Scleroderma
Scleroderma is an autoimmune disease characterized by tissue hardening.
The patient becomes very stiff, and the skin hardens.
Systemically, the digestive system, heart, and lungs may be affected.
Conventional treatments suppress the immune system with steroids and chemotherapy.
My 29-year-old patient was diagnosed in the fall of 2014.
The disease rapidly progressed to the point where his mobility was greatly reduced and he could barely climb the stairs.
When told he would need chemotherapy, he refused and decided to go the naturopathic route.
He radically changed his diet to an anti-inflammatory-based food plan with no gluten or dairy.
He did a heavy metal detox and took high doses of omega fatty acids.
In addition, he uses a non-psychotropic form of MMJ which relaxes his muscles.
Daily stretching and light weight lifting has kept his mobility somewhat normal, although he still suffers from muscle weakness.
A year later, he lives a normal life, keeping up with his regimen of supplementation, a whole-food diet, mmj, and daily stretching.
This is a testament to the power of naturopathic medicine in treating immune system disorders.
Autoimmune disease is said to be caused by three factors: genetic, environmental, and viral.
However, just because one carries the mutated HLA gene doesn’t mean he will manifest the disease.
A virus or chronic exposure to heavy metals will be the inciting event that causes the cascade of inflammation and antibodies.
In my patient’s case, it is thought to be exposure to solvents as he had been cleaning tile floors for over 10 years.
Unfortunately, conventional rheumatologists treat the symptoms and attempt to shut down the imbalanced immune system rather than digging deeper to treat the cause.
Patients must search for real answers which lay outside of their insurance networks.
However, once they find the practitioner who is willing to treat the viral or environmental causes, the immune system calms down and the horrific symptoms become minimal or completely go away.