Autoimmune Diseases
"We would like to express our gratitude to Dr. Benjamin Knight Fuchs for his invaluable contributions to the field of skin health. His teachings have been instrumental in shaping the ideas presented in this article."
Autoimmune Diseases: A Deep Dive into the Root Causes and Holistic Solutions
Understanding the Basics
Autoimmune issues are immune issues meaning the defensive system has awaken, the body is in a defensive posture. Whenever you have an immune problem you have some kind of toxicity that has gotten into the system. There are 100+ different autoimmune diseases and they keep discovering more, and 30-40 million people have one of these horrific diseases. Autoimmune diseases occur when the body's immune system, designed to protect us from foreign invaders, mistakenly attacks its own healthy cells and tissues. This can lead to a variety of symptoms and conditions, affecting different parts of the body. Whenever you have an immune action you have inflammation, inflammation disturbs biochemistry and this is the problem with immune and inflammatory reactions. They are all defensive reactions.
The Root Cause: A Defensive Response
Dr. Benjamin Knight Fuchs sheds light on a crucial aspect of autoimmune diseases: they stem from a defensive response to a perceived threat. This threat, often a toxic substance, triggers an immune reaction in the bloodstream. Whenever we talk about something triggering a defensive response from the body, what we really mean is the blood, when we talk about the body and something activating a defensive response, we are not talking about the defensive response in the tissue, we are talking about in the blood. The blood is a sacred space, a delivery system for everything, oxygen, nutrients, for detoxification, the blood itself is an immune organ. It is packed with immunity and it is the highway for the immunity cells. So when you have an autoimmune disease something has gotten into the blood to activate a defensive response.
How Do Things Get Into the Blood
If you have something like a classic autoimmune disease, Rheumatoid arthritis, the doctors will actually look in the blood and look for immune complexes, or circulating immune complexes, CICs. This will tell us if we have an immune action (in the blood) or not. And if you are not injecting anything into the blood, then how did it get in? Through the intestines.
Dr Fuchs says, ”there are only two ways toxins get into the blood. If you inject you can get things into the blood and we know that injections, vaccinations, drug injections can activate an immune response. Once you are in the blood you can activate a response, the blood says, ‘Oh my gosh, who are you, and the immune system kicks in and the defensive system kicks in to get rid of the offending agent, but most people are not injecting.”
The significant pathway for these toxins to enter the bloodstream is through the intestines. A leaky gut, a condition where the intestinal lining becomes compromised, so address the stream of toxicity that’s entering into the system through the leaky gut. On top of literal food particles that enter into the blood stream you can also get a molecule called Histamine, made by the bacteria in our intestines, and made by our immune cells called Mass Cells, you can also get particles of bacteria in the blood stream called Lypopolysacise. These substances can lead to systemic inflammation and autoimmune reactions. Once these toxic immune complexes get inside the skin, you throw off the entire chemistry of the skin. If the toxicity affects say the melanocyte and distorts the melanocyte (pigment making cell) the immune system will attack the melanocyte and you will not be able to make pigment, this is Vitiligo. If the toxicity effects the keratinocytes, (skin cell), it doesn’t get feedback to know when to stop rising and you get plaques to form on the surface of the skin, Psoriasis. Psoriasis and Vitiligo are the two main autoimmune diseases of the skin and recently there are people who believe even Essama may be caused by this same toxicity as well.
The Conventional Approach: Suppressing the Immune System
Traditional medical approaches often focus on suppressing the immune system to alleviate autoimmune disease symptoms. This can be achieved through medications like steroids Prednisone and Dexolethisone, various steroid drugs which are nasty, nasty drugs. These are immunosuppressants.
40-50 years ago they started looking for alternatives to steroids, ‘how to shut down the immune system without ‘globally’ shutting down all the steroid hormonal chemistry, which is what Prednisone did causing all kinds of bad side effects. Soon after they started introducing genetic technology, which involves chemicals that will shoot down the immune antibodies (immune antibodies recognize foreign substances like bacteria and viruses, and neutralizes them). They call these medications re-comp DNA or biologics. The latest and greatest biologics are those you currently see advertised on tv today and they are designed specifically to shoot down the antibodies, to stop and be rid of the inflammation ( which may be causing the discomfort/symptom). While ignoring the cause from the toxicity in the blood and harming the healing process by shutting down the immune system. From a pharmaceutical’s point of view, all these biologics and all those tv advertisements, the driving force behind it all is the profit margin. Those pills costs pennies to make and some costs the customer $1,000s and $1,000s some even $10,000 a month. There is a huge profit to be made. Instead let’s focus on the cause and find the offending agent, then stay away from the offending agent, the foods, away from the lifestyle choices, away from the intestinal toxicity.
