5 Root Causes of All Disease
You’ve been asked what disease you have, you may have been asked when it started, how it happened, or where in your body it resides, but have you ever been asked WHY you have your disease? In Functional Medicine, we are less concerned with the what’s, where’s, and when’s of your disease; we want to know WHY. Why do you have your disease, why did it start when it started, and why does it manifest in the specific way that it does for you.
“Bad Genes”
If you brought this question to your everyday Doctor, you’d probably hear that your “Bad Genes” are to blame. That you have this disease because you lost the Genetic lottery, and thus you are powerless to change it. But 21st century science has now taught us that our Genes are only responsible for 30% of our individual disease, and that 70% of the equation is caused by something else. Something you can change. Something called Inflammation.
Turn off your “Bad Genes”
Inflammation has now been proven to turn on and off “Bad Genes”, and the idea that we can change our diseases by turning off “Bad Genes” has spawned an entire science called Epigenetics.
Epigenetics has found certain factors in our lifestyle that when targeted and reversed, can eliminate disease by decreasing the inflammation that turns on the “Bad Genes”. If you have ever been told that you are doomed to suffer with a disease forever, simply because you were born with certain “Bad Genes” I have news for you. Very good news. The real truth is that by decreasing your overall levels of inflammation, you can turn off your “Bad Genes” and heal yourself.
Keeping this fact in the back of our minds, and after nearly 20 years of asking WHY a patient has a certain disease, Functional Medicine has determined 5 Root Causes for Inflammation in the body, things that can be addressed and improved in patient’s lives, reducing inflammation, and thus triggering the healing that lives within your body.
1. Stress. Stress is the number one culprit for inflammation in our body. If there is only one thing you do to decrease inflammation and turn off your “Bad Genes”, it should be to work to decrease stress. Stress both directly and indirectly causes inflammation in the body. It does so directly through the hormones that are released by the body in response to stressors (the “Fight-or-Flight” Hormones Cortisol and Epinephrine) which lead to impaired glucose metabolism, narrowed arteries, elevated blood pressure, and decreased ability to digest food, among many other things. Indirectly, stress causes alterations in the Gut Microbiome, depletes your nutrients, increases your gut permeability, and decreases your ability to detoxify.
Stress can be either:
- Emotional: Work stress, prior traumas/abuse, traffic, taxes, death/illness of a loved one, loss of job, financial difficulties, beginning/ending a marriage, moving.
- Physical: Motor Vehicle Crashes, Surgery, Exercise(Overtraining >30 minutes at a time)
2. Bugs: 70% of the immune system resides in the Gut. Good Gut bacteria improve our immune system to fight off pathogens. Good gut bacteria make 7 of the 8 B vitamins that we need for healthy energy levels(say good bye 5 hour energy shot!). Good gut bacteria help break down 50% of the toxins that we take in every day. Good gut bacteria help build up and protect our gut lining. Its impossible to overstate the positive effects of having healthy gut bacteria.
What causes altered Gut Bacteria?
- Stress, Antibiotics (even just once! And the earlier the antibiotic the more damaged the gut bacteria), Oral Contraceptive Pills, NSAIDS(Ibuprofen…), Antacid Use(PPI’s, H2 Blocker’s), Lack of fiber/veggies, Too much Sugar, Alcohol use
3. Nutrient Insufficiencies: Not having enough vitamins, minerals, amino acids (protein), or Omega 3 Fatty Acids all decrease the body’s ability to naturally function without inflammation. It can also lead to altered Gut flora, decreased ability to manage stress, or decreased ability to handle and eliminate toxins.
4. Food Sensitivities/Leaky Gut: Very different than true food allergies (think: throat closing up), food sensitivities are the result of disruption of the mucosal barrier (by any of the above causes) which leads to leakage of large(not fully digested) food particles through the lining of the intestines. When the gut’s immune tissues come in contact with these large food particles, they think they are invaders, and the immune system becomes revved up. This only leads to more inflammation, more disruption of the barrier, and more Inflammation throughout the body.
5. Toxins: This is a tricky category that we usually reserve until we have made sure that we have addressed all of the other Root Causes above. We do this because we know that 50% of the toxins that we take in through our food are processed and taken care of by our Gut Bacteria. Toxins can be any number of foreign substances that our body has trouble eliminating, and thus accumulate and wreak havoc on our normal body processes. These can include: Heavy Metals, Mold (mycotoxins), chemical pesticides/fertilizers, Glyphosate (Roundup), or other chemical exposures in the past.
So think hard about the above 5 root causes of disease as they may pertain to your specific level of health. If you wake up every night at 3AM with thoughts racing, you likely have a stress/cortisol issue. If you suffer from recurrent urinary tract or respiratory/sinus infections, you likely have an issue with your immune system, which may originate with your gut flora. If you suffer from recurrent diarrhea or constipation, you likely have an issue with both bowel flora as well as food sensitivities and leaky gut. And if you have “tried everything” and still fail to fit into the image of perfect health that you have for yourself, you may be suffering from a toxin burden that can only be eliminated once properly identified. True healing is available to each and every person, and it is certainly available to you. If you would like to learn more about how the above root causes of disease may pertain to you specifically, contact Dr. Schatz below.