My Auto-Immune Possibility…
I’ve debated long and hard about whether to share this publicly or not. I haven’t even discussed it with many people in my personal life really, aside from a very few friends, family members and a couple of colleagues.
My colleagues encouraged me to share my story though, and after weighing it up, I’ve decided to plunge in in the hope it’ll help someone else who’s maybe going through something similar.
Now, just what exactly am I faffing on about? (See, I’m really not great at public disclosures of deeply personal info lol.)
Well, after a chance doctor’s appointment late last year to get a 2nd opinion on what I thought was a relatively mild but painful (and slowly worsening) joint problem, I’m now under suspicion of having a rheumatological auto-immune (AI) condition.
In my case, they were initially thinking Rheumatoid Arthritis, but some of my early test results are pointing more towards Lupus or Sjogren’s disease. (If I’m really lucky, I could have more than one.)
At that point I was forced to acknowledge a collection of irritating (& what I thought were unrelated) symptoms which have also been increasing over the last couple of years. Things I’d literally either been ignoring altogether (sorry, I’m too busy to deal with that right now), or putting down to getting old, or being tired, or busy, or stressed. Or basically any other logical sounding excuse that came to mind.
So my GP referred me to a rheumatologist though the public system. After initial indications I should get an appointment within 90 days, I rang & discovered the reality was more likely to be 6 months. Not cool. As my body is potentially attacking itself right now, I’m pretty keen to figure things out ASAP - 6 months is really out of the question as far as I’m concerned!
So I’ve managed to find a private clinic with an available appointment later this month.
Hurrah!
Except, these AI conditions are notoriously hard to diagnose and I could still potentially walk away without any answers. (Fingers crossed for me please!)
Now on the bright side - isn’t it nice to hear there’s a bright side when I’m talking some pretty serious AI conditions? - there’s a lot we can do nutritional medicine wise to support the body with AI disease.
70-80% (depending on which source you reference) of our immune system stems from the gut, so when we change what goes into our gut we can effect some pretty significant changes in our health. And there’s some really great research that’s come out over the last 10-15yrs to support that diet and lifestyle changes can lead to some pretty impressive outcomes in people with AI disease.
I’ve always had a bit of a clinical interest in working with people to support AI, but this has definitely prompted me to dive in about as deep as I can get with it.
So after initially pulling up loads of papers & research articles, and then totally freaking out, I completely withdrew & stepped off the hamster wheel over the Christmas/Summer holidays.
I’m happy to report I’m out of hibernation & back to voraciously reading as much info as I can find about the links between diet, lifestyle and AI disease. I’ve spent hours pouring over a few of the well-respected Auto-Immune Protocol (AIP) diets (strangely, these weren’t discussed in any of my subjects at uni), functional testing options, research on the use of various supplements, anything I can track down really.
At this point I’ve decided to wait to try & get a diagnosis before implementing anything. Am I sure that’s the right path to take? Nope. I mean, if this is definitely an AI disease, my body is fighting its own cells every single day I sit around waiting for the diagnosis. Really not ideal.
But I do have my reasons for choosing to do it this way. One of which is probably more justifiable than the other haha!
1. Hopefully the rheumatologist should run a few more tests, which will give some clear baseline values of where I’m starting from, which will make it easier to track and see if things improve once I do implement some changes.
2. Ok, this one sounds a little mad, even to me. But if I’m 100% honest, I’m a little pissed at the thought of tightening up my diet even more than I have for the last 10yrs.
I mean, since we discovered the kid’s (and mine) food intolerances we’ve done all the right things and really worked hard to eat real, healthy wholefoods. And I’m pissed that it looks like that isn’t enough for me.
And quite frankly, I LIKE yoghurt and cheese - I don’t want to have to stop eating them. And I LIKE nightshades. A LOT. And while it seems that some people with AI can tolerate nightshades, dairy's probably going to be off the menu for good. And I hate that.
So right now, I’m using excuse #1 to buy myself a little more time before I need to put my big girl pants on and step up my game.
Anyhoo, I’ll leave it at that for today. I’ll keep everyone posted as things develop. And I’ll probably post a lot about AI in the coming months - even if I don’t get diagnosed, I really have gone on a deep dive now so I may as well share what I’ve found.
Much love, Kelly