What does an immunosuppressant drug do?
Immunosuppressant drugs are used to treat autoimmune diseases. With an autoimmune disease, the immune system attacks the body's own tissue. Because immunosuppressant drugs weaken the immune system, they suppress the body’s defence reaction. This helps reduce the impact of the autoimmune disease on the body, but does not cure or remove the toxin. https://www.healthline.com/health/immunosuppressant-drugs#:~:text=Immunosuppressant%20drugs%20are%20used%20to,autoimmune%20disease%20on%20the%20body.
Suppression of the body's immune system and its ability to fight infections and other diseases. Immunosuppression may be deliberately induced with drugs, as in preparation for bone marrow or other organ transplants, to prevent rejection of the donor tissue. https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/immunosuppression#:~:text=(IH%2Dmyoo%2Dnoh%2D,rejection%20of%20the%20donor%20tissue.
A Holistic Approach: Targeting the Root Cause
So what is the missing piece in the conventional approach? There isn’t anything being done about the toxicity in the blood, the offending agent / root cause. Dr. Fuchs advocates for a more holistic approach, focusing on identifying and eliminating the root cause of the autoimmune response. This involves: finding the offending action! You can not have a defensive response without an offending action.
The Power of Diet: Dr. Terry Wahls' Protocol
Dr. Terry Wahls, a medical doctor who successfully reversed multiple sclerosis, and emphasizes the power of diet in managing autoimmune diseases. She wrote a book about it, called The Wahls’ Protocol. Anybody who has any autoimmune disease, should read The Wahls’ Protocol because she gives a primer on how to eliminate autoimmune attacks. It doesn’t matter where the autoimmune attack is, only that the immune antibodies are present. So what did she do to reverse MS? change her diet.
There are other things you can do to help with the autoimmune disease and that would be,
Because the plaques from Psoriasis are on the surface there is somethings you can do for systematic relief like using topical treatments like salicylic acid, antioxidants like vitamin C or vitamin E. Use vitamins A, Zinc and D topically, and omega fatty acids for their anti-inflammatory benefits. But it doesn’t matter, because you should backtrack to the intestines,then find and get rid of the offending agent.
There are limitations of topical treatments for vitiligo, where the root cause lies deeper in the body.
Nutrient Supplementation:
Considering supplements like selenium and zinc, which have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties
Incorporating essential nutrients like vitamins A, D, and omega-3 fatty acids to support skin health and immune function.
These are things you can do for the intestine:
Do a food diary, an elimination diet and notice when your Psoriasis or Vitiligo flares up, notice if you get bloated, or gas, constipated, digestive issues with specific foods. Likely suspect foods could be anything, a couple common ones are dairy, eggs, grains and gluten and lectins from vegetables and fruits. Everyone is unique, so it is best to do the food diary.
strengthen the digestive system, with things like probiotics, digestive enzymes, hyperimmune egg (made by Longevity; product i26 kills excessive bacteria, the wrong bacteria in the gut, this condition is called Dysbiosis (bacteria disturbances).
fiber can help by clearing out the digestive tract from toxins
build and strengthen the intestinal lining when you have leaky gut
when the intestine is inflamed vitamin A is very helpful, and zinc can be helpful
building collagen and connective tissue can help
strengthen the mycosis with seaweed a product called Fucoidan and Betaglucan can help
A Word of Caution
It's important to consult with a healthcare professional before making any significant changes to your diet or treatment plan. While a holistic approach can be effective, it's essential to work with a qualified provider to ensure optimal care.
By understanding the root causes of autoimmune diseases and implementing a comprehensive approach that addresses both systemic and topical factors, individuals can take control of their health and well-being.
