JOINT PAIN |STIFFNESS |TROUBLE IN MOVEMENTS ?
Arthritis is basically, the inflammation of joints ( small & large) and is most commonly a chronic autoimmune disease that affects joints and causes pain, swelling, stiffness, and also limits one’s movement. As the inflammation process increases, so does the severity of the pain.
On one end, the conventional medicine protocols help deal with symptoms but can cause major side effects if taken for a long period of time. Immune suppressants, steroids given will lead to long-term suppression of your immune system and will decrease your capacity to ward off various other infections.
In the Functional Medicine approach, we work on identifying the underline causes of ongoing autoimmune reaction which may be one of the following:
- imbalance of gut microbiome
- chronic dysbiosis ( more population of pathogenic bacterias rather than the healthy bacterias)
- food intolerances
- mold infection
- chronic underlying parasitic infection
- heavy metal overload
- inability to detox and so on…
Leaky gut when developed due to the above-mentioned causes, leads to the free flow of antigens from the gut to the bloodstream, leading to antibody formation and in turn chronic inflammation in the joints due to molecular mimicry
There are certain specialized tests that can be done to detect the imbalances in the gut and identify various underlying infections, dysbiosis, and metabolic imbalances and food intolerances. This helps to rule out the root cause and determine if your gut lining is inflamed or leaky, and can also examine the health and makeup of your gut bacteria. All of the above help to maintain healthy gut health and in turn joint health, abolishing the need to take frequent anti-inflammatory medications to keep symptoms under control.