Have you been wondering if your symptoms are autoimmune-related? Read on for indicators that you may be headed for or already experiencing autoimmunity and learn about the gut-brain axis, its relationship to your immune system, nervous system, and even your endocrine system which produces and balances your hormones. In this empowering article, you will learn how you can prevent and reverse symptoms of autoimmune and other conditions involving a compromised immune system.
Why should I be concerned about autoimmunity?
Autoimmune disease is a growing, widespread global issue. It is a malfunction in a person’s immune system that causes it to attack the body’s own cells mistaking them for invaders. You may have heard of more common autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and multiple sclerosis. Over 100 autoimmune conditions have been identified, and autoimmunity’s prevalence is on the rise, especially in recent years post-COVID. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences estimates 50 million people in the United States, about 80% women, have an autoimmune condition. That is nearly 15% of our population, almost 24% of women! Chances are high that you or a loved one are at risk or are already experiencing the adverse effects of autoimmunity. There are ways in which you can care for and repair yourself that can prevent and reverse symptoms and their underlying root causes. I will share with you how to take your power back health-wise by making smarter choices, prioritizing your mind-body health needs and staying informed.
Signs of autoimmune disease to look out for
1. Long-term stress has caused physical illness and adverse skin reactions
Stress is one of the most prevalent of all health concerns and contributes causally to a multitude of others i.e., autoimmune diseases. Think about how you feel when you are around a stressed-out person. You get stressed being around them, right? Autoimmunity is your immune system malfunctioning under high stress just as a person’s behavior malfunctions when they are experiencing high stress, PTSD, or panic attacks. Medical News Today reports that these stress-related conditions have been found to often coexist with autoimmune conditions. Stress, especially over the long term, revs up our behavioral “fight” response which can ignite the “fight” in our immune system which can turn autoimmune when there are no foreign invaders for it to fight. It has also been found to go both ways, a vicious cycle, where autoimmunity can contribute to stress disorders and mental illness. Western and Eastern health science recognizes the gut-brain axis, the bidirectional communication pathways that integrate our gut and brain with all the other organs they regulate through our bodily systems: our nervous, immune, endocrine (hormone), enteroendocrine (gut hormone), and neuroendocrine (HPA: hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis) systems. When one gets out of balance, it affects all the others negatively.
Given our gut-brain and systems’ interdependence, determining the root cause becomes like “the chicken or the egg” question where we may not be able to indefinitely say where the imbalance first began. The good news is that the remedies for countering stress will work on all of your bodily systems and help to restore balance. Neither stress nor autoimmunity are all bad. In fact, our immune systems use autoimmunity to fight cancer cells if/ when needed. However, an over-reactive, stressed-out immune system is a malfunction that causes autoimmune disease as well as certain cancers. Certainly, if you know your stress triggers, managing exposure to those is most beneficial. Just like with allergies, completely sheltering yourself from stressors will not leave the opportunity to develop tolerance and resilience, and these coping mechanisms are needed to handle the unknowns in our environments that we cannot control. Even when our stressors are unknown or trigger us beyond our control, we can adopt a lifestyle that equips us with resilience from stress.
Feeling physically ill from stress, losing hair and/or noticing your skin reacting to stress in your life is your body giving you warning signs that your health is being considerably compromised by stress and your inability to manage it. There are several autoimmune skin conditions and many more autoimmune diseases with skin-related symptoms, so there is a strong correlation between the incidence of stress and skin/ hair reactions and autoimmune malfunctions. These symptoms can be your earliest warning signs. Autoimmunity can build into one of the more severe disease types that can disfigure and shorten a person’s lifespan, and once one autoimmune condition emerges, chances are high that a person develops additional one(s). A skin disorder is often the first diagnosis of autoimmune in those who develop multiple autoimmune conditions. We must exert our power to self-heal by restoring balance to our mind-body by noticing what triggers a stress response and making healthy choices involving what we can control in our environment and what we put into our minds and bodies.
