Autoimmune Disorders

like Lupus erythematodes, Scleroderma, Rheumatoide arthritis, Hashimoto thyreoiditis, Sjogren syndrome, Raynaud syndrome, Autoimmune vasculitis, Autoimmune thrombocytopenia, etc. are defining conditions in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks its own healthy cells, tissues, or organs. Normally, the immune system defends the body against harmful invaders like bacteria and viruses. However, in autoimmune disorders, it cannot distinguish between foreign invaders and the body’s own cells, leading to inflammation, tissue damage, and various symptoms depending on the part of the body affected.

Discoid Lupus Erythematodes before and after one month of German integrative therapy

Conventional Treatments for Autoimmune Disorders:

Anti-inflammatory Drugs

Reduce pain and inflammation
Example: NSAIDs like ibuprofen, naproxen

Corticosteroids

Strong anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive effect
Example: Prednisone

Immunosuppressants

Suppress overactive immune response
Example: Methotrexate, azathioprine, cyclosporine

Biologic Therapies

Target specific parts of the immune system
Example: TNF inhibitors like adalimumab (Humira), etanercept (Enbrel)

Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drugs (DMARDs)

Slow the progression of autoimmune diseases
Example: Methotrexate, hydroxychloroquine

Symptom Relief Medications

Manage fatigue, pain, or other symptoms
Example: Painkillers, antidepressants (for fatigue)

Physical Therapy & Lifestyle Changes

Improve mobility, reduce stress, and support overall health

All the above mentioned conventional treatments are solely addressing to the symptoms of autoimmune diseases and that’s why when interrupting these therapies, patients are noticing fast recurrences of their symptoms. The German Integrative Medical Center is undergoing an extensive investigation of the provoking factors followed by an appropriate personalized therapy. To get a deeper inside in this approach we recommend the interview of Prof. Dr. John Ionescu given to the Romanian medical journal Ziarul de Sănătate, 2016. (see below)

Prof. John Ionescu
An integrative approach to autoimmune diseases

Ziarul de Sănătate has the special honor of interviewing the distinguished professor John G. Ionescu, whose approaches with very special results in the field of serious chronic diseases, considered by many to be impossible to cure, have brought him well-deserved international fame. For those who don’t know, Professor Ionescu is a Romanian who has been living in Germany for over 30 years, an exceptional biochemist and immunologist, founder and scientific director of the Neukirchen Special Clinic in Bavaria, author of over 200 scientific research papers, medical patents, member of prestigious societies such as the European Academy of Allergology and Clinical Immunology, the German Society of Toxicology, the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, professor of medical biochemistry at Capital University, Washington DC until 2006, associate professor of integrative medicine and oncological dermatology at Carol Davila University in Bucharest and associate professor at the Department of Nutritional Medicine at Donau Universität Krems, Austria. And last but not least, but perhaps most importantly, Professor Ionescu is the initiator and supporter of the Integrative Medicine Courses in Romania, annually training, starting in 2006, hundreds of doctors from all over the country, with one goal in mind: to raise the level of medicine in his native country, Romania. On February 20 this year, Professor John Ionescu, in collaboration with UMF Carol Davila Bucharest and the company SCMevents.net from Bucharest, resumes the series of Integrative Medicine Courses for 2016, with a topic addressed to autoimmune diseases, which is precisely the topic of his doctoral thesis, defended at the University of Saarbrücken.

Ziarul de Sănătate: Autoimmune diseases are among the most mysterious diseases of modern medicine: chronic, extremely complex, numerous as pathologies and also among the least understood. One in 5 people suffers from an autoimmune disease, according to American statistics. Is this a real fact for Romania as well, or could there be even more patients with undiagnosed autoimmunity?

Prof. John Ionescu: Due to the very complex symptomatology of these diseases, which are often confused with other clinical entities, the patient cannot know if he suffers from an autoimmune disease. The American statistics you are talking about are very close to the German ones, but I cannot make any assessments on the spread of these diseases in Romania. Around 20% of chronic diseases may have an autoimmune pathogenesis.

ZDS: What are the known and lesser-known causes of these diseases? Why does the immune system attack its own cells and tissues? What are the mechanisms at the “root” of these diseases?

