Autoimmune Diseases According To Naturopathic Medicine
You can do more than take anti-inflammatories and corticosteroids. Naturopathic medicine goes to the possible origins of autoimmune disorders.
Autoimmune diseases occur when the immune system attacks healthy cells in the body as if they were harmful bacteria, viruses, or diseased cells. There is no obvious explanation for why this happens, although it is known that there is a hereditary component and that it affects women more.
There are more than 80 autoimmune diseases and their diagnosis is often not straightforward. The best known are type 1 diabetes, celiac disease, and rheumatoid arthritis, but there are many others.
They can affect various organs and parts of the body and often the initial symptoms are tiredness, muscle aches and a low-grade fever. Discomfort usually appears in outbreaks. Conventional medical treatment is aimed at reducing inflammation using corticosteroids and other medications that reduce the response of the immune system.
Dr. Pedro Ródenas explains that naturopathic medicine has two theories about the origin of autoimmune diseases.
Theory of altered instinct and animal protein
An unbalanced diet damages the gut microbiota, increasing the permeability of the gut and allowing chains of amino acids (polypeptides) to enter the blood instead of loose amino acids. These polypeptides act as antigens and lead the body to respond with antibodies.
If there is intestinal permeability, the more the proteins we eat resemble our own, the more antigenic they are. Animal protein is very similar to human protein (for example, 19 amino acids are the same and 1 changes) and the challenge is daily.
Over the years the body can confuse them with its own and self-aggravate. The most similar are those of mammals, especially those of pigs and dairy products. A little further away are the birds and even further the fish. Vegetable protein has no risk of confusion.
Prevention and treatment involve following a vegan diet – without animal protein, without provocation – for a few months, years or even permanently.
Theory of toxin accumulation
A variant of the theory of the altered intestine and animal protein is the one that blames the accumulation of foreign substances (catabolites of additives, preservatives, drugs, protein remains of microorganisms, including those of vaccines …) in certain tissues or in the basement membrane of the arteries.
By not eliminating it, an inflammatory response is generated that attacks the tissues as well as those substances. Therefore, these antigenic factors should be avoided as much as possible.
The emotional factor
Some therapists believe that autoimmune diseases can have an emotional component. In clinical practice they have found that many affected experience emotional suffering as a result of conflicts with others or with themselves and they cannot resolve them, so that they have the “enemy at home” and self-aggravate.
Forgiveness therapy and professional psychological help can help prevent and treat the problem.
