In this YouTube short, McCall McPherson interviews a medical expert (author of The Autoimmune Solution) to explore why autoimmune diseases disproportionately affect women. The expert attributes the disparity primarily to hormonal fluctuations—especially changes in estrogen and progesterone—occurring during major life events such as pregnancy, childbirth, perimenopause, and menopause. They note that autoimmune conditions are now being diagnosed at younger ages, even in children, suggesting that the traditional age‑based screening models are outdated. The conversation also addresses the prolonged, often hidden, pre‑diagnosis phase: antibodies can develop 5–10 years before symptoms become evident, and patients frequently see multiple doctors before receiving a correct diagnosis. This diagnostic lag is compounded by gender bias and gaslighting, where women's symptoms are dismissed or attributed to stress, further delaying clarity and treatment.
Why is it, do you think, that women are disproportionately affected by autoimmunity?
So that's the multimillion dollar question. The theory is hormones play a role. So we as females typically, and I don't think we can say typically anymore when it comes to autoimmunity or cancer, right? Typically there were these screens for cancer in your 40s, 50s, 60s, and now we're seeing 20 and 30-year-olds getting cancer. So there is no typical anymore. Now we're hearing of children much younger getting diagnosed with autoimmunity, but We believe it has something to do with these hormonal shifts, particularly shifts in estrogen and progesterone. And during these times where we have enormous shifts such as pregnancy, delivery, perimenopause, and menopause tend to be the age at which this would happen.
This is synergistic with the conversation we were having about gaslighting, which is a shame, but can autoimmune disease be present for a very long period of time before someone finally gets the clarity of the diagnosis? Do you have any, even your own clinical insights on how how long these people deal with these syndromes under the surface before someone formally is able to diagnose them on average?
Absolutely. These antibodies are usually brewing for 5 to 10 years, and the average person is going to 4 to 6 doctors. Now, why is that? First, conventional medicine does not believe that once you have an autoimmune condition that there is anything that can be done to reverse these, so they don't even bother to check antibodies. That was pretty standard in my clinic when I was practicing, is I checked a whole slew this panel that I created through CPL, I would check antibodies on everybody because they were coming out before people were even having symptoms. And then, wow, you really have an opportunity to absolutely prevent this from ever coming out if you're not even having symptoms yet. And then with autoimmunity, the other thing is it is typically happening in women. We typically are dismissed. Any of the symptoms can mimic other things. You've just delivered, you're tired, you've gained weight, your hair is falling out. They're not checking your thyroid. They're not checking. Maybe you have lupus or something else. And so with autoimmunity, during that period where it's brewing and you haven't been diagnosed, there are often symptoms coming and going during that period. And so a lot of people do dismiss them. What I can say is in my book, The Autoimmune Solution, on my website, and of course in my latest edition of The Autoimmune Solution, I have a quiz and it places you— where are you on the autoimmune spectrum? So that's something that I coined, you know, whatever it's been, 12 years ago now. And it's, you know, it's a level.
