Treatment for Autoimmune Disease

Autoimmune disease is a disorder in which a part of the immune system becomes hyperactive and may attack body tissue cells as if these cells were foreign invaders capable of harming the body. The attack may result in damage or altered function of the cells. The main symptom of this disease is inflammation of the tissues concerned, so this group of diseases are also referred to as inflammatory diseases.

Because the different autoimmune diseases are diagnosed according to their symptoms and the part of the body affected, there is a long list of these diseases, which has been growing longer over the years. It is not clear if these are truly different diseases with different causes or if they all stem from the same imbalances within the immune system. If these imbalances are the root factors that lead to hyperactivity of the immune cells, their identification and their correction should lead to a long term solution.

In conventional medicine, immune diseases are treated by suppressing inflammation, pain and other related symptoms. This is simply palliative and does not address the actual cause of the disease.

Autoimmune diseases are more common in populations with westernised diets and lifestyles. In less westernised populations all over the world, autoimmune diseases have been rare, with cases developing in individuals in these populations who have adopted westernised diets and lifestyle. There are more than 70 autoimmune diseases. Below are few of the commonest ones:


Some of the Named Autoimmune Diseases:

Factors involved in the Causes of Autoimmune Diseases

Genetic predisposition to autoimmune disease is a key underlying factor. However, for the disease to develop in a predisposed individual, the environmental factors that trigger the concerned portion of the immune system to become hyperactive must be or must have been present at sometime in their lives. These environmental factors negatively influence the Thymus Helper type immune cells, triggering them to produce excessive cytokines, leading to over production of antibodies involved in the process of inflammation. The underlying environmental factors that have been associated with the cause of this hyperactivity are:

• Nutritional deficiencies and imbalances.
• Acute and Chronic Stress.
• Exposure to environmental and chemical irritants.
• Heavy metal accumulation in the body.
• Other non-metal pollutants (toxins) in the body.
• Underlying chronic infections.
• Hormonal changes.

Because human nutrition focuses on the biochemistry and physiology of the body organs and systems, which are dependant on nutrients as building blocks and on the energy produced from nutrients for supporting the intricate reactions involved, nutritional medicine is very effective in treating autoimmune disease and other chronic conditions.

Treatment of Autoimmune Disease in our Immune Support Clinic

Our treatment focuses on removing the contributing underlying factors (root causes) which trigger the hyperactivity of these Thymus Helper type cells. Once the root causes are removed, we focus on creating cellular conditions for healing and bringing the whole immune system into balance using mainly nutritional approaches. When balance is thus established, inflammation and other symptoms are reversed or significantly reduced.

Each patient is assessed as an individual by our experienced nutrition consultant and an individual nutrition and lifestyle programme is prepared. Because the treatment aims to re-establish optimal health, other problems and symptoms that you may have, will also be addressed.

Food intolerance/allergy testing which is essential for a complete nutrition assessment is carried out in our in clinic laboratory and the nutrition consultant incorporates the results in your dietary guidelines.

We use high quality and potent nutritional supplements and nutraceuticals; however, dietary guidelines take pride of place in all treatment programmes.