Having an autoimmune condition puts you are higher risk of testing positive for high risk HPV and an abnormal Pap. Additionally, having HPV and/or the HPV vaccine can trigger an autoimmune condition. If you’re dealing with autoimmunity, high-risk HPV, and/or cervical dysplasia (abnormal cells on your Pap), this episode will help you understand the connection and what you can do to address both at the same time.

Women often feel their body is doing two different things at once. I want to help you understand your immune system, the difference between immune boosting and immune modulation, and how you can heal from both HPV and autoimmunity by doing some of the same things, without making either one worse.

I’m Dr. Doni Wilson, a naturopathic doctor, women’s health expert, midwife, and HPV expert. I specialize in helping people recover from stress, autoimmunity, and I help women clear high-risk HPV to negative, and prevent it from coming back. My protocol addresses your whole body, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. 

In over 26 years of practice, I’ve seen thousands of women with high-risk HPV and many with autoimmunity – I find it’s not uncommon to have both. I want you to know it’s possible to reverse autoimmunity, and it’s also possible to clear high-risk HPV and prevent the abnormal cells or cancer it can cause. 

Autoimmunity, Medications, and HPV

There are over 100 autoimmune conditions, and they are more common in women. Studies discuss a phenomenon where high-risk HPV and/or the HPV vaccine can trigger autoimmunity via molecular mimicry. 

If an autoimmune condition becomes severe, that is when an immune suppressing medication may be prescribed. When a medication suppressing immune function, that can make you more susceptible to HPV. 

My goal and approach, in that case, is to help protect you from HPV without decreasing the medication’s effectiveness. As your body heals, our next goal is to reduce the autoimmunity and inflammation, so maybe you’ll need less medication, which then lowers your HPV risk.

One of the most common conditions I see (in general and alongside HPV) is Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, which causes 90% of low thyroid function. In Hashimoto’s, the immune system makes antibodies against your thyroid, specifically antithyroglobulin (ATA) and thyroid peroxidase (TPO), which can be tested in blood work. 

If you’re taking thyroid hormone, like levothyroxine or desiccated thyroid, you’ll continue to replace what your thyroid no longer makes, while working to decrease the antibodies. Simply testing positive for autoantibodies (even if your thyroid function is normal) tells me your system is under stress and out of balance.

Other autoimmune conditions include celiac disease, Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, MS, scleroderma, Sjögren’s, and mixed connective tissue disease. There are over one hundred, which makes sense when you think about how the immune system could possibly react to any cell type in the body.

How Autoimmune Conditions Are Diagnosed

The general blood test for autoimmunity is the ANA, or anti-nuclear antibody test. Ask your doctor for an ANA panel with reflex. It’s reported as a ratio; 1:80 is a low level. If positive, the reflex and pattern give more specifics, and then your doctor may test for rheumatoid factor and/or lupus antibodies, for example.

Standard medicine treats autoimmunity mainly based on symptoms. If autoimmunity affects your daily living, a rheumatologist may start a corticosteroid like prednisone, which suppresses the immune response but causes side effects, like bone loss, with longer term use. Then you might move to a biologic medication, specific to your condition, that turns off the autoimmunity and may have other side effects. 

An example is Lichen sclerosus, an autoimmune condition affecting the vulva, is often treated with topical corticosteroids, which can make women more susceptible to HPV on the vulva.

HPV is most commonly diagnosed at a gyn exam, through a high-risk HPV test with a Pap smear. An anal Pap smear and HPV test also exist, usually for people with symptoms or a history of vaginal HPV.

Th1, Th2, and Th17 Immunity: It’s About Balance

A common concern is whether supporting the immune system would increase autoimmunity. An important distinction is that our immune system is not black or white. It’s not as simple as either up or down. It is complex and is composed of different types of immune cells and mediators. 

Th1, or cell-mediated immunity, protects us from viruses and bacteria, including high-risk HPV, a DNA virus. It involves T cells, CD8 cells, NK cells, and cytokines like interleukin-2, interferon gamma, and TNF. If Th1 is depleted, you’re more susceptible to infection.

Th2, or humoral immunity, produces cytokines like interleukin-4, protects us from parasites, and is associated with allergic responses. When out of balance, it’s associated with autoimmunity.

We need both Th1 and Th2 – in balance. When there is an imbalance, particularly when Th1 decreases and Th2 increases, you end up with less protection from infections and more autoimmunity. A pro-inflammatory state, called Th17, can also coincide.

This is why the goal isn’t about “boosting” the immune system; it is to modulate (or rebalance) it. That is to say, shifting it from autoimmunity mode back to protection mode. 

Research shows the common trigger for autoimmunity and imbalance in the immune system in general is stress: Work stress, lack of sleep, toxins like mold, infections like COVID, emotional stress, trauma, and abuse. Genetics can play a role but aren’t required. This can happen at any age, and recovery isn’t harder at any age.

Immune Modulation with Natural Substances 

People worry that vitamin C, zinc, or echinacea might worsen autoimmunity. Instead, I’ve found clinical doses of vitamin C, zinc, herbs, and mushroom extracts safe and effective for clearing HPV without triggering autoimmunity. 

