Naperville Integrated Wellness
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Autoimmune Disease and COVID-19: The Functional Medicine Approach
Autoimmune Disease and COVID-19
Autoimmune diseases have not been found to increase COVID-19 mortality, but other chronic health conditions have. However, coronavirus infection can cause an exacerbation or flare up of your autoimmune disease.
If you have an autoimmune disease, it does not mean that you have an overactive or underactive immune system. It means you have an immune system that is not being regulated…it is making the mistake of attacking your body. Autoimmunity causes increased levels of inflammation in the body. In an earlier blog, I explained how inflammation is your body’s response to cell injury. If you have an autoimmune disease, your immune system is causing damage to tissues and this leads to more inflammation. The problem is that this damage and inflammation becomes chronic. Chronic damage leads to chronic inflammation which will lead to even more cell damage and more inflammation; it is a vicious circle. This inflammation and cell damage cycle can spread to other areas of the body. Consider Hashimoto’s disease, a thyroid autoimmune disease. The immune system is attacking the thyroid gland. If the damage and inflammation were confined to the thyroid gland then no other body system would be affected…the ONLY problem would be destruction of they thyroid gland. If that was the ONLY thing that happened, then anyone with Hashimoto’s would simply need to take thyroid medication and they would feel great! However, this rarely happens. The other body systems are suffering from the autoimmune disease as well. Common Many people with Hashimoto’s have these health issues, even when their thyroid hormones are normal, or higher than normal (due to thyroid medication). Not only is the thyroid affected by Hashimoto’s, but the digestive system and brain are often affected; and it is not because of a lack of thyroid hormone. It is due to immune system and inflammatory responses damaging these organs and systems; even though they are not direct targets of autoimmunity…they thyroid gland is. Infection with this coronavirus will cause damage to cells in your body. The virus hijacks your cells and uses them to manufacture more viruses. Once your immune system becomes aware of this intruder it will launch an attack against it. The result is battle will be inflammation, cell damage, and again more inflammation. This cycle can exacerbate autoimmune conditions and the other systems affected by that autoimmune disease. If you have brain fog or fatigue, they could get worse. If you have digestion problems, they can get worse. If you have depression or anxiety, they can get worse…etc. I am not telling your this to alarm you. I just want you to understand how this works. So, what should you be doing to prevent or minimize the chance of this occurring? Take the best care of your body and immune system you can! Regarding COVID-19, one of two things are likely to happen. You will get infected with the virus or you will manage to avoid it until a vaccine is developed and get vaccinated. Either way, your immune system will be called upon to respond to the virus and make antibodies. In either situation, your immune system will be put under stress and there will be an inflammatory response! The absolute best that anyone, with or without autoimmunity, can hope for is to have an appropriate immune response to the virus. What is an appropriate immune response? The immune system does not under or overreact! It just makes antibodies to eliminate the virus and accomplishes this without significant or prolonged symptoms of illness. If you would like more information about functional medicine and integrative medicine or Dr. Sexton go to napervilleintegratedwellness.com Do your own research, inform yourself and ask lots of questions. When collecting information, you MUST consider the source. There is no shortage of false, misleading, outdated, profit-driven and utterly biased information in healthcare today; even from the most respected sources and organizations. This approach to healthcare is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, mitigate, or prevent any disease. This article is for information purposes and is not a substitute professional healthcare services. Contact our office for more information.
symptoms that occur with Hashimoto’s disease are:
Many of these same health issues occur with individuals with other autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, Raynaud’s syndrome, ulcerative colitis, vitiligo…etc. Autoimmune disease does not limit its damage to a single organ or tissue; it affects the entire body to a greater or lesser degree. This is why it is so important to care for the body as whole, to nurture a more appropriate immune system response and help protect the other body systems. This is where the help of a functional medicine doctor is essential. No other type of doctor or medical specialist looks at your body as a whole. Only a functional medicine doctors will consider the global effects of autoimmunity on your body and health.COVID-19 makes autoimmune disease worse
Anything that increases stress on your body, damage to cells or inflammation can exacerbate your autoimmune disease and any of health issues associated with it. This can also trigger the development of additional autoimmune diseases. Once you have one autoimmune disease, you are statistically more likely to develop additional autoimmune diseases.
An inappropriate immune response is prolonged illness, new autoimmune disease, or death. Your defense, your only defense is a healthy and appropriate immune system response. Functional medicine can help. You can wait for COVID-19 testing, you can wait and hope for a vaccine, or you can stop waiting and hoping and do something today.
When it comes to COVID-19 your best defense is to be proactive.
The purpose of functional medicine is:
Understanding how the body works, knowing how and where to investigate health issues, knowing what to look for, understanding the significance of what is found and creating a plan of action to reverse and correct the root cause the health problems.
My wish for you…health, happiness and a better quality of life!