Autoimmune diseases such as Grave’s Disease (thyroid), Rheumatoid arthritis, Scleroderma (skin), Crohn’s Disease (bowels), etc. are red flags that the body is getting into serious trouble. All humans appear to have some type of auto-immune vector in their body. All have cancer cells. All have cholesterol plaque on their arteries. All carry viruses and bacteria known to cause serious infections. Even infants are born with these things, including a viral load. What separates “everybody” and those who get sick, is the degree to which the body is still capable of managing them. The body, fortunately, has more than one option to deal with a physiological insult. Disease occurs when the body loses one or more capabilities, or they become overwhelmed with trying to deal with the load.
It’s not a lot different from life. Stress happens. At times we have so much on our plate, too many irons in the fire that we are trying to manage, that at some point it becomes overwhelming. Our efforts seem futile as life seemingly spirals out of control. We manage the best we can, but some things get ignored or done haphazardly, or some of the strategies we use to try to gain control, backfire, and the result is worse than it was to begin with.
An example of this in the body would be cholesterol. Cholesterol is called into action when there is tissue damage that needs to be healed. If that tissue happens to be arteries, and there is a lot to heal, more and more cholesterol is brought in to address it. If too much, the blood thickens, the diameter of the artery narrows and blood pressure increases, or a cardiovascular event may occur. So what starts out as a good thing becomes a bad thing as the problem spirals out of control.
If there is an infection in the body, be it bacterial, viral, fungal, yeast or parasite, the immune system is going to try to handle it. When it does, inflammation results. Runaway inflammation can cause a significant amount of pain or discomfort and the byproducts can also overwhelm the system. An auto-immune response occurs when a sick system can no longer respond normally and the body sets out to fix it. It is the body’s attempt to control or arrest an infection. It is a sick system that is getting even sicker.
The whole body is designed to resist and fight infection. The best thing we can do is to support the system in doing that. While steroids are typically used to control the runaway infection, and the person may feel better, it actually interrupts the healing process. Options for supporting healthy functioning of the immune system are easily available. From acupuncture to herbal medicine, nutritional advice geared towards healing, not disease control, and others are paramount to helping redirect a sick body so that it handles infection better.
©2015 Holly A. Carling, O.M.D., L.Ac., Ph.D.