Natural substances work in an immune modulating fashion, to help bring immune system back to protecting you from infections, without increasing autoimmunity. I find that we can use herbs and nutrients to address HPV, while we work to shift your immune system out of autoimmunity mode over several months. 

Medicinal mushrooms, like shiitake and turkey tail (Coriolus) contain beta-glucans and polysaccharides that balance the immune system, help prevent HPV-related cancer, decrease inflammation, and help turn off autoimmunity. Other immune modulators include peptides and low-dose naltrexone (LDN). 

The use of natural substances to modulate your immune system must be individualized to you, which is why it’s important to work with a practitioner who can guide you.

How Best to Reverse Autoimmunity and HPV

It’s important to begin with foundational factors that can make a big difference in how your immune system is working. 

I use the acronym C.A.R.E. to remind us of the essential aspects of our daily routine: Clean eating, Adequate sleep of seven and a half to nine hours, Recovery activities like nature, meditation, music, community, and quiet time, and Exercise that matches your body.

Diet comes first. The two most common inflammatory foods are dairy and gluten, and gluten is linked to celiac disease, Hashimoto’s, and other autoimmune conditions. I run a food sensitivity panel to identify IgG food sensitivities and address leaky gut, to reduce inflammation that can spread throughout your body.

An imbalanced microbiome also increases susceptibility to autoimmunity and HPV. I recommend a stool panel with PCR analysis of the gut microbiome. We can also run a PCR analysis of your vaginal microbiome to identify imbalances. Then I can guide you to address imbalances with antimicrobial herbs rather than antibiotics.

Stress disrupts cortisol, and cortisol that’s too high or too low disrupts the immune system. I prefer to run a salivary test at four times of day to identify your cortisol levels so that we can determine the best natural substances to bring your cortisol to optimal. My book, Master Your Stress, Reset Your Health, guides you through this process.

I guide patients to address the other common root causes of both autoimmunity and HPV, including blood sugar imbalances, methylation issues, toxin exposure, and the impact of stress on your nervous system.

It Is Possible to Reverse HPV and Autoimmunity

I know it is possible because my patients prove it to me, by following my protocol, and then their follow up results show that they have cleared HPV to negative and autoimmunity goes to negative as well. If you’d like help, I offer one-on-one care and a group online program for high-risk HPV. 

What I find is that HPV is often just one sign that your body is asking for attention – and going through the process of addressing HPV can help you heal from autoimmunity, gut issues, hormone imbalances, anxiety, depression, migraines, sleep issues, and more. That means this could be your opportunity to change the way you relate to your body and your health. 

Every single one of the susceptibilities to HPV and autoimmunity can be tested for, addressed, and resolved. You are not powerless in this situation – quite the opposite. By getting information from specialty tests (not available in the standard medical approach) and working with a practitioner who can guide you through step-by-step, you can transform your health.

Please keep in mind that you are not likely to hear about this approach in a standard medical appointment. They are not trained in clinical nutrition, herbal medicines, or in which lab tests can provide the information we need to understand what is happening in your body and what is out of balance. 

That doesn’t mean your options are limited – it means you need an expert to help guide you. As a naturopathic doctor and midwife for over 26 years, I’ve helped patients from around the world clear HPV, and/or reverse autoimmunity, and go on to feel better than they had in years. When we rebalance your whole system, everything improves – your energy, your sleep, your mood, and your resilience to HPV.

I offer one-on-one care, in-person or virtually, to help my patients get access to health panels that provide accurate and essential information to create an individualized protocol. That’s how I help you to identify and address the root causes of your health issues, so you can reverse imbalances and maintain optimal levels going forward. 

If you’d like to learn more about how I can help with your case, you can set up a time to talk with my team here.

I also offer a group, online community for women working to clear high-risk HPV and recover from an abnormal pap smear result. In that program – called Say Goodbye to HPV® Program – I teach you which tests to have done and how to understand and address your results. 

If you’re dealing with HPV and want to prevent cervical cancer, I welcome you to join me over on Instagram @drdoniwilson and on my website at clearhpvnow.com. You can download my free HPV Recovery Guide and watch videos of women who’ve implemented my HPV Protocol and found freedom from high-risk HPV. 

If you’d like to get a better sense of my approach, I welcome you to join my next free How to Get Rid of HPV online workshop where I help you to create a plan to get HPV out of your life for good. 

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Thank you so much for joining me for this video. I’d love to hear from you – please like, comment, share, and subscribe, if you haven’t already. I look forward to having you join me for the next episode of How Humans Heal.

I look forward to connecting with you. 

Disclaimer: This specific article and all other Content, Products, and Services of this Website are NOT intended as, and must not be understood or construed as, medical care or advice, naturopathic medical care or advice, the practice of medicine, or the practice of counseling care, nor can it be understood or construed as providing any form of medical diagnosis, treatment,  natural HPV cure, or prevention of any disease.

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