Autoimmune Disease Treatment in Greenville, SC
Autoimmune Disease Treatment at IHP Greenville. Dr. Hendry, DAOM — functional medicine, root-cause diagnostics, personalized care. Call (864) 365-6156.
"Dr. Hendry spent a long time going over my particular medical situation and explaining his recommendations for getting my immune system back on track. I received acupuncture and supplements to start my treatment. I'm very excited about getting healthy again."
— Cam Norden · July 2025 · Google Review
Vojdani's research documented that molecular mimicry between dietary peptides and human tissue proteins becomes clinically significant only when intestinal permeability allows those peptides systemic access. That mechanism is the reason I treat leaky gut as a prerequisite for managing most autoimmune conditions — the immune attack on self-tissue cannot fully resolve if the barrier breach that initiated it is still open. Vitamin D deficiency impairs T-regulatory cell function that keeps the autoimmune response suppressed. Correcting both — the gut barrier and the vitamin D — addresses the conditions that are sustaining the autoimmune activation, not just the immune attack itself.
How Autoimmune Disease Treatment Works
Autoimmune treatment at IHP combines functional medicine investigation (identifying triggers: gluten, gut dysbiosis, leaky gut, vitamin D deficiency, heavy metal toxicity, chronic infections), acupuncture (for immune modulation — specifically reducing pro-inflammatory Th17 activity and restoring Treg immune regulation), Chinese herbal medicine (anti-inflammatory and immune-regulating classical formulas), and dietary protocol (autoimmune protocol diet, elimination of identified triggers).
Conditions Treated with Autoimmune Disease Treatment
Functional Autoimmune Care vs. Immune System Suppression
The conventional approach to autoimmune disease is immunosuppression: suppress the immune system broadly enough to reduce the self-attack. This prevents tissue damage in the short term but increases infection risk, carries long-term cancer risk with continued use, and addresses none of the reasons the immune system began attacking self-tissue. At IHP, Dr. Hendry investigates those reasons: gut permeability (leaky gut allows microbial antigens to contact and activate the systemic immune system), molecular mimicry (microbial or food proteins structurally similar to self-proteins that trigger cross-reactive immunity), vitamin D deficiency (critical for immune regulatory T-cell function and tolerance), and specific gut dysbiosis patterns linked to autoimmune activation. A patient with Hashimoto's who eliminates gluten, heals leaky gut, optimizes vitamin D, and addresses identified dysbiosis often sees TPO antibody levels fall substantially over 6–12 months — not because the immune system was suppressed but because the trigger was removed. The goal is immune regulation, not immune suppression.
Research & Evidence
The gut-autoimmune connection has strong research backing: Fasano's research (Annals NYAS, 2012) established that intestinal permeability is a prerequisite for autoimmune disease development in genetically susceptible individuals. Research on acupuncture's immunomodulatory effects — including a 2020 systematic review in Frontiers in Immunology — shows acupuncture regulates T-regulatory cell function and inflammatory cytokine profiles, directly relevant to autoimmune conditions. Dietary and lifestyle interventions targeting the microbiome have shown documented benefit in conditions including Hashimoto's, rheumatoid arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease.
Your First Appointment
Bring documentation of your autoimmune diagnosis, all lab results (ANA, disease-specific antibodies, inflammatory markers), and current medications (biologics, DMARDs, corticosteroids). Describe the disease activity, flare patterns, and triggers you have identified.
Why Dr. Hendry for Autoimmune Disease Treatment
Dr. Hendry's functional medicine training in the gut-immune axis and autoimmunity gives him the ability to identify and address the specific environmental triggers driving your autoimmune disease — an approach that conventional rheumatology does not take but that produces meaningful clinical improvements alongside conventional treatment.