What is your doctor is missing when he is treating your autoimmune disease?
Autoimmune disease affect over 23 million Americans causing a significant burden to society and the quality of life.
There are over 80 autoimmune diseases, the more common ones include: Type 1 DM, Celiac disease, Hashimoto’s, Psoriasis, asthma, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Ulcerative Colitis, Crohn’s disease Multiple Sclerosis, Systemic Lupus, Addison’s disease, Graves disease, Sjorgren’s disease.
The incidence of autoimmune disease is rising, scientist believe environmental factors like infections or exposures to chemicals may be play a role. (2)
Your immune system is meant to protect you from germs,infections and diseases keeping you healthy. One of the key components of your immune system is your inflammatory response, which occurs when a foreign organism is trying to attack your cells. Your body will release inflammatory cells and chemicals to attack and kill these foreign offenders in your body keeping you from being sick.
In autoimmune disease, your immune system attacks your healthy cells releasing the inflammatory cascade like auto antibodies that attack your cells and injure them. For some reason, your immune system gets fooled thinking your cells are foreign to you. This leads to a chronic inflamed state, which damages your cellular health making you feel tired, achy, and sick.
Depending on what cells in your body are attacked by your immune system will determine what disease develop. For example, if your immune system attacks your thyroid you may get Graves or Hashimotos’s disease causing your thyroid hormones to go hay-wire making you feel bad.
There are many different factors why autoimmune diseases occur including environmental exposure to toxins, genetic predisposition, and your diet.
Some of the newer research is suggesting that your mitochondrial health may be one of the main drivers. (3)
The Standard American diet (SAD), which is loaded with high inflammatory foods like trans-fat, high-sugar and processed foods cause an abnormal inflammatory response and metabolic problems inside your body.The SAD places a higher burden on your mitochondria (powerhouses of your cells) by producing more harmful byproducts called reactive oxygen species (ROS) that can injure your mitochondria and turn on your innate immune system.
Could your Cellular Health or Mitochondria Function be your culprit for your autoimmune disease causing you to feel tired and worn out?
Numerous recent studies are linking the health of your mitochondria to immune diseases. Dysfunctional mitochondria could provoke an inflammatory response like seen in lupus, an autoimmune disorder that affects your skin, joints, heart and brain. Certain byproducts called reactive oxygen species (ROS) that are produced by mitochondria during energy production can trigger a cascade of events that leads to cellular injury and inflammation.(1)
Mitochondrial injury during this process can release some of its bacterial ancestry stored in it, causing our innate immune system to get fooled, triggering an inflammatory response.(4)
This process can turn your immune system against you!
Tearing your system down making you feel tired, achy, bloated, have poor focus or generalized weakness. We call this an autoimmune process. To understand this process, you first need to understand how important good functioning mitochondria are to your overall health.
Mitochondrial in your body do many amazing things:
- Make up 40% of our heart cells-powering your heart beats to circulate blood throughout your body.
- Regulates how every cell ages, divides and dies.
- Control which genes are turned on or off.
- You get your Mitochondria from your mother (Maternally inherited).
- Adult’spossess 10 billion mitochondria, which corresponds to 10% of our body weight.
- Mitochondria turn Carbs/Fats/proteins that you eat into energy to power your body helping you to think and move.
- Mitochondria are involved with your cellular defense they help you fight against infections. They are involved with your innate immunity and inflammatory response.
- Mitochondria are involved with the production of your hormones Testosterone and estrogen and they are involved with calcium regulation.
- Healthy mitochondria are essential for fixing autoimmune disease.
So, you can see that having healthy mitochondrial numbers and function is one of the most important things for you to focus on for great health. Unfortunately, they can be easily damaged by many things.
Common things that you are exposed to every day can damage your mitochondria. The 3 most common are, your diet, medications you take, and the chemical productsused in or aroundyour house.
The most common causes of mitochondria damage/dysfunction:
- Medications: Cholesterol lowering medications. (The cholesterol lowering medication called statins-lower Co-Q 10 levels which impair mitochondria function), Blood pressure medications like the Beta Blockers, tricyclic antidepressants, muscle relaxants and may others.
- Standard American Diet (SAD),which consists of high sugars, trans fats, and high inflammatory foods) produces more harmful byproducts called reactive oxygen species, as your mitochondrial convert these foods to energy. These harmful byproducts will continue to damage your cells. (1)
- Chronic illness (Autoimmune diseases,Diabetes Mellitus, Hypothyroidism, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Systemic Lupus, Hyperlipidemia, high blood pressure and many more)
- Toxins from environment (plastics, pesticides, and herbicides, Xenoestrogens- like BPA)
- High stress states: Physical/emotional stress can chronically elevate our stress hormone called cortisol causing our bodies to break down leading to hormone imbalances, poor immunity and poor sleep.
- Chronic infections like Lyme disease
- Abnormal gut Flora. The types of healthy bacteria (probiotics) in your gastrointestinal tract determine many aspects of your health having too many of the harmful strains can cause an imbalance (bacterial dysbiosis) leading to chronic inflammation, “leaky gut” and mitochondrial injury.
- Nutrient deficiencies (Co-Q 10, b vitamins, Alpha lipoic acid (ALA), carnitine, omega-3 plays an important part for mitochondrial health.
