Integrative Medical Associates

Although there are many different types of autoimmune diseases and they can affect many different organs, at their core they are all similar in that they are a systemic response that leads your body to attack itself. Your immune system has a very sophisticated system for keeping you safe that leads it to identify all of the foreign substances that enter your body or that you come into contact with. If your immune system deems anything dangerous, it will produce antibodies to ward off the harmful intruders.

Autoimmune diseases are born when your body is working hard to defend itself against something potentially dangerous, such as an allergen, a toxin, an infection, or even a food, and it fails to differentiate between the intruder and parts of your own body. Mistaking certain types of tissues for harmful substances, your body turns these antibodies against itself.

There are many underlying factors that can cause people to develop an autoimmune condition. There may be an underlying genetic component. However, whether these genes get expressed or turned on is actually caused by a host of other factors, such as toxins from heavy metals like mercury or mycotoxins from molds, infections like Candida, Epstein-Barr and the herpes simplex virus, in addition to, chronic inflammation tied to food sensitivities.

At IMA we treat many different forms of autoimmune diseases, with comprehensive analysis and testing we can determine your diagnosis and work you to start and move forward on the journey of healing.