Health science is now proving a strong link between autoimmune disease and gut health
Autoimmune disease is a major challenge for people of today. There is still so little support for many autoimmune diseases with often pharmaceutical drugs being the only option and answer from conventional medicine.
Autoimmune diseases can be debilitating leaving you in pain and affecting your daily living. This can often lead to a low mood and depression, as fatigue is usually a problem too. When autoimmune diseases aren’t supported, they can gradually get worse leading to other health conditions.
Many autoimmune diseases often come after other issues with health, so it’s important to consider your entire health rather than just dealing with an auto-immune disease. In functional medicine, a doctor will always look at your whole health and take into consideration what else could be going on in your body, and that’s why many will consider your gut health before prescribing long-term drugs. However, it’s important to mention here that many auto-immune diseases are hereditary. These diseases are usually spotted much earlier on in life and managed through diet, lifestyle, and prescription drugs.
Types of auto-immune diseases:
- Type 1 diabetes
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Psoriasis/psoriatic arthritis
- Multiple sclerosis
- Lupus
- Addison’s disease
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Graves disease
- Hashimoto’s thyroiditis
- Celiac
There are other auto-immune diseases, but these are just some of them.
Symptoms of autoimmune diseases
The early symptoms of many autoimmune diseases are very similar. It’s important to seek medical advice as soon as you think you may have an autoimmune disease. It is likely you will be required to take long-term medication. However, there are lots of ways you can reduce the symptoms of autoimmune disease and we will discuss those shortly.
- Fatigue
- Achy muscles
- Swelling and redness
- Low-grade fever
- Trouble concentrating
- Numbness and tingling in the hands and feet
- Hair loss
- Skin rashes
Many people will also report digestive problems, which is why gut health is key to consider.
Why gut health is important for autoimmune disease
Science research studies are discovering that certain bacterium types are more prevalent within some autoimmune diseases. This is no surprise when we come to learn how important the gut microbiome is in the overall functioning of our body. Science is confirming that these tiny microbes are super important for the immune function, neuro function, hormone function and more.
Through science, we also know that 80% of your immune system lives in your digestive system. This is revolutionary when we come to learn how the immune system interacts with the gut microbiome, because we discover more simple actions such as increasing your friendly bacteria could help to reduce symptoms relating to immune conditions such as auto-immune diseases.
Complimentary action for autoimmune diseases
Focusing on your gut health could help to reduce the symptoms associated with some autoimmune diseases. Here is a short list of actions you can take to improve your gut health:
- Drink bone broth. Bone broth is an amazing product that has been proven to reduce inflammation of the digestive system. Inflammation is the major cause of disease, so reducing inflammation will improve digestive function.
- Drink natural probiotic drinks such as water kefir juice and fermented ginger beer. These drinks are natural probiotics. They contain friendly bacteria that help to keep your gut microbiome in check. These bacteria colonise your gut and increase in numbers. This is vital for your immune system, as microbes play a crucial role in defending harmful bacteria and fungi.
- Ensure you are eating an abundance of vegetables, especially leafy greens.
- Reduce your carbohydrates, only eat protein – meats, vegetables and good fats such as avocados etc. Buy our online e-book Gut Health in 30 days.
- Avoid stressful situations by learning to manage your time better and being organised with your food. There are lots of books you can buy to help you with this.
Autoimmune diseases are life-changing for people, but focusing on healthy eating, lifestyle changes and some supplements can support your symptoms, helping you to have more better days, than bad.