Auto-immune diseases People quietly develop allergy to various foods, organisms, chemicals, inhalants, until the reactivity spills over to an attack on their own tissues, hence the name auto-immune. A few auto immune skin disorders are lupus, scleroderma, vitiligo, and alopecia areata. Arthritis, and fibromyalgia may also be related to auto-immune disease. Alternative medicine has the capacity to treat auto-immune disease in ways conventional medicine can’t.
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and more vague varieties of loss of energy seem to be becoming more common. I work with many of the underlying issues, including hypoglycemia, food allergy, Candida, Lyme disease, Epstein-Barr Virus, CMV, chemical and food sensitivity, environmental sensitivity, and metabolic imbalance, to correct the cause of the problem.
Alopecia areata Patches of hair loss, sometimes associated with stress, have an underlying autoimmune cause. Finding what has thrown the body into a reaction against itself is the key I use to unlock the condition.
Fibromyalgia is part of the spectrum of autoimmune conditions. They require most of the same first steps as mentioned above, but they may need support of other organs of the body, such as the adrenal glands, which have become exhausted in the process of trying to control allergy.
Hives (urticaria) An immediate immune response with moving red Wheals or hives. Often hives are a reaction to something entering the body orally or by inhalation. Antibodies cause histamine release when they meet the triggering foreign material or “antigen”. Some types of urticaria can cause swelling of the respiratory canal and lead to a fatal condition known as anaphylaxis. Conventional treatment includes antihistamines to reduce allergic swelling, and for more severe cases, administration of potent cortisone derivatives. Eliminating the cause is important, but the time and framework for good detective work is not usually available in a busy conventional practice. Using integrative dermatology is key to lasting change.
Lupus makes up a set of conditions in which there is an autoimmune attack of the skin, joints, and in some cases, parts of the body essential to life such as the kidneys. It may start with a “butterfly rash” across the cheeks from sun exposure of the face. Bringing the overactive attack of the immune system back under control is crucial.
Mixed Connective Tissue Disease such as lupus and scleroderma, is an autoimmune disorder that has clinical and laboratory features of more than one defined autoimmune condition, such as lupus. These conditions involve attack by the body’s immune system against itself. My four-decade background in cellular immunology helps here.
Neurologic Conditions, especially of metabolic origin, as after medication, or due to toxins causing brain fog, brain allergy, etc. I would expect that a competent neurologist has already evaluated the patient, and has nothing to offer.
Psoriasis is a condition of thickened red skin patches, especially over joints and pressure points, which can be highly resistant to treatment. It is caused by an extremely rapid overgrowth of the skin in the patches, which in turn has been caused by an immune reaction targeted in that area. The immune reaction is well recognized to be stimulated by specific streptococcus bacteria, in some cases. I work with patients to change the conditions which stimulate their skin to react and get thick and inflamed. Patients may still continue on light treatments with their regular dermatologist, while they work with me.
Scleroderma is a condition of thickening and hardening of the skin due to an autoimmune attack which stimulates the fibroblasts to increase the production of the fibrous material that gives the skin its strength.
Vitiligo is an auto immune condition causing patches of loss of pigment in the skin. Looking for and working on removing possible causes of allergy against oneself can help. So can helping the pigment cells work better.
As a medical detective and holistic dermatologist, I have had to solve problems for my patients and my family members, for which no solution was known to medicine. Where I have had dramatic success, I credit prayer and a network of collegues and consultants. The important question is whether I feel that I can work with the condition at hand, not how many times I have treated it successfully before. Each individual is unique in their genetic makeup, metabolism, and exposure experience. Had I required that answer of myself, I would not have been successful in helping many patients, friends, and family members. I applied the methods I know of going deeper into finding the underlying cause and fixing it. If I had only one method for fixing the cause for each specific disease, I would have been as unsuccessful as the doctor who tried before.
Please note: This material is presented for information purposes only. It is not intended to be used to either diagnose or treat disease.
More about AutoImmune Diseases and Alternative Medicine
Simply put, autoimmunity is the condition of one’s immune system attacking one’s own body. There is an overlap with allergy in that immune responses in allergy are overreactions to substances entering the body, causing damage to areas of the body.
Classical autoimmune conditions include lupus, scleroderma, dermatomyosiitis, mixed connective disorder. Psoriasis, not classically considered an autoimmune condition, does involve the immune system starting an attack on the skin, and the resultant series of events that occurs in those susceptible individuals. Often there are one or multiple genetic problems that contribute to an autoimmune condition. That does not mean there is no treatment, because the expression of specific genes is constantly modified by the body, so we can make changes which alter that expression.
Sometimes, persistence of an allergic stimulation occurs because the body’s detox mechanisms are not working, or have been worn down by repeated exposure. Restoring that ability to remove or break down toxins or irritants, can be part of the treatment. Sometimes that means supporting the activity of eliminative organs such as the liver, kidneys, lymphatics or bowel. Sometimes, specific enzymes, the chemical machines involved in breakdown of chemical toxins, need to be supplemented with cofactors such as specific minerals, vitamins, or other co-factors, to get them working better.
Autoimmune conditions often involve a specific target in the body. For example, blistering diseases such a Pemphigoid not only involve the junction between the epidermis and the dermis, but it appears the attacking antibodies are directed against the specific structures which “glue” the two layers together. As for cause, there is often a target, such as an infecting organism, which incites the reaction, because it has a segment with chemical makeup that resembles exactly a segment in one’s own tissue. This has been proven in immunologic studies. My own studies were on the detection of similarity by one of the key players in the immune system, the white blood cells know as lymphocytes. We call the attack of such similars “cross reactivity”, and we now call the similarity of foreign substances to our own sub-cellular tissues, “molecular mimicry.” Removing the cause so such molecular mimics is a key part of treating autoimmune conditions from the inside.
It may take more than mimics to set off an auto-immune condition. There may need to be some sort of condition that interferes with the proper regulation of the immune system, and actually confuses it. Such confusion might come from a viral condition, severe stress, or weakening of the body. My approach is to identify likely sources of both molecular mimicry and of dis-regulation, and correct them, as part of the process of reversing auto-immune disease.
Fixing the digestive system as a source of possible molecular mimics to stimulate the system is just a part of the foundation of getting these conditions under control.
Fibromyalgia and Chronic fatigue are also part of the spectrum of autoimmune conditions. They require most of the same first steps as mentioned above, but they may need support of other organs of the body, such as the adrenal glands, which have become exhausted in the process of trying to control allergy.