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Understanding Autoimmune

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LIVING WITH AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE

Through functional medicine Dr.Autoimmunegirl focuses on the underlying causes of autoimmune disease and the impact inflammation and gut health have on autoimmune disease management.

As a health and wellness professional Dr.Autoimmunegirl is on a mission to help you get to the root cause of autoimmune disease through education, empowerment, and support.

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Learn about the various processes that effect the immune system, gut health and inflammation and their impact on autoimmune disease.

@drautoimmunegirl

Learn more about your immune system and how it plays a role in your daily life. Stay up to date with me on my journey to heal!

DONE AND DONE! _ I am officially hanging up

DONE  AND  DONE!
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I am officially hanging up my Master's Degree in Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine! This will definitely be the last degree, since I have no more space on the wall,ha!
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I have so many new followers, so I wanted to reintroduce myself and credentials
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So, hello, I'm Donna, and the face behind Drautoimmunegirl! The mission behind my blog is to utilize my learnings from conventional medicine and functional medicine to provide a balanced approach to health and wellness. I personally believe there is a disconnect and a between both practices of medicine that needs to be bridged!
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I received my Doctorate in Pharmacy from @ferrisstateu, and I continued my training by completing a residency program at the Detroit Medical Center. I spent about 10 years in clinical practice doing medication therapy management.  In speaking to patients with chronic illness I was blown away by how little they knew about managing their disease through lifestyle.  This led me to pursue a masters in nutrition, which I started and then stopped, switching gears to my MBA to align with my future goals!
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BUT THEN, in 2015, it all came back around full circle when I was diagnosed with Hashimotos. My diagnosis took me right back to my passion to understand how I was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition. And so, I completed my Master's in Nutrition and Functional Medicine from @univwesternstates
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My purpose is to share reputable scientific information in a simplified format.  When I was searching for answers, it was so hard to trust the sources of information, and so I took it upon myself to be THE source!
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This is just the first step with a future that holds so much more!
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Thank you so much for following. Please support my mission by sharing my page with your friends, families, in your stories, and to anyone you think would benefit from the information I collate and disseminate!
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#autoimmunedisease #autoimmunepaleo #autoimmune #autoimmuneprotocol #autoimmunewarrior #hashimotosdisease #hashimotos #hashimotoswarrior #hypothyroidism #hashimotosthyroiditis #thyroid #hypothyroidmom #hypothyroid #integrativemedicine #functionalmedicine #functionalpharmacy #pharmacist

Organic farming, in general, is characterized by i

Organic farming, in general, is characterized by its restriction against the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. This basic understanding has led to two main hypotheses
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1️⃣The first hypothesis considers the impact of the different fertilization practices on plant metabolism. Due to the fact that synthetic fertilizers offer more bioavailable sources of nitrogen, plants develop faster, and all plant resources go to growth purposes and not to the production of secondary metabolites such as polyphenols that have the nutritional benefits
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2️⃣The second hypothesis is related to the plants exposure to stressful situations, such as attacks from various insects, weeds and plant pathogens, leads to an increase of natural defense substances, such as phenolic compounds. This happens when pesticides are NOT used
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So with that being said what's the benefit of phenolic content in organic fruits and vegetables?
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Many studies report that plant phenolic compounds have ✅anticarcinogenic, ✅anti-inflammatory,✅antimicrobial, ✅antioxidant, ✅antihypertensive, ✅immune modulating, ✅cardioprotective, and ✅analgesic proprieties
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Other reasons for organic food consumption:
1️⃣Less exposure to antibiotic resistant bacteria
2️⃣Natural pesticides defense system activation (plant's own phytochemicals)
3️⃣Avoiding loss of nutritional value of fresh fruits and vegetables because organic products have a lower shelf life compared to conventional ones
4️⃣Certified according to rigorous standards
5️⃣Organic farming systems are environmentally friendly
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And for those of you looking to increase #quercetin, a randomized study found (https://doi.org/10.1021/jf030217n)Higher quercetin excretion after a three-week organic diet compared to conventional food!
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#antioxidants #antioxidant #antiinflammatory #antiinflammatorydiet #inflammation #inflammatory #eatwholefoods #microbiome #nutrientdense #healthynutrition #foodasmedicine #foodmedicine #organic #organicgardening #organicfarming #polyphenols #polyphenols酵素 #pesticides #pesticidefree

