Autoimmune diseases are commonly understood as a process whereby a person's immune system attacks his or her own body. It is sometimes seen as an allergic response, in which the body is allergic to some part of itself.
My understanding of autoimmune diseases is that they are not a case of the body mistakenly attacking itself, but rather an attack of the immune system on a lingering pathogenic factor (LPF). In a nutshell, LPFs are often a virus or other infection that lingers in the body, causing a low-level chronic infection. Such chronic conditions tend to do a lot of damage slowly over a period of many years, leading to all kinds of serious diseases and ultimately to death. LPFs usually have a presence in a particular location in the body, such as an organ or part of the brain, or in the blood. The immune system attacks, but is unable to eliminate the pathogen. When the immune system attacks an LPF in the thyroid, for example, it creates a constant festering in that organ. The same is true of any location in the body. LPFs don't always show up on Western medical tests. I discussed LPFs in two previous columns in Acupuncture Today. Please refer to the web site for more background on LPFs.
I use an energetic testing method to detect the presence of LPFs in the body. This sort of testing can also tell me where in the body the pathogen is located, by using the pulse. (See my previous article, "Allergy and Medical Divination" in the October 2000 issue.) With this method, it is also possible to detect when the LPF is leaving the body.
Click here for previous articles by Heidi Hawkins, MAc, LAc.