Prof. John Ionescu: The phenomenon of autoimmunity occurs as a result of a disorder associated with the generation of autoantibodies and autoreactive T lymphocytes directed against one’s own cellular structures. In turn, circulating antibodies can present an organ specificity, as we encounter in the case of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis or pernicious anemia, or they can lack specificity, as happens in cases of systemic autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus, scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis and others. Addressing the causes of autoimmune diseases forces us to consider the multifactorial determinism of these diseases and their association with: Genetic markers of the HLA (Human Leukocyte Antigen) or MHC (Major Histocompatibility Complex) type, which are located on chromosome 6. Hormonal influences , reflected in the overwhelming preponderance of autoimmune diseases in women, due to estrogenic predominance, or association with the male hormone (testosterone), as we can find in the case of autism and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, in which the frequency found is 4 to 5 times higher in men than in women. Thus, the presence of testosterone in association with dental amalgam may give a much greater autoimmune effect compared to the presence of estrogens in association with heavy metals. Environmental factors play an overwhelming role and are represented on the one hand by chronic infections with bacteria, fungi and viruses , on the other hand by chemical compounds with which we come into contact repeatedly. These factors can also be represented by polyfactorial combinations found in certain vaccines, but also by chronic exposure to organic or inorganic toxins from the environment (xenobiotics).

Thus, it was found that autoimmune phenomena can begin several months after an acute infection. The presence of these infections leads to the development of the phenomenon of “molecular mimicry”, due to cross-reactions between microbial factors and human tissue antigens. The immune system confuses, after a longer association, of several months or years, these surface antigens of bacteria with similar antigens in the structure of various organs. Associations between reactive arthritis with HLA B27 antigen and infections with Klebsiella, Chlamydia, Yersinia, Shigella or hemolytic streptococci are known. Cross-reactions between microbial DNA and the cells of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus are also known. The synthesis of autoantibodies can be imposed by the deposition and chronic presence of viral antigens on the surface of various cells in the human body. Then the autoimmune response is created against this organ by modifying the surface antigens.

Regarding the sensitization of the immune system by chemical compounds from the environment, of an organic or inorganic nature, this sensitization can occur through a phenomenon of absorption/binding of a wide variety of organic or inorganic compounds (heavy metals, primarily) to circulating proteins or membrane proteins in various tissues, thus modifying the steric structure of membrane molecules or MHC-I or MHC-II molecules with the formation of new antigens (neo-antigens), which stimulate the triggering of an autoimmune response.

This process, experimentally proven in animals and confirmed in human pathology, can be reproduced in clinical and laboratory studies with organotoxic substances in the environment, such as pesticides, solvents, organochlorines, phthalates, etc., can be reproduced by chronic exposure to drugs and especially by exposure to heavy metals from various sources (dental alloys, cooking utensils, cutlery, water pipes, metal cans, etc.). We can state that a whole series of chemicals can intervene in the occurrence of autoimmune reactions of a systemic type, as we find in the case of systemic lupus erythematosus, autoimmune hemolytic anemia, myasthenia gravis, autoimmune glomerulonephritis and autoimmune hepatitis.

Table 1:
Drugs involved in the etiopathogenesis of discoid (cutaneous) lupus. Antonov et al., Clinics in Dermatology 2004; 22:157-166 Other mechanisms related to the occurrence of autoimmune diseases and which may have as primary cause all the factors discussed above are the depletion of suppressor T lymphocytes, type CD8+ , with the loss of the ability to inhibit autoantibody-producing beta cells. This can happen through neonatal thymectomy, which leads to a decrease in suppressor T lymphocytes, or as the aging process, through the so-called thymic atrophy. Direct polyclonal activation of beta cells by bacterial endotoxins or viruses, such as those responsible for chronic fatigue syndrome, or disruption of the balance of the TH1 and TH2 immune response, following exposure to microbial or chemical adjuvants, which favor the synthesis of autoantibodies.

This artificial division of the TH1/TH2 immune imbalance in autoimmune diseases characterizes the medical level of the 1980s-2000s, in which different reactivities could be documented in the presence of microbial infections (as in rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis) or heavy metals (scleroderma and systemic lupus). ZDS: What kind of immune imbalances are characteristic of autoimmune diseases? Prof. John Ionescu: Initially, the imbalance of TH1 and TH2 immunity was considered, documented by the presence of specific cytokines (interleukins 1 and 2, gamma interferon for TH1 and interleukins 4, 5, 10 for TH2, respectively) and with the predominance of one or another of the immune reactions. In the last decade, the participation of a new class of sensitized lymphocytes in autoimmune reactions has been found, namely TH17-type lymphocytes which, in turn, are characterized by a production of specific cytokines such as IL-17 and IL-22. This new class of reactive lymphocytes plays, together with regulatory Treg-type lymphocytes, an overwhelming role in all autoimmune diseases, influencing in turn TH1 and TH2-type immunity.

