Autoimmune diseases are typically triggered by some external event. You don’t just wake up one day and have a full blown autoimmune disease. Typically the inflammation and dysregulation has been brewing in your body for a while, and then something triggers your immune system to officially attack itself. Below I discuss some of these triggers and why it is important to know what yours are.
What Triggers Autoimmune Diseases?
Autoimmune diseases take years to develop. Although it may seem like you woke up one day and all of the sudden felt the symptoms of your disease. However, your body has likely been making autoantibodies or slowly brewing in your body for years, if not decades, before you got your diagnosis. While most people with autoimmune diseases have a genetic predisposition, that doesn’t mean that all people with the genetic code will develop an autoimmune disease. It usually takes a type of external trigger to signal your autoimmune disease into action.
As with everything related to autoimmune diseases, studying the different triggers or reasons for autoimmune development is incredibly challenging. However, the triggers below are the most believed triggers that influence autoimmune diseases.
Trigger #1: Diet
Diet can play a significant role in autoimmune disease development. As I’ve said before, diet influences inflammation. If you eat a diet that promotes chronic inflammation, it can do a number of harmful things to your body, including:
- Increasing gut permeability, or leaky gut. Processed foods, high amounts of sugar and chemicals activate intestinal permeability. When this happens, large food particles sneak through the lining and can trigger an immune system attack.
- Microbiome dysbiosis. Eating an inflammatory diet raises inflammation in the intestines and shifts the microbiome composition to be pro-inflammatory. The good bacteria gets crowded out by the bad bacteria which can generate more inflammation and weaken the intestinal lining.
- Systemic inflammation. Inflammatory foods overproduce pro-inflammatory cytokines, leading to chronic, low grade inflammation. This type of inflammation can lead to the development of not only autoimmune diseases, but other non-communicable conditions like heart disease, diabetes and hypertension.
Another way diet can trigger autoimmune disease is by not eating enough nutrients. Our bodies can function without certain key nutrients, especially our immune systems. Diets low in vitamin A, D, C and E, iron and zinc won’t optimally support the immune system. Without those key nutrients, the body won’t be able to properly defend itself.
Trigger #2: Stress
If there is one trigger I’ve seen over and over in my clients, it is stress. Many retrospective studies have found that up to 80% of patients reported high levels of stress before the onset of their autoimmune disease. Stress triggers immune dysregulation, inflammation and the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Also, chronic stress makes your body less sensitive to cortisol, which is actually an anti-inflammatory hormone. Autoimmune disease flares are also often caused by stress events.
Trigger #3: Virus or Illness
Viruses are another big trigger as of recent, following the COVID-19 pandemic. I have seen a rise in the number of clients who developed an autoimmune disease following a COVID infection. There are other infections that can trigger autoimmune diseases, like epstein-barr virus or herpes simplex virus. There are several mechanisms at play when it comes to viral triggers. One is called molecular mimicry. This is when viral antigens look like self-antigens and T-cells can confuse the two and attack both. Another mechanism is called bystander activation, where T cells kill the virus cells but also accidentally damage nearby cells. This can leak self-peptides into the inflammatory cascade, causing the T-cells to attack the self.
Trigger #4: Environmental toxins
Environmental toxins are another major trigger. Toxins such as pesticides, heavy metals and solvents can bind to our tissues and cause the immune system to attack them. This leads to chronic inflammation and a dysregulated immune response that may cross-react and attack healthy tissues. Toxins can also trigger molecular mimicry, much like viruses can and as I just explained. They also cause oxidative stress in the body. This causes inflammation and the potential for the immune system to attack itself.
Trigger #5: Hormones
The last trigger to discuss is hormones. Wide fluctuations in hormones are responsible for not only the development of autoimmune diseases, but also disease management. Many women develop autoimmune conditions around the time of major hormone shifts: puberty, pregnancy, and menopause. This is because hormones like estrogen and progesterone directly affect the immune system. Some conditions do better in high estrogen phases, while others don’t. In addition, many women see fluctuations in disease activity during their menstrual cycle, depending on which disease they have.
Why Are Knowing Triggers Important?
Why are triggers important? If you know what caused your autoimmune disease in the first place, you can take steps to improve your disease symptoms. If toxins or stress were your reasons, do something to reduce your exposure to both of them. If it was your diet, work on eating an anti-inflammatory, nutrient dense diet. If it was hormones, talk to your medical team to see what options you have to better manage your hormones. Understanding your trigger not only helps you see what caused your disease, but can help you reduce your symptoms and better manage it.
Curious about your own triggers? I can help. Contact me to set up a free discovery call. For more information on autoimmune diseases and how to use food and lifestyle to help your symptoms, follow me on my socials: Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. I’m here to help you on your journey to feeling your best!
Photo by Peter Conlan on Unsplash
