Autoimmune Disease

What Are Autoimmune diseases?

Autoimmune diseases are conditions in which the immune system mistakenly targets otherwise healthy tissues in the body.

“Auto” means self. The body, through it’s immune system, is fighting itself. The immune system is there to fight, infectious disease, viral, bacterial, fungal. It also promotes rapid healing from illness and injury. It has a major role in early detection of defective cells including cancer cells and their elimination.

It is estimated that there are more than 80 recognized different auto immune diseases

Symptoms of AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES?

Symptoms of autoimmune disease can vary significantly depending on the specific type of disease in the body part that the condition affects. Some common symptoms can include:

• Low-grade fever,
• Weight Loss
• Fatigue,
• Malaise,
• Joint Pain, and
• Skin Rashes.

Types of Autoimmune Disease

The most common autoimmune diseases include

• SLE, (Systemic Lupus Erythematosis) or simply lupus,
• Rheumatoid Arthritis,
• Diabetes (Type 1) in which the insulin producing cells of the pancreas are targeted,
• Hashimotos Thyroiditis – a common predominantly female,
• Auto immune disease of the thyroid,
• Sjogrens disease which typically has dry secretions,
• Dry eyes,
• Dry skin,
• Dry mouth,
• Coeliac Disease of the gut,
• Crohn’s Disease and
• Ulcerative Colitis.

Treatment for Autoimmune Disease

Conventional Treatment

These mostly focuses on symptom relief using

• Painkillers and anti-inflammatory medications, including steroids.
• Often high doses of the steroid prednisone are given when these diseases exacerbate.
• Methotrexate, a cancer drug, is also used in some conditions.

More recently targeted Monoclonal antibodies have been found to be successful in many otherwise resistant conditions, however, these new drugs can inhibit other functions of the immune system, possibly increasing cancer risk.

Nutritional Treatment Modalities

These aim to control symptoms and possibly offer a cure mostly through significant food and diet modification. Behaviour changes and the use of nutrients, for example: with Coeliac disease gluten containing foods are avoided.

Dr. Samra‘s book the Allergy Connection suggests appropriate food changes which are different for different conditions depending on the body system or systems affected.