Auto Immune Disorders

Some doctors and researchers theorize that a certain percentage of all Type I diabetes is caused by an autoimmune process. Others suggest that Type I.5 (or 1a, or LADA) diabetes may also be caused by autoimmune disease. There are no firm conclusions about whether it actually IS, but statistically, a higher number than average in those populations do have certain immune antibodies than within the general population.

It is reasonable to suppose that autoimmune processes do affect the pancreas, because they tend to not be confined to a single organ system. There is no reason to believe that they would NOT attack the pancreas, along with the nervous system, digestive system, skeletal and muscular systems, skin, and endocrine glands.

People who have diabetes, who also have undiagnosed problems with other organs or systems in their bodies, should at least wonder whether an autoimmune process is at work. Autoimmune disease seems to be on the rise, and may be related to chemical exposure, or dietary imbalance. And it is difficult to treat.

Autoimmune disorders are caused by a misinterpretation by the immune system. It begins to identify cells of the body as invaders, and attacks them. The immune defenses of a person with autoimmune disorders tend to generally be strong, but autoimmune disorders are NOT caused by the immune system being too strong.

Clinical treatments tend to focus on reducing overall immune response to treat autoimmune disease. A certain amount of success is achievable, but the theory is fundamentally flawed because it merely controls the symptoms, rarely eliminates them, and leaves the individual vulnerable to other illness because the medications depress the immune responses that are good, as well as the ones that are out of control.

Ideally, treatment would not just depress the immune system, but correct the problem that caused the signals to get mixed up in the first place. There are some herbs which are thought to do just that, but research is pretty thin on the subject. Aloe, alfalfa, grapeseed extract, and several other herbal remedies are thought to help restore balance to the immune system. I am currently using aloe, and believe there may be reason to use it for suspected autoimmune disease, because some of my other symptoms have improved dramatically.

Most medical professionals believe that once a pancreas is damaged by a degenerative process, that it will not regenerate. There is some (controversial) information which suggests that in rare instances it may actually regenerate at least in part. What it basically means though, is that if you have chronic pancreatitis which is caused by autoimmune, or other degenerative processes, stopping the progress of the disease will stop the deterioration, but it will only reverse damage in rare cases. Normally you'll just be keeping it from getting worse. Still a worthwhile accomplishment since autoimmune disease does not just attack the insulin producing cells in the pancreas, but also tends to mess up digestive enzyme production, and often affects other organs which are involved in blood sugar regulation.

Another confusing aspect of autoimmune disorders are the diagnostic processes used to identify them. There are common disorders, which are simple to test for, and then very uncommon ones which are like the proverbial needle in the haystack. Since diagnostic blood tests must be specified before they are identified (in other words, you have to know what you are looking for in order to find it), and since autoimmune disorders are often NOT as simple as saying, "you have these symptoms, so we'll look for this deficiency or antibody", diagnosis can be very difficult. With many autoimmune disorders, evidence exists to indicate that most people with a certain disorder have a certain antibody, or deficiency. But not all. And some people with the same deficiency or antibody will have no symptoms at all. Diagnosis is only simple if you fall in the category of the majority. For someone of the minority, a diagnosis may never be confirmed, only suspected, and doctors are less and less likely to believe that a disorder actually exists unless it is confirmed by labs, even though they KNOW that not all cases can be confirmed in this way.

Sometimes you'll be left with no alternative but self-treatment, based on a suspected diagnosis. Use of certain herbs or supplements may improve things, lending further credence to the suspected diagnosis, but since some herbs help more than one condition, you simply may never quite know if you had an autoimmune disorder, or if the herb which treats autoimmune disorders and also happens to have strong healing properties actually addressed an autoimmune disorder, or just improved things for other reasons.

Autoimmune disorders can also affect diabetes directly, or indirectly, since poorer function in other parts of the body can make diabetes worse. They can attack the body in ways that affect hormone production, digestive efficiency, or cellular metabolism, all of which can have a secondary influence on diabetes. If you have a known autoimmune disorder, controlling it may be as important to controlling your diabetes, as direct control of your diabetes is.

In general, autoimmune disorders cause a progression of diabetes that is slower than standard Type II diabetes, but faster than Type I. Blood sugar control may get worse over a period of months, rather than over years like it usually does with Type II, or very suddenly like it often does with Type I.

It is to be hoped that progress can be made in the diagnosis and treatment of autoimmune diseases, because it could have a huge impact for many individuals who are coping with problems with no validation that it is anything other than their imagination. And long term, it could have a huge impact on the treatment and management of diabetes.

Written by Laura Wheeler, Owner of Firelight Business Enterprises, Inc.