Learn More About Autoimmune Disease

What is Autoimmune Disease? Autoimmune disease affects up to 50 million Americans, according to the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA). An autoimmune disease develops when your immune system, which defends your body against disease, decides your healthy cells are foreign. As a result, your immune system attacks healthy cells. There are as many as 80 types of autoimmune diseases.

Common Signs Of Autoimmune Disease

• Exhaustion
• Digestive tract upset may indicate irritable bowel disease
• Stomach cramping
• Gas
• Bloated stomach
• Diarrhea
• Constipation
• Headaches
• Anxiety
• Brain fog
• Attention deficit problems
• Body rashes, red bumps on facial skin and red flaking skin
• Acne
• Rosacea
• Eczema
• Psoriasis
• Dermatitis
• Allergies
• Asthma
• Dry mouth
• Frequent colds
• Thyroid issues that could point to Hashimoto’s disease (underactive thyroid) or Graves disease (overactive thyroid)
• Fatigue or hyperactivity
• Weight gain or loss
• General feeling of malaise
• Anxiety
• Muscle pain and weakness
• Stiffness and pain (could suggest rheumatoid arthritis or fibromyalgia symptoms)

The classic sign of an autoimmune disease is inflammation, which can cause redness, heat, pain, and swelling. How an autoimmune disease affects you depends on what part of the body is targeted. If the disease affects the joints, as in rheumatoid arthritis, you might have joint pain, stiffness, and loss of function. If it affects the thyroid, as in Graves’ disease and thyroiditis, it might cause tiredness, weight gain, and muscle aches. If it attacks the skin, as it does in scleroderma/systemic sclerosis, vitiligo, and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), it can cause rashes, blisters, and color changes.

Many autoimmune diseases don’t restrict themselves to one part of the body. For example, SLE can affect the skin, joints, kidneys, heart, nerves, blood vessels, and more. Type 1 diabetes can affect your glands, eyes, kidneys, muscles, and more.

Autoimmune diseases can affect almost any part of the body, including the heart, brain, nerves, muscles, skin, eyes, joints, lungs, kidneys, glands, the digestive tract, and blood vessels.

Common Autoimmune Disease

Psoriatic Arthritis – People with the skin condition psoriasis sometimes develop arthritis as well, but in certain cases the joint inflammation can occur before the skin rash. The main symptoms of psoriasis are joint pain, swelling, and stiffness. The condition can affect any part of the body, such as the fingertips and spine, and range from mild to severe.

Inflammatory Bowel Arthritis (Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis) – With inflammatory bowel arthritis (or IBA), inflammation affects the intestines. With ulcerative colitis, the colon or large intestine are affected. Crohn’s Disease can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract, but usually occurs in either the small intestine or colon or both.

Rheumatoid Arthritis – Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammation of the lining of the joints, leading to pain and swelling typically in the hands and feet. It can affect anyone, but is most prevalent in women over 40. Rheumatoid arthritis can sometimes affect other organs as well, such as skin, eyes, lungs and blood vessels. As with all autoimmune disorders, treatment focuses on managing pain and minimizing bone erosion and joint damage.

Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis – Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis is the most common form of arthritis in children under 16. Symptoms usually include pain and swelling in the joints, and can vary from moderate to severe. In some cases, symptoms will subside over time while others can persist well into adulthood.

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (Lupus) – Lupus can be difficult to diagnose because it shares symptoms with many other disorders. The inflammation resulting from lupus can affect many different areas of the body, from the lungs, heart, joints, skin, kidneys, and brain. Like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus is more prevalent in women and can sometimes be identified by a butterfly-shaped rash on the face, along with photosensitivity, fatigue and fever, joint pain, and other skin lesions that worsen under sun exposure.

Foods To Avoid

Processed food and junk food, as well as pseudo health foods such as low-fat and gluten-free packaged foods, which are often loaded with sugar, additives, and preservatives. But even foods that we typically think of as cornerstones in a healthy diet, such as grains, dairy, legumes, eggs, corn, and soy, can contribute to leaky gut and inflammation. Gluten, in particular, is a primary culprit because it triggers the release of a chemical called zonulin, which tells the walls of your intestines to open up and is highly inflammatory.

Heal The Gut Boost Immune System

Your gut is your gateway to health. It houses 80 percent of your immune system, and without a healthy gut it is nearly impossible to have a healthy immune system.

1. Remove the Bad — Remove inflammatory foods, toxins, and stress that damage your gut, as well as gut infections from yeast, parasites, or bacteria
2. Restore the Good — Replenish enzymes and acids necessary for proper digestion
3. Reinoculate with Healthy Bacteria — Make sure you have plenty of friendly bacteria to support your immune system
4. Repair the Gut — Provide the nutrients and amino acids needed to build a healthy gut lining.