Autoimmune diseases are increasing at a dramatic rate. Most of the time its the hidden allergens, infections most commonly now being attributed to viral, environmental toxins in the form of dietary intake and abundant stress in work and home are real culprits for triggering the many autoimmune conditions. As doctors, we are trained to toy with the idea of suppressing the immune system with very powerful immune suppressing and modulating drugs, most of which have side effects. Most of this medication do not address the route cause. 21st century has seen a sudden up rise in statistics of autoimmune disease patients and the paradigm shift now focuses on functional medicine, the aim of which is to find the cause or source, with this in mind lets focus on a few important and much valuable areas which can help us understand autoimmunity:
1. Hidden food allergens are always a prevailing factor, a simple IgG food testing is valuable but not conclusive.
2. Check for specific infections specially viral and get treated by a physician.
3. Celiac diseases should be ruled out by specific tests as indicated by your physician.
4. Keeping diet simple with enriched nutrient with fish oil, Vitamin C (Oranges)and Vitamin D will help balance and regulate essential vitamins.
5. The best natural anti-inflammatory is exercise, yoga and breathing it helps on long-term to counter stress through a continued bio-feed back mechanism.