Influencing factors of autoimmune diseases
It is very important in the field of autoimmune diseases to look for imbalances in the body. The following areas are essential to the management of your autoimmune disease:
Individual Responsibility
Take over the management of your illness. If you actually become the “manager” of your illness, listen to the signals of your body, be aware and live consciously.
You should see your doctors and therapists as a supporting factor, but you remain the “boss”.
Believe in yourself and be aware of your body.
Nutrition
Nutrition is the foundation of physical health; it is not just about energy for our bodies. It is about information at a cellular level.
There are foods that promote inflammation in the body. These include arachidonic acid, sugars and trans fats. In addition, it should be individually determined if you have any allergic reactions or intolerances.
Keep a nutritional record for at least a week, recording exactly what feelings and symptoms you felt after each meal.
Eat consciously from now on. Nutrition can be anti-inflammatory. Your foods should be high in antioxidants, eat lots of fruits and vegetables, fish (rich in omega 3) and green tea.
Determine the status of nutrients in your body
Have a doctor or naturopath with knowledge in orthomolecular therapy determine the status of nutrients in your body.
There are some essential values like the Omega 3 Index, Selenium, Zinc, Vitamin D, BVitamins, Hba1c and CRP.
The preparation of the treatment plan, which is formulated on the basis of the laboratory results, requires special knowledge. For example, it should be high dosage in the critical areas, if necessary also complemented by infusions.
Gut Health
The immune system tolerates the “good” bacteria. As the bacterial composition changes in a negative way, the immune system can overreact. Therefore, in the field of any autoimmune disease the gut health care is a must. Lab include stool samples, studies on small intestine overgrowth (SIBO) or intolerances.
As a possible help we can use oprobiotics, prebiotics, colon hydrotherapy, and, depending on the laboratory results, further steps are available. The gut macrobiota gets out of balance for various reasons. These include excessive hygiene in younger years, antibiotics, toxins, poor diet and unhealthy lifestyle.
As a consequence, the intestinal walls can become permeable (“leaky gut”). Undesirable components of the food or infections can invade the bloodstream and activate the immune system. This defense reaction of the body can also lead to autoimmune diseases.
Lifestyle: Alcohol, smoking, drugs
It is well known that our addictions do not necessarily help us “calm down” our autoimmune diseases. It is not just about the poisoning that we cause in the body, but also about how the micronutrient supply in the body suffers and our metabolism slows down.
Drinking and smoking every day will have a negative impact on our autoimmune disease.
It is not a question of “right” or “wrong”, but a matter of choice.
Activation of liver, lymphatic system and kidneys
The activation of the liver, lymphatic system and kidneys are also an important component in the treatment of any autoimmune disease.
You can activate the liver and kidneys with nutrition as well as with medicinal plants such as milk thistle or goldenrod.
The lymphatic system will be pleased with a lymphatic drainage or naturopathic means to support the lymphatic flow.
Infectious diseases
Some autoimmune diseases in the body are caused by a past infection. In some cases it makes sense to clarify this point with a laboratory examination.
Environmental poisoning and heavy metal poisoning
It is useful for every autoimmune disease to determine whether a heavy metal poisoning could be co-causer and, if the result is positive, the corresponding discharge with, for instance, chelation therapy.
Hormonal contraceptives
Although there is no definitive scientific evidence, I recommend that all women with autoimmune diseases stop hormonal contraception.
Since our bodies need to be in balance, it is certainly not helpful to add artificial hormones that can cause a lot of damage even in healthy individuals.
Emotions and stress
Just as nutrition is the foundation of health on a physical level, so are our emotions the foundation of our mental health.
I see chronic illnesses as a call of the mind to take a little break and to examine our emotions and life path with mindfulness. It is not about feeling guilty about your own condition, as illnesses have many triggers-the so-called multi-causality-and guilt is a bad cure anyway.
Young children can also develop chronic diseases without having reached any level of suppressed emotions and stress. But I consider it very important to watch as a “manager” of my own health, where I stand in life, if I am alive and thankful, where I want to go and if I follow my soul plan.
Does it feel good? Do I have peace with myself and the others? It is, as with the diet, a path to detoxification through mindfulness. We deserve to listen and to be honest with ourselves. The negative effects of stress on health have been scientifically proven.
When we ignore ourselves, it is inevitable to develop stress with all its consequences. These are the so-called emotional toxins.