2. Chronic inflammation, muscle or joint pain, and fatigue
Doctors from all over the world commonly recognize chronic inflammation as leading to disease, including autoimmune diseases and cancers. Inflammation is our body’s response to an irritant. While the response is functional just like a “fight” nervous system response can be in a dangerous situation, prolonged “fight” and chronic inflammation break down our bodies, compromising our immune and other systems. Novant Health reports that chronic inflammation is involved in over 50% of deaths worldwide. Furthermore, a study published in Biological Psychiatry found links between autoimmune disease and psychotic disorders with a common denominator of inflammation as the suspected cause. It is critical that we notice and address chronic inflammation before it turns into disease.
The histamine response to allergies makes itself known through sneezing, runny nose, and other respiratory symptoms, and an acute inflammatory response to an injury displays as redness, pain and swelling. But chronic inflammation symptoms are not as obvious, occur over a long period and lead to damage in our bodies on every level, all the way down to the DNA. Doctors are perplexed by autoimmunity and cannot well define the root causes. They agree there is some genetic correlation to autoimmune disease but that environmental triggers play a causative role in turning autoimmunity into disease. Researchers have found that multiple gene mutations can be involved which further confuses the path to determining root cause(s). Since chronic inflammation is known to accompany autoimmune disease and to damage our DNA causing gene mutations, I conclude that inflammatory responses to environmental trigger(s) is where we should focus our root cause investigation.
Chronic inflammation often manifests as prolonged bodily pain or discomfort. This can be located in tissues, muscles, bones and/or joints. Unusual bouts of or chronic fatigue is a huge red flag as is fibromyalgia or other discomfort throughout your body. In addition to these, you may notice chronic sleep disturbances, stiffness, bloating and/or swelling. Weight fluctuations of unknown cause or coexisting with stress can also be an indicator. Skin, mood and mental health concerns are indicators as well. Being on the lookout for any combination of these sticking around for a prolonged time and journalling your own investigative thoughts into potential triggers is a good place to start.
3. You have GI issues and food allergies or sensitivities that you did not have as a child
The gut-brain axis includes the integrated influence that imbalances in any of our bodily systems have on all of the others. Our gut health goes hand in hand with our mental and physical health and is called a “second brain” (command center) of our body. We should be prioritizing our mind-gut-body health. Any abdominal pain, indigestion, bloating and changes/ unhealthy appearances in our stool can be alarming symptoms if they occur frequently/ repeatedly. If we find that we cannot eat certain things that we used to eat without developing stomach upset, malaise or any of the other symptoms mentioned, this can be a telltale sign that we have an autoimmune condition or a GI condition that makes us high risk for developing one. Doctors often misdiagnosis autoimmune disorders as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and it is thought that IBS inflammation leads to autoimmune malfunction in the gut.
There are many ways in the modern world that our gut microbiome can get out of balance. To name a few, eating contaminated food, overuse of antibiotics, and poor diets high in sugar and saturated fats, processed and containing chemical/ chemically derived additives. When the harmful bacteria in our gut get out of hand, they weaken our digestive system which in turn can allow bacteria and toxins to get into our bloodstream, causing autoimmune reactions and food allergies and sensitivities. Even bacteria that are good for our gut can become harmful when they leak outside of our gut. According to Medical News Today, Yale University researchers discovered a “good” bacterium that mutated in harmful ways, a condition doctors refer to as “leaky gut”. If stress and inflammation from environmental factors that our bodies deem toxic can mutate our DNA with time, it is not surprising that they are mutating our gut bacteria. Stress and inflammation make identifying original cause(s) trickier, since the latter are like the first gunshot that starts a chaotic war of bullets flying in every direction. We can still identify and address triggers, whether they are the original ones or newer, and notice when our bodies feel better.
