When Your Immune System Mirrors Your Stress

I don’t find it coincidental that my lupus antibodies h

ave spiked every time I’ve been stressed and hormonally dysregulated.

My first foray into autoimmune land began in my teens, when my doctor was investigating my fainting spells and heavy periods.

Instead of finding anemia, he found elevated lupus antibodies and a heart murmur.

I used to pass out after swim races…no warning, just collapsing like a wet rag, coming to with my coach hovering over me.

My amazing coaches were ahead of their time and taught me breath-work and visualization, which helped a lot and I still use 30 years later, but I still couldn’t catch every episode.

Then there we

re the “bonus” seizures from pain…like the time I slammed my finger in my dad’s truck door and woke up sprawled across the disgusting toilet of the local Dairy Queen’s tiny bathroom.

Or when I got hit by a rogue golf ball on a first date and ended up in the ER (no surprise, there wasn’t a second date).

Looking back, every episode I’ve had was a warning: I was pushing my nervous system to the edge with school/work and the pressure to excel in sports.

As an adult, I’ve seen each flare of fatigue or overwhelm has come with elevated lupus antibodies.

I’ve used Heart Rate Variability (HRV) tracking to monitor my nervous system–immune system connection for years now beca

use your heart is your most energetically sensitive organ.

I’ve tried nearly every device out there: Oura Ring, Whoop, Garmin, Morpheus, Apple Watch and found HRV tracking paired with journaling gives the clearest feedback on how stress, hydration, food, and even people affect your health.

Right now I’m using the Whoop and cycling it a month or two on and a few off as my wrist was getting sore and I suspect I was overloaded on EMFs from the Bluetooth (yes, this is a real thing that can happen so use tech wisely!). 

Speaking of HRV… this week on the Health Fix Podcast, my guest Dr. Bhawna Malik, a physical therapist, fertility & pelvic floor specialist, dives into how to use heart coherence and HRV to regulate your nervous system and directly impact your pelvic floor health through breath and coherence

training.

If your en

ergy feels off, your HRV may hold the clues.

Tomorrow, I’ll share what you can do to support the immune system side of the neuro-immune connection…sneak peek: berries, bees, roots, and mushrooms are part of it.

Listen to the episode with Dr. Malik – HERE

Here’s to tuning into your heart it’s speaking louder than you think,

— Dr. J