The Fatal Flaw of "Autoimmune" Disease
We really need to stop and ask ourselves: "Why would my body attack itself?"
Background
Recently, I published a note that went something like this:
Modern medicine keeps trying to fool us into thinking that our own body is trying to kill us, and that Pharma has the answer.
Everything from lowering your cholesterol to treating 'autoimmune' disease.
Your body is amazing.
It's the environment it can't tolerate.
It got quite a bit of attention in the Substack-verse, and a few people took it quite negatively.
One of them was a doctor from England, who couldn’t wrap his head around what I was implying.
As you can see, James has an issue with my dismissing the category of “autoimmune” diseases. So upset, in fact, that he accused me of denying the reality that people are actually ill.
For those who know my work, and my personal history with “autoimmune” disease, you know that I would do no such thing. He even mentions Crohn’s disease, which is a variant of inflammatory bowel disease that I had!
I tried to explain to James that he has misinterpreted my note - that I am referring to the rationale of labelling diseases as “autoimmune” when they are clearly not.
Still, he doesn’t seem to get it.
Just because people have psoriasis, doesn’t mean that it is de facto autoimmune. Even the ancient physicians he alludes to had different explanations for diseases that James insists are autoimmune.
I’m showing you this to illustrate just how deeply doctors are indoctrinated.
He cannot see beyond the labels. The labels are Gospel, and the molecular wizardry used to justify the label is sufficiently esoteric that they cannot penetrate and see behind the curtain.
“Autoimmune” Disease
Before we dive into it, it’s worth clarifying just how clueless modern medicine is about autoimmune disease.
Autoimmune disease happens when the body’s natural defense system can’t tell the difference between your own cells and foreign cells, causing the body to mistakenly attack normal cells.
-Johns Hopkins Medicine, Rheumatologist Ana-Maria Orbai, MD, MHS
Ana-Maria wrote another article for Johns Hopkins entitled “Why is My Immune System Attacking Itself?”
Her explanation?
Doctors aren’t sure why autoimmune disease happens in the first place…
She goes on to talk about some infections causing a flare-up of certain autoimmune conditions…a lot of wishy washy language, and a healthy helping of cope to explain something they cannot understand.
The crux of it is this:
the body & immune system are mistaken
it begins attacking normal and healthy cells
But, how do we know this? What proof is there that this is what happens?
How Autoimmune Disease is Diagnosed
There’s a lot you can read about the diagnostic process for autoimmune disease, and Wikipedia or NIH does a decent job of outlining how complex this process can be.
So, let me break it down for you.
Establish symptoms and signs of illness.
Consider other possible causes of these symptoms.
Run molecular tests, including inflammatory markers.
Run tests for “autoantibodies.”
In most cases, once an “autoantibody” has been found…the case is closed.
Autoantibodies are antibodies (proteins) produced by immune cells to target the body’s own components.
Autoantibody tests are the lynchpin in the diagnostic process.
The presence of each autoantibody has now been “associated” with a corresponding illness, which is classified as “autoimmune.”
In the mind of the vast majority of doctors, like James, this is proof that the body is attacking itself.
Unfortunately for James, this conclusion is one made out of ignorance.
To understand why, we need to take several steps back.
Phagocytosis & Autophagy
Getting real basic now, but bare with me. It will be worth it.
Phagocytosis comes from phagein (to eat) and kytos (cells). It is the process by which one cell consumes a particle, which can be a large protein, a cell fragment, or a whole cell.
In the image below, you can see that the macrophage (an immune cell) has receptors (FcR) which bind the target to be consumed. You can think of these FcR receptors are antibodies which are bound to the macrophage’s cell surface.
In other manifestations of phagocytosis, cells will release antibodies which bind to a target - this is seen with B-cells in the adaptive immune response. Then, another cell will come by and recognize this target covered in antibodies, and consume it.
Phagocytosis is used to remove pathogens and debris of all sorts, to make way for the regeneration of healthy tissue. And it isn’t just foreign matter that undergoes phagocytosis. But, also diseased cells of the host.
What most people don’t know is that phagocytosis can also be seen in a normal process like apoptosis, which is described as “programmed cell death.” The more appropriate way to think of apoptosis is the clearance/recycling of cells which have become inefficient or obsolete. There’s no need to keep these things lying around, and so the body recycles their components to make new/fresh/healthy cells.
Apoptosis is of critical importance in autophagy - the natural degradation of cells which are either unnecessary or dysfunctional.
When phagocytosis refers to the recycling of cells destined for apoptosis, it has a different name - efferocytosis.
Key Takeaway: The use of antibodies to consume or recycle biological matter is not only used in the setting of foreign invaders. It is also used to recycle diseased, dysfunctional or obsolete human cells.
Autoantibodies: Cause or Effect?
Now that we understand the process by which our cells target, consume and recycle cellular matter…we can address the elephant in the room.
There is yet another chicken-or-egg problem in this side of medicine.
Do autoimmune diseases start with the production of autoantibodies?
Or, do autoantibodies get produced after some sort of insult/injury/trauma to the organ in question?
First, let’s clarify what we know about autoantibodies.
Autoantibodies are not only present in those with autoimmune disease
This is well established.
Autoantibodies develop after trauma - as one may expect, to help the body clear damaged cells
Not only autoantibodies, but also chaperones, which help in the recovery and recycling of damaged biological matter
A study comparing the outcomes of pregnant women with gestational diabetes (vs healthy pregnant women)
A small percentage of healthy pregnant women and those with gestational diabetes test positive for pancreas related autoantibodies
a very tiny fraction of these women end up developing type 1 diabetes
the acceleration of this phenotype to type 1 diabetes is heavily determined by environmental factors/lifestyle decisions
Autoantibodies can develop after infections
It is not a coincidence that the tissue targeted by these autoantibodies is directly related to the tissue that was infected
Autoantibodies to gastric cells develop in the setting of Helicobacter Pylori infection (which is claimed to be the cause of gastric ulcers)
Autoantibodies can develop in children with acute pneumonia
The list of examples which illustrate the key point is endless.
