Ask any traditional specialist in autoimmune diseases and he will tell you for sure that autoimmune disease is not curable. But what I can tell you is that in most cases he would be wrong. In fact, the only thing that traditional medicine has to offer patients with autoimmune disease is simply to alleviate their symptoms by suppressing their immune systems. But that offers no hope of a cure and has many side effects. However, if you know what to look for, autoimmune diseases can be cured. Let me offer Susan as an example.
Susan has had asthma and allergies almost all of her life. She was doing well on her medications until one day she started having severe pain, inflammation, and swelling in her joints. First, it was her knee, then that would stop and her shoulder would act up. Then it was her ankle. Her symptoms were so bad that she could barely get around, and had to quit working. Her doctors said she had an autoimmune disease called polymyalgia rheumatica.
When I first saw her, she was on immune suppressive medications. Her symptoms were better, but she had gained 45 pounds and was feeling weak and run down from the medications. Her doctors told her that there was no cure for her condition. Susan had a hard time accepting that for the rest of her life she was going to be this way, and so she went looking for another approach. Now she is well, off medications, and leading a perfectly normal life. Why? Because despite what doctors are told in medical school, autoimmune diseases are curable.
The list of autoimmune diseases is long. And it gets longer every year. Lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, colitis, scleroderma, fibromyalgia, and thyroiditis are the old standbys. Now the list includes auto-immune diseases of the liver, pancreas, kidney, muscles, nerves — virtually every organ and system in the body.
Specialists will say that autoimmune diseases are caused by an immune system running amuck. But what is causing that? And why are so many more immune systems running amuck now than just a few decades ago?
There are two basic factors behind every autoimmune disease that explain the answer to both of these questions. First, in every autoimmune disease no matter what the name is, there is something foreign to the body that the immune system is reacting to. And secondly, there is poor control of the reaction. Let’s break apart these two concepts. And then you will have an idea of what doctors need to do in order to cure an autoimmune disease.
The immune system is reacting to something
Your immune system reacts to everything that comes into contact with your body. Everything that contacts your skin, everything you breathe, and everything you ingest causes an immune reaction. The immune system even reacts to the components of your own body like your cells, muscles, and skin. This happens every second of your life. And here is where it starts to get interesting.
In order for this system to work properly, there has to be a way to control these reactions. The body controls the reactions in two ways. First, it directs them accurately. In other words, when my immune system is reacting to the broccoli I just ate, it needs to direct that reaction to broccoli molecules. If it mistakenly directs the reaction to my muscles, then I will start to have problems with my muscles every time I eat broccoli. So there needs to be controls in the immune system that properly direct every immune reaction.
Next, there must be a way to limit the reaction to what is appropriate. For example, if I contact a small amount of a harmless virus it should react with a lesser reaction than if I contact a large amount of a very dangerous virus. If it overreacts to a harmless virus, then the overreaction will create problems. And if it underreacts to a dangerous virus, then I might die from the viral infection. Everything must be just right. The immune system must properly direct and properly limit its reactions. And here’s the point.
When these controls are not working well the result can be an autoimmune disease. This is true of every autoimmune disease. It doesn’t matter what particular tissue or organ the autoimmune disease is focusing on. If it is focusing on the liver, we call that autoimmune hepatitis. If it is focusing on the skin, we call it scleroderma. In terms of curing the disease, it doesn’t matter what the name of the disease is or what particular part of the body it is affecting. The factors causing the disease are always the same. The immune system is reacting to something. And it is not properly directing and limiting its reaction.
So knowing this, it should now become obvious what we need to do in order to cure an autoimmune disease. First, we should remove the “something” that the immune system is reacting to. Second, we should eliminate the factors that are causing it to react inappropriately. So let’s tackle these two ideas separately.
Removing the something
In most cases the thing that the immune system is reacting to is a microbe such as a virus, a bacterium, a fungus, or a parasite. Yes it could be a food or a chemical, but most of the time it is a microbe. One of the primary reasons autoimmune diseases are on the increase is because the overuse of antibiotics, disinfectants, and antifungals is creating an entire class of super microbes. Sometimes the microbe is obvious. A good example is when a strep infection causes the autoimmune disease called rheumatic fever. However, most of the time it is hard to be sure what microbe is responsible. But one thing that is for sure, whatever the microbe is, it is very likely that we will find it in one of three places.
The most likely place is the intestines. That is for two reasons. First, the intestinal tract is by far the most contaminated area of the body. Secondly, the intestinal tract contains nearly 90% of all of the immune reactive cells in the body. I am convinced that most diseases start in the intestinal tract, and when it comes to autoimmune diseases this is usually true. The other two most likely places are the sinuses and the teeth. Once again this is because these areas are often infected. I think it would be a safe bet to say that microbes residing in one or more of these three areas cause over 90% of all autoimmune diseases.
So one of the most important things to do in any patient with an autoimmune disease is to detoxify the intestinal tract. The best way to do this is by using colonic therapy along with ozone infusions directly into the colon. Then combine that with probiotics and antifungal, antibacterial, and anti-parasitic herbal and pharmaceutical medications. Blood tests and stool tests for these microbes can be helpful to determine exactly what medications are needed.
