About Autoimmune Diseases

Our bodies have an immune system, which is a complex network of special cells and organs that defend the body from germs and other foreign invaders.
The core of the immune system is the ability to tell the difference between self and nonself: what’s you and what’s foreign. A flaw can make the body unable to tell the difference between self and nonself. When this happens, the body makes autoantibodies that attack normal cells by mistake. At the same time, special cells called regulatory T cells fail to do their job of keeping the immune system in line. The result is a misguided attack on your own body. This causes the damage we know as autoimmune disease.

Simply put, an autoimmune disease occurs when the body’s immune system attacks and destroys healthy body tissue by mistake.

An autoimmune disease may result in:

• The destruction of body tissue.

• Abnormal growth of an organ.

• Changes in organ function.

An autoimmune disease may affect one or more organ or tissue types. Areas often affected by autoimmune disease include:

• Blood vessels

• Connective tissues

• Endocrine glands such as the thyroid or pancreas

• Joints

• Muscles

• Red blood cells

• Skin

• Body organs such as the kidneys, lungs, heart, and brain

The body parts that are affected depend on the type of autoimmune disease. There are more than 80 known types.

Common autoimmune diseases include:

• Addison’s disease; occurs when the adrenal cortex is damaged, and the adrenal glands don’t produce enough of the steroid hormones cortisol and aldosterone.
Symptoms include weight loss, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, muscle weakness, fatigue, low blood sugar, low blood pressure, and patchy or dark skin.

• Celiac disease – the immune system reacts to gluten (found in wheat and other grains) and damages the small intestine. Coeliac disease causes flatulence, diarrhoea and abdominal pain.

• Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) – The immune system attacks the lining of the intestines, causing episodes of diarrhea, rectal bleeding, urgent bowel movements, abdominal pain, fever, and weight loss. Ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease are the two major forms of IBD.

• Psoriasis – Psoriasis is a common chronic skin condition. Psoriasis starts with the immune system. Your immune system protects your body against infection and disease. When you have psoriasis, your T cells (a kind of white blood cells) wrongly attack your skin cells. This causes your skin cells to rapidly reproduce and swell, producing silvery, scaly plaques on the skin.

• Dermatomyositis –  is a long-term inflammatory disorder which affects muscles. Its symptoms are generally a skin rash and worsening muscle weakness over time. These may occur suddenly or develop over months. Other symptoms may include weight loss, fever, lung inflammation, or light sensitivity.

• Graves disease – is an autoimmune disease that affects the thyroid. The thyroid gland is overactive, causing anxiety, heart palpitations, weight loss and irritated or bulging eyes.

• Hashimoto thyroiditis – is an autoimmune condition in which the body’s immune system attacks the thyroid gland, preventing it from producing enough thyroid hormones.

• Systemic lupus erythematosus is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory connective tissue disorder that can involve joints, kidneys, skin, mucous membranes, and blood vessel walls, nervous system, gastrointestinal tract, lungs, and other tissues and organs can develop.

• Type 1 diabetes – the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas, Therefore, the pancreas produces little or no insulin to manage blood sugar levels, resulting in thirst, hunger and frequent urination.

• Multiple sclerosis – The nervous system is affected, causing muscle weakness and poor coordination, sight problems and, in some cases, cognitive difficulties.

• Alopecia areata is a common autoimmune disorder that often results in unpredictable hair loss.

• Myasthenia gravis – is an autoimmune disorder that impairs communication between nerves and muscles, resulting in episodes of muscle weakness.

• Pernicious anemia is a decrease in red blood cells that occurs when the intestines cannot properly absorb vitamin B12.
Pernicious anemia is a type of vitamin B12 anemia. The body needs vitamin B12 to make red blood cells. You get this vitamin from eating foods such as meat, poultry, shellfish, eggs, and dairy products.
A special protein, called intrinsic factor (IF), binds vitamin B12 so that it can be absorbed in the intestines. This protein is released by cells in the stomach. When the stomach does not make enough intrinsic factor, the intestine cannot properly absorb vitamin B12.

• Vitiligo is a skin condition in which there is a loss of color (pigment) from areas of skin. This results in uneven white patches that have no pigment. Vitiligo seems to occur when immune cells destroy the cells that make brown pigment (melanocytes)

• Rheumatoid arthritis – is an inflammatory arthritis in which the immune system damages the joints and connective tissues.

• Sjögren syndrome – It is an autoimmune disease where the immune system typically attacks the glands that normally produce tears, saliva and sweat. Other parts of the body may also be affected.
It is characterized by excessive dryness of the eyes, mouth, and other mucous membranes.

