When Your Body Attacks Itself

The three diseases that get the most attention in the developed world these days are cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer. They are the top killers no doubt and we will get to them, but millions more people are suffering from a barrage of miserable and sometimes debilitating “mystery” symptoms. Many people suffer in silence; perhaps you’re one of them. Others take months or years of visiting multiple doctors, many of which will tell them there’s nothing wrong. But eventually you might get that label of one or more autoimmune diseases.

I want to tell you the story of my good friend Kimi. I met her in 2020 when she and her military husband moved to California and joined our small-group ministry at church. She had a medical port in her chest and would miss group every few weeks. Initially we didn’t know her that well, so we never asked many questions, but as time went on, she disclosed she was having a type of chemotherapy for an autoimmune condition. Each time she had the infusions it flattened her physically for a week and we got used to bringing her family food to help out. As the months went by each infusion week left her more depleted and she had to take steroids to deal with the severe side effects. It was hard to watch.

Eventually we had grown close, and given my work, I asked for more details on her condition. She disclosed she had been diagnosed with something called Mucous Membrane Pemphigoid and her oncologist insisted she needed these infusions of intravenous Immune Globulin (IVIG) which has a string of nasty side effects associated with it. She also commented that initially she had been diagnosed with Pemphigus Vulgaris but when a new symptom popped up, they changed the label. I probed further into her history as to what caused her to seek a diagnosis in the first place. An itchy throat put her in the hospital when she suddenly became unable to swallow. Tests were generally negative other than basic inflammation. Lots more questions from me on her diet, stress levels (husband in the military periodically deployed!), and other factors. It eventually came out that she’d had breast implants put in years ago. Aha! I thought. Have you considered removing them? Turned out the insurance coverage the US Government provides to its military personnel fully covers the $300,000 for the IVIG treatment, but it won’t pay $5,000 for the breast implant removal. Something is very wrong with this picture.

Friends immediately stepped in to help with the cost and Kimi went ahead with the breast implant removal. The oncologist was extremely upset when she said she was discontinuing treatment. He told Kimi she was an idiot and refused to help out if she ever had a flare up in the future. My friend felt almost an instant improvement a week after the outpatient surgery. She has made significant changes to her diet, a new supplement routine, and other lifestyle changes and a year later, no flare ups. She is still dealing with some of the side-effects of the drugs she was on for years, but the future is looking bright.

The most common examples of autoimmune conditions you’ve probably heard of are multiple sclerosis (MS), lupus, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Crohn’s and Ulcerative Colitis (types of inflammatory bowel disease we’ll collectively refer to as IBD), psoriasis, celiac disease, Type I diabetes, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, and Graves disease. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and fibromyalgia also have an element of autoimmunity. The incidence of these types of conditions has been rising steeply the last two decades with estimates now of well over fifty million people in the US alone diagnosed with at least one (and if you have one autoimmune condition you are at high risk for another). Millions more struggle with various individual symptoms without having yet got a diagnosis. These are warning signs of a disordered immune system and a red flag of what is to come if steps aren’t taken to reverse the process. Symptoms include digestive problems (gas, bloating, indigestion, reflux, heartburn, constipation, diarrhea), allergies, asthma, brain fog, depression, skin problems, hair loss, headaches, infertility, joint/muscle pain, sleep problems, and more.

If you (or your loved one) haven’t yet received a diagnosis, I’d cautiously suggest the time is better spent researching the likely causes and using the guidance and resources in this book to find solutions. Ideally this would include finding your way to some sort of “alternative” professional such as an integrative, naturopathic or functional medicine doctor who can lend some expertise. But if that is outside of the budget or the health plan coverage available, there is plenty you can achieve on your own.

Let me tell you another secret of the medical industry—there are more than one hundred autoimmune conditions in the diagnostic manual and most of them are not well understood by conventional medicine. Part of the problem is due to the specialization of care as mentioned in the history of Chapter 2. You go to a neurologist for MS, a rheumatologist for RA, a gastroenterologist for celiac or IBD, an endocrinologist for Hashimoto’s or Graves… and if you have more than one condition, you’ll be managing multiple doctors. But these conditions all arise out of an impaired immune system and as we saw in Chapter 6 all of the pieces of your immune system are intricately connected.

There are in fact more similarities than differences between each of these conditions which is why I wouldn’t worry too much about receiving a particular label. In all cases it is a matter of an imbalanced immune system mistakenly attacking and destroying the body’s own tissue. Autoimmunity can attack any organ, enzyme, hormone, or type of cell depending on your genetic predisposition and your unique epigenetic triggers. The elements involved are what give a particular categorization. A doctor might confidently put you in one of these categories, but this can never account for the infinite complexity of the human body and the sensory input of your past or future day-to-day lifestyle that affects it.

Conventional doctors will paint a pretty bleak picture that you have a lifetime affliction and your only options are a range of highly toxic very expensive drugs with nasty side effects that will treat the symptoms and perhaps arrest further progression. Often these drugs are designed to suppress your immune system which is going to leave you open to a host of infections and other problems. These doctors may support you cleaning up your diet a bit but will typically scoff at the suggestion that anything in your diet or environment is causing the symptoms.

Here are some key strategies we’ll look at that are most useful if you are dealing with a diagnosed autoimmune condition or likely heading for one given the range of symptoms you may be suffering from:

Shedding the Disease

Shrugging Off Stiffness: 5 Simple Exercises for Maximum Shoulder Health

Presbyopia: What Raises Your Risk–7 Natural Remedies That May Help

How Facial Acupuncture Can Help Rejuvenate Your Skin