The National Institute of Health estimates that 23 million Americans suffer from autoimmune diseases. This surpasses cancer.
So, what is autoimmune disease?
In the most basic explanation, it is the body’s immune system attacking a part of the body. If the immune system attacks its own joints, it could be called rheumatoid arthritis. If it attacks its own nervous system, it could be called multiple sclerosis. These are just some examples.
Autoimmune conditions are considered uncurable. Sometimes these conditions can be brought into remission and flareups can be reduced or minimized. Each case is different. No two cases are identical. There are no protocols because each case is so individualized. Diet, nutrition, and lifestyle are critical for positive outcomes.
People may go 20 years without being diagnosed in the traditional healthcare system. They have often spent thousands of dollars on tests, labs, supplements and medications, with few answers and little relief. On average they will see 30 different practitioners before getting any real answers.
So what are some signs that you may have an autoimmune condition?
Some red flags are, you have been sick forever, nothing has helped, some things help for short periods then don’t, a pile of labs, and a pile of supplements. You have multiple reactions to foods and/or chemicals and you have seen multiple doctors with many different diagnoses. Ultimately testing will need to be done to determine if an autoimmune condition is present. Many times when a patient has one autoimmune condition, they have others. This does not mean all conditions will be in the same stage. This is why proper testing is important. In a functional medicine approach we want to preserve as much tissue as possible and restore or maintain as much quality of life as we can.
So why do people go so long in our traditional healthcare system undiagnosed?
To answer that, let’s look at the stages of autoimmunity.
Stage one is called silent. This presents with positive antibodies, no symptoms and no loss of tissue. Stage two is called reactive. This shows positive antibodies, symptoms, no loss of tissue. Stage three - positive antibodies, symptoms, loss of tissue. Now a person is diagnosed with an autoimmune disease.
Unfortunately, our current healthcare model does not allow for early-stage functional testing of autoimmune diseases.
A functional medicine approach would be to identify the condition as early as possible and start treatment. This allows for multiple outcomes.
One, the disease never progresses beyond the silent stage. Two, the disease never progresses beyond stage two and there’s no loss of tissue. Three, if a person is in stage three, we improve their quality of life by minimizing the severity and frequency of flare ups and preserving the tissue.
Founder and main doctor at Holistic Health Center, P.C., Dr. Dellaria uses his wide, diverse education along with his 24 years of experience in practice to help patients’ conditions that do not respond to traditional medical care. His success lies in the refreshing new take on chiropractic meets functional medicine.
11539 Park Woods Cir #602, Alpharetta
678.366.0072