When you wash your hair in the shower, do you feel like so much falls out that before long you won’t have any left? Have you noticed it thinning as you style it and it doesn’t style as well as it used to? So now you’re having to get a specific haircut to make it look fuller. You suspect it has something to do with your autoimmune disease and you know you need to address it, but you don’t want to take another medication. Did you know there are natural treatments for autoimmune diseases?
I teach women how to control their autoimmune diseases and live the life they want without the autoimmune disease controlling them. Below are some tips I give to my clients who want natural treatments for autoimmune diseases.
Why Does Hair Fall Out
The immune system is designed to protect our bodies from pathogens and harmful intruders that get into the body as well as heal sites of injury. The immune system does this using inflammation. The inflammation tells the body where to attack the intruders and where to send the helpful cells that heal the site of injury.
When someone develops an autoimmune disease, it is thought the immune system wrongly thinks a specific organ is the intruder and starts attacking those cells. In the case of someone losing hair, the autoimmune disease has progressed enough to effect hormone health, cause nutritional deficiencies, or is attacking the cells on the scalp.
Treatment for those with hair loss or hair thinning due to an autoimmune disease usually is aimed at suppressing the autoimmune disease. Usually medications such as an anti-inflammatory, a steroid, a pain reliever and/or an immunosuppressant are prescribed. Natural treatments for autoimmune diseases are also available for those that want to avoid the medication route and heal from the inside out.
Autoimmune Diseases that Cause Hair Loss
There are several autoimmune diseases that cause hair loss. Some cause hair loss due to the immune system attacking the hair follicles themselves, such as alopecia areata. But most cause hair loss as a result of deficiencies and hormonal changes. The most common autoimmune diseases that cause hair loss are lupus, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, Crohn’s disease and inflammatory bowel disease.
Natural Treatments for Autoimmune Diseases
There are lots of natural treatments for autoimmune diseases, and when you search online for answers or guidance, it can be overwhelming. Most people tell me there is too much information out there so they don’t know where to start. These are the top four areas I start with for the women I support.
Anti-Inflammatory Diet
You are what you eat. It only makes sense that if autoimmune diseases cause inflammation, then eating an anti-inflammatory diet will be the first place to start to decrease the inflammation. The typical diet most of us eat is full of inflammatory foods and oils. Eliminating or even just reducing your intake of inflammatory foods will greatly improve symptoms and be a great first natural treatment for autoimmune diseases.
Supplements
There are a gazillion supplements that are aimed at being natural treatments for autoimmune diseases. So again, it’s hard to know where to start. Each person’s supplement need is different based on their root causes but I have a basic recommendation that is aimed to help the liver detox and help the adrenal glands adapt to stress that you can find here. I love adding adaptogens to help provide the needed nutrients to handle stress. Maca is an adaptogen I use most days. Respond to this email and I’ll send you the maca latte recipe I use.
Detox
Your body has multiple ways of removing toxins and other unwanted items. The pathways of detox include sweat, breath, stool and urine. Make sure these pathways are working and increase their use. For example, sweat more often, take extended exhales, drink more water, and make sure you have a bowel movement every day.
Chill Out
In someone with an autoimmune disease, you can stay tense and the nervous system can remain in a perpetual state of fight or flight. Many people with an autoimmune disease don’t know how to relax if they are told to do so. Part of a natural treatment for autoimmune diseases includes chilling out. I help women learn how to relax and switch the nervous system into the parasympathetic/rest and digest by using breathwork and positive affirmations.
Let’s Connect!
I’d love to teach you more about natural treatments for autoimmune diseases by using an anti-inflammatory diet, detox and breathwork if you’re stuck and need help getting started. Reach out to me here or respond to this email. And as always, if you found this helpful, please share it with someone you think will benefit.
