Autoimmune Disease, An American Epidemic Part 2

In my previous post, I shared with you about my mom's recent and disheartening diagnosis of an Autoimmune Disease. Her particular type is called Scleroderma (skler-o-derma). 
It is rare and research will tell you that "there is no known cause or cure." Trust me, I've been doing a ton of research since her diagnosis!

As someone who blogs about health, this shock hit me twice as hard. First, this is my mom! I love her and resent the implications that this diagnosis makes for her!

Second, autoimmune conditions are some of THE hardest to approach holistically. I mentioned in my first post of this series (Autoimmune Disease, An American Epidemic), that we had found her an integrative doctor. We liked this new doctors more open-minded approach, the fact that she didn't scoff when we refused the usual regimen of immunosuppressant drugs. Beyond that, quite honestly, we felt we could do better. Some things this new doctor said just didn't jive with either my mom or I.

Through the generosity of some family members, we were able to take my mom to a Naturopathic doctor we have had a lot of experience with in the last several months when she was taking care of another family member, my one and only sister! After taking over an hour with us, the ND made several recommendations. She agreed with us that removing a probiotic supplement from my mom's regimen made no sense. My mom is back on her probiotic, instead of trying to eat enough fermented foods to balance her good flora/bacteria.

In addition, she recommended the following:

• Borage/flax seed oil - according to her, this is the most concentrated amount of Omega 3 my mom can be taking and these oils will help not only keep her saliva and mucosa producing organs functioning, but it will help her dry eyes as well. We already know how good it is for the blood, as my mom was able to come off statin drugs years back! (No, its not true "once on statins you're always going to have to be on them." That's a lie, like many things the pharmaceutical companies tell you!)
• The ND also recommended Magnesium. This will help prevent the terrible migraines my mom gets more often now. My sister will testify that magnesium has helped her tremendously! She suffered terrible migraines from trauma to her spine in recent years.
• 1 cup of blueberries (fresh) a day. I recently did a blog post on the benefits of berries, particularly in women. This made total sense to us.
• Lastly, the ND also recommended that my mom take and stay consistent with the Hawthorne supplement that I recommended for her upon learning of the Raynaud's Phenomena. Hawthorne is a food in Europe and many other countries, but my mom's integrative doctor was afraid of it, citing there wasn't enough "data." (Groan...)

Lastly, my mom had her first full body massage last week and that really seemed to help her neck and shoulder for the next few days. It was so nice to see her being pampered and so relaxed! We just celebrated her 74th birthday and thanks to the kindness of family, she received a gift card for another massage!

So my mom is hopeful, feeling like we are going to get to the root cause of what's going on here. We are all encouraged that even with a few small changes she has seen slight improvement, but we know this is the beginning of the journey too. In fact, in addition to the follow up with the Integrative Doctor, we will be gathering more data by having my mom see a Rheumatoid Arthritis Specialist. The more the ND knows what's going on in my mom's blood, the better chance we have at reversing this autoimmune process.

Now that you're updated on her status personally, I want to expand on this whole concept of AD a bit more as promised.

If you read my first post, you'll remember that I mentioned AD affects mostly women. There has been a lot of speculation as to why. One common theory among both medical and wellness practitioners is the increased exposure to hormones. 

This reminded me of the book, The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted And the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, And Long-term Health , which was an excellent look at the link between nutrition and health. One thing that the author T. Colin Campbell mentions is that compared to other countries, women in the United States begin menses earlier and end much later in life! The average age for an asian woman for example, to begin her menstruation is 17 and it ends before or just after 40. 

Any guesses what it is here in the United States? Try 9 years young! 

It wasn't always this way. I haven't looked, but I'd bet money that if you were to pull a colonial era or even circa 50s diary and look up entries of girls 9 years old, one thing they weren't talking about was PMS! If it was mentioned, it was more likely something girls at 9 years old were anticipating getting "some day." 

So why the changes in this pattern? Once again, there are many speculations about that as well, but one thing that is certain, American women are not only exposed to their own hormones for longer periods of time, they are also exposed to hormones in meat and dairy products the USDA touts as "doing the body good." 

There's another reason though. It's something you might never imagine. Ladies, I certainly hope you are smart about reading the labels on the food you eat. I really hope you're not blindly shopping for food and poisoning yourself. If you've been following my blogs, I hope you've learned a thing or 2 about how to benefit from whole, fresh foods. 