• Vasculitis – This happens when the immune system attacks blood vessels.
The inflammation can cause the blood vessels to narrow. This may restrict blood flow to part of the body (ischemia) or stop it altogether (thrombosis). Sometimes the vessel wall may weaken and balloon out (an aneurysm), which can cause bleeding.
Inflammation can also lead to tissue damage affecting one or many body organs such as the kidneys and lungs.

Causes of Autoimmune Diseases

Typically, when you have an autoimmune disorder, your immune system does not distinguish between healthy tissue and potentially harmful antigens. As a result, the body sets off a reaction that destroys normal tissues, but the exact cause of autoimmune disorders is unknown. One theory is that some microorganisms (such as bacteria or viruses) or drugs may trigger changes that confuse the immune system. This may happen more often in people who have genes that make them more prone to autoimmune disorders. So why something triggers an autoimmune reaction or disorder in one person and not another is usually unknown. However, heredity is sometimes involved. Some people have genes that make them slightly more likely to develop an autoimmune disorder.

Common Symptoms of Autoimmune Diseases.

Symptoms of an autoimmune disease vary based on the disease and location of the abnormal immune response.

Most people have signs and symptoms of autoimmune disorders for a long time before they seek help. It can also take a long time to diagnose an autoimmune disease because some symptoms, such as tiredness and ‘just not feeling right’, are commonly felt by many adults, while symptoms can come and go.

Symptoms that often occur with autoimmune diseases include:

• Fever

• Fatigue

• General ill-feeling, discomfort

• Pain and inflammation

Self Help in Autoimmune Diseases.

• Check for hidden infections — yeast, viruses, bacteria, Lyme, etc. — with the help of a doctor or your health caregiver and treat them.

• Check for hidden food allergens.

• Get tested for celiac disease, which is a blood test that any doctor can do.

• Get checked for heavy metal toxicity. Mercury and other metals can cause autoimmunity.

• Fix your gut with probiotics.

• Use nutrients such as fish oil, vitamin C, vitamin D, and probiotics to help calm your immune response naturally.

• Exercise regularly — it’s a natural anti-inflammatory system.

Homeopathic Treatment and Autoimmune Diseases

Treatment of autoimmune diseases using the conventional medicine is typically with the use of immunosuppressive drugs that decrease the immune response or lower the activity of the mmune system of the patient, and as a result, people become drug dependent and are gifted with many adverse effects, in spite of the desired therapeutic result.

However, homeopathy is said to be the best treatment for autoimmune diseases in that It can efficiently cure and control the unnecessary destruction of healthy tissues caused by abnormal immune response during the episode of autoimmune disorder issues.

Homeopathy has been doing wonders since more than 200 years ago and it’s an entirely natural system of medicine that is safe and has no side effects.

The good news is, it is very much efficient when it comes to autoimmune diseases since it works on the theory of curing illness by stimulating the body to heal itself.

Another advantage of using this natural system of medicine is that, homeopathy treatment aims in finding the root cause that triggers an health challenge, which is followed by a gradual return to homeostasis. That has been proved many times by the use of homeopathic medicines for the treatment of autoimmune diseases such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, vitiligo, alopecia, inflammatory bowel disease to mention a few.

Another merit of using homeopathic treatment is that, when treating an autoimmune diseases, an homeopath does not only depend on the symptoms of the patient but also on other factors. Homoeopathy treats the person as a whole. It means that the homoeopathic treatment focusses on the person and as well as his pathological conditions. This includes a detailed medical history of the patient, family and causative factors. Any underlying predisposition/susceptibility is considered. The disease is studied at the level of bacteria/virus and also factors like any mental/ physical stressors that could predispose the individual to this illness. 
In turn, healing of the immune system will be fast, deep, and holistic.

Homeopathy obviously fits into the class of therapeutic system of healing that augment the body’s own defenses. The basis of homeopathy, called the principle of similars, suggests that a microdose of a substance will heal whatever pattern of symptoms this substance causes in large dose. This principle is also observed in the use of vaccinations in conventional medicine, but in homeopathy, the homeopathic medicines are both considerably smaller and safer in dose and more individualized to the person they are being used to treat. But most importantly these Homoeopathic medicines, in microdose and ultra dilute forms, produce modulation of immune function at multiple levels for the body, so that the body can heal by itself.

If you feel you are coming down with an autoimmune disorder, boost your immune system naturally using homeopathic medicines to avoid recurrent illnesses and infections. Individualisation of each patient requires time and the expertise of the homeopathic practitioner, but the results are worth fortunes, so avoid self medication.

So, if you or someone you know happens to suffer any time from autoimmune disease, you can go for homeopathy without a second thought.

For your homeopathic treatment and medicines, consult the homeopath Oluwafunmise on 08028366901 or 08183554665.