Home
Knowledge Base
Autoimmune Disorders

Autoimmune Disorders

I’m pretty concerned about probiotics and fecal transplant treatment in Crohn’s disease because of the fact that those patients have antibodies to several species of gut bacteria. Couldn’t the above treatments cause potentially an exacerbation?

Chris Kresser: That’s a very astute question, and the answer is absolutely yes. I just read a study, I’ll try...

In last week’s HPA content, Chris mentioned something about doing a Paleo autoimmune diet, eliminating nuts and seeds, nightshades, eggs, and dairy. If you’re trying to do a reset diet, and especially for someone who has been used to eating a Standard American Diet, this is pretty restrictive. The 14Four is also pretty dependent on eggs and nightshades, so it seems a good chunk of the recipes aren’t a go for those with autoimmune issues, especially for the 60 days that he suggests. What resources do you suggest for a good beginner’s guide to Paleo autoimmune, and would there be a consideration of a 14Four or reset protocol with autoimmune people in mind, considering about 50 percent of us will have one at one time or another?

Kelsey Marksteiner: First, resources: I just want to point these out in case you haven’t heard of them. One of...

How do you approach someone who really wants your help—in this case, a young woman with Graves’ disease—but is very resistant to eating a Paleo-type diet? She’s also a vegetarian. How do you approach vegetarians?

Kelsey Marksteiner: And actually a follow-up is, “I’m also curious at what point you feel a patient is not a...

How do you treat febrile seizure in an 18-month-old?

Chris Kresser: That’s something, again, I don’t have very much experience with, in part because I don’t actually treat patients...

Have you worked with any patients with Addison’s, and how effective have you found the functional medicine approach?

Dr. Amy Nett: Yeah, so actually great question. When Chris goes through and finds the case studies, he’s actually pulling...

Does vitamin D or omega-3 reduce T regulatory cells?

Dr. Amy Nett: I like, yeah, both vitamin D and omega-3s. Oh, yeah, you’re giving me more ideas, systemic enzymes,...

How do you tell exactly if hypothyroidism is autoimmune in nature? What would levels of TPO antibodies need to be? I’m asking because Chris talked about possibly using an AIP diet and how possibly people with Hashimoto’s don’t always respond well to iodine, but often it’s OK if you add selenium. How do you monitor their response to iodine, and how do you check their selenium levels via blood sample for both iodine and selenium? How long after trying to introduce iodine would you test their levels, and what dose would you try adding in the iodine, say, by kelp capsules or adding seaweed in the diet?

Dr. Amy Nett: I’m glad we get to follow up on this because, Laura, I think you and I were...

I have a patient with ME/CFS with a history of infections, a rare form of infective arthritis in her knee joint as a child and then a very serious chickenpox at age 20, after which things deteriorated. She got even worse after giving birth to her daughter. I’ve done some gut work with her and considering more with some minor improvements, but this history of chronic infection seems a probable factor. I know we’re not covering this in the course, but can you give some pointers, other recommended labs, and will they be useful if there are long-term hidden infections within the cells or the spinal fluid as I’ve read is possible? Are there nonpharmacological treatment options? Any pointers would be very useful, even if the upshot is that we’ll need to work on the gut, etc., for now and wait until future modules to delve further. On a related note, do you have any idea of the likely order and timescale for future modules?

Chris Kresser: Yeah, very complicated, and it’s long been posited that chronic infection plays a role in ME/CFS. At some...

What about probiotics for Crohn’s patients? If they’re over-responding to commensal bacteria, is it then a bad idea to prescribe probiotics, or are there certain probiotics that Crohn’s patients tend to do better with? If also giving Xifaxan, when is the appropriate timing for the probiotic along with Xifaxan three times a day?

Chris Kresser: They’re all really good questions, and the answer is we don’t really know. As you probably are aware,...

A female patient has an autoimmune disease, managing it with an opioid and a biological TNF blocker, doing well on this combo with a Paleo diet and FM. FM? Functional medicine? I’m not sure. Would you recommend she discontinue these medications and/or try LDN? She would need to lose the opioid first.

Dr. Amy Nett: Yeah, exactly. This is a tough one. I think it depends on what the patient wants. I...

Prev Next