This next reason for the uptake in hormone levels may come as a shock. Here it is:

"Great care should be taken to avoid unnecessary exposure to conventional cosmetic products. Lipstick, lip balm, and other products that are typically used around large pores have a relatively easy pathway to your blood supply. It is a well established fact that women suffer from autoimmune illness at a significantly higher rate than men; I have come to believe that this is, in part, due to the widespread use of cosmetics among women..." Dr. Ben Kim

Watch this quick little video for more information on the research that's been done on this claim.





I never want the tone of my blogs to be the scary doomsdayish types that the internet is plagued with. I simply want to give you the information, suggest more natural approaches and solutions and leave you with the decisions that will affect your health one way or another.

As lousy a diagnosis this is for my mom, I firmly believe (and she does too), that if she wasn't already living a wellness lifestyle, she'd be so much worse off. She may not have mobility at all if she was regularly consuming inflammatory foods such as sugar, dairy and flour! With God's help we will stop and reverse this autoimmune process without the use of pharmaceuticals. People have done it. I hear "there is no known cause or cure" as an invite to a challenge I cannot refuse - especially when it involves someone dear to my heart!

What Is Autoimmune Disease?

There is an epidemic in the US that statistically has more of a negative impact on women than men. It's unsettling and unfair. 

This epidemic is called Autoimmune Disease (AD).  Personally, it has hit home in recent days as my beloved mother and business partner has just been diagnosed with AD. My next several blog posts will be based entirely on this subject. Call it my way of both coping with the drama while also staying true to my mission about educating people about whole health.



When I asked my mom how she felt about me sharing this health crisis with you she was all for it, "as long as it could help someone."

So What Exactly is AD?

The AD "umbrella" is broad and growing, as more people fall prey to a new garden variety of AD every year. The many diseases covered under this umbrella of AD are (to name a few): Chrohn's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, scleroderma, ulcerative colitis, lupus and multiple sclerosis.

I have a few close female friends (my age or younger) that have been told they have one or more of these conditions and they are either on medication to manage the symptoms or refusing medication and trying to manage things on their own. 

Hardcore Data

According to a recent report, in 1992 there were roughly 67 known auto immune conditions in the United States, with another 20 being strongly suspected as autoimmune in nature. It now encompasses over 100 diseases.

Of the fifty million people living with some sort of autoimmune condition, 75% of them are women! Staggering and unfair, don't you think?

Worse, these conditions (AD) are among the top 10 causes of death in women under 65. 

Economic Impact

Make sure you're sitting when you read this next statistic:

AD conditions are responsible for more than $100 billion in direct health care costs annually. That figure, put out by the National Institutes of Health, is actually an estimate. According to new data, that estimate is likely too conservative a number! Are you a little upset by that? That's the idea. 

Tension creates vision, as someone once said.

My Mom's Condition - 3 Tell Tale Signs

If you were to sit and talk to my mother, you would notice that a bottle of water never leaves her hand. If she isn't constantly sipping on something she cannot even speak, she's so dry.  

She also suffers from extreme dry eyes. The ophthalmologist gave her drops for her eyes years ago and she's been using them faithfully, but they have not been much help. In fact her last visit to him, showed that her cornea has little holes in it - "kind of like swiss cheese" he said.

Additionally, she's had Raynaud's Phenomena, which is a condition where her fingers turn blue or white, and go numb. It used to be that a cooler climate, such as an air conditioned building, would trigger the "phenomena." Now it can happen in any environment, at any time. I've witnessed it several times. (I also witnessed her doctor tell her "not to worry about it." How is the circulatory system something to "not worry about?") 

Her body is inflamed! Her feet and hands are swelling, her food has been getting "stuck" in her esophagus when she eats. She has been terribly fatigued. Obviously, all of this is disturbing!

My Research of AD

As I always do when a family member is struck by something, I started delving deep into trying to understand what exactly the "condition" is all about.  My research the last week or so has taken me from youtube to online medical journals and articles. I was not pleased with much of what I read and saw.  

What most health professionals out there will tell you is that all you can do for AD is manage symptoms with immunosuppressant drugs, steroids and/or pain medication. There is no cause or cure for AD.

What we do know is what happens in a person with AD. Essentially, the white cells, which are supposed to protect us from invaders, pathogens, bacteria, for some reason- "in error", the white cells begin attacking the body! Thus, in my mom's condition, her white cells have damaged her exocrine glands. Her immune system, conventional wisdom will say, is making "errors."

