I have progressive multiple sclerosis which put me in a tilt recline wheelchair for four years. Yet, I consider it one of the most precious gifts I have ever received. I am a professor of medicine at the University of Iowa, and watched as my life withered away as I became more and more disabled.
I was first diagnosed in 2000 with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, a condition in which the immune cells attack the brain and spinal cord. I was told that is was likely due to a prior infection and a host of unknown environmental factors. No one talked to me about those environmental factors, but they did talk to me about taking drugs to block my immune cells from taking attacking my brain.
There was a long list of side effects, but I didn’t want to become disabled. I was the main breadwinner for my family. Of course I took the drugs even though they cost a thousand dollars a month. Now the disease modifying drugs cost $4,500 or more a month! In addition to the cost, there is a long list of side effects – fatigue, pain, depression, mouth ulcers, life threatening infections and more.
I took the drugs, but continued to decline. In 2002, I found “The Paleo Diet,” by Dr. Loren Cordain, and began eating meat again after decades of being a vegetarian. In 2003, my doctors told me that my disease had transitioned to progressive MS.
Autoimmunity is an epidemic affecting more Americans than either cancer or heart disease. Twenty-five million Americans have an autoimmune diagnosis. Another 50 million have autoantibodies, fatigue, pain and other symptoms but no clear diagnosis. That makes 75 million people that are suffering from autoimmunity, a disease where the immune cells are busy attacking the “self” and leading to worsening fatigue, pain, brain fog and more.
The disease-modifying drugs prescribed for autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis, and other diseases cost between $1,000 and $5,000 a month. The cost keeps climbing each year, as do the number of people diagnosed with autoimmune conditions. Additionally, people are being diagnosed younger and younger with autoimmunity, even before age 10. We can’t afford these drugs individually. Furthermore, the steady increases in healthcare costs are a drag on our economy.
I have since learned that there is another option that is largely overlooked by most of my neurology and rheumatology colleagues. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of studies have shown that all autoimmune conditions are a complex interaction of a person’s genes — that is, their DNA — and the environment, which means diet and lifestyle. Each individual gene known to increase the risk of an autoimmune condition increases that risk by only 1 percent to 2 percent. The rest of the risk comes from the interaction between those the genes and the environment.
Environmental factors that relate to increased risk include:
- Diet, including deficiencies in vitamins, minerals or essential fats.
- Food sensitivities, often an unrecognized gluten and dairy sensitivity.
- Toxins stored in the fat, such as heavy metals like mercury and lead or other toxins from plastics and solvents.
- Chronic elevation of stress hormones.
- Weak social networks and lack of meaningful relationships that make us happy and healthy.
- Unrecognized chronic infections, such as Lyme disease.
- Unrecognized fungal problems, such as a Candida overgrowth.
All these factors can prevent your cells from working optimally, increase inflammation and worsen disease symptoms. Being evaluated for these possibilities and addressing any problem areas will likely lead to reduced symptoms, increased energy, improved mental clarity and decreased need for medication. I have seen it time and time again. Addressing all the environmental factors that I listed above is the most potent intervention available for reducing symptoms and improving health over the long term. For me it has made all the difference in the world.
To learn more about me and my approach to health, visit www.terrywahls.com and www.wahlsprotocol.com. Pre-order my new book, THE WAHLS PROTOCOL How I Beat Progressive MS Using Paleo Principles and Functional Medicine, from Barnes and Noble or Amazon.