4. More severe allergies and chronic sinus issues or adult-onset asthma
Allergies and Autoimmune are both immune system reactions to potential threats that cause chronic inflammation when they overreact for extended periods. The difference is that autoimmune autoantibodies attack our bodies’ cells, tissues and organs to destroy them, as they mistake them for being invaders or contaminated with invaders. Histamines intend to flush out the allergen not attack our own body. It is not surprising that there is a correlation between allergies and autoimmune disease where those with chronic, hyper allergic responses are at higher risk of developing hyper autoimmunity. The Global Autoimmune Institute reports, “Studies have shown that individuals with allergies may have an increased risk of developing autoimmune disease and vice versa.” A scientific report in Nature Journal claims a correlation between severe and chronic allergies with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) and autoimmune conditions such as psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis or ankylosing spondylitis, a lesser-known autoimmune type of arthritis that does not test positive for rheumatoid factor and is harder to diagnosis.
There are a handful of other, lesser-known autoimmune diseases that manifest similar to CRS or as another ear-nose-throat (ENT) condition. One of these is eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA), an autoimmune disorder that is a type of vasculitis, conditions that cause inflammation in blood vessels that damages organs and tissues. Cureus, a Journal of Medical Science, identifies late-onset asthma and sinusitis as being a possible indicator of EGPA. CRS/ sinusitis is thought by many to be recurrent “sinus infections” of contagious origin but rather is an inflammatory disease that has weakened the respiratory system and thereby increases the risk of recurrent infection. We need to learn to notice when our bodies are crying out to us with inflammation and act early and consistently to calm down hyper-immune responses, as the evidence is clear that these lead to disease.
5. Persistent effects from a serious infection or recurring infections
Our immune systems are equipped to fight off viral, bacteria, fungal and parasitic infections as well as destroy cancer cells. It is well-known in the scientific community that one of these infections can trigger autoimmune disease when the immune system goes into overdrive and the inflammatory response is prolonged and/or hyper/ over-reactive. Scientists have tracked several different ways in which pathogens can set off autoimmune malfunction. Viruses that reoccur and/or elicit a strong immune response such as influenza, hepatitis, herpes, Epstein-Barr and COVID have been found to trigger the onset of autoimmune conditions and exasperate pre-existing ones. These sorts of viruses can leave lingering symptoms that are indicative of a chronic inflammatory response. When a pathogen is one that is known to adhere to, alter or mimic our own cells and proteins (the messengers between the cells and systems), it can trick our immune systems into damaging our bodies. Signs of chronic inflammation can be signs of autoimmune disease.
In 2014, I was diagnosed with late-stage Lyme disease with chronic, multi-system issues, so I studied these bacteria heavily during my recovery. This bacterium is one of several spiral, corkscrew shaped ones that is known to hide in our bones and/or other tissues, even brain tissue, in order to survive. It is a great imitator and uses mimicry to outsmart the immune system. Many different autoimmune disorders have emerged in individuals post-Lyme infection. Antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals can both help and trigger/ exasperate autoimmune conditions. I believe this has to do with balance. It has been shown that overuse of antibiotics can lead to autoimmune disorders. I am thankful that my Lyme literate physician prescribed an adequate combination of and cycling of antibiotics, an anti-parasitic and Chinese herbal and other supplements geared to support my immune system, keep it performing healthily and ease the trauma involved with treatment. While I have been Lyme-symptom free since 2015, my gut microbiome health was compromised, and I recognize my increased propensity for hyper responses, inflammatory reactions and risk for autoimmune malfunction.
There are many reports of those with Lyme disease that were treated with a course of antibiotics only to have symptoms return and a lingering chronic condition persist. Interestingly, researchers have found some cases where small quantities of the viral or bacterial pathogen remain dormant and stop reproducing in an attempt to hide out for survival in their host. This could cause reinfection to occur at a later time and can be a catalyst for autoimmune responses. There is still much mystery around infection, autoimmunity and disease progression. Timing and balance are both crucial elements. I credit my fortunate recovery to my prayers, detoxifying hot yoga practice, prioritizing my spiritual and physical health during this time, and my doctor’s balanced, thorough approach that cared to support and care for my gut and immune system while also fighting this invader alongside it. It is never too late to turn your health around. Science has documented our body’s incredible innate ability to heal with time given the supportive environment it needs to do so. Fortunately, there are many natural remedies to explore, and many that are safe to take in the longer term unlike antibiotics.