I Don't Buy It!

If you know me at all, you know that this conclusion about the body mysteriously doing things "in error," flies in the face of everything I believe about the body and how and why God made it.

The body is brilliant, innately intelligent. It will do what it was designed to do every time. The response will be appropriate to the environment it is in, both physiologically and geographically.

Here's an example of what I mean about appropriate response and adaptation:

Let's say you are dizzy and feel faint for lack of oxygen. What will your body do ultimately? It will land you flat on your back or your face! Why? Because it knows that your brain needs blood to keep flowing to it or you will die! 

Would it be inconvenient for you to land on the floor? Sure. Is it embarrassing? Maybe. But if you didn't end up in a position that forced blood to keep flowing to your brain, you wouldn't live to read this article!

That's why I can't accept the notion that the body suddenly lost its intelligence and now doesn't know what it's doing. There's a reason it's doing what it's doing. Rather than slap a label on it and pull out the prescription pad, how about we look into the cause and stop settling for managing the symptoms? The video below provides a great explanation of how the body is designed to strive toward wellness every moment we're alive. Take a few minutes to watch it and be amazed! 

What We Are Doing For Her: Phase 1

Having grown more than disappointed by the way my mother's concerns were handled, we moved her to another doctor. This time, we have her going to an Integrative Doctor.  An Integrative Doctor is a physician that uses both alternative and conventional methods of caring for their patient. They are more open minded to natural methods and cures than a conventional doctor is. 

I went with her yesterday to her first visit with this new doctor. After asking my mother about her health history, one thing became abundantly clear. My mother has been on antibiotics for one reason or another for most of her adult life - up until about 5 years ago. 

Her (former) doctor had told her for years, that she had a "low grade UTI and that it's common in the elderly and if it got bad she should come see him to get some-" you guessed it: antibiotics. So - the fact is even though my mom has been supplementing with a probiotic, she's also had this UTI wreaking havoc in her body and it doesn't take an MD or a rocket scientist to know that an infection that is allowed to persist screws with the body! 

Like it or not, we humans are made up mainly of bacteria! Without the right balance of it, all kinds of sicknesses can hit us hard. So the first piece of this health puzzle, is we need to restore her good flora/bacteria.

So you know, it's estimated that for every round of antibiotic, the body needs 3 months to restore good flora. My mom turns 74 next week. I'm no mathematician but if she's been on antibiotics most of her adult life, that means she needed an awful lot of time to build her good flora back up!

Balance Is Key

Instead of supplementing with a probiotic in pill form, the new doctor wants my mom to eat a fermented food every day. My fermented food of choice is and always has been miso, fermented soy. A while back I was making a miso broth and drinking a cup or 2 every day. I found it very soothing and it tasted good. As we speak my mom is probably at Whole Foods, picking up some miso paste and hopefully preparing some for herself.

Other measures we are taking as per doctor's orders: She is to have something warm for breakfast with a cup of hot water and raw honey. Salads and raw greens should be consumed during the day. Evening meals should be a lean protein and a lightly steamed vegetable rather than a salad. She's to document in a journal form, everything she eats, drinks, when she eats and drinks it and also her sleep patterns for 2 weeks. The doctor said she wants to see what the "rhythm of her life is like." She also "prescribed" massage therapy. These out of pocket expenses for massage and eventually acupuncture will add up and be challenging but - how can we not do it for her?

Overall, I was impressed with the new doctor's approach. I respect the concept of  taking things step by step and not changing so many things at once. She respects our decision to not just "medicate" the symptoms.

I will be updating you again on my mom's progress through this condition again shortly. In the meantime, I want to encourage you to do 2 things:

1)   Be your own advocate! If you think that something is not quite right with you, see your family physician and insist on appropriate response. If you are not happy with your doctor, find another one who will take you seriously! It's YOUR body and you only get one! Synthetic parts are no replacement for the original.

2) Take advantage of technology today and educate yourself about your body systems. Watch videos, study, learn and consult with more than one expert in the field before you agree to treatments or protocols. Understand WHY what's going on is going on and don't just settle for the prescription pad. Chances are there are a lot more options. Look into them. Never go into anything blindly. Don't be afraid to ask about risk, objectives, etc.


--------------------------------
Photo credit