ZDS: What role do the gut and human microbiome play in autoimmunity?

Prof. John Ionescu: The human microbiome, represented mainly by the intestinal flora, due to the huge number of elements (1014), with over 1000 microbial species involved, has an overwhelming role in the health or disease state of the human body. The initial training of the immune system takes place in the gut-associated lymphocyte structures (GALT) and in the presence of the intestinal flora that the baby initially receives from the mother’s vaginal flora. This is the first and only natural vaccine left by God for training the immune system in the first 6 months of life. The constitution of this intestinal flora is particularly important for training the newborn’s lymphocytes towards a stable, robust, TH1-type immunity – cellular – extremely strong in the active fight against bacteria, fungi and viruses. This immune training is completed by childhood diseases that strengthen and consolidate TH1-type immunity, providing resistance for the rest of life to contact with bacteria, fungi and viruses in the environment.

An intervention with antibiotics , which can take place in the first 3 months of life or many years later, can lead to a major disruption of the microbiome of the person concerned. They seriously affect the healthy microbiome based on physiological elements such as lactic acid-producing bacteria (lactobacilli, bifidobacterial), physiological strains of Escherichia coli, Bacteroides sp. or physiological Enterobacteriaceae, creating a serious imbalance with the massive growth of pathogenic strains of the genus Clostridium difficile, pathogenic Enterobacteriaceae such as Klebsiella, hemolytic E. coli and fungi of the genus Candida. These pathogenic microorganisms exert a particularly negative effect by remodulating the immune reaction towards a TH2-type immunity, characteristic in a whole series of autoimmune diseases and lead to a state of chronic inflammation with increased permeability of the intestinal mucosa by toxic metabolic factors released (the so-called leaky gut syndrome). The consequence of increased intestinal permeability is the uncontrolled entry of an increased amount of food and microbial antigens into the bloodstream, which leads to chronic stimulation of the immune system with massive generation of circulating immune complexes.

ZDS: Can the average person’s diet cause an autoimmune disease? What are the dietary triggers and how can we detect them?

Prof. John Ionescu: As long as a healthy person lives in a relatively unpolluted environment and has not suffered from intestinal flora disorders, a normal diet cannot do them any harm. For example, populations in remote and somewhat primitive areas do not know allergies, autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular diseases, or cancer. On the contrary, living in an industrially polluted environment, contact with organic and inorganic xenobiotics creates the prerequisites for the emergence of a phenomenon of chronic inflammation and a shift in the direction of Th2, with the appearance of allergic and autoimmune reactions. Within our integrative concept, the presence of food intolerances and allergies in the patient in question is investigated from the first day. Without this immunobiological check-up to detect allergic and pseudo allergic reactions, no kind of personalized dietary help can be provided.

Ideally, we should use food free of food additives, cooked in ceramic, glass or clay pots to avoid ingesting metal compounds released from aluminum, copper or even stainless steel dishes. Also, as I said before, antibiotics create a major imbalance in the intestinal flora and therefore their use should be avoided especially in the first 6 months of life, but also afterwards.

ZDS: How can we differentiate an autoimmune disease from a non-immune one? Is it possible that in many cases an autoimmune disease in its early stages is overlooked and allowed to progress until it is already too late?

Prof. John Ionescu: Yes, it is often possible that an autoimmune disease in its early stages is overlooked, as we also observe in Germany. Since the patients’ symptoms also occur in other classic pathogens, they are confused with them for a long time. Therefore, in a differential diagnosis, the presence of auto antibodies relevant to various autoimmune diseases and other immune parameters must be tested from the beginning.

Autoantibodies relevant in scleroderma and associated pathologies

ZDS: What are the classic therapies for autoimmunity and what are the integrative ones? What do you think is the thinking or treatment error in conventional medicine that causes these patients to remain chronically ill for life?

