Why switching off for your summer break can sometimes lead to a flare or cold symptoms…

Those of you who have had to take corticosteroid medications for your autoimmune condition will know that their role is to dampen the immune reaction. This can be useful during a flare where inflammation is excessive.

You may not know that corticosteroids work by effectively giving you a dose of cortisol, the fight or flight hormone that we naturally produce, also known as the stress hormone.  Cortisol dampens the immune system response.  It is secreted when the body thinks you are under threat.  It prioritises fighting or running away over dealing with infection or damage.

So if you have been through a period of chronic stress, and excessive cortisol secretion, sometimes when you relax and reduce your cortisol output, the immune system can suddenly switch back on. This can lead to cold or flu-like symptoms as the immune system now tries to deal with a longstanding infection, or to an autoimmune flare if the immune response is excessive and dysfunctional.

It’s important to realise that this cortisol mechanism may be the underlying cause of your flare, because this knowledge can help to inform your reaction to it.  This reaction may be simply to feel less anxious about the flare, because you know why it happened and to realise this is actually part of your recovery process. Or to anticipate the flare and support your body in advance with the nutrients it needs.  Or perhaps it may be possible to explore reducing the chronic stress in the first place, recognising that inserting regular rest breaks into a stressful period can reduce the risk of a flare.

If you would like to know more about how our diet and lifestyle can impact our autoimmune conditions, please sign up to my newsletter here.

Or click here to find out more about working together.