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Autoimmune and inflammatory.What drives autoimmune and inflammatory conditions?

Usually more than one thing at once. Genes set the stage. Gut health, infections, stress, sleep, diet and environment often act on it together. Conventional care is essential for calming a flare. The practitioners here also ask why the fire keeps starting.

Last updated October 4, 2026

Why does this get missed?

Because care is built to calm the flare, and calming the flare matters. The question of what keeps starting it tends to wait for a visit that never has the time.

Gut health, infections, stress, sleep, diet and environment are each followed by different people, if at all. Put together over the years, they can show what the immune system has been answering.

The curated pieces

3 pieces

  1. Talk, 18 min

    01

    Minding your mitochondria | Dr. Terry Wahls | TEDxIowaCity

    Terry Wahls, MD, a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Iowa who lives with secondary progressive MS, and who went on to run clinical trials of diet and lifestyle approaches in MS.

    What you’ll learn

    A physician telling, with real vulnerability, what happened when her MS kept progressing despite good conventional care. She describes studying the biology of her own cells and rebuilding her diet around what the brain needs. Her improvement was dramatic, but it is one person’s story, and she has since tested the approach in formal research. A powerful case for paying attention to food alongside medical treatment.

    Worth asking your doctor

    Is there a role for diet changes alongside my current autoimmune treatment, and how would we safely track whether they are helping?

    Go to the source

  2. Study, open access review in F1000Research

    02

    All disease begins in the (leaky) gut: role of zonulin-mediated gut permeability in the pathogenesis of some chronic inflammatory diseases

    Alessio Fasano, MD, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Mass General and Harvard who discovered zonulin and spent decades on celiac disease before widening his research to other inflammatory conditions.

    What you’ll learn

    The actual science of leaky gut, from the researcher who discovered the protein behind it, instead of the internet version. Fasano explains how zonulin controls the seals between gut cells, and how loosening them may draw the immune system into conditions from celiac disease to type 1 diabetes. He treats it as a working hypothesis and says where more evidence is needed. Dense in places, and worth it.

    Worth asking your doctor

    Could gut health or gut permeability be relevant to my inflammatory condition, and are there tests or approaches you think are worth considering?

    Go to the source

  3. Study, free full text, JAMA

    03

    Association of Stress-Related Disorders With Subsequent Autoimmune Disease

    Huan Song, MD, PhD, and Unnur Valdimarsdóttir, PhD, epidemiologists at the University of Iceland and Karolinska Institutet who study how severe stress affects long term physical health across whole populations.

    What you’ll learn

    Real numbers on something many patients sense: big stress and the immune system are connected. Following more than 100,000 people in Sweden for up to 30 years, the researchers found a stress related diagnosis such as PTSD was linked to a higher risk of later autoimmune disease, especially in younger people. It held up even when comparing siblings. People who stayed on SSRI treatment had a smaller increase in risk, a hint that treating stress may matter for the body too.

    Worth asking your doctor

    Given what I have been through, should stress or trauma care be part of how we manage my autoimmune condition?

    Go to the source

Every card links straight to the original source. We summarize and send people there. We never republish. How pieces are chosen

Questions to bring to your next appointment

  1. 01Is there a role for diet changes alongside my current autoimmune treatment, and how would we safely track whether they are helping?
  2. 02Could gut health or gut permeability be relevant to my inflammatory condition, and are there tests or approaches you think are worth considering?
  3. 03Given what I have been through, should stress or trauma care be part of how we manage my autoimmune condition?

This is a starting point, not medical advice. Talk with a doctor you trust before changing anything.

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Your story tells you what applies to you.

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