Amy - The Autoimmune Solution: Prevent and Reverse the Full Spectrum of Inflammatory Symptoms and Diseases

To DAD

and

those with autoimmune conditions.

May you find another way and

a solution in this book.

A BOUT TEN YEARS AGO I developed an autoimmune conditionand conventional medicine failed me. I dont want it to fail you too.

If youre one of the fifty million Americans suffering from an autoimmune disease, this book is for you. If youre one of the hundreds of millions of people struggling with an inflammatory condition that puts you at risk for developing an autoimmune diseasedisorders like arthritis, asthma, eczema, or cardiovascular diseasethis book is for you. And if youre one of the millions of people whose parent, spouse, sibling, friend, or child is currently coping with an autoimmune condition, this book is for you too. Whether you want to reverse your autoimmune disorder, keep from getting an autoimmune disorder, or support someone who has an autoimmune disorder, this book can change your life.

Im an M.D. myself, so I dont like to criticize other doctors, let alone their standard protocols, but the truth must be told: When it comes to the treatment of autoimmune conditions, conventional medicine has failed miserably. The typical weapons of choice are medications that might or might not ease your symptoms; that might disrupt your life with harsh side effects; that often keep you permanently anxious about the possibility of developing an infection; and that might stop working after a few years, causing you to take even more powerful medications. The accepted philosophy is that autoimmune disorders are inevitable, that they can be managed but neither prevented nor reversed. The result is that patients are reduced to complete dependence on their doctors and their prescribed medications, unable to live their lives without constant fear and often without pain.

In these pages, Ill show you how to use a healthy diet, lifestyle, and high-quality supplements to eliminate symptoms, get off your medications, and enjoy the kind of vibrant, total health youve always wanted. Ill show you why changing your diet and healing your gut can make a world of difference, along with freeing your body of its toxic burden, healing your infections, and reducing your load of stress. Ill help you take charge of your health, making the choices that support your body and keep you glowing, fit, and full of energy.

Why do I sound so confident? Because over the years Ive treated thousands of patients with this approachand Ive also treated myself. Like I said, conventional medicine failed me, so I had to develop an autoimmune solution, one that would help me overcome the staggering side effects of conventional treatments and enable me to live a busy, healthy life.

If you give me just thirty days, I can help you take back your life too. If you suffer from autoimmunity, I can show you how to reverse your disorder, eliminate your symptoms, and even get off your medications. If you suffer from an inflammatory condition, I can help you heal that condition and keep it from turning into a full-blown autoimmune disorder. If you know someone who is struggling with autoimmunity, I can teach you how to offer your loved one the kind of support and guidance that could make a life-changing difference.

Sound good? Then lets get started. I cant wait for you to find your own autoimmune solution.

Before we look at the much-needed alternative, lets take a quick tour of what most of you or your loved ones are dealing with, or of what you might be dealing with if your inflammatory condition turns into autoimmunity. You might start out bouncing from doctor to doctor because nobody can figure out whats wrong with you. There are more than one hundred recognized autoimmune conditions and many are not well understood by conventional medicine.

As a result, most doctors and care providers are at a loss if you come in with a collection of autoimmune-like symptoms that dont quite match a diagnosis they recognize. This problem is compounded by the way conventional medicine has been fractured into so many discrete specialties. If you are diagnosed with an autoimmune condition, you dont go see an immune specialist (unless you come to see me!). You are more likely shuttled off to a specialist who focuses on the system that is being attacked: a rheumatologist for rheumatoid arthritis; a gastroenterologist for celiac disease, Crohns disease, and ulcerative colitis; an endocrinologist for Graves disease, Hashimotos thyroiditis, and diabetes; and so on. And if you have two autoimmune conditions, as many people do, you are likely to see two separate specialists; for three conditions, three specialists; and so on.

This fragmentation suggests that your problem is a disease of a particular organ, but in fact, it is a disease of the immune system as a whole. All these diseasesdespite affecting different organ systemsstem from the same common cause: an immune system gone rogue. My approach is based on getting to the root of the problem: removing the elements that derailed your immune system in the first place and strengthening your immune system rather than suppressing it. Thats why using this approach enables you to reverse and prevent many different autoimmune conditions at once.

Because there is a genetic component to autoimmune disorders, your doctor might be especially concerned if you have a family history of autoimmunity that includes at least one parent, sibling, aunt, uncle, or grandparent. You might have begun searching for answers when you realized that one or more people in your family had a condition like rheumatoid arthritis, Crohns disease, lupus, or Hashimotos thyroiditis.

Whether or not you have a family history, you are likely to hear that your genes hold the key to whether or not you will develop autoimmunity, that there is nothing you can do to prevent it and no way to reverse it once it strikes. This can make the search for a diagnosis rather ominous, since at the end of the road is not a promise of health but only the prospect of an ever-worsening disease.

How an Autoimmune Disease Progresses

In most cases, your primary care doctor will send you to a specialist, either with or without a diagnosisperhaps a rheumatologist, endocrinologist, gastroenterologist, or neurologist. If you have been diagnosed with a painful, debilitating condition such as rheumatoid arthritisan inflammation of the jointsthe specialist will likely tell you that this disorder, like all autoimmune diseases, is irreversible. The joint pain that sent you to the doctor in the first place? Well, that was just the beginning. Eventually it will become so severe, so disabling, that youll be in more or less constant pain, and youll find it very difficult to move. Forget about enjoying a romantic walk along the beach or taking your grandkids to the amusement park. Youll be lucky if you can climb a flight of stairs or take a quick drive to the mall.

The specialist will offer you an array of powerful medications to combat your symptoms and ease your pain.

What about side effects? you ask.

Well, yes, these drugs have significant side effects, she replies. They are something you are going to have to learn to live with.

Or perhaps your diagnosis is a milder one, such as Hashimotos thyroiditis, a condition in which your immune system attacks your thyroid and keeps it from producing enough thyroid hormone. Now your specialist has far more cheerful news to share: You just have to take a thyroid hormone supplement every day for the rest of your life. But the medication is inexpensive, you wont notice any side effects, and even though your dosage will probably keep increasing, life will basically go on as before.