Autoimmune diseases arise after our immune system mistakenly attacks our own tissue. There are approximately 80 diseases recorded, including:
• Rheumatoid arthritis (joints)
• Multiple sclerosis (nervous system)
• Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis (thyroid)
• Lupus (organs, arteries, connective tissue)
• Type I Diabetes (pancreas)
• Coeliac disease (intestines)
• Fibromyalgia (muscle pain and weakness)
• Sjorgen’s Syndrome (fluid secretion glands)
• Ankylosing spondylitis (spinal cord)
• Pernicious anemia (gastric walls)
• Psoriasis (skin)
It is estimated that at least 8% of the population has been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and the majority are women.
Normally our immune system consists of white blood cells, the guards that protect us from harmful substances or antigens, such as bacteria, viruses, toxins, cancer cells, various external invaders. Our immune system produces antibodies in order to fight the antigens. But in the case of autoimmune diseases, the immune system does not recognize what is healthy tissue and what are antigens and it attacks to destroy the very thing it is trying to protect!
How the Nutritional Therapy Athens Clinic can help
Usually there is no cure for autoimmune diseases. We can help decrease the frequency and severity of the symptoms. The best approach is to discover the factors of the onset or the hidden causes of the autoimmune disease for each person separately and determine whether it is biochemical, physiological and / or environmental. This is done during the session, when we record your complete health history and recommend specific functional tests which will show us any dysfunctions at a cellular level. Some examples of functional tests are: IgG food intolerances, organic acids, fecal analysis, microbial population existence identification test, special hormonal test.
After the diagnostic assessments we lay out the individualized nutritional strategy, including special nutritional supplements, and suggestions for a healthy lifestyle in order to minimize the impact of adverse factors and to improve the quality of life of the individual.
There is no common protocol for autoimmune diseases but there are common issues that we in the Nutritional Therapy Athens Clinic work with you to restore, like:
• Imbalance between the two main components of our immune system Th1: Th2
• Inflammatory condition or oxidative stress
• Food allergies or intolerances
• Intestine leaks (leaky gut)
• Lack of nutrients
• Hormonal disorders mainly in women