It is an autoimmune condition that affects multiple body systems, causing pain and swelling of the joints, fevers, rashes, and many other difficult and unexpected symptoms.  The tell-tale physical sign of lupus is a ‘butterfly’ rash across the face.

Worldwide, over 5 million people are estimated to have lupus.  Lupus is most common in women of childbearing age, and is more common in the non-Caucasian population.  It is an autoimmune condition that affects multiple body systems, and the tell-tale physical sign is a ‘butterfly’ rash across the face.

What is lupus?

Lupus is an autoimmune condition where the immune system, which normally should combat foreign substances like germs and viruses, but in the case of lupus it causes all sorts of unwanted symptoms.

Lupus has the following symptoms:

• Pain or swelling in joints
• Muscle pain
  

  Butterfly Rash

• Fever with no known cause
• Red rashes, most often on the face (the characteristic butterfly rash)
• Chest pain when taking a deep breath
• Hair loss
• Pale or purple fingers or toes (Raynaud’s phenomenon)
• Sensitivity to the sun
• Swelling in legs or around eyes
• Mouth ulcers
• Swollen glands
• Feeling very tired.

Due to something called overlap disease (source), lupus can also present with other autoimmune symptoms more characteristic of rheumatoid arthritis or scleroderma such as:

• Rheumatoid nodules
• Joint pain
• Systemic involvement

What are conventional treatments for lupus?

Medications are used to manage this autoimmune disease and help prevent flares, lessen the severity of flares, and treat the symptoms of lupus.  No conventional medication claims to cure or reverse lupus.

Common lupus medications include:

• OTC NSAIDs like ibuprofen and Naproxen.  These medications are nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, and reduce inflammation and the role that inflammation has in lupus symptoms such as pain, swelling, and stiffness. Their side effects include increased blood pressure, stomach irritation, ulcers, and stomach bleeding in extreme cases. They are one of the first medications used for RA, and the risks and benefits are evaluated by the treating doctors.
• Prescription NSAIDs are stronger medications prescribed by doctors, again, after weighing the risks and benefits.  They also have side effects as the NSAIDS above, and also increased risk of heart attack and stroke.
• Antimilarials, part of the class of medications called DMARDs (Disease Modifying AntiRhumatic Drugs) such as Plaquenil are used to treat lupus-related skin problems, muscle and joint pain, and swelling around the heart (pericarditis).  It is not known how they work.  Side effects include: Nausea, diarrhea, dizziness, headache
• MAbS, Benlysta, is the first drug developed specifically for lupus.  It suppresses antibodies in people with lupus, but as it came out in 2011, long-term studies have not been done with it yet.
• Immunosupressants such as Imuran, methotrexate, and Cytoxan are used when other drugs have failed to control the symptoms of lupus since they have moderate to severe side effects including: Liver damage, hair loss, increased risk of cancer, increased risk of infection.
• Steroids are used as injections or pill, especially during flares. Potential long-term side effects include high blood pressure, osteoporosis, and diabetes.

Are conventional treatments for lupus working well?

In short, no.  In talking with anyone who suffers from lupus, you will quickly become aware of the cycle of doctor’s visits, increase in medications, changing medications, side effects from medication, and skin issues, other body system issues, fatigue, and illness.

Conventional doctors do not know the cause of lupus, and so focus on treating the symptoms (inflammation and immunity).

Below we will learn more about leaky gut and joints, and it is important to note that NSAIDs are linked with gut permeability, which means that even the first conventional treatment for lupus used will further exacerbate the leaky gut problem. (source)

 **As always, remember that I am just a mom, not a medical professional. This information below is based on what I have read about the gut-disease connection, and based on experiences that my readers have emailed me**

How does what I eat have anything to do with my Lupus?

There are a few ways that the gut is associated with an autoimmune condition such as lupus.

As we know, the body systems are all connected and work with each other in our body.

The air we breathe in oxygenates all of our cells, and if we’re breathing in dirty air, or air that doesn’t contain enough oxygen, our lungs won’t work properly, they will get damaged, and our cells won’t be oxygenated well enough.  In the same way if we eat poor food laced with chemicals, and without the nutrition we need our gut will be damaged and our whole body will suffer.

