When you first find out you have an autoimmune disease, you may feel overwhelmed, scared, and a little relieved. Overwhelmed and scared because autoimmune conditions last forever, and the drugs doctors use to treat them come with a frightening list of side effects. Relieved because your symptoms finally make sense, and you can put a name to the cause.
Once you’re diagnosed, your doctor may say there’s not much they can do other than offer you powerful drugs. But that’s not your only option.
Luckily, you can help your body manage the disease and keep symptoms to a minimum. To do that, you’ll have to pay attention to a part of your body you may never have heard of before: your mucosal gut barrier.[1]
Autoimmune Diseases Affect Millions
There are more than 80 autoimmune diseases, and they affect more than 23 million Americans.[2] The most common autoimmune conditions include:
- Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (autoimmune thyroid)
- Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis
- Celiac disease
- Graves’ disease
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Type 1 diabetes
- Multiple sclerosis (MS)
- Lupus (SLE, systemic lupus erythematosus)
- Sjögren’s disease