Gut and oral microflora are important factors in t

Gut and oral microflora are important factors in the pathogenesis and development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA)
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Gut bacteria have been recognized as an autoimmune trigger for RA for decades
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A review was completed to review the existing evidence of probiotics in rheumatoid
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Reduced and elevated gut bacteria were found in RA patients as follow:
Elevated:
📍Clostridium perfringens type A
📍Enterobacterium
📍Staphylococcus
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Reduced:
📍Bifidobacterium
📍Bacteroides
📍Lactobacillus
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Probiotics mainly exert their beneficial effects through the following three methods:
1️⃣antimicrobial effects
2️⃣enhancement of mucosal barrier integrity
3️⃣immune modulation
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Several experimental and clinical studies have shown that some probiotics, particularly Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains, have beneficial effects on inflammatory and autoimmune diseases
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The results from a meta-analysis (https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ENG.2017.01.006) showed that the expression of TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 was reduced and the expression of IL-10 was elevated in the probiotic intervention group
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L. casei and L. acidophilus showed significantly down-regulated pro-inflammatory cytokines and up-regulated anti-inflammatory cytokines (P < 0.0001)
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The trends of probiotics reducing inflammatory reactions imply that probiotics may have some effect on the remission of early and mild RA patients
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Please share your experiences?
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#rheumatoidarthritis #ra #rheumatoid #rheumatoidarthritiswarrior #autoimmunedisease #autoimmunepaleo #autoimmune #autoimmuneprotocol #aip #autoimmunewarrior #leakygut #guthealth #guthealing #guthealthmatters #healyourgut #probiotics #prebiotics #goodbacteria #lactobacillus #bifidobacterium #probiotic #probioticsupplements #probioticos #rheumatoidarthritiswarrior

I've been asked this question a lot, so I thought

I've been asked this question a lot, so I thought why not review the evidence of how this drug works. I'm not providing my opinion, so don’t ask! Simply sharing the Science!
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Did you know the half-life is 40-50 days!? That is the amount of time it takes for the concentration of a drug to reduced by 1/2
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It also has a slow onset of action that might take weeks to reach maximal activity with prolonged effects after its stopped
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This drug is considered to function as immunomodulatory rather than immunosuppressant and utilized to treat several autoimmune conditions
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So how does it work?
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Being a weak base it accumulates within acidic vesicles such as lysosomes and inhibits their function
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Lysosomes are organelles in our cells that function to remove waste such as food particles, old cell parts and microorganisms (viruses and bacteria)
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Interfering with lysosomal activity might inhibit the function of lymphocytes (T-cells, B-cells etc.)
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Lysosomes don’t only remove "waste" but they are also involved in antigen processing which indirectly activates the immune system
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By interfering with lysosomes you can see we downregulate the immune system, a beneficial mechanism in some autoimmune conditions
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Hydroxychloroquine also interferes with Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling
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TLR signals stimulate the production of cytokines, so as a result HQ reduces cytokine production by T cells and B cells such as IL-1, IL-6 and TNF, this leads to anti-inflammatory effects
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In addition HQ has characteristics of a zinc ionophore which means it brings in extracellular zinc to intracellular lysosomes. The combination of the two inside the lysosome leads to apoptosis (cell death)
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It's important to remember that with any intervention targeting the immune system, the mechanism is dependent on the context of what we are treating (ie: the inflammatory condition and the affected tissues/organs)
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Hope you found this information helpful, please share to educate others!
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#hydroxychloroquine #immunesystem #immunehealth #autoimmunedisease #autoimmune #plaquenil #educateyourself #dontbeignorant #pharmacist #pharmacists #pharmacist💊 #pharmacistlife

Hippocrates also said “bad digestion is the root

Hippocrates also said “bad digestion is the root of all evil”
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While this insightful statement was thousands of years ago, research has traditionally been focused on pathogenic gut microbes and NOT on the role of gut microbes in homeostasis and pathogenesis
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BUT we are finally seeing some changes on the horizon!
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The American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) has established the Center for Gut Microbiome Research and Education.
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The mission of this organization is to “advance research and education on the gut microbiome in human health and disease.”
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Its only taken thousands of years but here we are folks!!! Better late than never!
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#probiotics #prebiotics #goodbacteria #integrativemedicine #functionalmedicine #integrativenutrition #functionalnutrition #leakygut #guthealth #guthealing #guthealthmatters #healyourgut #guthealthy #gutmicrobiome #microbiota #microbiotaintestinal #coloncleanse #digestion #digestivehealth #digestivesystem #digestiveissues #digestivesupport #digestionsupport #ibd #inflammatoryboweldisease #crohnsdisease

Challenge accepted #blackwhitechallenge Thank you

Challenge accepted #blackwhitechallenge Thank you @drmarleneshaw and @tarannum_q @di_stef7 for nominating me!
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Empowered women empower women!
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I nominate @sueb580 @nicolette_todor @tushi_xo @the_agist @lifestyle_of_drlama
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#womenempoweringwomen #womenpower #powerofwomen #womensupportingwomen #womeninspiringwomen #womenforwomen #womeninspiration #womenoftheworld #womenstrong #gogirl #girlsupportinggirls #girlssupportgirls #supportgirls #proudwoman #sheinspiresme #empowerher #womenofimpact #womeninleadership #womenwholead

