OXFORD RECOVERY CENTER
Autoimmune
Diseases
D
ebilitating fatigue, brain fog, and mysterious joint pain. Rashes, hives, and unexplained itching. Muscle weakness, rapid heartbeat, and diarrhea. These seemingly unrelated symptoms have become so common that they are accepted as normal. It seems that everyone is exhausted, stressed out, and anxious or depressed. Many people also suffer from food-triggered digestive issues. But common and normal are not the same thing. The body is not supposed to attack its own cells, tissues and organs, yet this is exactly what happens in autoimmune disease.
Some of the better-known autoimmune diseases include rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, ulcerative colitis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and lupus. The American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA) estimates that 50 million Americans (almost 1 in 5) suffer from one or more of the 140+ diseases classified as autoimmune. That’s approximately double the number of people who suffer from heart disease and four times the number of people affected by cancer. Further complicating the perplexing nature of these diseases, it is not always known whether autoimmune dysfunction is the cause or consequence of the presenting disease. For example, asthma and eczema are believed to be triggered by autoimmune conditions, yet seem to be surface problems. Mainstream medicine offers few solutions for autoimmune diseases, generally providing only palliative care. But at Oxford Recovery Center, we take a synergistic approach. Combining 50 IHM HEALTH & WELLNESS MAGAZINE
Christian Bogner, M.D., Medical Director