Why are women at higher risk for autoimmune conditions?
Human immune systems create both antibodies that attack foreign invaders and autoantibodies that are for destroying the cells of our own bodies that have become contaminated, damaged beyond repair or have turned cancerous. Scientists have discovered that women’s chromosomes provide our immune systems with increased ability to produce autoantibodies. Perhaps this was added evolutionary protection for pregnancy and contributes to why women overall tend to outlive men. Unfortunately, it makes us more prone to autoimmune disorders. Too many and prolonged production of autoantibodies causes damage to our healthy cells and increases inflammation.
Our gender make-up also has a lot to do with our susceptibility to stress, inflammation and immune malfunction due to our delicate hormonal balance that can easily get out of balance with these societal and other environmental stressors if we do not employ the self-care necessary to manage them. Remember, an imbalance hormonally can trigger or exasperate imbalances in our immune system and other systems. Rupa Health specifically mentions our HPA-axis’s role in managing stress and how our hormone balance is disrupted when this goes into “overdrive”. Cortisol which is overproduced in this case is known to create inflammation in the body. A prolonged pattern of behavior that is overachieving and reactive to pressure and stress is indicative of a “fight” pattern that creates imbalances in our bodily systems when not balanced out with consistent periods of rest, relaxation, creative outlet and entertainment.
According to the Priory Group, nearly twice as many women than men have reported stress disorders. Some of this may be due to men being less likely to report their stress and even less likely to notice it. Due to societal influences, women now wear many hats and feel a lot of pressure to perform in both the home and at work, in addition to our culture placing more emphasis on a woman’s physical appearance. The American Psychological Association quoted Dr. Rosalind Dorlen, PsyD, saying that [women], “are much more able to disassociate” and noted how research has shown that women are more prone to internalizing stress. Bottling up toxic stress and disassociating with our bodies is a recipe for illness. Whether you are a man or woman, genetics and age also are factors we can be mindful of as we create a healthier lifestyle.
Moderation
Genetics only account for about a third of the risk of autoimmune malfunction, and a variety of environmental factors have been found to trigger the onset of autoimmune diseases. These can include infections, overuse of antibiotics and other medications, unhealthy diet and/or habits like smoking and exposure to other toxins. Sheltering our children and wearing masks all the time could increase risks for autoimmunity, as they disrupt healthy balance to exposure of our environment. Research shows that in societies with less exposure to infectious agents there are higher genetic risk factors for autoimmunity. There is evidence that certain viruses protect against developing certain autoimmune disease such as lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) preventing type 1 diabetes. We cannot control coming into some contact with the allergens in our environment, and we know that allergies are more manageable when we moderate rather than try to shelter ourselves completely from our allergens. Our immune systems need us to better manage the other environmental givens i.e. toxins and infectious agents simply by doing the best we can without excessively avoiding our natural environment.
Resilience & Self-care
We need to shift our focus from fear and obsessive avoidance to what we can control and do all we can do to keep our bodies healthy. Resilience is key, and it depends on our empowered ability to moderate our environmental exposures and make healthier choices. As we get older, our bodies naturally produce more autoantibodies in addition to antibodies in response to our environments. As our bodies become more sensitive as we age or due to previous infections and stress, we must give them more of our attentive self-care.
What you can do to prevent autoimmune malfunction
1. Choose active therapies in addition to passive ones
You have the power to heal yourself. You just have to create a self-care focused environment for yourself. There are many passive therapies such as massage, acupuncture, and vibration and sound therapy that are very beneficial, and I highly recommend these. We also need active therapies, those that depend on our participation and devotion. Consistency is critical to seeing sustainable results with any therapy. Similarly to how we have the ability to choose our thoughts, repattern and change our mindset as well as repair our dysregulated nervous systems from our past traumas and generational trauma through a variety of effective therapies, you can rewire your gut-brain axis and repair your integrated bodily systems utilizing these same therapies. I specialize in holistic therapies that provide a healing environment for both mind and body to manage stress and calm inflammatory responses through learned resilience and healthy, balanced lifestyle choices.
