Immunity and Autoimmune Disorders
Did your autoimmune condition just “fall out of the sky”, a function of poor luck, timing and genetics? Most Western therapies assume this, and utilize drug therapies to only treat the symptoms of the disease. What if there were a constellation of factors contributing to the autoimmune process, such as environmental triggers, diet, organ dysfunction, hormonal balances, and immune dysregulation? With Functional Medicine, we look deeper into the workings of your body, examining the interplay of hormones, toxins, immune activators and the integrity of the barriers that the immune system is intended to protect.
It is estimated that one in twelve Americans has an autoimmune disease, and the number may be much higher, as autoimmune conditions are not reportable to a central agency such as the Department of Health. The frightening thing is that the prevalence of these diseases, defined as the new cases per set number of a population, is on the rise in both men and women. If one considers that our cellular immune function is a product of the messaging and information contained in our DNA, why has our DNA now decided to begin to identify our own tissues as foreign and institute an inflammatory attack against our own body? This inflammation, normally reserved for invading microbes such as bacteria, yeast and viruses, is now being turned back against its host and showing up as disease in all of our organs.
It is felt that there are more than seventy immune processes, or autoimmune conditions, that can affect the human body. But in order to understand what is happening in an autoimmune condition, one has to first revisit the structure and responsibilities of the functioning immune system. By understanding the balanced immune system, we can then obtain some clues as to what could be promoting autoimmunity, and what steps might be taken to slow or reverse the autoimmune process.
The basic premise of the immune system is to protect the human body from dangerous strangers. An influenza virus, a malarial infection, a poison or a toxin are clearly dangerous strangers, and the immune system reacts to eliminate or suppress these and numerous other challenges to our health. Within the last two decades, medicine has come to realize that the immune system is not poised to simply recognize self from non-self, as was previously believed. The degree of surveillance, interaction and understanding of the environment is much more refined than that. The immune system sits poised, guarding the surfaces in the human body through which these dangerous strangers could appear. It guards barriers. The obvious barriers are the surface of the skin, the lining of the gut, and other places where the environment can come into contact with the internal workings of our body, like in our sinuses, vaginas or lungs.
The immune system, upon recognizing a substance deemed dangerous, responds with a burst of inflammatory molecules. Ground soldier immune cells at the site of the breech engage in a rapid and non-specific discharge of toxic molecules onto the invader. Often the invasion is stemmed, but not without some collateral damage in the surrounding, healthy tissues. Hours to days after the initial response comes the second line of offense, the production of antibodies. These molecules are specifically tailored to the invader, and when released promote a second round of inflammation, this one more specific and direct. The antibody cells also carry the memory of the battle with them for the duration of our lives, in the future hopefully having a jump start on the dangerous microbe should it attempt to return.
The important thing is to realize that our immune system is dynamic, and in constant communication with the external (as well as our internal) world. It is not simply set to only be excited and drawn into a fight; we would refer to this as a stimulated or activated immune system. Modern science is showing us that the immune system is similarly quieted, calmed and taught temperament by signals in the environment as well. The key element is to have an immune system that is in balance. An overactive immune system has a hair trigger; a “long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs”. Conversely an underactive system is insufficient to mount an appropriate immune response, and the bacterial invaders gain an advantage. There is new thinking that Crohn’s disease is caused by a weakened immune system, not one which is on hyper-drive.
A functional approach to immunity addresses these key questions: What is the environmental influence to which our immune system is exposed, and what is the integrity of the barrier that the immune system is protecting? Current science is showing us that through diet, nutrition, hormones and behavior modification we can coax the cellular actors towards a state of tolerance and away from one of inflammation. It will likely be years until there is a full understanding of the function of our immune system, its triggers, and its genetic influences. With functional medicine, we can begin to initiate steps to balance and optimize the function of the immune system today.
What's Next?
Contact us to setup your New Patient Appointment.
Visit our Home Page to read more about Functional Medicine
It is felt that there are more than seventy immune processes, or autoimmune conditions, that can affect the human body. But in order to understand what is happening in an autoimmune condition, one has to first revisit the structure and responsibilities of the functioning immune system. By understanding the balanced immune system, we can then obtain some clues as to what could be promoting autoimmunity, and what steps might be taken to slow or reverse the autoimmune process.
The basic premise of the immune system is to protect the human body from dangerous strangers. An influenza virus, a malarial infection, a poison or a toxin are clearly dangerous strangers, and the immune system reacts to eliminate or suppress these and numerous other challenges to our health. Within the last two decades, medicine has come to realize that the immune system is not poised to simply recognize self from non-self, as was previously believed. The degree of surveillance, interaction and understanding of the environment is much more refined than that. The immune system sits poised, guarding the surfaces in the human body through which these dangerous strangers could appear. It guards barriers. The obvious barriers are the surface of the skin, the lining of the gut, and other places where the environment can come into contact with the internal workings of our body, like in our sinuses, vaginas or lungs.
The immune system, upon recognizing a substance deemed dangerous, responds with a burst of inflammatory molecules. Ground soldier immune cells at the site of the breech engage in a rapid and non-specific discharge of toxic molecules onto the invader. Often the invasion is stemmed, but not without some collateral damage in the surrounding, healthy tissues. Hours to days after the initial response comes the second line of offense, the production of antibodies. These molecules are specifically tailored to the invader, and when released promote a second round of inflammation, this one more specific and direct. The antibody cells also carry the memory of the battle with them for the duration of our lives, in the future hopefully having a jump start on the dangerous microbe should it attempt to return.
The important thing is to realize that our immune system is dynamic, and in constant communication with the external (as well as our internal) world. It is not simply set to only be excited and drawn into a fight; we would refer to this as a stimulated or activated immune system. Modern science is showing us that the immune system is similarly quieted, calmed and taught temperament by signals in the environment as well. The key element is to have an immune system that is in balance. An overactive immune system has a hair trigger; a “long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs”. Conversely an underactive system is insufficient to mount an appropriate immune response, and the bacterial invaders gain an advantage. There is new thinking that Crohn’s disease is caused by a weakened immune system, not one which is on hyper-drive.
A functional approach to immunity addresses these key questions: What is the environmental influence to which our immune system is exposed, and what is the integrity of the barrier that the immune system is protecting? Current science is showing us that through diet, nutrition, hormones and behavior modification we can coax the cellular actors towards a state of tolerance and away from one of inflammation. It will likely be years until there is a full understanding of the function of our immune system, its triggers, and its genetic influences. With functional medicine, we can begin to initiate steps to balance and optimize the function of the immune system today.
What's Next?
Contact us to setup your New Patient Appointment.
Visit our Home Page to read more about Functional Medicine