March 08, 2021
Most Common Symptoms & Where to Look on Labs
- Fatigue - This could be a lot of things - autoimmunity against thyroid or adrenals affecting hormone production; autoimmunity against stomach affecting iron or B12 absorption; autoimmunity against the brain causing neuroinflammation and fatigue (which is actually the most likely!)
- Brain Fog - This could be autoimmunity against the thyroid and Hashimoto’s (brain fog is one of the most common symptoms), or it could be autoimmunity against any region in the brain - cerebellum, myelin basic protein, synapsin, asiologanglioside, dopamine receptors, GAD65, or much, much more (many are yet to be discovered!)
- Anxiety - This has the the same possibilities as Brain Fog - there are many different tissues and enzymes in the brain that could be targeted, and the result could be brain fog, inability to recall/memory loss, anxiety, fatigue, rage, OCD….
- Depression - see above for Brain Fog and Anxiety
- Joint or Muscle Pain - This could be Rheumatoid Arthritis with Rheumatoid Factor or a positive CCP, or it could be systemic autoimmunity and a positive Anti-Nuclear Antibody (ANA) indicating some sort of Mixed Connective Tissue Disease (MCTD), or could be collagen, fibulin, osteocyte (bone cell), or another component of our muscles or joints
- Headaches - See Brain Fog, Anxiety, and Depression above - could be anywhere in the brain creating neuroinflammation. Could also be ASCA/ANCA or tropomyosin affecting blood vessels, or systemic antibodies such as ANA or phospholipid.
- Digestive Complaints - This one could be a lot! Autoimmunity against the gut lining is the first place to start. Could be a gluten-mediated TTG-2 (Celiac), Actomyosin, Zonulin/Occludin (tight junctions), Lipopolysaccharide, ASCA/ANCA (Crohn’s, Ulcerative Colitis).
- Food Sensitivities - This could be autoimmunity against the gut lining, but an obvious place to look is a Food Sensitivity test to see which foods are triggering the response.
- Inflammatory Skin Conditions - This might be the toughest one. It’s important to look at the gut, it’s important to look for systemic autoimmunity, but there aren’t great antibodies for Eczema or Psoriasis. Tissue Transglutaminase 3 (TTG-3) can be helpful to see if the skin attack is gluten-mediated, as this is often the case!
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