2. Manage stress by setting boundaries and balancing choices
There are some key words here.
Manage: To develop greater resilience, we must learn to moderate our unavoidable exposure to stressors and environmental triggers with mindfulness in the moment, breath and body awareness, practicing the pause and utilizing our breath and senses to calm our mind and body. If overcome by anxiety and/or overwhelm, shaking and humming can do wonders to reset and calm your nervous system. During times of stress, it is common to lose our appetite or crave unhealthy food, think we don’t have time for exercise or other self-care, and have trouble sleeping well. We can choose to focus our attention on self-nurturing and away from the external stressors. As soon as we do so, we notice how good that feels. It is the stress not the reminders to care for ourselves that have us feeling overwhelmed, unmotivated and pseudo-comfortable in unhealthy patterns of coping.
We can choose an optimistic, growth mindset that seeks to shift our inner dialogue away from negative, fear-based thinking. We can and should do so with compassionate acknowledgement and validation of our feelings yet also validate which thoughts are the truth while correcting those that are pessimistic, assumptive and/or exaggerated. To better equip our bodies for handling stress gracefully, we need to make sure we care for them adequately.
Better: We can always improve upon our lifestyle and health. Having a self-improvement desire out of self-love, balanced in compassion and care, is critical. We can create balance in our stressful lives by making time for consistent calming practices like meditation and gentle yoga, tai chi or qui gong. Passive relaxation is also a necessity, and choosing time in front of a screen does not count as it does not allow for your mind to find peace and rest. As a restorative and cooling yin yoga guide, I suggest that you try this more passive type of yoga, especially if you have difficulty relaxing. If you sit for work most of the day, you need movement first to restore effective energy flow and release stress. Afterwards, a relaxation session that allows your mind to settle as you settle into your body will restore you by facilitating your ability to let go of the day and its stressors. Managing stress is like a person’s ability to pace themselves to run a race and make it through to the end feeling good. Resilience depends on that but also on getting the nutrients needed to have the energy to do that, and restorative relaxation practice provides that nourishment. The more you allow yourself this sacred time of peace, you will come to notice how much you value your peace which will lead to your prioritizing it in moments of stress.
Boundaries: Healthy boundaries look like knowing when to say “no” by trusting our gut, “listening” to our bodies by noticing how they feel when we think about our choices, then going with what feels right for us. Sometimes we feel resistance to what we know is right so explore any feelings like that to get to the bottom of where they originate. If you notice that you do not speak up about how you feel, practice being more assertive. We are responsible for loving and respecting ourselves, and each person has their own responsibility to do this. You are not responsible for making up for their lack of doing this for themselves or for giving them more love and respect than you give yourself. Healthy boundaries ensure others do not take advantage of us. Even if they are not seeking to do so, if we are overly giving to our detriment, they begin to believe the false beliefs about us that we have planted i.e., that we do not need/ deserve consideration, care, love and respect to the degree that others do. Often those with a boundary deficiency will say they do not need like others need, yet we all deserve and also need these in order to feel good and live healthy, happy lives.
Having healthy boundaries begins with creating and respecting boundaries with ourselves. Here is a story from my own life that demonstrates this well. One workday morning I awoke feeling physically yucky. I caught myself choosing to disassociate with my body, which is a common pattern with those of us who have endured a lot of trauma and grief, rather than caring for it. I caught myself thinking that I felt so badly that it would take too much time to fix that, so I needed to just push on through the day and get things done. I began to go for caffeine and my work email. I stopped myself as I realized how dry my skin looked. I took just a minute to pay complete attention to my body and hydrate my skin. It felt so nice that I was feeling just about half better after just a minute of self-care. I had believed falsely that it would take too much time to feel good. This little act informed and inspired me. I realized I was dehydrated and went for a large glass of water instead of caffeine. That took less than another minute. Then I chose to add in just a few minutes of loving, gentle movement. I felt like a different person. I felt good, happy and energized.
