I have been thinking about this a lot recently, particularly when I notice my own symptoms waxing and waning. I guess the infective hypothesis would suggest that this is due (at least in part) to the dynamic interplay of infection and immune system - is there a similar or analogous autoimmune process that could explain why symptoms are better some days and worse other days?
I know that RA patients have flares but from a quick google there doesn't seem to an accepted explanation for what triggers them, apart from the usual suspects: infections and stress. What I would like to know is if there is some internal mechanism that could potentially explain flares. I have noticed that my ME flares do not seem to correspond to either infections (new ones that is) or stress, but rather to changes in my gut and diet. Are there any examples of autoimmunity being primarily gut-driven (I know this has been proposed for Reactive Arthritis) and if this was the case, would the autoimmune response to changes in the gut be expected to be a rapid one, and would this flare be expected to last for long after the gut returned to the prior state?
I know that RA patients have flares but from a quick google there doesn't seem to an accepted explanation for what triggers them, apart from the usual suspects: infections and stress. What I would like to know is if there is some internal mechanism that could potentially explain flares. I have noticed that my ME flares do not seem to correspond to either infections (new ones that is) or stress, but rather to changes in my gut and diet. Are there any examples of autoimmunity being primarily gut-driven (I know this has been proposed for Reactive Arthritis) and if this was the case, would the autoimmune response to changes in the gut be expected to be a rapid one, and would this flare be expected to last for long after the gut returned to the prior state?