10 Warning Signs You May Have an Autoimmune Disease + 3 Ways to Prevent all Chronic Diseases
Do you have nagging symptoms like fatigue, brain fog, muscle or joint pain, mood swings, skin rashes, or digestive issues that make it difficult to get things done and steal your joy for life? Have you stopped paying attention because the doctor(s) can’t find anything wrong with you? Or, maybe you haven’t even gone to the doctor because this is just how you expect to feel due to stress or aging? If any of this is true for you, today, I invite you to begin to pay attention to your body’s messages, aka, your symptoms, as your body, mind, and emotions give you many clues and warnings, oftentimes subtle, that something is amiss long before most people take any action to seek help. The sooner you get to the bottom of what’s causing your symptoms, the better chance you have of avoiding chronic disease. Almost half of Americans have at least one chronic disease.
By the time I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, I had been experiencing increasingly unusual and severe symptoms, such as numbness; vision, coordination and balance problems. What I realized after I reversed my MS was that the symptoms of my disease were building slowly over many years. While the symptoms that led to the actual diagnosis seemed to appear less than one year before the diagnosis, as I learned more about health and wellness, and experienced what great health really feels like, I came to realize that the deterioration in my vitality and overall well-being was slow and insidious – so gradual that I didn’t recognize how unwell I was becoming until it was a full blown health crisis that nearly destroyed my health and life.
Unfortunately, most doctors don’t recognize the early symptoms of chronic diseases until they become health crises. What we now know is that diseases, like cancer, for example, build up in your body for years before they are found and diagnosed. This is even truer for chronic diseases, like diabetes, and the over 80 autoimmune diseases that now comprise the third largest class of diseases (and are one of the biggest killers of younger and middle aged women).
Autoimmune disease does not typically develop overnight; symptoms begin to manifest over time, and if not addressed appropriately through proper testing¹ or by addressing nutritional, infectious, and toxicological issues, as well as other lifestyle habits, you continue developing more and more symptoms, until you develop a full-blown inflammatory or autoimmune disease.
What are the Symptoms of Autoimmune Disease?
This is not an exhaustive list of symptoms to look for if you suspect you or someone close to you may have an autoimmune disorder, but the most common symptoms are listed below. If you have been experiencing any of these warning signs, or, particularly a combination of several of them, you may have an autoimmune or an autoimmune related disease.
- Feeling more tired than usual or fatigued
- Problems with focusing or concentration
- Weight gain or weight loss
- Joint pain and/or swelling
- Muscle pain/weakness/twitching/tremor
- Anxiety and/or depression
- Digestive problems such as diarrhea, constipation, pain, gas, bloating, blood or mucous in stool
- Dry eyes, mouth or skin
- Numbness or tingling in hands or feet
- Hair loss, rashes or hives
- White patches on skin or inside mouth
- Headaches or dizziness/vertigo
- Sensitivity to cold or heat
- Periodic fevers
- Vision changes²
The Autoimmune Spectrum – Where are you on this spectrum?
As I mentioned earlier, autoimmune diseases do not typically develop overnight. They come on gradually, wearing down and damaging the body’s cells, tissues and organs until symptoms begin to manifest. Depending on the number and frequency of symptoms, you will be somewhere along the continuum of autoimmune disease, with the inflammatory disorders showing up somewhere in the middle. While having two to three symptoms does not necessarily mean that you will develop an autoimmune disease, having several chronic symptoms is something you need to look into to find the underlying cause(s) and to explore where you might need to make some lifestyle changes.
Autoimmune Spectrum Chart
None: No Inflammation
Some: 1 symptom 1-2 times per month
Mild: 1-2 symptoms 1-2 times per week
Moderate: 2-3 symptoms most days
Severe: 3+ symptoms every day
Diagnosis of Autoimmune Disease
What are Inflammatory Conditions?
By the time your inflammation symptoms are somewhere in the middle of this chart, you most likely will be experiencing some kind of full-blown inflammatory condition (not yet progressed to autoimmunity). Full-blown inflammatory diseases include: asthma, allergies, joint pain, muscle pain, fatigue, digestive issues, and obesity (excess fat causes inflammation).
Our bodies and minds are designed to be healthy, strong, pain-free, and work well. If yours isn’t, then there’s a reason, and you can find out what that is. You can get to the root of your symptoms and bring your body back to balance and vibrancy.
3 Ways to Prevent and Reverse Inflammatory and Autoimmune Diseases
1. Pay attention to your body – You can become your best medical team member. Think about this – you live in your body 24/7. You spend maybe an hour or two total with your doctor a year. You know when something is “off”. Don’t ignore yourself.
2. Keep a journal for one week where you write down any nagging, even subtle symptoms that concern you or diminish the quality of your life.
3. Believe you are supposed to feel really good most of the time. Know that you can feel really good–at any age, and if you feel less than good for an extended period of time, trust yourself. If you feel really crappy, and feel there’s something wrong, don’t let others brush it off, or tell you there’s nothing wrong just because the tests they give you show nothing. There are many other tests that pick up symptoms missed by most traditional medical providers. Get to the bottom of your concerns. Find a healthcare practitioner that will listen to you and take you seriously, that makes you a part of your medical team, that understands wellness, not just sickness. You can find a functional medicine practitioner here.
Work with Me
I would love to be part of your healthcare team. I am an autoimmune expert and work with people to identify and reverse inflammatory and autoimmune diseases with a whole person approach to health coaching.
Click here to apply for a complimentary 60-Minute Take Back your Health Assessment Session. You will walk away knowing your next best step to taking back your health and your life.
Have a beautiful week and don’t forget to pay attention to your body and its messages.
To Your Best Life,
¹ Usually, finding a doctor who practices functional medicine is the best way to get the proper testing. You can find one in your area by clicking here.
² Amy Meyers, The Autoimmune Solution (New York: HarperCollins, 2015), Susan Blum, The Immune System Recovery Plan (New York: Schribner, 2013) and Amy Myers, “10 Signs You Have An Autoimmune Disease + How To Reverse It,” mindbodygreen, April 18, 2013.