Prof. John Ionescu: The integrative medicine courses that I have been teaching since 2006 in collaboration with the Carol Davila University of Medicine in Bucharest have as their primary goal precisely the definition of the therapeutic options offered by integrative medicine in comparison with the possibilities and results of classical medicine. Essentially, the main difference is that, up to now, both allergic diseases, autoimmune diseases, and the major degenerative diseases of today’s society are treated in classical medicine through a therapy addressed to the symptoms of the diseases, while integrative medicine has as its main objective the detection of the causes of these diseases and the individualized systemic treatment of the causal factors. The current thinking error consists in approaching the etiopathogenesis and therapy of these diseases from a completely different point of view: blocking the inflammatory phenomenon responsible for the patient’s symptoms, but not the causes that lead to the phenomenon of chronic inflammation. In the case of integrative medicine, the identification and therapeutic approach of the causes is mandatory.

ZDS: Are immunosuppressive therapies with cortisone a long-term solution? Are they related to the causes that cause the disease? What about “biological” treatments with TNF*alpha inhibitors? What is meant by “symptomatic treatment” in the case of these diseases?

Prof. John Ionescu: As we know, most classical therapies for autoimmune diseases are usually immunosuppressive with corticosteroids, nonsteroidal anti-rheumatic drugs or biologicals, targeting one or another of the inflammatory cytokines that occur in the pathogenesis of these diseases. As such, these treatments usually lead to an attenuation of the symptoms of the respective diseases and can even lead to saving the life of a patient in an acute crisis of autoimmune disease (such as lupus erythematosus). Unfortunately, it is also well known that the withdrawal of these elements from therapy leads, in a short time, to a dramatic exacerbation of the symptoms of the respective diseases. We cannot forget the long-term side effects, such as a significant increase in susceptibility to infections. This phenomenon of rebound (return) of the symptoms of the disease shows us indisputably that these treatments, some of them very expensive, do not address the causes of the respective diseases, but only the symptoms.

ZDS: What does integrative medicine add to the diagnostic treatments that you perform in your Spezialklinik Neukirchen? Approximately what percentage of patients with autoimmune diseases do you think can achieve a very good remission? Are there also cases of complete cures?

Prof. John Ionescu: From the above, it can be seen that one of the major concerns of our medical team is the identification of the causal factors that lead to the autoimmune phenomenon in the person in question. The diagnosis is particularly complex and includes the detection of chronic infections, which can be done both through classical microbial cultures from the patient’s intestinal flora and through 16S-RNA sequencing tests, which allow viewing a much larger number of microbial species with pathological potential. In addition, through lymphocyte cellular sensitization tests (LTT and ALCAT type), we can detect and evaluate the presence of chronic sensitizations against foods, toxic organic substances such as pesticides, solvents, paints, chlorinated organic substances, certain drugs and a range of 18 20 heavy metals, particularly important in the pathogenesis of these diseases.

Identification of cellular sensitizations against dyes, food preservatives, sweeteners, organic toxins and drugs by the ALCAT test

Performing these tests requires special equipment, in an environmental medicine laboratory, with technologies such as GC-MS, atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), HPLC, etc., which allow us to detect the smallest amounts of toxins in the patients’ bodies. Another line of tests targets allergic and pseudoallergic, therefore pro-inflammatory, reactions to food antigens or food additives, using cutting-edge technologies such as FACS, ImmunoCAP, LTT, ALCAT. The evaluation of the results of the therapy can also be expressed by measuring the production of free radicals in the respective patients’ bodies. The tests that we have been performing for years on patients’ blood give us a precise picture of the state of inflammation through oxygen and nitrogen radicals, which we measure using chemiluminescence or spectrometry techniques.

Once this information regarding the causality of the disease in the patient is obtained, an appropriate therapy follows in terms of eliminating these factors and substituting the missing elements that we observe in the same patients, such as serious vitamin D and magnesium deficiencies, the massive decrease in ATP production by ruining mitochondrial respiration, the presence of serious infections that require specific treatment, the modification of the redox and acid-base balance by installing a state of chronic oxidosis with a measurable lack of glutathione, cysteine, albumin, deficiencies in amino acids with a role in the neuro-hormonal balance, but also the lack of phase 1 and phase 2 detoxification mechanisms (CYP1A1, CYP2D6, GST-M/-T/-P, NAT2, UGT, POX, etc.). Thus, the therapist has a much larger and more valuable volume of information available compared to a colleague who does not know this causality. With this data available, it is possible to proceed to a personalized therapy capable of compensating for the observed deficiencies and stimulating the elimination of toxic substances in three ways:

