autoimmune diseases, autoimmune disorders, types autoimmune diseases

Even though someone may look perfectly healthy, if they have an autoimmune diseases, they are truly ill. It is not in their head. There are some people who go undiagnosed, or misdiagnosed with depression, or as a hypochondriacs for years. Doctors are not particularly sharp at identifying autoimmune disorders, and/or are unwilling to go through test after test to rule everything else out. You can find so many accounts of these types of stories on the net.

The following list of symptoms are common in many, if not all, autoimmune diseases.

Fatigue: It’s not a good fatigue, from working hard, but an anxious, uncomfortable fatigue related to lack of sleep. Or a disruption of the energy production mechanism in cells, either from lack of oxygen, increased toxicity, infections or a malfunction of the mitochondria.

Sleep Disturbance: About 80% may wake up three or four times a night, or in some cases you don’t wake up, but in the morning you still feel like a truck ran over you. The reason for this is that subliminal seizures kick you out of stage 4, Delta sleep, to stage 1 sleep so you can’t sleep deeply and wake up not rested.

Short Term Memory Loss: Because of the low thyroid and heart complications typical in autoimmune diseases, there is a decrease in blood flow to the left lobe of the brain causing an oxygen deficiency in the brain. This can lead to the memory loss and forgetfulness that is common in autoimmune diseases.

Emotional Liability: Someone may cry more easily, be more anxious and fearful. This is caused by the illness, and is not a psychological reaction!

Depression: As with the emotional symptoms, the hypothalamus is involved. This is not clinical depression, but literally has a physical cause that is sometimes experienced as a deep depression right in the heart.

Low Thyroid Function. About 85% have this symptom, but only about 10% of the time does it show up on a typical thyroid test. If you get tested, have both a T3 and T4 done. About 10% have excessive hair loss. For most everyone, a poorly performing thyroid will show up as subnormal temperatures.

Gastrointestinal Problems: About 75% have this symptom. Can be anything from gas, bloating, cramps, diarrhea or constipation to hiatal hernia, irritable bowel syndrome or Crohn’s Disease. Sometimes taking a simple homeopathic remedy like arsenicum album, 6x or 6c and make a difference with this.

Swollen Glands, Chemical Sensitivity, Headaches: Allergies often develop, usually after 3 to 5 years. Eyes can be light sensitive for 6 months or longer. Dry eyes can develop. About 20% experience a very uncomfortable disequilibrium of vertigo, almost an out of body feeling that can be most disconcerting.

Pain and Fibromyalgia: Often diagnosed as a separate illness, fibromyalgia is basically a symptom that can occur with any autoimmune disease. If you have it, you’ve got pain. Often in the neck and in shoulder muscles extending down the back. Can be in the joints and muscles also.

Candida Yeast Infections: These are very common. Check your tongue. If it has a white coating, you have it. Or take the spit test you will read about later. Women may get vaginal yeast infections caused by candida overgrowth. A candida infection on its own can cause a number of autoimmune type symptoms. Sinus infections often are caused by candida.

Tingling hands. Ringing ears. Cold toes. Cold fingers. Metallic taste in mouth. Caused by poor circulation and who knows what.

Overdoing: You overexercise or overwork when your are feeling good, and then feel worse for days afterward. This can cause serious problems. In healthy people the body shuts down when the anaerobic threshold is reached as a lot of pain is experienced. This warning does not occur if you have an autoimmune disease. Instead, the body continues to exercise and experiences no pain as the lactic acid builds up, and the body ends up recirculating carbon dioxide. This is not a healthy thing to have happen to you. It is important not to push too hard when you start recovering, or this will set you back and wipe you out.

Fluttering Heart. Panic Attacks. Rapid Heartbeat. Mitral Valve Prolapse. Usually blood pressure is low, though it can get high later on. The heart under pumps blood because it is getting incorrect messages from the autonomous nervous system. The body’s feedback loop picks this up and over-reacts. And you get these symptoms.

If you have autoimmune illness, it is not likely you have all these symptoms. However, you will have many of them to one degree or another.

This information is for educational purposes only. I am not a doctor. This is not medical advice on how to treat, or diagnose autoimmune conditions, but information to help you understand them.

What exactly, causes an autoimmune disease?

There are many long, complicated Theories about what causes autoimmune diseases. The bottom line is there is no conclusive proof, just theories.

Some theorize that it is due to an overactive, or out of balance or under suppressed immune system.
Some theorize that it is due to a breakdown in cell communication.
Some theorize that it is due to infection, inflammation, or other pathogen related events.
Other theories include poor nutrition, due to the foods we eat, lack of enzymes, vitamins, trace minerals, etc.
Enviromental conditions are another possible unexplored theory.

One theory that made sense to me was described to me by Dr. Richard Bennett, Ph.D, who is an immunologist with a background in Infectious Disease Microbiology, and intense research and development of immune system augmenting Transfer Factors.
Though it is likely that all of the above theories play a role in autoimmune conditions, he told me that many years back he was studying Autoimmune Rheumatiod Arthritis and he was able to duplicate RA in lab rats by introducing an infectious pathogen. This pathogen had very similar cell markers to the rats cells in the joints. This caused the immune cells to become essentially "confused" and attack not only the pathogens, but the very similar "friendly" cells. Thereby causing the rats to develop RA symptoms.

Could this be the genesis of Autoimmune Diseases? Again, it makes sense, although there is no conclusive proof. Would the cells have become confused and attacked friendly tissue if the cell communication or markers were more pronounced? Would the cell markers, or communications be better if we got better nutrition? What about other environmental factors? Lots of questions and few answers. What we do know is how to Treat these diseases. There is (as of late) a very promising, positive, and natural approach. There is also conventional remedies that are not so positive or natural, and many times have serious long term side effects, albeit they can be effective in many cases too.

My wife has Hashimotos Thyroiditis. We are mixing both conventional, and natural treatments, because in her case her Thyroid will not produce enough hormone to keep her healthy even with natural supplementation. She is down to half of her normal hormone dose after 6 months which we are very happy about, and we will continue to hope that this trend continues until she is off the prescription all together.

We made our decision based on what we believe is the best long term solution for us, and you must do the same. Educate yourself and decide what is best for you, and of course discuss it with your doctor.

Tip: Most doctors live in a box. They for the most part do not believe in natural approaches. Most doctors live very busy lives and work long hours. They do not have the desire to look into "other" types of medicine. Keep in mind, these same doctors are also receiving a "residual income" off of drug sales. Enough said. So, be specific with what information you want from your doctor. In example, "is this going to interfere with any of my medications?" or "May I come back in 30 days and have my ----- levels checked after trying this supplement to see what the effects are?" Get the information you seek. Expect resistance, but remember it is up to You to take control of your health, your doctor will never cure your autoimmune disorder - but you have a chance! Your mind is not in a box, and you are not financially benefiting from your disease.

So You have an autoimmune disorder and want to know what is out there that may be beneficial to you. Is there any additional options other than the current conventional methods of suppressing (destroying) the immune system, or parts of it? Yes!

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