“A fight against your own immunity” 

     Not many Thais are familiar with Autoimmune diseases until the death of a legendary singer named Khun Phumphuang Duangchan, who passed away due to a disease called Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) or Lupus is short. Only then, people begin to acknowledge and learn more about this disease, which was locally referred to as “Phumphuang Disease”. Autoimmune diseases occur when our immune system loses its ability to distinguish between its own cells and the invading cells. The immune system turns on itself and attacks the body by creating the protein called Autoantibody. This substance will cause inflammation and damage to the target organs. If the organ is vital to the body, the effect may well be life threatening.  

Autoimmune system 

The autoimmune system can be categorized into the follows:

1. Organ specific

• destruction in the pancreas of patients with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (Type 1 DM)

• destruction in the intestinal mucosa

• destruction of the neuron capsule in the brain and spinal cord

• inflammation of the thyroid gland 

2. Systemic

SLE, which is a disease that destroys:

• mucosa 

• skin 

• joints

• many internal organ systems, especially the liver, heart, brain, and red blood cells

The patient may have the following symptoms:

• butterfly rash 

• photodermatitis 

• hair loss 

• mouth ulcer 

• joint pain or arthritis 

• chronic fever 

• weight loss 

• nephritis that causes swelling 

• foamy urine 

• hemolytic anemia

• symptoms that effect the brain are, behavioral changes, frequent headaches and tonic seizures

      Rheumatoid arthritis is a disease that involves the inflammation and destruction of various joints in the body, which causes pain, swelling and frozen joints. If the symptoms are chronic, the joints can become deformed and disability may follow.

      Scleroderma is a disease that involves the inflammation and destruction of connective tissues, such as the dermis. The patients might have hard and thick skin on the face, arms, legs, and hands. The fingertips might have ischemia, which causes pain during cold encounters. The intestinal walls, such as the esophagus, will be constricted, which causes dysphagia. If in the lungs, there will be fascia, which causes the patient to have difficulty breathing and may in turn succumb to respiratory failure. 

       The current treatment for autoimmune disease emphasizes on alleviating the pain and reducing the inflammation by using Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) for non-severe patients. When the symptoms become more severe, steroid medicine or even immunosuppressive drugs would then be needed. There are many side effects of these medicines. For example, steroids will cause swelling to the face and body, increases the risk of diabetes, osteoporosis and also increase the chance for infection. Some immunosuppressive drugs are toxic to the liver and can reduce white blood cells and increase the risk of cancer. 

      If anyone were to ask why such medicines are needed even though the side effects can be harmful, the answer is that if the disease spreads and becomes more severe, the doctor must reduce harmful inflammation in order to save the patient and prevent any risk of disability that might follow. However, since these diseases are incurable, in the long term, patients must control their symptoms. These group of people might have to take the medication throughout their lives. Some patients may eventually develop secondary illnesses due to the side effects of the medications they have been taking. 

      With regards to the increasing incidents of the disease, it cannot be denied that the environment and lifestyle are major contributing factors. Nowadays, people are accumulating chemicals and toxins in their body without even realizing it. Research on blood test from the umbilical cord of newborn babies found more than 287 types of industrial chemicals, such as insecticide, dioxin, Teflon and other heavy metals (like mercury and lead). Also, the use of some medicines that affect the condition of the intestine will produce proteins or toxins that activate and cause an immune disorder.

The treatments of integrative medicine are:

1. Reduce the inflammation in the body by using Hematogenous Oxidation Therapy (H.O.T). This therapy uses the oxygen reaction and UV light during application. Special waves are also used to improve the circulation of the capillary system, increase the oxygen in the tissue, enhance the immune system and reduce inflammation.

2. Auto-vaccine is a technique that creates an infusible vaccine from a patient’s blood as it contains the proteins that acts as an antibody. We extract the antigens to make a vaccine for the body to eliminate the unwanted protein.

3. Detect and eliminate accumulated toxins in the body to solve and prevent the buildup of the autoantibodies.  

4. Building a healthier gut system, which is the frontline for unusual food and proteins entering the body plus undergoing a food sensitivity test.

5. Boosting the immune system and repairing damaged organs through cytoplasmic therapy.

6. Provide nutraceuticals that strengthen the body and improving the detoxification system.

7. Recently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of Canada has approved the use of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells to treat patients with Graft Versus Host Disease. 

      Looking at the bigger picture, we need to realize that autoimmune disease is a warning sign for us to look at our lifestyle. We also need to dig deeper to understand why and how this disease occur. We need to ask ourselves if we are doing the right thing with regards to managing our health. Ultimately, we need to take control of the reins, solve the problem at the root cause and have a more balanced lifestyle.