Elimination of metals by increasing hepatic conjugation phenomena through phase two enzymes, which are still available to us.
Through intravenous therapies of mild or strong chelation (binding) of the respective metals with the help of certain antioxidants (GSH, ALA) or, respectively, synthetic products (EDTA, DMSA, DMPS, etc.).
Elimination of organotoxins such as pesticides, detergents, etc. by mobilizing these substances from the adipose tissue where they accumulate, including the brain, through mild chelators (GSH, ALA), hyperthermia in parallel with the administration of adsorbent substances that bind the toxins mobilized at the intestinal level. These toxins can be conjugated by activating phase 2 enzymes or filtered from the circulating blood through hemoabsorption or plasmapheresis therapies that we use in our clinic.

The plasmapheresis technique is used to remove organotoxins bound to plasma proteins and circulating immune complexes

This is followed by the substitution of missing elements, such as vitamins A, B, D, E, certain amino acids involved in the synthesis of neurohormones, or necessary plasma proteins, such as albumin or human gamma-globulins.

Unfortunately, the toxicological interventions mentioned above cannot be found in the classical therapy of autoimmune diseases.

ZDS: Can an autoimmune disease be completely cured? Does integrative treatment offer a clear advantage over classical treatments?

Prof. John Ionescu: We have a series of cases of young people with autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis or Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, who have been symptom-free for over 15 years, and who I believe we can consider as cured. These patients followed our therapeutic concept for a year, returning step by step to a normal life and still following the prescribed personalized diets.

Patient with discoid lupus before and after 4 weeks of integrative therapy

In older people who present in an advanced phase (often due to a late diagnosis), a significant remission can be achieved associated with a longer-term orthomolecular biological substitution therapy. The occurrence of the disease is also explained by the genetic polymorphisms that we observe in all these patients, which prevent them from effectively eliminating the toxic substances they come into contact with. Such patients have an extremely low capacity to bind and eliminate heavy metals or organotoxic substances and therefore need a long-term orthomolecular supplementary therapy, with antioxidant elements, with anti-inflammatory elements such as natural polyphenols, with immunoregulatory elements such as vital mushrooms or vitamin D3 and with a personalized diet , which eliminates the reactivation of inflammatory processes through allergic or pseudoallergic reactions and stimulates phase 2 detoxification processes (through the Food Allergy Control program). These patients can enjoy a normal life without resorting to corticosteroids or other immunosuppressants, which only address inflammatory symptoms.

ZDS: Is inflammation a cause or just a symptom of these diseases? Can we evaluate the progress or success of integrative treatment using markers of systemic inflammation?

Prof. John Ionescu: Inflammation is an obligatory component of allergic, autoimmune, neurodegenerative and neoplastic diseases. But inflammation is not the primary cause of these diseases because inflammation occurs only when our body is acutely or chronically subjected to strong oxidative stress. This oxidative or nitrosative stress is characterized by the massive production of oxygen or nitrogen free radicals. The causes that lead to the production of free radicals can be of an external nature (toxic substances, drugs, heavy metals, acute or chronic infections, food allergens, trauma, exposure to UV radiation, gamma, states of hyperthermia, states of physical exhaustion through work or strenuous sports). All these elements lead to the production of free radicals. Once produced, free radicals necessarily activate the so-called nuclear transcription factors, which immediately lead to the activation of inflammatory genes, responsible for the synthesis of inflammatory proteins such as interleukins, cytokines, but also through the oxidation of lipids and arachidonic acid with the appearance of inflammatory prostaglandins and leukotrienes. These compounds, once they appear, are the key elements of any inflammatory process, but behind them is always the production of free radicals upon contact between the body and the previously mentioned aggressive elements.

ZDS: What are the foods, supplements, and medications that are beneficial in autoimmune diseases? Can we say that all autoimmune diseases have a common denominator, and therefore possibly a common basic treatment for all of them?

