A Holistic Approach to Autoimmune Diseases

We take care of a lot of autoimmune patients here at Vibrant Life.

What business does primary care have in the care of these patients, you may be asking? Several answers pop into mind. First, primary care often discovers autoimmune disease and second, we are also the ones responsible for identifying end organ damage associated with these diseases. Whole care of every patient is important, but even more so if you have an autoimmune disease. Why? Autoimmune disease makes you more likely to die from all of the common killers of Americans, especially heart disease, kidney disease, cancer and stroke.

I find it sad that most primary care dumps their patients on the rheumatologist and expects their offices to be able to handle the complexity of these disease processes without us. Primary care physicians should be the ones offering baseline relief from the underlying contributors that worsen outcomes from autoimmune disease. Case in point: insulin resistance and weight gain. Insulin resistance and weight gain are globally understood to be the beginning point for the widespread body inflammation that leads to blood clots, heart attack, stroke, hypertension, cancer, and also drives and exacerbates musculoskeletal pain. But the sad reality is that primary care is shoddy at aggressive management of insulin resistance and weight gain due to traditional practices being driven by a fee-for-service model of care. There’s no way you can begin to pick apart and problem-solve insulin resistance and weight gain in 5-15 minute appointments spaced 3-6 months apart! There’s also no way you’re going to ever permanently CORRECT these issues with what mainstream medicine still holds to as its treatment of choice: high carb, low fat, low calorie eating plus exercise. The whole tired “calories in< calories out” hypothesis from dietitians has been disproven, but won’t let go in the mainstream mind.

We take a holistic approach here at Vibrant Life, which most patients respond to favorably, with improvements seen in metabolic parameters, weight loss, sense of well-being, energy and quality of life. Generally, this is our approach:

First, we nail the diet. Most patients come to us eating nutrient poor diets that are making them gain weight and lose energy due to undiagnosed insulin resistance and inactivity. An anti-inflammatory diet is foundational in the chronic control of auto-immune disease and is roundly ignored at most rheumatologic and primary care offices. Giving the patient a hand-out on USDA “My Plate” eating is not effective, so we go several steps further teaching step-by-step how and what to eat and following progress on labs, body composition, etc. We focus in on microbiome and gut health and with the right diet and supplementation can often heal inflammation originating from a bad diet.

Second, we address inflammation with supplements. Most auto-immune patients are vitamin D deplete just due to the disease process itself, so we replace to OPTIMAL levels. Many safe and effective anti-inflammatory herbs, supplements and peptides can supplant medications in the day to day relief of pain, reserving medications for infrequent flares of disease. We are also big fans of low dose naltrexone and use it liberally in this population as a stand alone or adjuvant treatment for inflammation.

Third, we address inactivity and try to change body composition with more movement, gradually increasing to more resistance training to build muscle and bone for life.

Fourth, we like to add hormones when needed. Testosterone therapy is especially effective in improving the chronic fatigue, anemia of chronic disease and general catabolism present in auto-immune disease. Most women and men on T therapy have more energy, less brain fog, and better quality of life…not to mention more muscle mass retained over time, better muscle recovery after exercise and improved bone mineral density compared to those not supplemented.

Lastly, we deal with the anxiety and depression rampant in this population. Inflammation is also understood to be foundational in the development of mood disorders, so we approach mental health head-on with these patients. Many come to us on medications and many more want off of their meds citing intolerable side effects and the desire to not “need to be on anything.” Luckily, we offer many individualized solutions here, timed to the season of life, stressors and sensitivities of each person.

What we end up being is a help to the rheumatologist and these complex patients whose needs are often not met in traditional primary care practices.

If you’re ready for a more holistic primary care team to help you manage your autoimmune disease, please give us a call!