Key point is this: Autoantibody DOES NOT mean autoimmune disease.
But, what does it mean?
We can say with confidence, that the presence of autoantibodies guarantees that there is some population of cells or proteins, which are sufficiently diseased/damaged…that the body feels the need to target and clear them.
That’s it.
The Proof?
Major diet changes and behavioral modification do not cure autoimmune diseases by magic.
If the above statement is true, then it is also true that there is a causal chain from the targets of these lifestyle interventions and the outcome of disease.
It means that these diseases were never really “autoimmune.”
The body wasn’t attacking itself for no reason, or some random genetic mutation.
The body was either diseased/damaged or it was caught in the cross-fire.
But, it is foolish to assume that the “etiology” is unexplained or random targeting of an otherwise healthy organ.
It is this fundamental truth that modern medicine cannot admit.
For if it does, the industry suffers greatly.
It calls way too much into question.
How many people do you know, or stories have you heard that jive with this description of “autoimmune” disease?
I hear stories like this all the time, and they go something like this:
I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease
My doctor gave me so-and-so medications, but they didn’t cure the disease
Eventually, I made some drastic change to my lifestyle…and the disease slowly disappeared and never came back
Does that sound like your body was mistakenly attacking itself?
Or, were you (and your doctor) simply unaware of the ways in which you were harming your body?
Industrial seed oils in your diet
Smoking cigarettes (and not pure tobacco)
Living an artificially-lit life (without exposure to Sun)
Not respecting the time of day (Circadian cycle disruption)
…so many factors that most doctors do not consider…before pointing the finger at you, and blaming your immune system…
There are endless cases of people fixing their “autoimmune” disease with these lifestyle interventions.
For the most part, it doesn’t even matter which intervention: ketogenic, carnivore, plant-based, moving to a different climate or latitude, eating organic or regenerative foods directly from your farmer…and so on, and so forth.
Depending on your problem, your lifestyle, and your temperament…any one of these interventions may work for you.
I have personally cured my own biopsy-proven (twice) ulcerative colitis with lifestyle changes. After years of doctors struggling to even control the symptoms.
Well, well, well. As it were. This is so very interesting. 30-odd years ago, the reproductive endocrinologist I had been sent to (and we never did succeed in birthing that fourth baby) told me that I had a goiter, and from a blood test--if I recall correctly--that I had a hypo-thyroid condition which he named Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. So for these last decades I have dutifully (but for one, poorly-run trial of my own making) taken a daily 137 mcg of levothyroxine. As the last four years have been eye-opening at the very least, and my distrust of all things government and government/pharma, and government/pharma/allopathy have been growing (and not growing only arithmetically), last December 29, after months of consideration, I took courage in hand, and began my own weaning program. For nine weeks I took only 90% of the drug. Then for eight weeks, 80%. My calculator calculated the size of; a very sharp thin-bladed knife did the cutting of, the tablets. Along the way, in early February actually, I fell upon Paloma Health, noted that their little introductory quiz asked: Do you have problems with weight gain? Nope. My weight fluctuates one pound either side of my normal. Are you sensitive to cold? Nope. Do you suffer hair loss? Nope (in fact, there is less hair in the shower drain now, after 19 months--that's ~8.5" longer-- without a haircut, than there was when I had short hair). Do you suffer fatigue? Nope. In fact, I no longer have to take a daily nap, as I did for decades. I watched a video conference with one of the Paloma thyroid specialists--in which she asked the patient, "How do you feel?" And realized that no M.D. had ever asked me that, at least in regard to my body's reaction to the levothyroxine. Nor had that endocrinologist--before putting me on a pharma product-- suggested, "Go home, make sure to eat seafood 2 or 3 times a week, and come back to me in 6-8 weeks." Because, of course, we now understand just how much allopaths are invested in nutrition. After watching the Paloma video, I considered that perhaps spending 9 weeks with each 10% decrease in levothyroxine was excessive. I am now down to ingesting one-half-of-one-tablet twice a week; Sunday, I will go down to one-half, once a week. Through this whole experiment I have been "monitoring myself" intently, and must conclude that I can see nothing but positive effects. I am 74 1/2, I have more energy and more muscle ( Why do I say this? Because I can lift a sledge hammer to set a splitting wedge with one hand, whereas 10 years ago I needed two hands just to life the tool; and I shovel and haul cartloads of mushroom soil around my gardens), than I had as a younger woman. We have for about 50 years eaten most of our plant food from my vegetable garden: fresh in season, canned or frozen out of season--although now the garden provides for us, at least in part, 12 months per year. So that's not much of a change. I was always an organic gardener, just have gotten ever more so, and moved up to regenerative techniques in the last several years. We have, however, in these last six months, made a commitment to to eating seafood about twice a week. Not just fish, but ocean fish. Iodine fish. 25 years ago I did move to using only sea salt, after I had made a taste test, and discovered that iodized salt tastes bitter, but sea salt is "sweet". There's also the whole "yellow prussiate of soda" aspect to iodized salt. At any rate, through all of this experiment, I figured that if I came to feel "off' in any fashion, I could always return to the drug. I will stop at this point, with deep thanks for your post.
If your immune system wanted to kill you, you'd be dead in a matter of minutes... Rarely one encounters somebody with ability to think rationaly now days..