endometriosis generally affects the female reproductive system but in extremely rare cases can actually grow anywhere within the body.
• Juvenile and Type 1 Diabetes – this is different to non insulin dependent diabetes type 2 which is dietary induced

The problem with the conventional medicine approach to AI diseases, lies in the testing and treatment. Conventional medicine practitioners commonly prescribe pharmaceutical drugs with no consideration or investigation into underlying nutritional deficiencies or dietary links, let alone stress management. Yet research has shown compelling evidence linking the exacerbation of AI disease to many nutritional deficiencies and poor diet and digestive function. I will elaborate more on these links in my upcoming webinar series. You can register here.

There is no doubt many sufferers of AI disease have experienced enormous relief from the often debilitating symptoms of various AI diseases, when prescribed pharmaceutical drugs such as corticosteroids or immunosuppressant’s. As both a sufferer and practitioner specializing in the treatment of AI disease, my experience has proven that the long term use of many pharmaceutical drugs such as these, with no consideration given to proper nutrition and nutritional medicine, is both ineffective and often more damaging in the long term to the immune and other body systems.

I have managed my auto immune disease – Hashimoto’s and completely eliminated the effects of Lupus SLE, without the use of pharmacological doses of cortisone drugs such as Prednisone and Plaquenal, instead using sticking to a specific eating program, specific lifestyle choices and nutritional medicine, to calm my immune system and prevent it from attacking itself, for the past 18 years. If you would like to learn more about how I did this, you can register for my upcoming webinar series here and read about the essential dietary approaches to combat AI disease in my e-book Eat Yourself Healthy In 28 Days.

In my next post on AI disease, I will be discussing nutritional medicine alternatives for the treatment and long term management of AI disease. Until then sign up for my webinar series here.

Remember keep eating yourself healthy every day and you will feel good every day!

For more health tips and delicious recipes, checkout my e-book, Eat Yourself Healthy. It's not just a healthy diet, but a way of life, so you can feel better than you have ever felt before .