The Integrative Medicine Approach to Lupus (Part 3)

Conventional allopathic medicine treats lupus primarily by providing temporary symptom relief and weakening the immune system. Functional Medicine and Chinese Medicine, on the other hand, seek to find the true cause of each patient’s lupus and then address that cause. This article explains the most common causes of lupus and how to address them.

Conventional allopathic medicine treats lupus primarily by providing temporary symptom relief and weakening the immune system. Functional Medicine and Chinese Medicine, on the other hand, seek to find the true cause of each patient’s lupus and then address that cause. This article explains the most common causes of lupus and how to address them.

This is part 3 in a three part series on systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE or lupus) that explains the underlying causes of lupus from the perspective of functional medicine, and ways to address lupus using a holistic, whole-body approach. If you missed the first parts of the series, go back and read them first. Part 1 discusses the signs and symptoms of lupus, and the reason why conventional allopathic medicine attempts to hide the symptoms without treating the underlying cause. Part 2 discusses more about the underlying cause of lupus and the personalized approach to healing, which is what many patients seeking acupuncture in Del Mar, CA and acupuncture in La Jolla, CA are looking for. While there is no “cure” for lupus, by taking a personalized approach to addressing the underlying cause of your lupus, you can put the disease into remission.

In a nutshell, here is the functional medicine and Chinese Medicine approach to putting lupus into remission. Your personal treatment plan may vary slightly from this list because every lupus patient is unique in their symptoms, genetics, body type (constitution), and lifestyle.

1. First, if you have lupus or any other autoimmune condition, you should eliminate potentially harmful foods from your diet. For most autoimmune patients, this list includes the elimination of gluten, dairy, eggs, legumes, tree nuts, and nightshades for at least 30 days. This helps your digestive tract and immune system to rest and heal. While oftentimes small amounts (one serving 2 or 3 times a week) of nightshades, tree nuts, legumes, dairy, and eggs can be added back into the diet after the initial 30 days without provoking symptoms, gluten must typically be eliminated forever.

2. Next, it is important to identify any hidden chronic infections such as Epstein-Barr Virus, Herpes Simplex Virus, or Chronic Lyme’s Disease. These hidden infections have been recognized in Chinese Medicine for several centuries, and often regarded as a “latent pathogen” or “latent heat.” Acupuncture and herbs can often address these infections quite effectively, though sometimes patients do require antibiotics for chronic and persistent bacterial infections and/or parasites.

3. Determine if there is heavy metal toxicity or mycotoxin (fungal) toxicity with specialized blood tests. If there is, you will need to go through a heavy metal chelation protocol under supervision with your acupuncture practitioner serving residents of Del Mar, CA and surrounding areas.

4. Support your immune system. There are many Chinese herbal formulas that can be personalized to your unique body type and symptomology that will improve the health of your immune system. While autoimmune diseases are caused by your immune system “overreacting” and attacking your own issues, Chinese Medicine and functional medicine practitioners regard this as stemming from an already weakened immune system. When the immune system is strong, it has no need to overreact to anything suspected as an invader.

The Integrative Medicine Approach to Lupus (Part 2)

Conventional allopathic medicine treats lupus primarily by providing temporary symptom relief and weakening the immune system. Functional Medicine and Chinese Medicine, on the other hand, seek to find the true cause of each patient’s lupus and then address that cause. This article explains the most common causes of lupus and how to address them.

This is part 2 of a series on systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE or lupus), its underlying causes in the context of Functional Medicine and Chinese Medicine, and a personalized medicine approach by treating the individual patient as a whole instead of the conventional medicine approach of simply covering up the symptoms of disease. As discussed in part 1, the signs and symptoms of lupus are expressed differently in each patient because lupus is an autoimmune disease that can attack any part of the body. It may attack the skin tissue in one patient, causing symptoms that include rashes and skin inflammation. In another patient, it could attack the tissue of internal organs, leading to dysfunction of each organ affected. The conventional medical approach to lupus includes steroid drugs and immunosuppressants. The side effects of such therapies include muscle wasting, fat gain on the abdomen and back and increased susceptibility to infections. This one-size-fits-all treatment does not reverse lupus. If you are seeking acupuncture in Del Mar, CA or acupuncture in La Jolla, CA, chances are that you are probably not looking for a one-size-fits-all approach for your condition.

Please read part 1 of this series to learn two of the underlying causes of lupus. Here, we will discuss two more underlying causes of lupus, and how treatment at this level may put the disease into remission.

 

3. The third underlying cause of lupus is bioaccumulation of toxins. Research in genetics and functional medicine testing has discovered that some people possess a genetic mutation that causes them to be more susceptible to accumulating toxins over their lifetime instead of eliminating them completely. This is one reason why two people can be exposed to the same toxins, but only one of them develops an illness as a result. Many of the toxins that are ubiquitous in our environment are harmless to most individuals because we all have built-in detoxification systems in our bodies. However, those detoxification systems can become overwhelmed during times of stress or exposure to high amounts of toxins. Mycotoxins (toxic molds) in our homes or workplaces can be a contributing source of ongoing exposure that could trigger the development of autoimmune diseases such as lupus. Functional Medicine urine testing can uncover a toxic mold overload. Heavy metals, such as mercury found in amalgam fillings, can be another source of ongoing exposure. It is important to have these removed by a biological dentist, and replaced with ceramic resin fillings.

4. Chronic infections are another common trigger for lupus. It is now well-recognized that Epstein-Barr virus can trigger lupus in genetically susceptible individuals. It’s important to eliminate the infection and focus on stress reduction for recovery.

Next week we’ll discuss how Chinese Medicine and Functional Medicine converge to address lupus at the root level to put symptoms into remission. Come visit us for acupuncture for residents of Del Mar, CA and surrounding areas.