13/01/2022
Worth the read folks
Whenever I see someone with an autoimmune disease, I always ask "what is the triggering factor that caused the immune system to begin reacting to their body?" Around 90% of the time, the triggering factor is an infection.
The immune system mounts a response to an antigen on the surface of the microorganism, and then, through a process called molecular mimicry, the antibody begins to react with antigens on our own cells.
Strep has long been known to cause a variety of different autoimmune diseases. The triggering factor can also be a tick-born bacteria like Borrelia, which causes Lyme disease. It can also be a bacteria that's growing in your colon that shouldn't be there, or is present in over abundance.
There's a lot of medical literature to support that the imbalances in the gut microbiome can put you at risk for autoimmune diseases such as rheumatological conditions or even inflammatory bowel diseases.
Viruses have been known to trigger auto immunity as well.
About 10% of the time, it's not an infection. The bulk of the remaining 10% would be food allergies. The food that's most likely to lead to autoimmunity is gluten.
Similarly, scientific literature supports a connection between gluten consumption and autoimmune diseases, such as, Hashimotos thyroiditis, inflammatory bowel diseases, arthritic conditions and autoimmune neurological diseases. This is because gluten has been hybridized in the United States, and is a very different molecule than the gluten we evolved with.
Of the remaining percentage, I'd say the trigger is mostly heavy metals like mercury from amalgams in the mouth that leak down into the lymphatics and tag proteins, rendering them slightly unrecognizable to the immune system.
The immune system thinks of these tagged proteins as foreign invaders and mounts an immune reaction to them which can that can lead to autoimmunity.
When you look at triggering factors, it's good to consider treating infections, removing offending foods, detoxing out heavy metals and other chemicals.
Dr. Beth
