Episode 133: Autoimmunity and Childhood Trauma: How Your Immune System Reflects Your Past

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When Managing Symptoms Isn't Enough

Many people with autoimmune conditions feel discouraged and frustrated by their diagnosis. Conditions like lupus, Hashimoto's, or rheumatoid arthritis leave them feeling hopeless. They've been told there's nothing they can do except manage symptoms. Manage symptoms for the rest of their life with medications.

But what if autoimmune disease is associated with childhood trauma? What if it's a sign that your body has been living in survival mode for too long and recovery is actually possible?

In this episode, I explain the real nervous system root causes of autoimmune diseases that conventional medicine often misses completely. Why rewiring your nervous system and addressing stored trauma can help your body recover from autoimmune conditions naturally over time.

I share my own story of sitting in a rheumatologist's office. Staring at high antibody numbers on my lab results feeling overwhelmed. And deciding there had to be a better way forward.

You'll hear why autoimmune conditions often affect high-functioning women specifically. How toxic stress and trauma from years ago gets stuck in the body, leading to fatigue and chronic pain. Brain fog and autoimmune flare-ups that appear decades later unexpectedly.

I break down how autoimmunity isn't just about the immune system. It's also about safety, authenticity, and how your body responds to stress. Healing requires more than food or supplements to feel better temporarily. It means creating safety in your mind, body, and biology completely.

The Personality Traits in Autoimmune Conditions

Certain personality traits often show up in people with autoimmune conditions. These patterns are remarkably consistent across different autoimmune diseases. High achievers who are driven, accomplished, and always striving for more. This isn't just personality, it's a stress response pattern operating.

People-pleasers putting others' needs first and struggling to say no. This creates chronic stress through constant self-abandonment of your needs. Perfectionists who feel never good enough and always push harder. This maintains constant internal pressure and stress in your system.

Highly responsible people carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders. Taking responsibility for things beyond your control creates constant overwhelm. These aren't just personality traits you were born with naturally. They're survival strategies that keep your nervous system in chronic activation.

How Trauma Gets Stored in Your Body

Childhood stress, emotional pain, and trauma get stored in the body. This is biological storage, not just psychological memory of events. When experiences overwhelm your capacity to process them in the moment, they don't just get processed and released like they should naturally. They get stored in your nervous system at the cellular level.

This stored trauma affects your biology in measurable ways over time. Your immune system function, your inflammation levels, your stress response patterns. That stored stress from childhood continues affecting your biology in adulthood. Creating the conditions for autoimmunity to develop over many years.

Why a Stressed Nervous System Creates Autoimmunity

A stressed nervous system leads to fatigue, brain fog, and inflammation. When your nervous system is stuck in survival mode constantly activated, all your energy goes to staying safe instead of healing. Nothing left for actually living your life fully and joyfully.

Chronic stress creates brain inflammation that shows up as symptoms. Brain fog, difficulty concentrating, and decision fatigue you experience daily. A stressed nervous system maintains elevated inflammation throughout your entire body. This chronic inflammation is the foundation for autoimmunity to develop.

The Surprising Authenticity Connection

The connection between being your true self and autoimmune flare-ups matters. This connection is often overlooked but crucial to understand for healing. When you can't be your true self authentically expressed around others. When you have to hide or perform constantly for acceptance. This creates stress at a deep biological level affecting immunity.

Many people notice their autoimmune symptoms worsen during certain times. When they're not being authentic or when they're performing for others. Inauthenticity requires constant vigilance and suppression of your true self. This keeps your nervous system activated and immune system dysregulated constantly.

Why Positive Thinking Alone Doesn't Work

Positive thinking alone doesn't work for healing autoimmunity and here's why. Just thinking positive thoughts doesn't change your nervous system state. Or your immune function operating at the biological level beneath awareness.

Your body needs actual felt safety in your nervous system. Biological changes at the cellular level, not just different thoughts. Creating safety requires addressing stored trauma from the past completely. Regulating your nervous system and changing your biology through targeted work. Thoughts alone can't accomplish this depth of healing needed.

