lupus is an autoimmune disease characterized by joint pain, rashes, and fatigue.
Lupus is estimated to affect 1.5 million Americans, and 5 million worldwide, with 16,000 new cases each year (source). For the majority of people, Lupus is not fatal – however, it will significantly impact quality of life. Overall body and joint pain, rashes, and profound exhaustion are all tell-tale signs of Lupus.
Dr. Erik Arter, D.C., one of the Chiropractic Physicians at Thrive, recently conducted an interview on Mom’s Everyday in which he brought a patient who had struggled with Lupus with no answers. She is a nurse, and she was looking for a doctor-directed, non-pharmaceutical solution.
Here is her story:
We have deep empathy for people suffering from autoimmune diseases. Many patients suffering from autoimmune issues are given medications with intense side effects, or are misdiagnosed due to poor diagnostics. Patients can spend years trying to figure out what is wrong, and feel like their situation is hopeless.
But what does “autoimmune” even mean? Let’s talk to Google:
Now notice at the bottom of the search results page, it reports “mentions” over time (essentially, how commonly a word or term is being mentioned). You’ll notice the number of mentions increases dramatically at about the 1950’s, and continues up until this day.
The data is clear – there has been an explosion of autoimmune disease within the last 50 years.
Graph available here.
What is causing this autoimmune disease explosion is debatable. What we have found to be effective in addressing autoimmune disease and immune dysfunction is Functional Medicine.
An easy way to understand functional medicine
Functional Medicine is an entirely different approach. The goal is to not just “get you on a medication“. We believe the body can heal itself if given the chance. Our goal is to find out what the real reason is that is preventing the patient from being healthy.
We believe pain and dysfunction is your body’s “check engine” light. It’s the only way your body can tell you that something is wrong, and needs to be addressed.
The pain you feel is a symptom – a symptom is a warning. We don’t want to treat the symptom – we want to treat the problem, the real reason the “check engine” light came on in the first place.
Why? Because this is what happens when you treat symptoms:
Our Offer To You
If you or someone you love is struggling with an autoimmune or “mystery” illness issue, and you’re interested in a doctor-directed, non-pharmaceutical approach, then schedule an appointment in one of our clinics and talk to one of our Functional Medicine doctors. For only $19 you can sit down with them, discuss your situation, and see if there is a way that Functional Medicine might help you achieve your goal.
You can schedule an appointment here – we look forward to working with you.