Prof. John Ionescu: Autoimmune diseases are personalized diseases, no two patients have the same causality and the same symptomatology. Each patient is exposed to a different range of toxic factors in the environment, starting with the inhalation of toxic substances in the air (gases, suspended dust, nanoparticles from diesel engine combustion, cigarette smoke, mold spores), which will activate different detoxification systems. It is also absolutely impossible to find two patients with an identical microbiome, with the same intestinal flora and with the same food intolerances. All this shows the absolute need for a personalized diet for each patient, which addresses the specific causality. The food that the patient consumes also plays an overwhelming role in modulating the pathogenic intestinal flora. There are situations when an antimicrobial element (phytotherapeutics, antiseptics) must also be introduced against pathogenic fungi or bacteria, followed by a prebiotic and probiotic treatment, which favors the development of physiological lactic acid bacteria or physiological strains of E. coli and Bacteroides sp.

The part of orthomolecular therapy with anti-inflammatory effect aims to block excess free radicals with the help of fat-soluble vitamins A, D and E, polyphenols, glutathione or alpha-lipoic acid. We do not use corticosteroids or other similar immunosuppressants that do not solve the cause of the condition. In addition, there are also possibilities of immunomodulation, which can be carried out with bacterial extracts, immunoglobulins or vital mushrooms (such as Ganoderma). My colleague Dr. Ciprian Ene presents a whole series of practical examples regarding the administration of these phytotherapeutic immunomodulators in the courses.

There are also a whole series of ways to activate detoxification enzymes by supplementing with cruciferous foods, for example, to activate enzymes in the second phase of detoxification, predominantly hepatocellular.

ZDS: What are your thoughts on immune supplements? Can they help or exacerbate an autoimmune disease? How do we differentiate between them, especially between immunostimulants and immunomodulators (adaptogens)?

Prof. John Ionescu: Back in last year’s classes, we intensively discussed the role of nutrition in the treatment of these autoimmune diseases. Both food and supplements can inhibit or exacerbate an autoimmune disease through various mechanisms aimed at activating the production of free radicals and the inflammatory process, followed by the release of inflammatory mediators (interleukins, cytokines or histamine), which are extremely harmful in accentuating the general inflammatory phenomenon. It is impossible to advance in the treatment of an autoimmune or allergic disease without establishing the profile of food allergies and intolerances and treating this pillar of the respective diseases. Tests for detecting food reactions through immediate or delayed mechanisms help us eliminate factors that lead to inflammation from the diet. From research in recent years, we have evidence of the overwhelming influence of inflammatory factors such as TNF-alpha, interleukins 1, 2, 6 or 8 on the activation of TH-17 cells. They block regulatory T cells, which results in the loss of all control over cellular immunity. Candida infections on various mucosal surfaces directly activate TH 17 cells, and these infections are found in most autoimmune diseases.

Vitamin D3 in doses of 10,000 units (much more than the recommended daily dose), for example, plays an important role both in suppressing excess TH-17 and in activating regulatory T cells. It is extremely important not only to start with the administration of all the mentioned elements, but also to control the evolution of free radicals and inflammatory cytokines during therapy. This can be done in specialized laboratories, such as those in our clinic in Germany, where the effect of the therapy is monitored shortly after admission.

ZDS: Are there absolute contraindications for foods, supplements, and medications in these diseases?

Prof. John Ionescu: Regarding foods, after identifying the harmful ones, a special diet must be followed that completely excludes them for 3-6 months. In generalized autoimmune diseases, high doses of vitamin C and especially intravenous therapies with this vitamin must be avoided, since the activation of metals participating in these processes produces free radicals and immediately worsens the symptoms of the disease.

ZDS: What autoimmune diseases do you treat with very good results in your clinic?

Prof. John Ionescu: In our clinic, we treat patients with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, cutaneous or systemic lupus erythematosus, scleroderma, dermatomyositis and all forms of psoriasis. During the course on autoimmune diseases on February 20, a whole series of diagnostic and therapeutic protocols for these diseases are presented.

ZDS: Is there a connection between dental treatments and the development of these diseases? What other less suspected causes could autoimmune diseases have?

Prof. John Ionescu: Certainly dental interventions and dental alloys in patients’ mouths can be a major cause in the situation where patients are marked by the genetic polymorphisms discussed. The association between autoimmune diseases and sensitizations to mercury, cadmium, lead, nickel, palladium and gold is well documented. Other less suspected causes would be related to pesticides and certain medications.

ZDS: Are autoimmune diseases a recent phenomenon or have they always existed in human history?

Prof. John Ionescu: Genetic polymorphisms have certainly been present for thousands of years. Causal factors that activate the inflammatory response, such as alloys in dental fillings, cooking in metal pots, pesticides, pollution from road traffic, intestinal dysbiosis due to antibiotics or other drugs, show that we are dealing with “diseases of civilization”, which exploded after World War II.

