A biohacker with aspirations to conquer mortality has divulged his struggle with an autoimmune disorder that currently has no cure.
Bryan Johnson, a 48-year-old, recently informed his vast social media audience about his battle with Autoimmune Gastritis (AIG), stating, ‘My stomach is destroying itself.’
This condition affects an estimated two to five percent of the population. Johnson believes the true prevalence may be higher due to its elusive nature and expressed his commitment to discovering a cure, as current options only manage symptoms.
In an extended post on X, Johnson detailed the difficulties of obtaining a diagnosis and shared his ongoing journey to control and potentially cure the ailment.
Reflecting on his past, Johnson recounted a childhood filled with fast food and sugary treats. He enjoyed a few years of health in his twenties, but saw a decline after fatherhood and the demands of business took precedence, he admitted.
‘Within a few years I’d fallen into a deep, chronic depression. Somewhere in that timeline, my body began developing an autoimmune process affecting my thyroid and then my stomach lining,’ Johnson wrote on X.
He was diagnosed with hypothyroidism at 21 and successfully managed the condition with common treatments for nearly three decades. But for years, there were signs that something else was going on, Johnson said.
It was only in May that he discovered he also has AIG. ‘I’m unsure how long I’ve had it. AIG causes irreversible damage: nutritional deficiency, anemia, and over a long horizon, elevated cancer risk,’ Johnson said.
Biohacker Bryan Johnson recently revealed that he was diagnosed with Autoimmune Gastritis, an incurable disease that causes the stomach to ‘eat itself’
Johnson, 48, is a centi-millionaire who is trying to eliminate death. He said he was diagnosed with hypothyroidism when he was 21 but just got his autoimmune disease diagnosis in May
The biohacker noted that for 11 years, he had low levels of ferritin, a protein that stores iron, but he did not have anemia. He said he had tried many ways to raise his iron levels, but nothing worked.
Johnson said that his recent diagnosis made him realize that his low ferritin levels were an early sign of AIG, but ‘low ferritin was easy to dismiss by most standards of care.’
That is why the disease is so difficult to identify, and it explains why he said ‘it hides.’ AIG’s symptoms, such as abdominal pain, iron deficiency, loss of appetite, nausea or unexplained weight loss, are not unique or distinct and can have many causes.
Johnson was only diagnosed after he ‘overhauled’ his medical team this year to ‘lay the groundwork’ for a $1 million per year longevity program called ‘Immortals Care,’ designed as part of the biohacker’s quest to defeat death.
The team conducted a series of tests, including a colonoscopy that came back negative for cancer.
But a bi-directional endoscopy, which examines the entire intestinal tract, in addition to blood biomarkers, showed elevated levels of anti-parietal-cells antibodies, which indicate AIG.
A stomach biopsy that revealed weakening of the stomach lining confirmed the suspicion, as that is a clear early sign of the autoimmune disease.
Johnson appears to be remaining hopeful, despite noting that ‘When AIG is discovered today, standard medical care concedes defeat, stating that nothing can be done except managing the condition, no matter how awful or lethal the effects.’
Johnson said that although there is no cure for Autoimmune Gastritis, he and his medical team plan to conduct experimental treatments and find one
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The biohacker said he and his team ‘are going to try and solve my AIG.’ They plan to conduct routine monitoring of his iron levels and other biological indicators and perform additional tests to understand more specifics about his disease.
Depending on the findings, they plan to implement ‘experimental approaches,’ including targeting proteins that act as chemical messengers in the immune system, rebuilding regulatory T-cells and performing engineered cell therapy, among other options.
Johnson emphasized that ‘there’s no approved cure for autoimmune gastritis today,’ and he and his team’s attempts to cure the disease will be brand new.
But he believes it can be done and that the goal is worthwhile.
‘In the age of AI, multiomics, and custom-built DNA, proteins, and cells, no condition should be presumed incurable simply because no one has yet tried to cure it with today’s stack,’ the biohacker said.