So yesterday I talked about antibodies and T-cells

So yesterday I talked about antibodies and T-cells and I thought it might be a good time to discuss the difference!
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Our immune system can be broken out into 2 components
1.Innate
2.Adaptive
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Innate (Non-specific)
📍Born with it and have it before you're born
📍It's the first line of defense against foreign invaders
📍You need the innate immune system to activate the adaptive immune system
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Adaptive (Specific)
📍You develop this over time and your microflora help you develop your specific immune system
📍The adaptive immune system is made up of B cells and T cells
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B-Cells make antibodies to a foreign antigen and the Antibodies ambush antigens circulating the bloodstream. These antibodies can also become memory cells, which helps prevent a secondary infection
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T-cells are either T-helper (Th) or cytotoxic T-cells (killer cells). Unlike B cells, T cells do not recognize free-floating antigens. Rather, their surfaces contain specialized antibody-like receptors that see fragments of antigens on the surfaces of infected cells
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T cells contribute to immune defenses in two major ways: some direct and regulate immune responses; others directly attack infected cells.
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So what happens when infected with THE virus?
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Innate immunity is the first line of defense against virus invasion
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Adaptive immunity also plays an important part in viral clearance via activated cytotoxic T cells that destroy virus-infected cells and antibody-producing B cells that target virus-specific antigens
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Studies have found increased plasma concentrations of both Th1 (IL-1β and IFNγ) and Th2 ( IL-10) CYTOKINES. Notably, patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) had higher plasma concentrations of IL-2, IL-7, IL-10 - this is where we saw a rise in cytokine storm
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Balancing Th1 and Th2 cells is so important.... more on this to come....
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Hope this breakdown helps… its so complex, but trying to simplify!
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#immunesystem #immuneboosting #immunesupport #immunehealth #immunebooster #immuneboost #viralinfection #infections #tcell #bcell #antibodies #antibody #immunesystemsupport #immuneresponse #immunity #immunityboost

Researchers have found that people that have recov

Researchers have found that people that have recovered from Covid-19 may not have any antibodies developed.... this has left people wondering if there is lasting immunity against a second infection?
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Although we are hyper focused on testing for antibodies, science has found that antibodies may not be the leading cause of immunity against the virus
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Scientists have also recently discovered that some people can test negative for antibodies against Covid-19 and positive for T cells that can identify the virus
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SO, What are T-cells?
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T cells are a kind of immune cell, whose main purpose is to identify and kill invading pathogens or infected cells. It does this using proteins on its surface, which can bind to proteins on the surface of these imposters
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Several studies have shown that people infected with Covid-19 tend to have T cells that can target the virus regardless of whether they have experienced symptoms - well that makes sense, normal response, right?
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BUT, when researchers tested blood samples taken years before the pandemic started, they found T cells which were specifically tailored to detect proteins on the surface of Covid-19. This suggests that some people already had a pre-existing degree of resistance against the virus before it ever infected a human. And it appears to be surprisingly prevalent:40-60% of unexposed individuals had these cells
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The study detected SARS-CoV-2-reactive CD4+ T cells in ∼40%–60% of unexposed individuals, suggesting cross-reactive T cell recognition between circulating “common cold” coronaviruses and SARS-CoV-2
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Things that make you go 🤔
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Thoughts?!
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#immunesystem #immuneboosting #immunesupport #immunehealth #immunebooster #immuneboost #tcells #antibodies #immunity #immunesystemhealth #commoncold #immunesystemsupport #memorytcell #immunitysupport

Low-grade inflammation refers to a series of metab

Low-grade inflammation refers to a series of metabolic and physiological modifications as a result of proinflammatory cytokines and increased oxidative stress
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Low grade inflammation is related to the development of chronic diseases and one factor associated with low grade inflammation is the intake of proinflammatory foods
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Dietary patterns that combat the inflammatory state and reduce the risk for chronic disease are characterized by an INCREASED intake of vegetables, green leaves, whole grain cereals, fruits, chestnuts, fish and olive oil, and DECREASED intake of processed meat, sugary drinks, processed foods, and saturated fat
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Dietary patterns that contained excess intake of calories, salt, fat and sugar were associated with higher CRP levels and IL-6, correlating to low grade chronic inflammation, of the patterns analyzed in the study the one with the highest CRP levels correlated to that of frozen foods
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One common conclusion made is: fruits and vegetables, when consumed daily are capable of reducing the oxidative stress and low-grade inflammatory markers
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Personally, I recommend 9-12 servings of a variety of fruits and vegetables
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Impact of macromolecules on inflammation:
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📍Fats: PUFA's, particularly the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids reduce the risk of heart disease due to their anti- inflammatory potential. In contrast, the increased consumption of saturated fats, stimulate inflammatory transcription factor (NF-κβ), resulting in the synthesis of proinflammatory cytokines
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📍Protein: Studies have found meat with high fat content is more proinflammatory, in comparison with lean meat, in relation to TNF-α and IL-6. Proteins of plant origin and white meats, decrease low-grade inflammation and protect against the development of chronic disease
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📍Carbohydrates: An inverse association between the intake of whole-grain carbohydrates and low-grade inflammation. The WHO recommends that children and adults reduce sugar intake to <10% of total energy, and that this value should be lowered over lifetime
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#omega3 #omega6 #fishoil #goodfats #oliveoil #canolaoil #antiinflammatory #antiinflammatorydiet #inflammation #inflammatory #aippaleo

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