The Three Essential Healing Levels

Three key levels must be addressed for complete autoimmune recovery.

Level 1: Mind – Understanding your patterns, beliefs, and stories about yourself. This is necessary but not sufficient for healing alone completely.

Level 2: Nervous System – Regulating your nervous system and creating felt safety in your body is where transformation happens.

Level 3: Biology – Supporting your cellular health and reducing inflammation systematically. Addressing biochemical imbalances provides the physical foundation for healing to occur.

You need all three levels working together for sustainable recovery. Mind alone doesn't change biology operating beneath conscious awareness. Biology alone doesn't resolve nervous system patterns driving immune dysfunction. Integration across all three levels is key to lasting healing.

First Steps Toward Healing

First steps you can take to start nervous system regulation work. Begin paying attention to your nervous system state throughout each day. Awareness is the first step to creating change in patterns.

Use grounding practices to come into your body and present moment. This interrupts the survival mode pattern running automatically beneath awareness. Create small moments of safety in your body through intentional practice. Through breath work, through gentle touch, through creating safe environments.

Identify what triggers your nervous system into stress response activation. Begin reducing or managing these triggers as much as possible. Work with practitioners who understand nervous system healing and trauma biology. This work is hard to do alone without support.

Creating Safety at Every Level

Autoimmunity isn't just about the immune system attacking your tissues. It's also about safety, authenticity, and how your body responds. Your immune system responds to whether your nervous system feels safe. Or whether it perceives danger requiring constant vigilant immune activation.

Being able to be yourself authentically affects your stress response significantly. And your immune function operating to protect or attack tissues. Inauthenticity maintains the dysregulation keeping your immune system attacking itself.

Healing requires more than food or supplements to feel better. These help but don't address the nervous system root cause. Creating safety in your mind through understanding patterns and rewiring beliefs. Creating safety in your body through nervous system regulation and practices. Creating safety in your biology through reducing inflammation and supporting cells.

The Hope for Recovery

This episode provides hope and direction for people living with autoimmunity. Recovery is possible when you address the root causes systematically. Not just managing symptoms but actually healing the underlying dysfunction.

Autoimmune conditions aren't life sentences requiring medication management forever. When you address nervous system roots, recovery becomes genuinely possible. Your immune system can calm down when you shift out of survival mode. When you create actual safety in your mind, body, and biology.

This Episode Is For: 

✓ People with autoimmune conditions seeking root causes

✓ Anyone told to just manage symptoms forever

✓ Those with lupus, Hashimoto's, or rheumatoid arthritis

✓ High-functioning women with autoimmune disease

✓ Practitioners supporting autoimmune clients

✓ Anyone interested in trauma-immune connection

✓ People experiencing fatigue, brain fog, and chronic pain

✓ Those ready to address emotional roots of illness

What You'll Learn

Listen to understand why autoimmune conditions often reflect childhood trauma and chronic survival mode affecting your immune system over decades. Discovering the personality traits common in autoimmune patients you'll recognize. High achiever, people-pleaser, perfectionist, highly responsible survival strategies operating beneath awareness. How childhood stress gets stored in the body biologically, creating fatigue, brain fog, and inflammation decades later in adulthood. The surprising connection between authenticity and flare-ups you may notice. Why positive thinking alone doesn't work but actual felt safety does. The three essential healing levels of mind, nervous system, and biology. And first steps including noticing your state, grounding regularly throughout the day, practicing safety, addressing triggers, and seeking support to help your body recover naturally by creating safety completely.

Autoimmunity reflects survival mode—create safety to help your body heal.

Listen to Episode 133 →

Disclaimer

This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The information shared reflects my clinical expertise and research, but every person's biology and healing journey is unique. Always consult with qualified healthcare providers before making changes to your treatment plan or starting new interventions. If you're experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact emergency services or a crisis helpline immediately.

Join the Conversation

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode. What resonated with you? What questions came up?

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