• First, the gut (and really our whole body) is lined with a colony of bacteria.  When the body is healthy and working well, we have beneficial bacteria that keep the opportunistic pathogenic bacteria held back.  The beneficial bacteria also work with the wall of the gut to make enzymes for food digestion, stimulate cell regeneration, and help with immune function.
• Our good bacteria are able to crowd out the bad bacteria before they take root, much like a ground cover in your yard crowds out the weeds and prevents them from taking hold.  When this balance of good-to-bad bacteria is off, the bad bacteria take over our guts.
• With this, the bad bacteria actually secrete chemicals as part of their metabolic process. These chemicals go through the gut wall and into the bloodstream, and can trigger inflammation as the body protects itself from the offending foods.
• Second, lack of nutrients being absorbed by your gut create nutrient deficiencies in your body.  When the body does not have the nutrients it needs to run the all-powerful brain, some systems get out of whack.
• Third, because so much of the detoxification system of our body is housed in our gut, when our gut health is not in good shape, we get a backup of toxins.  Like the pathogenic bacteria, these toxins can once again re-enter the bloodstream, and affect our brain.  In a healthy gut mild toxin exposure is easily accommodated for by the body, but in a damaged gut, we are unable to detoxify as well.

 

How did our guts get so messed up?

Eating more and more processed foods, antibiotics being prescribed so often, toxins in our water, fluoride in our toothpaste, lack of the fats needed to build cells, chemicals sprayed in the air to give it a ‘fresh clean scent’, pollution… It’s a wonder that we’re still here!  Our skyrocketing chronic conditions are telling us THIS IS NOT WORKING.

We need to change.  While a round of antibiotics might have been life-saving for your great-grandpa, it has detrimental effects on gut health, and over generations, our microbiome has become too compromised.  We need to be careful with what we eat, what we breathe, and what we’re exposed to. This didn’t happen overnight, and it won’t be fixed overnight, but we can start taking the steps to change right now.

So I want to heal my gut and get rid of autoimmunity rather than making it with increasing doses of pharmaceutical drugs – where do I start?

There are some natural supplements that have been used to help with lupus. Please check with your doctor before discontinuing or starting new supplements or medications.

• Fish oil (where to buy) (study)
• Gelatin (where to buy) (more info)
• Sam-E (where to buy) (study)

Address the metal issue that affects Lupus and Autoimmune Issues

This 2014 paper states:

It is evident that heavy metals present serious risk to human health. Heavy metals are capable of altering the immune response; they have been implicated in influencing autoimmunity. In fact, they are usually inhibitory to immune cell proliferation and activation.

And another paper states that sub-toxic doses of heavy metals triggers an autoimmune response. I think this paper is especially important, because it shows that you don’t have to be shown to be ‘toxic’ to heavy metals to have them wrecking havoc on your body. This is why I tend to treat by symptoms, not by lab test – yes, if you test high in heavy metals you will want to detoxify heavy metals for sure, but even if you show that you have low levels of metals they still can cause big problems!

Although heavy metals are elementary chemical structures, they can have profound and complex effects on the immune system. In genetically susceptible mice or rats, administration of subtoxic doses of mercury induces both the production of highly specific autoantibodies and a polyclonal activation of the immune system.

How do I get rid of heavy metals?

TRS binds to and contains the heavy metals so they stop messing with the immune system! No, not all autoimmune issues will be caused by heavy metals, but getting excess heavy metals out of the body is sure to help calm down the immune system.

Learn more about TRS, how to take it, and how it works here. 

Lifestyle and Diet Changes to help with Lupus

We also need to make healthy changes to our homes and reduce our toxic load – these are pretty basic steps but can make a big difference. Click here to get a free printable checklist for a 30-day plan to get this started in simple steps

Next, try an elimination diet. It’s so common that removing foods that often are allergy-causing, inflammation-causing, and cause a leaky gut.  Removing dairy and/or gluten will most often relieve symptoms drastically.  And then we can work our way back to really healing our gut with the GAPS diet. (click here for more information on working backwards to the GAPS diet)

Then once we are stabilized and eliminating common allergens from our diet, we can work on restoring gut flora balance and healing the gut. Most importantly, clean up the gut.  (click here for the GAPS intro diet for gut healing and sealing)

When the gut flora is balanced and toxic overload is removed, we should crave healthy food, have our immune system in check, and feel nourished.

 

Other posts in this series

Let me tell you exactly why all the problems start in the gut!

• The Gut-Anxiety Connection
• The Gut-Depression Connection
• The Gut-Rheumatoid Arthritis Connection
• The Gut-Picky Eating Connection
• The Gut-Autism Connection
• The Gut-ADD Connection
• The Gut-Eczema Connection
• The Gut-Brain Connection

(photo credit)

( photo credit)