10/29/2026
The Real Causes of Autoimmune Disease Have Now Been Discovered in 2026. Here’s How You Can Heal.
Everybody I talk to seems to be stuck looking for one main cause of their chronic symptoms and autoimmune disease.
Is it Diet? Lifestyle practices like lack of exercise or lack of sleep? Virus? Parasites? Toxins? Glyphosate? Pesticides? Microplastics? Medications? Trauma? Stress? Allergies? Genetic? Gut health? Immune health? Brain health? Hormone health?
The simple answer is: YES. In 2026, the science is very clear (even if your doctor isn't up to speed yet).
Most chronic illness states are caused by a combination of these factors—and there’s even more to consider.
Complex chronic illness involves layers. Many things are usually happening at the same time, affecting one another and keeping you feeling terrible.
Having worked with thousands of people over the past 10 years, and having personally recovered from seven autoimmune diseases myself, I can tell you that no one has exactly the same exact layers of root causes. No two lupus patients are alike. No two fibromyalgia patients are alike. Etc.
Some people have high heavy metals or pesticides. Some have severely compromised gut health creating immune tolerance and allergic-like reactions.
Some became sick after an infection and never fully recovered. Others moved into a mold-damaged home or spent years working around chemicals.
Someone else went through a severe stressful event, such as a divorce, death, moved somewhere they felt isolated, or spent years caring for everyone else while running themselves into the ground.
Some have wonderful families and very little stress, but years of poor nutrition, cellular deficiencies and toxic overload. While others have pretty good whole food nutrition, but their stress is causing a great deal of their inflammation and symptoms.
That is why we investigate YOUR ENTIRE STORY.
We're your medical detectives.
In a comprehensive investigation, we can be looking at 20 or 30 interacting factors. The challenge is understanding which ones matter for you, how they connect, and what needs attention first for faster, easier results.
This is why I hear people say, “I changed my diet. I take supplements. I've followed functional protocols. So WHY AM I STILL SICK???"
I see the level of frustration in new clients every day. You have worked hard. You have followed the advice. It's not your fault.
Important pieces of your puzzle are still missing, because your practitioner didn't know the newest science, and therefore, didn't know to investigate them.
There are very real, addressable reasons why you feel terrible. They must be investigated in order for you to heal.
And toxic exposures need to be the top priority of your investigation. I don't say that simply because I'm an immunotoxicologist. I say this because it's a fact.
I've performed thousands of tests on folks, and every time, toxic overload is the biggest factor.
What have you been eating, drinking, breathing, or working around that built up in your body without being cleaned out (picture a hoarder's home -- does the inside of your body look like this?) Things like food additives, mold mycotoxins, pesticides, herbicides, solvents, heavy metals, microplastics and more. What were you exposed to years ago that's still stuck in your tissues—and what are you still exposed to today?
Someone can eat a nutritious diet while continuing to breathe mold-contaminated air at home. They will not heal until the mold exposure is removed.
Another person can take supplements while struggling to absorb or use those nutrients. They will not heal (and will waste a lot of money on trying new supplements) until they address why their gut health is destroyed. (Guess what? It's the toxins).
Someone else has an infection or a metabolic problem that changing food alone hasn’t addressed.
This is why recovering from complex chronic illness and autoimmune disease often requires much more than simply changing your diet and lifestyle, or doing a short gut health protocol, or even doing a simple parasite cleanse.
Daily practices that keep your body clean and help you to detoxify properly, while building the nutritional factors your cells need to heal are your foundation to feeling great every day, and reversing autoimmune disease and chronic illness.
So when illness continues and doesn't resolve, I want to know two main things:
What is the body missing that it needs to heal?
What factors are blocking your healing?
In my Precision Root Cause Healthcare System(TM), we investigate these questions with scientific rigor. It's so specific, we have a certification program taught to doctors.
Because it's simply not true that you are permanently broken and cannot heal. If you are believing this, we need to work on mindset and teach you the scientific facts of cellular regeneration and healing first.
Then we address your trauma, chronic stress, spiritual and emotional health, and brain and nervous-system regulation—including the limbic system and the connections between stress, traumas, gut health, and immune function.
We investigate your mitochondrial energy production and metabolism, because first and foremost, your cells need energy to repair, regulate, and carry out their daily work.
