Early Symptoms of Autoimmunity

The Early Symptoms of Autoimmunity

With over a decade in business, BeachCandy was started by our founder Brit B in 2011. Brit attended Pratt Institute in New York and graduated with one mission, to make women feel comfortable and confident in their swimwear. 

BeachCandy first began as a local swim shop located in Newport Beach, California. For over a decade, Brit and her team provided custom swimsuits for women in search of finding the perfect fit. And after spending thousands of hours in our fitting rooms with women of every age, shape, and size -- our famous fit developed by the collective voice of women around the world.

Today, BeachCandy has mastered the absolute best in quality and fit for women of all shapes and sizes around the globe. Women-owned and operated, BeachCandy swim is all American-made with the most luxe high performance materials on the planet.

Best known for providing a swimsuit sanctuary for women where they could feel confident within their skin. The BeachCandy brand is sold exclusively online, where you can shop each and every piece of BeachCandy’s iconic beach-inspired collection.

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Health and Wellness

With a passion for health and wellness, BeachCandy has become more than just a beachwear destination. This season we are going beyond the bikini -- it is our mission to educate our BeachCandy babes in holistic health and wellness practices. So you can live a healthy, happy, and long life.

This passion began with our ultimate BeachCandy babe, Brit, as her own health and wellness became her top priority roughly over a year ago. After years of suffering life-altering symptoms and numerous misdiagnoses, Brit was finally diagnosed last year with Ankylosing Spondylitis, a rare spinal autoimmune disease.

This life-changing disease lit a fire within Brit to educate others not only about her journey, but about holistic health practices in hopes of making a difference in others. Through this new awareness, Wellness Wednesdays at BeachCandy was born.

What is Autoimmune Disease?

Previously, we referenced Dr. Amy Myers, a New York Times bestselling author and functional medicine physician, to understand exactly what autoimmune disease is. 

Dr. Amy Myers states, “Autoimmune disease is simply a disease where your immune system attacks your body.” 

Dr. Myers explains that the immune system usually attacks foreign bacteria or viruses that enter our bodies by releasing antibodies. However, when having an autoimmune disease, your body cannot distinguish between your own cells and foreign ones. This means your immune system mistakes your joints, your skin, and even your organs for foreign invaders.

If you haven't already, we highly recommend taking a look at last week’s post What Is Autoimmune Disease & Can It Be Reversed? We dive deeper into autoimmune diseases and provide helpful information on autoimmune diseases as well as Brit’s story.

More of Brit’s personal journey here >

This week, we want to talk a little more about autoimmune diseases and the early warning signs. This is important as different types of autoimmune diseases are becoming more common in our world and are typically misdiagnosed by conventional doctors. 

Early Symptoms Of Autoimmunity

Your body is a great communicator of what is going on inside of you, especially when it comes to autoimmune conditions. Catching symptoms early can make a big difference in reversing your autoimmunity. While these symptoms do not officially diagnose you with an autoimmune disease, you should monitor them and visit a functional medicine practitioner if experiencing them.

Symptoms of autoimmune disease include but are not limited to the following:

Skin Rashes and Acne 

Your skin may be trying to communicate something to you. Our skin is a great way to tell if you may be suffering from an autoimmune reaction. Rashes that appear to be red, blotchy, and even scale like with an irritating itch can be an early sign. Rashes and skin conditions listed above can signify your body is not responding well to recent foods or products you came into contact with.

Acne is also an indicator of what is going on inside of our bodies. You may experience food sensitivities that are causing your face to break out. 

body aches
Photo by Ba Tik

Body Aches and Pains

Everyone experiences body aches and pains from time to time. Maybe you slept wrong, and your neck is hurting, or you had a hard work out and your muscles are now aching. While this is normal, unexplained persistent muscle pain and joint pain are not.

If you are experiencing muscle and joint pain and do not know why, this could be a sign of an inflammation response in the body.

Fatigue

If you are feeling exhausted regularly despite getting a healthy amount of sleep every night, this could also be a sign something is wrong. Feeling this way could be due to anemia or leaky gut and poor digestion. This is not a symptom to ignore, your body is basically shutting down on you.

Brain Fog and Trouble Concentrating 

This also goes hand in hand with fatigue; if you are feeling tired, foggy, and cannot concentrate, this can also be your body trying to communicate something to you.

Stomach Issues
Photo by Kat Smith

Stomach Pain

Experiencing symptoms such as diarrhea, cramps, bloating, and tummy aches? This could be a sign of Crohn’s, Celiac disease, or leaky gut. The longer symptoms like this persist, the more damage your digestive tract is experiencing. 

Weight Gain and Weight Loss

If you have noticed your metabolism stalling and your body gaining weight, this can also be a sign you are suffering from an autoimmune disorder. Your thyroid controls your body's metabolism; during this process, your body transforms the food you eat into energy. But if the food you eat has no nutrition it will instantly store those molecules as "fat" aka inflammtion. 

Don't eat the foods making you inflamed and watch your body shed inflammation pounds quickly.

On the opposite end, if you are experiencing unexpected weight loss, this also can be a sign that something is wrong. You may be suffering from adrenal insufficiency. While this is a rare reaction, it is due to your body insufficiently producing enough of certain hormones.

Hair Loss

Thinning of the hair, bald patches, or even brittle hair can also signify some common autoimmune diseases. This happens when the immune system attacks the follicles, which prevents hair growth, resulting in patchy hair loss or bald spots. If you are experiencing these symptoms, you could have Graves’ disease or Alopecia areata.

Ear Infections

Most commonly found in children, ear infections and food allergies can be caused by excess mucus found in the nasal and ear membranes. This means when a child is allergic to a certain food or food group, they may show signs of an allergic reaction in a mild way, such as an ear infection. This is so important to learn more about it you are a mom, antibiotics can be harmful to your child's microbiome please do some research.

Important Reminder

It's important to note that just because you are experiencing some of these symptoms doesn't mean you are suffering from disease. In fact, there are more symptoms you can experience aside from the most common ones listed above.

If you or a loved one is suffering from 2 or more of these symptoms listed above; in this case, you should seek proper care from a reputable functional medicine practitioner. As always, please seek professional medical care and have the proper tests run to determine a diagnosis.

More Wellness Tips

Here at BeachCandy, we are devoted to giving you the best holistic health and wellness tips. Don’t forget to take a peek at some of our favorite tips Benefits Of Coconut Oil Pulling and How To Make Bone Broth And The Benefits.

 

Legendary Swimwear For Women Since 2011

Make sure to check out our latest Spring '22 collection BeachCandy Ranch – Western-inspired swimwear, clothing, and accessories for the cowgirl in all of us.

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Written by Kaleigh Medellin 

The information on this site is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

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