There are a myriad of causes for autoimmunity.  It can even affect people who were once super healthy.

“How can this be?” you may be asking yourself.  Well, there are several underlying causes. The trick is to do some detective work to get to the bottom of it, find the root cause and fix the cause.

There IS such a thing called “pre-autoimmune” disease even though autoimmune disease is actually a continuum of imbalances in the body that covers a whole range from mild, to moderate, to severe, to deadly.  So my job is to look at that range in its entirety.

Autoimmunity is a huge problem.  There’s actually a latency period of 7 to 14 years before it’s even diagnosed and is commonly referred to as being in the “pre-autoimmunity” phase.

(BTW – Cyrex Labs has the most comprehensive testing to find out if you are in the pre-autoimmune phase. They use predictive antibody testing. Their test is called Array #5: Multiple Autoimmune Reactivity Screen.)

Instead of being diagnosed early on when there are imbalances which can be detected, the diagnosis usually happens after tissue has been significantly destroyed.  Did you know that autoimmunity is the third leading cause of morbidity and mortality after heart disease and cancer?  Yikes!

Unfortunately, doctors wait until the symptoms are dramatic or extreme before they start considering autoimmunity as a problem.  It comes down to seeing how we can identify the root causes.

So what is autoimmune disease?  Inflammation.

Instead of thinking in terms of “How do we shut off the inflammation?” and providing band-aid solutions, what we should be thinking is, “Hmmm, what is the root cause of the inflammation?  Why is the immune system so outraged?”

The conventional approach is to block, antagonize, suppress and inhibit the immune system with drugs; whereas the Functional Medicine approach is to get a thorough history of the person’s health, because everything in the body is connected, in order to find the root underlying cause of their symptoms – and of their autoimmune disease.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this 3 part series on Functional Medicine VS Autoimmune Disease.

Make a promise to yourself starting today:

Stop feeling lousy…rotten…awful…crummy…miserable…terrible…crappy.

Find a good Functional Medicine doctor to help you get to the root cause of your health problems.

Like I always say:

Find the cause.

Fix the cause.

Feel normal again!

Dr. Carri Drzyzga, DC, ND – The Functional Medicine Doc

Find the Cause. Fix the Cause. Feel Normal Again!