If there is a history of repeated sinus infections, we must aggressively detoxify the sinuses. We can do this using ozone therapy, sinus rinses, and antifungal medications. If there are root canals or any other source of dental infection, we need to treat these areas as well. One of the reasons I do not like to see my patients getting root canals is that they can harbor the microbes that cause autoimmune disease. A good biological dentist who knows how to use ozone therapy is invaluable in this case.
Finally, there is systemic ozone therapy. What if the microbe is somewhere other than the intestines, sinuses, or teeth? In that case, we can clean the entire body by removing blood into a collection bag, treating the blood with ozone, and then reinfusing the treated blood back into the patient. The treated blood becomes a super “antibiotic” that can go everywhere in the body including the interior of cells.
Improving immune system control
As the above detoxification is taking place, we also have to begin removing the factors that might be causing the immune system to inappropriately react. The most common factor is chronic stress.
Chronic stress depletes the adrenal glands. And fully functioning adrenal glands are critical for proper immune system function. In Susan’s case, she had been under a tremendous amount of emotional stress for almost two years before she developed the disease. Chronic stress often comes from emotional causes. But it can also stem from physical causes such as pain, lack of sleep, a diet high in processed carbohydrates, and drugs and medications. There is very little chance of anyone curing an autoimmune disease until the adrenal glands are aggressively treated. This almost always includes supplementing the body with the adrenal hormones hydrocortisone and DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone). I have discussed this in past issues. And of course the source of stress must be resolved or at the very least significantly decreased.
But stress is not the only factor causing the immune system to react improperly. One of the most common problems is the effect of heavy metals such as mercury, arsenic, cadmium, and lead. The worst is mercury. In many cases, they are at the heart of autoimmune disease. Although Susan almost immediately improved with the measures I mentioned above, she was not completely cured until she had her mercury-containing silver dental fillings removed and completed a course of mercury chelation therapy.
The last major factor in autoimmune disease is hormones. This fact should be obvious to anyone who looks at the statistics of autoimmune disease. It is mostly a woman’s disease. For every man who develops an autoimmune disease there are three women. And most of these women develop the disease after their menopause. The reason is that sex hormones play a major role in how the immune system reacts. The other hormones that play a role are the thyroid hormones which are often deficient in the over-fifty group.
Avoiding autoimmune disease
I’ve always maintained that the best way to treat any disease is not to get it. And that works for autoimmune disease as well. So what can you do to make sure that you avoid getting an autoimmune disease?
First of all avoid antibiotics unless absolutely needed. Find a doctor in your area who knows how to cure infections with hydrogen peroxide, ultraviolet light therapy, or ozone. My experience tells me that more than 95% of antibiotic prescriptions are unnecessary when these natural therapies are used. Also, avoid eating foods treated with antibiotics.
Next, avoid vaccines. They are almost all loaded with mercury and other toxins. But worst of all, the very way they work throws the immune system into a state of imbalance. And this imbalance favors the development of the inappropriate reactions that lead to autoimmune disease.
Although the evidence isn’t overwhelming yet, I am very concerned about the use of genetically modified foods (GMO). These “foods” are toxic. They can cause a breakdown in the immune system regulation in the intestinal tract. Remember how important the intestinal tract is to the development of autoimmune diseases. A child’s immune system is not fully functioning until the middle teens. Imagine the effect on their developing immune systems while they are being fed increasing amounts of genetically altered, heavily contaminated GMO “foods.”
Pay attention to what your dentist is putting into your mouth. Mercury-containing silver fillings have been banned in Canada and all the European countries. Why not here? If you have these fillings already, bite the bullet, get out your check book, and have them replaced with something not poisonous. And make sure that this is done by a biologic dentist certified by one of the biological dental associations. Improper removal of these toxic fillings can lead to serious complications. I have seen them. What about root canals?
While I would like to see the use of root canals abandoned, they are not as practical to remove as are dental fillings. And while silver dental fillings are always a detriment, I am not so sure about all root canals. The truth is that while it is uncommon for me to see a patient with an autoimmune disease who does not have silver fillings, root canals are much less common. Nevertheless, I think they are risky. I would never have a root canal placed in my mouth. But having said that, if I had one, I don’t know for sure that I would go out and have it immediately removed unless it seemed to have a problem associated with it.
Americans love to treat everything with drugs. This is especially true of stress. No matter what kind of stress you have, Big Pharma has come up with some drug to help you avoid dealing directly with it. There are many natural ways to deal with stress. You don’t need a drug. Get someone to help you eliminate the causes of your stress, and also strengthen and protect your adrenal glands. There is no stress reliever as effective as proper exercise regularly done. Get in shape, and be sure to eat well and get enough sleep. Two more things.
Have your doctor check you for heavy metal toxicity. I have written about this just recently. It can be done with a chelation challenge test and a UPPA (urinary porphyrin profile analysis). If you are high on anything, get it chelated out. This will not only help you to avoid autoimmune disease but also every other disease.
Lastly, make sure your hormones are replaced as you get older. This is especially true of women going through menopause. Only use bio-identical hormones. These are the ones natural to your body. Remember that replacing your sagging hormone levels is not just something that can make you feel better; it can also protect you from disease, especially autoimmune disease.
By Dr. Frank Shallenberger, MD
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