Autoimmune Disease Specialist NYC

AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE

Approximately 50 million Americans have an autoimmune disease. Over 80 different conditions—including rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, multiple sclerosis, Graves’ disease, and Hashimoto’s disease — fall under this umbrella. While these diseases are generally viewed as separate conditions by other Immunologists and Autoimmune specialists in NYC, they share common causes.

When we address these common causes from a natural, functional medicine perspective, we are able to significantly improve—and even REVERSE—autoimmune disease.

Autoimmune Disease occurs when the immune system is imbalanced. While it’s supposed to defend against foreign invaders and toxins and defend its own body tissue, instead it begins to attack its own tissue. This is due to an imbalanced microbiome, which causes the gut wall to become damaged. When this occurs, the  immune system gets overly active and loses its ability to protect the body and defend its own tissue. Other contributing factors are genetics and a triggering event (such as viral, stress, other infections, or anxiety.)

To further complicate matters, you can have inflammation without autoimmune disease, and yet your symptoms are just as severe. Sometimes one may have many of the symptoms of an autoimmune disease, but the routine tests come back normal.

Autoimmune Disease starts in the gut. When we heal the gut, we are able to cure the disease.

LOOK DEEPER, HEAL DEEPER

By looking deeper we can find the causes so that we can treat them at the root level. We also test the gut and microbiome so we can determine the best probiotics and prebiotics for you.

Lab results will show inflammation such as CRP Interleukin 6 IL-8, IL-10, etc., and TNF. It is critical to measure antioxidant levels to assess one’s true immune function and inflammation, as there are many markers of autoimmunity.

One of Dr. Kellman’s groundbreaking contributions to the field of autoimmunity is understanding that if you have an autoimmune disease, chances are high that you also have a low thyroid — even if routine tests show normal thyroid results. This connection could explain many symptoms one might be experiencing. And, low thyroid can exacerbate any autoimmune disease.

SYMPTOMS OF AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE

Although the symptoms of autoimmune diseases vary, common ones include:

• Fatigue
• Muscle and joint pain
• General malaise (feeling ill)
• Inflammation is the classic sign of autoimmune disease; it often causes redness, heat, pain, and swelling.

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