What is autoimmune disease?
Autoimmune disease is the umbrella term for more than 80 different medical conditions where your body’s own immune system attacks healthy cells in your body by mistake.
Your immune system protects you from infection and disease, but with autoimmune disease the immune system malfunctions and causes certain problematic symptoms, such as joint and muscle pain, skin rashes, and fatigue. Inflammation is involved in most autoimmune diseases.
In some cases, autoimmune disease can lead to the destruction of body tissue and changes in organ function. An autoimmune disorder might affect one or more tissue or organ types, such as the blood vessels, connective tissues, muscles, joints, and skin.
Some of the most prevalent autoimmune diseases include:
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Type 1 diabetes
- Multiple sclerosis
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Psoriasis
- Hashimoto’s thyroiditis
Autoimmune diseases might also flare up, where the symptoms worsen, followed by periods of remission when the symptoms get better or disappear.
What causes autoimmune disease?
It isn’t always clear what causes autoimmune disease. Some experts believe certain drugs or microorganisms, such as viruses or bacteria, might trigger changes that confuse the immune system. This might happen more often in people with genes that make them more susceptible to getting autoimmune diseases.
Certain factors might play a role in the development of autoimmune disease, such as:
- Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO)
- Food sensitivities
- Increased intestinal permeability
- Oxidative stress Hormonal imbalances
- Heavy metal toxicity
Our providers consider both genetics and environmental toxins and triggers when addressing autoimmune disease.
How is autoimmune disease treated?
With autoimmune disease, the goal is often to reduce inflammation, strengthen your immune system, and help you find symptom relief. Our providers usually perform an extensive history, a thorough evaluation, and order certain tests, such as a comprehensive metabolic panel, a blood test for C-reactive protein and inflammatory markers, or autoantibody tests.
After diagnosis and evaluation, our providers take time to educate you about your autoimmune disease and designs a personalized treatment plan.
Our providers offer a plethora of treatment options, such as:
- Botanical medicine
- Vitamins and supplements, such as B12
- Healthy lifestyle changes, such as stress and sleep management and regula
- Medical nutrition
- Stem cell therapy
- Osseous and soft tissue manipulation
- IV nutrient therapy
- Prolotherapy and neural prolotherapy
- Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy
- Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy
- Visceral manipulation
- Neurocranial restructuring (NCR)
- Certain medications when needed, such as anti-inflammatories and steroids
Whether you’ve been dealing with an autoimmune disease for a few months, a few years, or a few decades, our providers offer unwavering and compassionate medical support. Click or call Integrative Medica today.
