Speaker 1: Welcome back. Millions of Americans suffer from autoimmune diseases and inflammation, and the number of cases is rising, but the causes of these chronic conditions are often misunderstood. Dr. Erica Steele from Holistic Family Practice in Virginia Beach is here to assure all of us, so I’m so glad you’re here. Yeah. Welcome.
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: Yes. Appreciate it. And I know many people have issues where they’re always tired, down in the dumps, or depressed. They don’t know what to do about it and may have GI issues. So yeah. And you’re saying a lot of this could be from autoimmune diseases.
Speaker 2: Yes, exactly. And I also find that a lot of times people, they’ll go to doctor after doctor, they’re very frustrated, they feel. Hopeless, all of those various emotions that come up with not feeling well, plus they’re not feeling well. A lot of times, people don’t necessarily understand what the immune system does; what it does is it connects self from nonself or instead separates out self from nonself so the body will attack anything that’s. Nonself, like the environment, like heavy metals. Oh yeah. Chemicals, bacteria, viruses, any of those sorts of things, and any pathogens the body may be exposed to. And then, over time, the body begins to misfire, almost like the body gets tired if you will. And that’s why people with autoimmune conditions often have so much fatigue because their immune systems are running nonstop to try. These invaders.
Speaker 1: What types of autoimmune diseases are you speaking of? Like thyroid, things like that?
Speaker 2: Like Hashimoto’s, thyroiditis has an autoimmune component. Lupus, Lyme disease, there’s so many different, there’s about 80 different autoimmune, I know autoimmune diseases with all sorts of different variations to them, but in essence, it’s just the body attacking itself.
Speaker 1: Ooh, yeah. And so, why does this happen, and how do you prevent it.
Speaker 2: So often, people talk about understanding the microbiome, meaning the bacteria. So we went from a period where our hygiene practices could have been better. , then we went to like super clean with antibacterial everything. So they’re saying in the scientific studies that we’ve over-cleaned ourselves. So we’re not being exposed as children to all the various bacteria that help the body build a healthy immune system. The first thousand days of life are critical to the. Also, many people don’t think about perinatal care, meaning getting their bodies prepared for that before they actually get pregnant. So then they’re eating healthy, maybe they’re not. They may have balanced nutrition; perhaps they’re not.
Then they have children and then antibacterial. Chlorine on everything, and oh no. Yeah. And so what happens with that is that the body doesn’t build up its immune system to resist, let’s say, different bacteria or viruses it may be exposed to.
Speaker 1: How do you know if you have an autoimmune disease?
Speaker 2: So we look at the immune system. So we look at a CBC with differential, which is a blood work panel. But then we’re also looking at various different immune system markers. So we’re looking at your H S C R P, your inflammatory markers, cuz inflammation is just a response to something in the body.
So that’s a key indicator to let us know that there’s something underlying that’s going on. We can look at organic. Profiles in terms of your small intestines, how that’s doing. Again, most of your immune system is housed in your digestive system. We also look at the large intestines. We can see bacteria, viruses, candida, and yeast. Oh yeah. All different sorts of,
Speaker 1: They can all cause inflammation and, oh yeah. So many doctors I know need to look at the full-body approach. Yeah. Why is that important to do?
Speaker 2: It’s essential because every organ to every other organ. It’s not okay; your liver’s over here, your GI system’s over here, you’re all one human being, And so we wanna look at all the various components to be able to balance those. It’s all about finding balance. And when people have an autoimmune disease, their body isn’t hyperdrive; they’re not in harmony.
Speaker 1: Okay. I know you have some classes as well that talk. Stuff. Tell us about that.
Speaker 2: Definitely. Every month we teach various classes. So we have courses on May 14th, May 19th, and May 25th. They’re all of our food for thought classes. They all relate to autoimmunity and inflammation, and we understand why people pick themselves apart. Meaning like an autoimmune condition related. To somebody, literally, their bodies are fighting themselves.
Speaker 1: From an emotional level, we look at criticism, self-worth, self-acceptance, and self-appreciation, all relating to the GI system. Wow. That is excellent information there. You learn something new every day. Your contact information is on the screen. Yes. Dr. Steele, thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 2: Yes, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: We appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Awesome.