Autoimmune disorders have been getting a lot of attention over these past pandemic years. The subject comes up whenever there is talk about the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines or the impact of COVID-19 infection. You've also heard about it concerning the long-term risks of both, especially for those “immunocompromised” individuals who are undergoing immunotherapy as treatment to suppress “overactive“ immune responses resulting from an autoimmune disease.
Meanwhile, scientists have acknowledged autoimmune disease since the mid-20th century. And by 1965, the medical community reached international consensus that autoimmunization really can cause disease.
But what exactly are autoimmune disorders? How many people do they effect? Herein are a few answers. More importantly, let us challenge the concept that, as the National Institute of Health suggests, “most of these diseases have no cure.”
Autoimmune disorders collective describe the condition of the immune system targeting the cells, organs, or tissues of its own body. These attacks can affect any part of the body, weakening bodily function, and they can even turning life-threatening. There are currently 100 known autoimmune disorders. The National Institute of Health describes a few examples: “Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease of the skin that causes hair loss. Autoimmune hepatitis affects the liver. In type 1 diabetes, the immune system attacks the pancreas. And in rheumatoid arthritis, the immune system can attack many parts of the body, including the joints, lungs, and eyes.”
Believe it or not, the epidemic of autoimmune disorders affects more than 32 million Americans, and there is growing evidence that numbers are on the rise. This is truly staggering! Women develop autoimmune diseases more often than men, but basic math equates to 1 in every 10 Americans today. Worldwide the figure may swell to between 400 and 700 million.
Undiagnosed and/or Misdiagnosed
Unfortunately, most of these cases are diagnosed long after the symptoms begin. The other unfortunate truth is that many of these individuals are bounced from clinician to clinician before they finally meet someone who can put a name on the cluster of symptoms that they have been complaining of often for years prior. Meanwhile, autoimmune disorders are ranked as the third most common diagnosis in the United States after cancer and cardiovascular diseases. They are one of the leading causes of death in female children and women of all ages.
Causes, known and suspected
There is a three-tiered causation of the autoimmune cascade that typically occurs in these conditions.
- Genetics – There is often a genetic susceptibility to the disorder, with genetic factors accounting for about 30% of the cause.
- Intestinal Health – The second thing that comes into play is an increase in the intestinal permeability of the individual’s gut. This condition is often referred to as “leaky gut syndrome.”
- Stress or Other Trigger – Stressors actually account for 70% of the cause for the autoimmune disorder to begin in the first place.
As I have discussed many times in the past, just because you have a genetic predisposition to some disorder does not mean that you will acquire the condition. There must also be a “trigger,” which upregulates the gene and allows the process to begin. Often this trigger takes the form of stress. Stressors can be physical, emotional, or chemical and environmental in nature. Once the gene is upregulated and expressed, the process goes on autopilot and takes on a life of its own.
I have written many times in the past about the adverse effects of stress on the human physiology. These effects are usually transient and fade once the stressor is removed. But, with chronic stress, the effects become long term and do not resolve. This chronic stress causes suppression of the immune response and an increased risk of infection. As the stressor persists, the immune system continues to attempt to ramp up, and this is in part where the autoimmune process begins to take form.
The Damage
The autoimmune process is characterized by tissue damage, inflammation, and loss of function due to an altered immune response that is directed against specific organs, glands, and tissues. The name that is placed on the autoimmune process is of little consequence. (Remember: there are 100 disorders on the list today). The process is the same no matter what title is given to the process that is diagnosed. The condition may take the form of celiac disease or Hashimoto’s thyroiditis or perhaps rheumatoid arthritis. The process, however, is the same in all cases.
In the autoimmune process, genetics, inflammation, “stressors” of varied types, and tissue destruction occur. This in turn causes an immune response against the specific gland, tissue, or organ of the host that is beginning to break down. Left unchecked the process continues and worsens. The question then becomes; “what do you do about it?”
What can be done?
There are two schools of thought and treatments are, in some ways, diametrically opposed to each other. First, in conventional medicine, your options for interrupting the process are limited. There you'll find that the goal is to suppress the immune system. For many disorders, this means a lifelong drug prescription.
Second are holistic/nutritional approaches that are available to you as well. In functional medicine, which is what we use at the Wellness Center, we do not plan to suppress the immune system. Instead, we acknowledge that the immune system is doing nothing wrong. It is simply responding in a responsible way to trouble. Our goal then is to fix the trouble, not the symptom.
Neither viewpoint can be deemed totally correct or totally wrong. Sometimes it is necessary to combine the two at certain points in the process. But the end result of therapy, whatever that treatment includes, must be to alter the “causes” of the condition.
In Part II, I will discuss the most common source of that trouble, identify some ways to detect its presence, and discuss necessary action to either prevent or treat the disorder.