Identifying whether there is an autoimmune involvement is so important! Autoimmunity (AI) can come in the form of Hashimotos, Graves, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus, Celiacs or a host of other conditions. I have many women who come in that have either not been tested for autoimmune (AI) or their doctor tested, but did nothing else for it. The reason for not testing for it (or for not addressing it) is that it doesn’t alter the proscribed treatment protocol of medication. If it doesn’t alter the protocol it is deemed “not medically necessary.” What does that mean anyway?
Basically, there is no pharmaceutical treatment for AI unless it gets extremely severe. The treatment is basically using strong drugs to SUPPRESS the immune system. This is why many patients with RA that begin taking Enbrel end up having to go off of it after awhile because they start getting multiple infections. Even the MDs are smart enough not to want to suppress the immune system aggressively unless they think it’s absolutely necessary.
It is well documented in the literature that people get AI reactions a long time before they get actual tissue destruction as a result of the reactions. The tissue destruction is the qualifier for tagging the patient with the autoimmune disease. In the world of the ICD-9 code you have to wait until there is a lot of tissue destruction before you get a code that describes the disease and then medicine steps in to basically “squash’ the immune system with steroids. At this point, the patient has suffered for years .
I would also mention the three treatments that medicine has for immune…steroids, chemo, and radiation. They are so dangerous, they are only used when your life is seriously in danger. And, what do they do to the immune system…crush it!!
My goal, in functional medicine, is to find out ASAP the if and when a person is getting reactions to self (producing antibodies) and modulate the immune response through proper nutrition, lifestyle changes and evaluation and thus prevent a lot of suffering . This can be done!
Dr. E.