By Dr. Josh Redd, Chiropractic Physician, RedRiver Health and Wellness Center
More people suffer from autoimmunity than cancer and heart disease combined.
More than 50 million people suffer from autoimmune disease. That’s just the ones who are diagnosed. Many more have undiagnosed autoimmune reactions and are the most misdiagnosed and overlooked patient population.
Symptoms of autoimmunity vary depending on the tissue being attacked. However, symptoms of systemic inflammation are common. These include gut problems, skin rashes, chronic pain, inflammation and puffiness, fatigue, brain fog, weight gain or loss, hair loss, infertility, and symptoms that come and go.
Different people have different triggers, but the top 10 triggers we clinically are:
- Not enough quality sleep
- Not enough physical activity
- Poor gut microbiome diversity
- Chronic stress
- Toxins
- Gluten
- Food sensitivities
- Infection
- Blood sugar is too high or too low
- Air pollution
Antibodies tag tissue but they don’t destroy it — T cells destroy it. It’s good to know your baseline antibody level and then monitor if it goes up or down. Don’t get hung up on “normal” antibodies. If your T cells are not attacking your tissue an abnormal antibody count might be normal for you.
Personalize your autoimmune management protocol around strategies that dampen inflammation and modulate immune function. These include:
- An anti-inflammatory diet (get my free Inflammatory Reset guide – link in bio)
- Good sleep
- Daily exercise – Each patient is different but find your baseline of exercise that doesn’t flare up symptoms and do that each day.
- Remove/mitigate personal immune triggers
- Non-toxic household and body products
- Practice joy and gratitude
Also, supplementation of omega 3 in combination with vitamin D was more effective than omega 3 alone. Both are great for supporting regulatory T cells, which help keep autoimmunity in check.
Liposomal glutathione, resveratrol, and curcumin help dampen inflammatory cytokines. Products I like are Omega Co-3, Liqua-D, Trizomal Glutathione, ResveroActive, and TurmeroActive, all by Apex Energetics.
To learn more about our services and to schedule a free consultation, please visit redriverhealthandwellness.com. We work with your prescribing physician for optimal results. Do not discontinue medication or hormone replacement therapy without consulting your prescribing physician.