ZDS: What other preventive measures can patients take on their own to reduce the effects of these diseases? We know that stress is very important and aggravating, how can we still reduce it?

Prof. John Ionescu: Extreme oxidative stress due to the production of oxygen and nitrogen free radicals is directly involved in the occurrence of the inflammatory phenomenon. But there is also a psychosocial stress that, although it cannot be considered a primary cause, can still worsen the clinical evolution through uncontrolled discharges of mediators or neurohormones. These discharges are often found in patients with allergic diseases, but also in patients with autoimmune diseases in the initial phases. Dr. Ciprian Ene defines the concepts of stress and psychosomatic illness in the context of the so-called integrative psychology, which connects the psychosomatic component with the experimentally proven immunological component. Panic, quarrel, fear can lead to a rapid discharge of adrenaline and noradrenaline that activates the production of interleukin 10 from mononuclear cells, which in turn promotes a TH2-type immune reaction. This discharge of adrenaline and noradrenaline can also occur in the presence of an increased concentration of heavy metals in the nervous system. Dr. Ciprian Ene makes a very interesting contribution by assessing emotional causality with the help of quantum medicine devices, with which one can establish both the state of the neurovegetative nervous system and its correlation with the state of the hormonal immune system. This results in a whole series of treatment possibilities for these neurohormonal and psychosomatic imbalances, such as integrative psychotherapy or electromagnetic wave therapy.

ZDS: What happens to an immune disease that is not discovered and treated in time? Can it evolve into a more serious one (atopic dermatitis, asthma, celiac disease, etc.)?

Prof. John Ionescu: There is no doubt that the disease can worsen. Failure to treat these phenomena at the right time leads to a chronicization of the pathological process and to the therapeutic resistance that we encounter more and more often.

ZDS: Is leaky gut syndrome the antechamber to autoimmunity? What do we need to do to repair our gut?

Prof. John Ionescu: This syndrome is part of the antechamber of autoimmunity, as important as the effects of toxins. Bloating, for example, can occur in situations of intestinal fermentation of sugars or flours, with the production of alcohol (ethyl alcohol, isopropanol or methanol), which greatly weaken sensory functions. Children who consume a lot of sweets are always tired and their vision is affected. These alcohols can be further converted into aldehydes, which are toxic and appear in increased amounts in a whole series of autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases (Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s). If the diet is heavily based on meat products, bloating occurs with the release of hydrogen sulfide, which is very toxic to the cytochrome system, which causes the blockage of mitochondrial respiration associated with chronic fatigue states.

ZDS: What does a doctor need to practice better medicine? A sense of research, innovation, a spirit of analysis and correlation, what would be the most important to become a good doctor?

Prof. John Ionescu: Without a doubt, the spirit of innovation, analysis and correlation is a factor of great importance for the personalized treatment needed for each patient. The abandonment of the schematism that is often used in current medicine is linked precisely to these attributes. But what I believe a student needs to become a good doctor is first and foremost a new generation of teachers who, on the benches of the Faculty of Medicine, will correctly describe the causes of diseases and not just the therapy of symptoms with addictive pharmaceutical products.

ZDS: What is the impact of the integrative medicine courses you teach in Romania?

Prof. John Ionescu: From the evaluation sheets that the course participants hand us, I can see a real enthusiasm and a maximum interest in these integrative medicine seminars. I could say that there is a real “hunger for novelty”, especially when it comes to methods and therapies that can get the practicing physician out of the impasse he is currently in.

ZDS: What are the next integrative medicine courses you will be teaching in Romania and how can doctors enroll in them?

Prof. John Ionescu: On March 19, we continue the courses with a special session dedicated to integrative therapies in cancer, and on April 16, we will resume with new data and therapeutic examples the integrative approach to allergic and dermatological diseases. These meetings became possible also thanks to the support provided by the rector of UMF Carol Davila Bucharest, Acad. Prof. Dr. Ioanel Sinescu, for which I would like to thank him in particular.

REFERENCES

www.german-integrative-medicine.ae

+971-58-613-2750

info@german-integrative-medicine.ae

Location

www.german-integrative-medicine.ae

info@german-integrative-medicine.ae

+971-58-613-2750

Location

Atopic Eczema & Allergic Asthma

Psoriasis