NIH-Kidney Damage From NSAIDs
Hidden Chronic Infection, also referred to as a “Stealth Pathogen”, a chronic hidden infection that stays sequestered somewhere in the body and is never addressed by conventional medicine is usually always a root cause of an autoimmune disease. As long as the infection (bacterial, viral, mold, etc.) is present, the immune system becomes “revved up” and stays stuck in attack mode like the gas pedal in your car that is stuck in the “pedal to the metal” position. It’s also important for you to know that as the immune system accelerates, so do inflammation levels right along with it.
See: The Physiology of an Autoimmune Response
The allopathic medicine approach to this is the prescribing of dangerous anti-inflammatory drugs which are a major cause of kidney damage, gut damage, and many other destructive conditions.
See: NIH article: kidney damage from NSAIDs (Anti-inflammatory drugs)
At Functional Medicine Center, we thoroughly investigate, through lab work and a thorough assessment of your health history, for the evidence of primary infections and possible co-infections. For example, we test the blood for Epstein Barr Virus antibodies, which are usually always associated with Hashimoto’s as well as many other autoimmune diseases.