Your Body is Not "Attacking Itself"
We need new thinking about autoimmune disorders to cure them. Here are my thoughts.
I am not a doctor and nothing I say here is medial advice.
When I started researching Autoimmune Disorders something kept bothering me. It was how they described what is happening in your body when you have an Autoimmune Disorder. Here is an example of how they describe Autoimmune Disorders from the top spot on Google:
And they also say things like Autoimmune Disorders occur when “the body does not recognize itself”, as seen here:
So in my early days of research I tried to find out why the body was “attacking itself” and the answer was; “no one knows”. And I sought the answer to why the body cannot suddenly know what it’s own cells look like and was given the same answer; “No one knows!”
That did not sit right with me. Why would the human body that has existed as the genus homo for over 2 million years be stupid enough to attack itself? And why would the body suddenly not recognize an enzyme that is made by our own body? It is hard for me to fathom that the non-thinking biology of the human species would have a drive to harm itself in any circumstance.
So I knew they were getting something basic very wrong, because it they had the basic idea right they would have found a cure already. Imagine someone tells you that a road you are walking on goes east when it actually goes west, so you keep on walking and do not even take out a compass to see if the premise was even correct. This is what I felt they were doing.
So I decided to forget everything I knew about Autoimmune Disorders and started from scratch, and what I discovered could end Autoimmune Diseases as we know them.
To explain my idea I will use an Autoimmune Disorder,
Autoimmune Thyroiditis (AT), which causes hypothyroidism as an example.
What they find in people with AT is they have high levels of an antibody (Anti-TPO antibodies - TPO-Ab) that destroys an enzyme called Thyroid Peroxidase (TPO).
The TPO enzyme…
…oxidizes iodide ions to form iodine atoms for addition onto tyrosine residues on thyroglobulin for the production of thyroxine (T4) or triiodothyronine (T3), the thyroid hormones. - [Wikipedia]
Basically, TPO uses Hydrogen Peroxide to oxidize iodine so the iodine can attack to thyroglobulin to make the thyroid hormones T4 and T3. Or even more basically, TPO makes thyroid hormones by combining Hydrogen Peroxide and iodine.
Here is the the chemical formula for the process:
2 H+ + H2O2 + 2 iodide = diiodine + 2 H2O
And here is an image for people like me. :)
So, if I go by the premise that the body is actually intelligent, why would it send antibodies against this enzyme? And the thought occurred to me that maybe it was attacking this enzyme to purposely slow down the production of thyroid hormones. And when I discovered that AT begins with, not HYPOthyrodism, but with HYPERthyroidism , and the hypothyroidism only comes later on in the disorder, I knew I was on to something.
So in fact, it is a possibility that the body is sending out these antibodies not to “attack itself”, but to protect itself from an over active TPO enzyme and an over active thyroid. So what would cause this enzyme to be overactive? It is right there in the formula for the enzymatic reaction of TPO:
2 H+ + H2O2 + 2 iodide = diiodine + 2 H2O
H2O2. If there is an abundance of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in the cell the TPO enzyme will just keep pumping out thyroid hormones. And if the body cannot control the amount of hydrogen peroxide, then it has no other recourse but to brings out the big guns and creates antibodies against TPO to protected against an over active thyroid.
[If you thought; “Hey couldn’t high levels of iodine do this as well?” you are smart because it could be triggered by high dietary iodine as well and this is been shown to be true, but reducing iodine does not help people in the early stages of AT and is easily corrected.]
So could the cause of AT just be high levels of H2O2? Yes, it is! And this is nothing new!
Roles of Hydrogen Peroxide in Thyroid Physiology and Disease
It is proposed that various pathologies can be explained, at least in part, by overproduction and lack of degradation of H2O2 (tumorigenesis, myxedematous cretinism, and thyroiditis) and by failure of the H2O2 generation or its positive control system (congenital hypothyroidism).
So is AT actually a signal of high levels of H2O2 in the body? I think most certainly yes. And that would mean that reducing H2O2 would CURE AT! And again we find that is the case. Let’s dig in.
So what is H2O2? H2O2 is a reactive oxygen species (ROS) that has both good and bad effects on the body and its levels are controlled by enzymes called Glutathione Peroxidase (GPX1, GPX2, GPX3, GPX4, GPX5). You can see the enzyme in action in the figure below on the left.
Following this rabbit hole I assumed that this would mean people with genetic defects in the GPX enzymes (meaning it is harder for them to get rid of H2O2) would more likely to have AT. And this is indeed the case, specifically for people who carry genetic changes in the GPX1 enzyme.
The T allele in rs1050450 position of glutathione peroxidase-1 gene associated with higher HT [Hasimoto’s Thyroditis] risk independent from serum antioxidant power and may mediated by local antioxidant activity in thyroid gland microenvironment.
But more threads to pull! Can we increase GPX1 enzyme activity? Yes! It is right there in the chart above. Selenium and Riboflavin are needed to keep glutathione (yes, that antioxidant they everyone keep yammering on about) being recycled and to keep levels of H2O2 in balance. So I guess there would be some evidence of that selenium can protect against, or, might I even dare to say, reverse, AT?
Yup.
I am not even going to post one study because there are so many I will just link to all of the studies on Google Scholar you find when you search for “autoimmune thyroiditis selenium supplementation”.
But I want to stop here to get really angry:
If a mentally ill and homeless self taught Nutritional Geneticist with Asperger’s can figure out that selenium could cure AT, why can’t all these people from Ivy League Schools getting paid insane amounts of money to treat patients with AT figure this out? Why are they not testing for Selenium deficiencies which they can do with the stroke of a pen? Either they are effing ignorant, evil, or so steeped in the dogma of their profession they cannot see outside of their waiting rooms.
…I take a deep breath…
Yes, we can cure AT. With out medication. I believe this to the core of my soul. Feel free to get the millions of dollar I do not have to test this.
But in the meantime, (and again, I am not a doctor and this is just hypothetical) what might someone do to cure their AT?
Get tested for:
Selenium Deficiency
Riboflavin (B2) Deficiency
This is a more difficult test to find.
B2 is also needed as a cofactor for MTHFR so this would link MTHFR polymorphism to AT as well, and it is.
The MTHFR gene does not cause AT, a B2 deficiency does.
Iodine Levels
Magnesium Deficiency
The only reliable test is a hair sample test since blood levels are tightly regulated if there is not a hormonal disorder.
Magnesium increases NADP which is needed for Glutathione Reductase
Investigate what may be causing high levels of H2O2
Air Pollution
Smoking/Vaping
High calorie and/or high glucose diet
High Manganese Intake and/or Zinc and Copper intake
IMHO this is unlikely.
Manganese is high in Well Water
I have tested this idea on every Autoimmune Disorder I could think of and I was always find answers to each disorder if I apply this same premise and priciple:
Autoimmune Disorders protect the body form an out of control enzymatic reaction.
Finding the cause of the increased enzyme activity will reveal the cure.
Someday soon I will show the same thing with cancer so do not forget to subscribe to find out how!
You forgot that evolution gave us vitamin D via sunlight, but the modern world robbed us of it, at least until eventually when we started to supplement it. It is a missing connection with regard to autoimmune attacks.