AutoImmune: Small Steps

Dealing with Autoimmune disorders can make you feel overwhelmed and helpless but there are actions you can take to help yourself. There is nothing easy about Autoimmune disease, still small steps taken repeatedly over time can have a large impact on your health.

Here is a list of things you can do and the benefits of doing them. (You probably have heard some of them before, but may not know the why.)

So what can you do?

1. Sleep – You may not be able to sleep well which is frustrating and we will discuss that in a moment. First, sleep is integral to healing and health. When your own immune system is attacking your body, you need to stay as healthy as you can and keep repairing the damage as efficiently as possible. Sleep is one of the key activities of the day in which healing takes place. Try to get at least 8 hours per night of solid sleep. Some people have insomnia and can not sleep well. There are several options for this. Certain medications and over-the-counter products have been shown to help with insomnia; however, they often are a band-aid fix and do not actually improve the problem. When taking medication with autoimmune disorders, you should always consult your pharmacist and/or doctor. Of course, I am biased but I have found acupuncture is of great help here due to the minimal side effects and the long term beneficial effects on deep sleep.

2. Diet – Is this really important? Yes and it sucks but these are the reasons why.

a. Processed, fast-foods, sugar, artificial sweeteners, and excessive alcohol: Your body needs its resources to rebuild – eating processed foods usually means you are using valuable resources to get diminishing returns. Hiring a bunch of clowns to defend your castle might be entertaining but it isn’t effective. Neither is breaking down food that can give you very little nutrition in return.

b. Excessive salt, Nightshades, Gluten, and dairy products: This group tends to be inflammatory in nature. Although in certain short-lived cases, inflammation is useful to our body, in chronic cases it makes healing that much more difficult

3. Stress – this is one of the most incendiary problems in every day life. We all have stress and it is ridiculous to expect to get rid of it all. We can reduce it though and this can have a huge benefit on our health. There is a saying “Breath is life” – deep breathing helps regulate our fight or flight response, helps us to relax, and gets more air in our lungs and more toxins out of our body.

4. Exercise – The core component of Qigong, Yoga, and any exercise is deep breathing. As mentioned above this helps with stress. In addition to that, exercise helps with circulation which is vital to repairing the body and making sure nutrients are delivered to where they need to be. Exercise also helps pump the lymphatic system which regulates and balances the immune system, at least temporarily.

5. Emotional support – have emotional support. Approximately 50% of all people with autoimmune disorders have anxiety and depression. Those numbers are staggering and it is vital that you have help and emotional support. If you want more information see our Blog on “Emotional Support when you get a Diagnosis for Autoimmune Disease”

Autoimmune disease is a beast but the actions mentioned above can help you live a better life and be a better version of yourself.

There are so many people willing to help you.

Don’t give up, it is cliché but true that every great journey begins with a few small steps. We hope you take them because we are cheering for you.