Autoimmune diseases collectively affect up to 23.5 million Americans. Classifying autoimmune diseases based on symptoms and pathology does not usually improve treatment decisions. Standard treatments include NSAIDs and steroids. These tools have significant risks and are often applied regardless of the diagnosis. Frequently, they are only modestly effective in relieving symptoms and limiting the advancing disease process.
Despite the extensive categorization of autoimmune diseases into diagnoses such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, nephritis, and scleroderma, the treatments are based on diagnosis and not the cause. The conventional approach to autoimmune disease seeks to answer the question of WHAT disease the patient has, not WHY the patient has the disease, suggesting only small variations in treatment.
Functional medicine considers the diagnosis, of course, but also seeks to answer the question WHY. The cause of any disease may be different in people with the same diagnosis. Conversely, the cause may be the same in patients with very different pathologies—for example, mercury toxicity is found in both multiple sclerosis and Crohn’s disease.
Approaches to treatment, therefore, will vary when the upstream causes and downstream effects differ from patient to patient. Treating only the downstream effects (such as nutrient deficiencies or food sensitivities due to malabsorption and intestinal hyperpermeability) without treating the upstream causes (such as gluten sensitivity, gastrointestinal yeast, or mercury toxicity) will often result in treatment failure.
5 Factors That Cause Disease
Focusing on the patient’s individual etiology or cause of autoimmune disease provides a personalized framework for diagnosis and treatment. There are 5 primary etiologic factors that affect gene expression and give rise to nearly all disease, including autoimmune disease: toxins, allergens, infections, poor diet, and stress.
Read the case study of a 56 year old male with a 4-year diagnosis of psoriatic arthritis. He was progressively worsening despite aggressive medication therapy until his case was “solved” with functional medicine.
http://www.functionalmedicine.org/functiona-medicine-in-practice/casestudies/
