Common pitfalls to avoid when improving your autoimmune health
Before clients come to see me, they have generally been working incredibly hard on their health by themselves, often making significant gains. But what are the most common misunderstandings and pitfalls I see that have hampered their progress?
When I meet new clients, and they tell me about what they have been doing to help themselves, I am always full of admiration and respect for them. It’s clear that they have put tremendous time, intelligence, and courage into researching their autoimmune condition and finding out what they can do to help themselves.
Their knowledge and application is fantastic and I feel emotional every time they share their stories of what they have been through and how they have managed to help themselves so far.
Common patterns appear in their stories: certain steps have worked well for them, while other steps have missed the mark. Often they have made lots of helpful changes in the right direction, but they have just lacked one or two additional pieces of information that have held them back from reaping the full benefits.
So I thought it would be helpful to share some of the most common misunderstandings and pitfalls that I see. I am aware of how hard people are trying to help themselves, and it is such a shame when it doesn’t always result in the improvements they deserve.
Here are some of the most common pitfalls:
Gluten - many people experiment with reducing or removing gluten and have seen benefits (because it is so allergenic so is a common molecule to react to when your system is inflamed and less tolerant). However they are often not reaping the full, or even any, rewards because they are not sure how to approach a glute-free diet properly. Gluten needs to be removed completely for several months to see the full benefits, and all oats, even gluten free oats, should be removed temporarily as well, due to cross reactivity with avenin in the oats (most people who react to gluten will also react to avenin).
Common misconceptions include swapping to sourdough in the belief that it is low in gluten, and also thinking that a negative coeliac test means they are not reacting to gluten (there are many non-coeliac ways to react to gluten). Some people will add in ultra processed gluten-free alternatives which upset the gut and contribute to inflammation in other ways, masking any benefits from avoiding gluten. You can read more about gluten and autoimmunity here.
Trying one change alone, rather than implementing several changes together. One of the most important things we aim for in autoimmune health is to reduce inflammation, because this makes the immune system more tolerant, and so less likely to react to the body’s own tissues, which is the basis of autoimmunity.
In order to reduce inflammation significantly enough to make the immune system more tolerant, it is usually necessary to look at four key areas simultaneously: food intolerances, gut health, metabolic health and the nervous system. These areas tend to be disrupted in every person with autoimmunity and are usually the biggest contributors to excessive inflammation.
To see a meaningful improvement in symptoms, these four areas need to be worked on simultaneously. There may be additional areas to look at as well, but progress is unlikely if any of these four basic areas are ignored.
This is why my online course, the Four Part Plan, shows you how to work on these four areas together.
Ignoring stress and poor sleep: the nervous system constantly feeds information to the other systems in our bodies to tell them which mode to operate in. If we feel under threat, our systems respond accordingly. Yet we are not designed to operate in these ‘threat’ modes all the time. Operating in these modes creates excess inflammation, making our immune systems less tolerant. Working on our nervous system health and finding ways to feel safer for more of the time can make a huge difference to symptoms.
Equally sleep is essential for detoxification and metabolic health. If we are not sleeping well, our bodies will struggle to recover from autoimmune flares. Lots of factors feed into sleep: metabolic control, liver health, certain nutrients, hormonal health. Poor sleep will be a barrier to progress so it needs particular focus.
Many people will assume their condition is due to one single factor and think it will be something deeply complex and completely unique to them. Autoimmunity is almost never the result of a single factor. Instead there will be antecedents (what makes them vulnerable to autoimmunity - usually genetics and certain stressors in childhood), triggers (eg viruses, an emotionally stressful event, exposure to toxins such as mould, certain nutrient deficiencies), and mediators (what is blocking the body’s natural ability to recover - eg chronic stress, an infection, nutrient deficiencies, a build up of certain toxins, disturbed gut microbiome, digestive problems, poor metabolic health).
While people will have aspects of their autoimmunity that are complex and unique, often they will fit a common pattern of antecedents, triggers and mediators that are easy to identify. Their symptoms can be significantly improved by working on the obvious, and often easy, areas first.
Supplements - clients are often taking specific complexes that focus on a few key nutrients. However these complexes miss out many other key nutrients. For the body to work well, it needs a full spectrum of nutrients, and so often at a basic level it would be better to take a comprehensive multinutrient from a good brand, such as Biocare, Viridian, Designs for Health or Pure Encapsulations.
In particular, the B vitamins all work synergistically, and so should be taken together. Many targeted complexes will only include one or two of the B vitamins. Additionally, B vitamins vary by form. Some are more bioavailable than others. Genetic testing can help to identify which form of certain B vitamins would suit an individual best, particularly B12 and folate.
It is worth focusing on B vitamin supplementation if you have an autoimmune condition as you are more likely to struggle with B vitamin metabolism for a number of reasons. B vitamins are usually the most important nutrient group for people with autoimmunity.
Mineral levels all impact each other and often when one mineral is found to be out of range, it can actually reflect deficiencies in other mineral levels. For example, low iron can be related to low zinc levels. Calcium supplementation can negatively affect absorption of other minerals.
Supplementation is a minefield and can have safety implications. Certain supplements will interact with medications (such as folic acid and Methotrexate) or interact with other supplements, so it is always best to get professional advice from a registered nutritionist.
Metabolic control - this is not calorie counting or weight watching in the slightest. Rather this is about controlling your blood sugar levels to reduce inflammation. This can be one of the most impactful changes to make in autoimmunity and the benefits can start immediately. You can read more about this here and here.
Lastly, people will often not know what timescales to work to, and what early signs of improvement to look out for. They will often give up, not realising that there are early positive signs and they just need to keep going for longer, perhaps with a few tweaks.
Early signs of improvement often include better energy (eg avoiding afternoon slumps or sleeping better), calmer and more consistent mood, smoother digestion (improved regularity, stool colour and consistency, less gas and bloating). Other early improvements can include better skin, reduced headaches, improved joint pain and reduced itching and nausea.
If you can relate to these pitfalls, you may be interested in my online autoimmune course, the Four Part Plan.
It might be hard to understand from the outside how an online plan can help. But it has been getting fantastic feedback from people who have completed it, because it talks you through the key basic areas for autoimmune health in plenty of detail so that you can get really clear on what steps to take, and what pitfalls to avoid.
It’s a gentle, thoughtful program that can be approached in your own way and at your own pace, so it feels manageable.
If it sounds right for you, you can receive a 10% discount by using the code START10 at checkout. The course normally costs £349 and a payment plan is available.
