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Tag: autoimmune

What do Celine Dion, Selma Blair, and Christina Applegate have in common?

Rampant inflammation.

While Selma Blair and Christina Applegate have been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Celine Dion received a rare diagnosis of something called stiff-person syndrome. Both MS and stiff-person syndrome are considered autoimmune diseases, which means that an overactive immune system releases damaging inflammation that affects the nervous system. When making a specific diagnosis, doctors often look for evidence of immune system activity in how the patient presents, i.e., what are their symptoms, as well as the form of antibodies.

Even though both diseases often come with similar symptoms of balance, muscle stiffness, and muscle spasms, I believe that it matters less how the inflammation is manifesting and more that there is inflammation behind the symptoms.

Since most, if not all, symptoms are due to inflammation, a natural, functional medicine approach is to address the root cause of the inflammation rather than be distracted by whatever the symptoms may be.

The good news about this is that we can absolutely reduce the level of inflammation in our bodies simply by applying targeted dietary and lifestyle changes! If we get rid of the inflammation and the triggers that may be keeping you inflamed, then your symptoms will decrease or even disappear altogether.

Find the personalized solutions that will work to reduce inflammation for you in my virtual clinic — schedule a risk-free complimentary naturopathic health assessment today to see if I can help you get to the root cause of your chronic inflammation so that you can feel better tomorrow!

Do you follow me on Instagram? Recently I have been doing short reels and lives all about inflammation. Follow me on my newsletter in the pop-up box or by subscribing to this blog to learn about the many free opportunities that arise to talk about inflammation with me. See you there!

Meditation As Effective As Anti-anxiety Drugs

Recently, the first study to directly compare medication to mindfulness meditation for treating anxiety found that the two worked equally well.

After two months, patients participating in a weekly mindfulness program saw their anxiety decrease the same amount as patients taking anxiety meds like Lexapro. Now, one expert says that the study is reaffirming how “useful mindfulness can be when practiced effectively.”

Since one in five US adults live with an anxiety disorder, this information should change the standard of care to one that at least includes a mediation practice.

Anxiety disorders include social anxiety, generalized anxiety and panic attacks. Affected people are troubled by persistent and intrusive worries that interfere with their lives and relationships. In the U.S., anxiety disorders affect 40% of U.S. women at some point in their lives and more than 1 in 4 men, according to data cited in U.S. Preventive Services Task Force screening recommendations.

Meditation can also be a helpful tool for managing multiple sclerosis , which is one reason why I’m excited to share a new program that I am offering together with Dr. Irene Cop of the Stress-to-Success S.H.I.F.T. Institute.

In the Autoimmune Reset Experience, participants get the benefits of not only the functional testing and protocols contained in my signature Inflammation Investigator program, but also the Retrain Your Brain exercises and meditations that are Dr. Irene’s specialty.

Sound interesting? Jump into one of the upcoming live calls or recordings here to learn more!

The Connection between Toxicity and Autoimmunity

I recently had the opportunity to chat about the link between toxicity and autoimmunity on the Green Living with Tee podcast.

We are bombarded with toxins in our modern world from our foods, water supply, the things we touch, and even the air we breathe. Did you know that if you live in a city then you are breathing in toxins every time you leave your house?

We each have a toxic threshold under which our bodies are able to process and eliminate those toxins. But when we over-fill that bucket, that’s when we tip into the chronic symptoms that are the hallmark of autoimmunity.

Listen into the conversation below, and if you’re interested my Autoimmune Detox Therapy could help you achieve your detox goals quickly and painlessly, without changing your diet or taking powerful supplements. Learn about it here!

 

Could a Hidden Infection Be Affecting Your Mental Health?

Fascinating research on PANS and PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Syndrome) suggests that hidden infection plays a role in many mental health issues.
So far, the research has focused on bacterial streptocauccus infection, with treatment being longterm antibiotics. This approach brings its own side effect to the body’s immune system, digestive system, and microbiome and can inhibit long-term health and vitality.
Not to mention breeding antibiotic resistance that could spread to the rest of the population.
But I wonder about parasites, too. Maybe the foreign invaders that the white blood cells see in a PANS patient are strep bacteria, as some doctors have suggested… or maybe they are a virus or parasite that we just haven’t looked hard enough to find yet?
According to the article, “The clearest and most common characteristic was rapid onset: A kid could be himself one day and a stranger the next. “
One day everything is normal, and then we get infected by something and everything changes almost overnight. This is a clear indication of a new infection in the body!
Regardless of the type of foreign invader, the immune system will respond with inflammation triggered by the release of inflammatory mediators. The most famous mediator we all know is histamine, but there are eighty or more types of mediators that the white blood cells can release once they deem there is a threat to the body. It doesn’t really matter which mediators are released because they all cause inflammation.
Mediators travel everywhere the blood does, meaning that inflammation is systemic. When we are inflamed, our brain is also inflamed. Inflammation can make it difficult to think clearly, to make good decisions, to be happy. When our brain is inflamed we are moody and mean; we feel our most basic emotions of anger, guilt, sadness, fear, despair.
When our immunesystem triggers inflammation, symptoms may include mental health issues of depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety and panic attacks, psychosis, mania, bipolar, and more.
However, I believe there is a better way to free yourself from the hidden infestation that is at the root of your mental health than the toxicity of long-term antibiotics. It you’re interested in exploring a more natural, pharmaceutical-free way to recover from the effects of a hidden infection that could be holding you back from living your life, then it’s time to open your mind to alternative paths to healing.
I invite you to join me at the upcoming Holistic Health & Wellness Forum to meet and mingle with innovative wellness practitioners and try out new modalities for healing. You could find the solution to turn your life around that you’ve been searching for that very day!
I hope to see you there!

MS, T-Cells, and Food Sensitivities — a podcast

Listen in as I chat with MS counselor Matt Rowe about the T-cell response caused by certain foods (t-cell activation is thought to be the reason for the cause of brain lesions for patients with MS) in the Identity of Health Podcast.

But first, I apologize if you’ve gotten strange or multiple emails from this blog as we’ve been dealing with more Tommyknockers in our back end, but I hope it is all worked out now and you will only receive notification about this blog post once. Sheesh… tech.

But, if you or someone you know has multiple sclerosis, please consider this a must-listen!

Controlling MS with Diet and the T-cell Response Activated with Food