Balance: By making choices to let things go that are not serving our well-being and create space for growth and creativity in our lives, we will foster a healthier balance and resilience. As humans, we all encounter and sometimes hold onto false thoughts, false beliefs, toxic relationships, toxic obligation. When we choose to let go of these, it frees up our time for better, and we feel that freedom in our bodies, minds and hearts. It feels good! For mind-body health, don’t cut corners when it comes to prioritizing self-care. You need energetic exercise and gentle, cooler movement, relaxation with stillness, meditation, sleep, focus and learning, creative outlet, fun, etc. If you don’t love your body, it will cry out for love in ways that will not feel good. So “find what feels good” for you, as “Yoga with Adriene” Mishler advises, and do more of that. When you feel good, you are more productive and happier which leads to more good feelings, sustained energy and inspiration.
A nurturing caregiver doesn’t just do the bare minimum. Alone time and connection are both needed to diffuse stress. Taking time to journal or express feelings with an art or somatic practice as well as meditation breaks are great ways to spend your alone time. If you get overwhelmed with thoughts, bring balance by intentionally shifting towards body awareness and being mindful of your breath and how you feel, engaging your sensory system in a somatic mindfulness practice. If you find yourself reactive mentally, ruminating on complaints, restore balance by intentionally practicing gratitude. Acknowledge unhappy moments but choose not to dwell there. Treat yourself like you would a friend, and cheer yourself up! Try smiling when you feel sad or in pain and curiously explore why you feel this way and also what there is to smile about, because there is always something. Remind yourself that you are more than just a body with a mind and intentionally commune with higher power and/or purpose.
3. Make your gut happier
It is within our control to increase our good microbiome by including fermented foods and drinks into our diet and supplementing with probiotics. There are modern advances in probiotics and accompanying pre- and post-biotics, and there are companies such as Viome that offer gut microbiome testing and custom-tailored probiotics and supplements. The Chinese herbal Angelica root sooths and relaxes you gut while supporting your immune system. Getting thorough testing annually for vitamin and mineral deficiencies is also important as they can be causal or indicative of disease. Vitamins C and D are critical for healthy immune and inflammatory functioning.
Diet is a huge factor in our well-being, effecting both mind and body health through the gut-brain connection. Despite what the food industry’s agenda has pushed our way through their influence over science and media, we can do our own research into what true scientific studies have concluded regarding the best dietary sources to meet our body’s needs. It is a no-brainer that the fresher, local, and organic options are safer and healthier and that processed foods are less healthy and carry risks to our health. Agricultural chemicals and cigarette smoke have been found to be triggers of rheumatoid arthritis. For those of us that need to heal our guts from the adverse effects of stressors like antibiotic or other drug use and/or prior infections, keeping a journal noting what we eat and how we feel afterwards can be enlightening. Avoiding triggering foods like those containing sugar, gluten, dairy, GMOs, MSG, dies, flavoring and other additives and even food packaged in plastic or aluminum is needed to support the healing process. Start adding anti-inflammatory choices into your diet i.e., blueberries, olive oil, avocado, green tea and turmeric.
4. Calm chronic inflammation through diet, supplement and lifestyle
As well as following an anti-inflammatory diet, you can take supplements that calm your body, mind and inflammation i.e., licorice, Chinese Skullcap and the Ayurvedic Guduchi. Movement can lower inflammation as it gets your Qi/ Prana (breath and energy) flowing, facilitating an internal healing environment. Cooling down afterwards with stillness, relaxation and rest is just as important for calming down your overactive immune system. The vagus nerve is the main communication pathway between your brain and gut and your nervous system’s other nerve pathways. It can become dysregulated from trauma and stress. Vagal toning therapies like those included in my holistic yoga therapies stimulate the vagus nerve and have a calming effect on all parts of the gut-brain axis including the body’s immune system. Regular massage and acupuncture are great for chronic inflammation as well. Address the stress as it causes the hormone cortisol to get out of balance. Hormone imbalances can cause chronic inflamation causing more hormones to get out of balance and lead to autoimmune issues. Women should have hormone panel testing done if their cycles are irregular or have changed, during perimenopause and menopause. Many herbal supplements are great for balancing hormones and consider bio-identical hormone replacement if/ when needed.