Common symptoms of mitochondrial impairment are similar to autoimmune disease:
- Fatigue/ Low energy (most common symptom)
- Memory loss
- Weakness
- Cramping
- Accelerated aging
- Increased pain
Most doctors do not address mitochondrial problems because we were not taught in residency to think about our patient’s cellular health.
If one of my patients tells me they are tired or exhausted, my first thought is to look at their mitochondrial function because I know it’s the major player for many diseases. There are several blood teststhat I may look at to confirm my suspicions. Then, I aggressively help them work on getting their cellular health back through reinvigorating their mitochondria.
Fatigue = Mitochondria dysfunction
- When you suffer from fatigue- Think of it as a cellular health problem.
- Fatigue occurs when you have a problem with your production of energy or we have high demands for energy. (Chronic infections or immune stimulation like we see in autoimmune diseases.)
- Energy in your body is produced by your mitochondria in the form of ATP (adenosine triphosphate). Think of ATP as your bodies electricity that powers all of your cells. If you have dysfunctional mitochondria than your ATP production is lower and you feel tired and sluggish.
The healthier your mitochondria are the more energy you will have, the leaner you will be, and stronger your immune system will be.
The majority of people that I see in my practice that have problems with low energy, chronic inflammation, foggy brain, adrenal fatigue, or generalized weakness have mitochondrial dysfunction.Mitochondrial dysfunction can occur if you don’t have enough mitochondria or they are not working properly because they are being damaged by environmental factors or by your own immune system (autoimmune disease). This leads to accelerated aging, fatigue, muscle aches, joint pains and chronic diseases.
If you want incredible health then your goal should be to improve your cellular health by optimizing your mitochondria function.
Good cellular health=healthy mitochondria= more energy=faster metabolism=healthier body and brain function with less diseases.
If your immune system is weak, you are probably suffering from poor mitochondria function, you need to focus on repairing and revitalizing your mitochondria.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP YOUR MITOCHONDRIA
Good news – this damage can be prevented and reversed.
There are 8 things that I focus on with my patients who have any history of age related disease, autoimmune disease, treated for cancers or suspected mitochondrial dysfunction from medications:
- Eat an anti-inflammatory diet full of natural whole foods.
- Remove processed foods and sugars (lower Carbohydrate and mild caloric restriction)
- Focus on foods that contain high levels of Omega-3 fats, green leafy vegetables and colorful fruits.
- Ketogenic diets have been shown to promote mitochondrial health and produce less harmful reactive oxygen species that can damage your body
- Eliminate high inflammatory foods like gluten and dairy.
- Support a healthy GI tract and repair your Gut-
- Start with strain specific probiotics like our Probio plus and our functional shake Cleanse Max to heal your gut. They can help promote a healthier immune response naturally.
- Eliminate as much of the environmental toxin’s exposure as you can.
- First look in your household atyour cleaning/hygiene/lawn products and eliminate as many as you can and replace them with natural products.
- Regular exercise is a natural anti-inflammatory and it stimulates your body to make more mitochondria.
- Any activity will improve your mitochondria, you don’t have to go to the gym to get results.
- I like high intense interval training because of its positive mitochondrial effect)
- Treat any hidden infections or heavy metal toxicities.
- Pray or meditate to get yourself in a deep relaxation because stress can worsen your immune system.
- Get good quality sleep. 7-8 hrs./night
- Take certain nutrients to energize your mitochondria production.
I formulated Mitoblast 2 specifically for my patients to help them get their mitochondria reinvigorated.
The reason that I am so passionate about mitochondrial function is I messed mine up during the rigors of residency over 20 yrs. ago. I can sum up the cause… A lot of stress and no sleep led me to have “Leaky Gut” and mitochondrial dysfunction. I was fatigued. I wanted to look something natural to take to fix my energy problem. I looked for supplements that I could take to re-invigorate my mitochondria.
Supplements that actually tell my genes… to turn on the production of my mitochondria.
So, I researched hundreds of clinical studies and formulated a product for my family and myself. I have gone through 2 formulations. I made it better and better based on the science. It is called Mitoblast 2.
As an Internal Medicine doctor, I realized that most of my patients have some degree of mitochondrial problems…
so,every patient in my clinical practice who comes to me with any age-related diseases, autoimmune process, lack of energy,or complaining about forgetfulness, leaves with my Mitoblast 2 formula after their first visit.
I get amazing feedback about this formula nearly EVERY week, because unlike most supplements on the market the nutrients in this formula are clinically proven to boost the health of your mitochondria.
Mitoblast is a powerful formula that blast your cells with the nutrients they need to regain health, eliminate all that clogged waste, and strengthen and protect the mitochondria inside EVERY cell of your body.
We are constantly exposed to high stress tearing down our mitochondria causing us to feel tired and sluggish.
If you feel you may benefit from increase in your metabolism, energy and endurance
Mitoblast.com or call 904 694-0992 to get more information
(1) Mitochondrial troublemakers unmasked in lupus
Drivers of autoimmune disease inflammation discovered in the traps of pathogen-capturing white blood cells
Date: January 21, 2016
Source: University of Washington Health Sciences/UW Medicine
(2) https://pubs.sciepub.com/ijcd/3/4/8/
(3) Hum Genet. 2012 Feb;131(2):161-73. doi: 10.1007/s00439-011-1057-y. Epub 2011 Jul 7. Mitochondrial DNA and inflammatory diseases. EscamesG(1), López LC, García JA, García-Corzo L, Ortiz F, Acuña-Castroviejo D.