We look at your sleep, circadian rhythms, and hormonal influences.
We investigate your genetics and epigenetics—your individual genetic differences and the environmental factors influencing how your genes function (yes, even these are modifiable).
We look at your cellular nutrient deficiencies: vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids, antioxidants, and the building blocks needed for healthy cell membranes, and we investigate whether you can digest, absorb, and use those nutrients efficiently.
We look at your gut health, the intestinal lining, the microbiome, food-related problems, immune regulation, and inflammation.
We investigate your biological burdens: Lyme, bartonella, babesia and other tick-borne infections, viral reactivation, parasites, and bacterial or fungal overgrowths and more.
And no investigation is complete if we do not investigate your toxic environmental exposures, including mold mycotoxins, chemicals, microplastics, heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides and more, and the effects of your cumulative exposures. These must be removed for you to heal, and it's the #1 reason why most people are still sick.
We assess the body’s ability to process and detoxify, which is critical for all life.
And we do this in a holistic manner that connects every part of you, including your emotions and spiritual needs.
We leave no stone unturned, according to the newest science, according to precision healthcare, and according to God's Holy Scriptures (after all, He created us, so if he says it's important, it's important).
Changing food does not automatically remove an environmental exposure, treat an infection, correct every deficiency, or restore cellular energy production.
If nobody has investigated all these areas for you, important causes will remain undiscovered, and you'll stay sick. Even while you’re doing everything you were told to do by well-meaning doctors or health coaches.
Think about the animals in nature. They almost never develop chronic illnesses or autoimmune disease. They don't get diabetes or metabolic dysfunction. They aren't overweight. They typically don't develop cancers, unless they are living near toxins created by people.
But animals in captivity develop the same exact chronic illnesses that people do.
Think about that for a minute. That means their food, surroundings, exposures, and living conditions deserve attention.
So do yours.
And the very good news is, most causes of poor health are modifiable. You can change them and be in control again.
Deficiencies can be corrected. Harmful exposures can be reduced or removed. Chronic infections can be treated and the terrain that caused them to go chronic in the first place can be corrected. Sleep, nutrition, and metabolic health can be restored, even if you've been suffering for decades.
That's how intricately and wonderfully made you are!
If your doctor keep ending with prescriptions while your root causes are never addressed, and your questions go unanswered, then it's time for a change.
You deserve a more complete investigation, based on the newest science available.
As a medical scientist and geek at heart, I study both the published research AND the N=1 testimonies of people who have healed severe chronic illness, and how they did it.
People are getting their lives back again.
I know what it feels like to lose many years to severe chronic illness. My own recovery after nearly 15 years of disability is why my work is so personal to me.
It's the purpose God created me for now that I've healed.
I believe God has a beautiful purpose for your life, and He wants you feeling better so you can fulfill that purpose!
That's why I started The Rise & Heal Movement. As a Christian ministry, we give back to our community with free LIVE trainings every week. Because you deserve to understand your body, align with His design, and take practical steps toward regaining your health.
Being sick is not a failure of character or faith. You deserve scientific investigation, real answers, and a plan you can put into action.
And you deserve the love and compassion from a practitioner who has walked in your shoes, and deeply understands the physical and emotional pain of severe chronic illness.
If you're ready to learn more, COMMENT WHY and we’ll send you information about The Rise & Heal Movement. We'll also send you the link to get my book, Why You’re Still Sick, which explains my Precision Root Cause Healthcare System(TM) that's taught to patients and practitioners alike.
The Rise & Heal Movement meeting is every Tuesday at 5 pm CST for teaching, coaching, and questions about autoimmune disease and chronic illness—whether you have a diagnosis or are still searching for answers for your confusing symptoms.
We have your answers, and the steps you need to take to feel better, faster.
I would love you to join our family, get your questions answered, and learn what you can begin doing.
Please remember this: Your hardest chapter does not have to define your entire story. God has amazing plans for every one of His precious children, and that includes YOU.
Let’s take the next step together.
I hope to see you at one of our meetings soon—and grab the book. You got this healing thing!
FINALLY, it's your turn to RISE & HEAL!!!
Love, Dori The Autoimmune Geek
