005 - Which Type of Autoimmune Patient Are You - Diagnosed or Undiagnosed‪?‬ The Autoimmune Doc Podcast w/ Dr. Taylor Krick

This episode talks about people with diagnosed autoimmune disease vs. POTENTIAL or UNDIAGNOSED autoimmunity - which is HUGE! So many people have a variety of undiagnosed symptoms, they are told all their labs look normal, they are the picture of health, but in reality they have underlying AUTOIMMUNE REACTIVITY in multiple tissues causing multiple different symptoms that doctors swear could not be related!

I also talk about labs that I like to see and the approach that I like to take. For example, if someone comes in with DIAGNOSED autoimmune disease (MS, RA, Hashimoto's, etc), I want to ask 3 questions:

1. Where else is it? Autoimmunity is often first diagnosed in one tissue or system but is often affecting other systems without the person knowing it.
2. What's DRIVING the autoimmune process? Listen to episode 004 if you haven't yet to learn about the drivers, but this comes from a good history and then looking at each area in priority order.
3. How bad is it? This is done with labs looking at some basics such as CBC, CMP, Vitamin D3, but also inflammatory markers like C-reactive protein, Homocysteine, Ferritin, leaky gut panel, organic acid panels, food sensitivity panels, or others. 

I also discuss common "undiagnosed autoimmunity" signs, which include:
- Symptoms vary day to day and week to week
- Nothing seems to make sense - some weeks you swear it's a food and the next week it's fine
- Trying many different supplements with varying success
- Trying many different alternative approaches - diets, exercise, hormones

This is a good episode to send to a friend who has weird unexplained symptoms and has been told their labs are normal, or someone you know who has autoimmunity in their family!