The best six doctors anywhere
And no one can deny it
Are sunshine, water, rest, and air
Exercise and diet.
These six will gladly you attend
If only you are willing

Your mind they’ll ease
Your will they’ll mend
And charge you not a shilling.
–Nursery rhyme quoted by Wayne Fields, What the River Knows, 1990

The immune system, like most of the body, requires balance to function properly. T-helper 1 cells (Th1) and T-helper 2 cells (Th2) help regulate the body’s response to foreign invaders. Th1 uses white blood cells to go after viruses and cancer cells. Th2 immune cells use antibodies to go after bacteria.  Normally, the body strikes a balance by switching back and forth between Th1 and Th2. In a person with an autoimmune disorder, one dominates and suppresses the other. Trans fats, mercury and other heavy metals, sugar and processed foods, alcohol, lack of sleep, lack of exercise, and stress are part of a modern lifestyle that can disrupt the Th1/Th2 balance.

Th1 dominance in women is associated with autoimmunity and recurrent miscarriage in the first trimester of pregnancy. Additionally, children in the autism spectrum tend to be Th1 dominant. Besides autoimmunity, Th2 dominance is characterized by a tendency toward allergies, frequent colds and viral infections, and cancer.

Both Th1 and Th2 cells make a protein substance known as cytokines. Cytokines cause inflammation. This inflammation should be a temporary response to injury or infection. Cytokines are a necessary part of our immunity. It is the overproduction (too many) of certain small cytokine molecules that leads to the invasion and inflammation of an organ or body system.

In the brain, cytokines can cause behavioral changes. They can either prompt or worsen depression, anxiety, or anorexia. They may cause a person to become withdrawn. Cytokines create fatigue and interfere with sleep patterns. They are one thing responsible for what has been termed “brain fog.”

Autoimmune conditions are named or categorized according to where in the body cytokines are being overproduced and how the disease manifests itself.  For example, an overproduction of these cytokines in the joints causing pain and swelling is called Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). It may go by different names and occur in different places in the body, but ultimately, autoimmunity is one disease with many different faces.

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