5. Take an active role in your healthcare and stay informed
There are lots of ways to stay informed in this digital age. But the most important way to stay informed is to pay attention to our bodies and not miss the signs that it is distressed and change is needed. When we experience strange symptoms, we should make note of those, as autoimmune conditions are difficult to diagnose and doctors rely on assessing the symptoms and the client’s health history such as prior infections. There are not clear diagnostic tests for most autoimmune conditions. There are specific genetic tests, different ones for different suspected autoimmune diseases, that only tell you if you are predisposed to risk of getting particular one(s). Inflammatory marker blood tests can be helpful. Everyday Health quoted Dr. Drew Sinatra, ND sharing, “With any autoimmune disease, I recommend a combination of diet, herbal medicines and supplements, including probiotics. It can take six months or longer to see big changes, but often symptoms improve within a few weeks.” There is so much we can do on our own to get our health back on the right track when we notice chronic stress, inflammation and/or other signs of imbalance.
Western medicine primarily prescribes immune suppressants that can be riskier for our health than the autoimmune condition, depending on how severe your symptoms are. So, take your health into your own hands and weigh the symptoms and risks, getting multiple, different medical opinions and research their recommendations for the risks and side effects before accepting medicinal treatment or surgery. Eastern medical science and healthcare practices have much to offer. Consider seeing an Acupuncturist/ Chinese Herbal Medicine Doctor, Naturopath and/or Functional Medicine Doctor and consult with them on which supplements and probiotics would be beneficial. What they do works in harmony with the types of somatic and stress-resilience therapies I offer to transform your mind-body health and subsequently your life, and their approaches are much less risky than Western medical ones. Some good news for those with more severe symptomatic autoimmune diseases is that some scientists are researching the possibility of utilizing immunotherapies and even targeted probiotic therapy to treat autoimmune diseases without the adverse effects of pharmaceuticals.
6. Embrace serenity
Serenity is an unwavering inner peace. Part of embracing serenity is checking in with our beliefs and being honest with ourselves, replacing beliefs we know are not the truth. We can feel in our bodies when a belief is not true, because it doesn’t feel good. When it is true, it still may not be perfect music to our ears, but we will feel peace in letting go of what is not within our control. We know that change is a constant in life, so the more we accept life as it is, the happier we will be.
Moderate exposure to potentially harmful people/ places/ things in your environment with mindfulness not fear and make your well-being the priority. When faced with problems, identify what is in your control and what is not, choose to accept life on its terms being mindful of all the good it gifts to us, create a plan of action for what is within your control and follow through while letting go of the rest, including expectations around outcomes. Be honest with yourself. Love yourself for doing your best, and know that that is enough. Another definition of “serenity” is a title for a dignitary. You are the queen or king of your life (no one else is), so if you aren’t already acting like it, remind yourself of this often. Believe in yourself. Happy people are no more deserving of it than you are, and life is not in anyone’s favor more than another’s. It is always changing, so remind yourself of your power to create your reality and that things can only get better as you choose better for yourself. Spiritual serenity is when we choose to not be shaken up by moments of life and instead trust higher power/ purpose. Cultivating more love, acceptance, forgiveness in and of life will give us this peace of mind. Embrace more attentive self-love and care, and you will improve your holistic health.
Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and visit my website for holistic health therapy and life balance coaching programs. Your Well-being is my passionate purpose. You, dear Lotus, are meant to thrive!
Pamela Domzalski, Special Guest Writer and Executive Contributor
Pamela Domzalski, Internationally Certified Yoga Therapist and Holistic Health Life-Balance Coach, is a mentor for living your fullest, “full lotus” life in health, happiness, peace and prosperity. She is Founder of a global business, Thriving Lotus LLC. Thriving Lotus provides depth and breadth of expertise in alternative therapies and life coaching in order to address the root causes of imbalances with the holistic, customized approach each unique client needs.
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