Autoimmune Disease
Just maybe you don’t just have to live with it
By Dr. C.M. Curtis
02/27/2024
Like all other degenerative diseases, autoimmune disease was formerly quite rare and is now disturbingly common and rapidly increasing in occurrence. The reasons for this are unquestionably the usual suspects: Our unhealthy food supply, our unhealthy lifestyle, and our unhealthy environment (including chemicals we use on, in, and around our bodies).
I have written extensively about these ‘usual suspects’ in other articles, so I won’t go into them in great detail in this article. I will, however, reference other articles I have written that contain information of relevance to the subject of autoimmune disease.
I will also repeat the following statement which appears in a number of my other articles: In the natural realm of healing, it is recognized that the first task that needs to be performed when treating any patient is to eliminate the cause(s) of their disease.
Which begs the question: what is the cause (or causes) of autoimmune disease?
An article published in the medical journal, Autoimmunity Reviews, on January 7, 2008, makes the following introductory statement:
“The etiology (cause) of autoimmune diseases is multifactorial: genetic, environmental, hormonal, and immunological factors are all considered important in their development. Nevertheless, the onset of at least 50% of autoimmune disorders has been attributed to "unknown trigger factors".
So, the causes of autoimmune diseases can be: genetic, environmental, hormonal, or immunological . . . or unknown (at least half of the time).
An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, on June 19, 2018 states:
“Psychiatric reactions to life stressors are common in the general population and may result in immune dysfunction. Whether such reactions contribute to the risk of autoimmune disease remains unclear.”
Psychiatric reactions to life stressors may be a cause of autoimmune disease.
But, check this next one out…
A 2006 article in the medical journal Neuroimmunomodulation, makes the following statement:
“Stress is now recognized as an important risk factor in the pathogenesis of autoimmune rheumatic diseases (i.e., rheumatoid arthritis).”
Stress!!
We all have stress. It’s unavoidable. And, it can cause health problems, including, apparently, autoimmune disease. However psychiatric reactions to life stressors go beyond simple stress and take us into the realm of the mental health professional. We will leave them to do their work and we will do ours.
I have often found, when dealing with patients who suffer from autoimmune disorders, that there has been a domino effect, beginning with a traumatic event (or a series of traumatic events) such as the death of a loved one, a divorce, or some other extremely stressful occurrence. In these cases, often the first domino to topple is the adrenals.
It’s no secret that the adrenal glands, often referred to as our stress glands, can be adversely affected by stress and emotional trauma. When these all-important and very neglected glands begin to hypo-function, their output of important hormones, including testosterone, DHEA, cortisol, epinephrine (adrenaline), and others, can decrease. This can result in any number of health problems.
A note about adrenal hypo-function:
This is a controversial subject. The terms adrenal fatigue and adrenal exhaustion are not accepted medical terms. Adrenal insufficiency is the accepted medical diagnosis and it is generally considered to be a condition of extreme hypofunction, even Addison’s disease in which the adrenals fail to produce sufficient cortisol and aldosterone. This belief rules out the possibility of the adrenals producing insufficient amounts of other, important adrenal hormones like testosterone and DHEA. I contend that any