Understanding auto immune diseases
Easier to read what it does to a body than for me to explain what it is that she have.
My sister have an Ulcerative Colitis.
Which took away her eyesight completely in her left eye for over a month.
(She has been on steroids for six months )
I found a wonderful Ophthalmologist who prescribed liquid oral steroids for my sister's eye and slowly gained her sight back.
Prior to that, she couldn’t walk due to severe joint inflammation for a period of three weeks which thank God she's walking again. Thank God for doctors.
She have had her autoimmune disease since her mid-20s with no other symptoms or complications. But now in her 50s she have had these two devastatingly scary things happen to her.
Just thought I would share this article to all steamians.
What is an autoimmune disease?
An autoimmune disease is a condition in which your immune system mistakenly attacks your body.
The immune system normally guards against germs like bacteria and viruses. When it senses these foreign invaders, it sends out an army of fighter cells to attack them.
Normally, the immune system can tell the difference between foreign cells and your own cells.
In an autoimmune disease, the immune system mistakes part of your body — like your joints or skin — as foreign. It releases proteins called autoantibodies that attack healthy cells.
Some autoimmune diseases target only one organ. Type 1 diabetes damages the pancreas. Other diseases, like lupus, affect the whole body.
Why does the immune system attack the body?
Doctors don’t know what causes the immune system misfire. Yet some people are more likely to get an autoimmune disease than others.
Women get autoimmune diseases at a rate of about 2 to 1 compared to men — 6.4 percent of women vs. 2.7 percent of men. Often the disease starts during a woman’s childbearing years (ages 14 to 44).
Some autoimmune diseases are more common in certain ethnic groups. For example, lupus affects more African-American and Hispanic people than Caucasians.
Certain autoimmune diseases, like multiple sclerosis and lupus, run in families. Not every family member will necessarily have the same disease, but they inherit a susceptibility to an autoimmune condition.
Because the incidence of autoimmune diseases is rising, researchers suspect environmental factors like infections and exposures to chemicals or solvents might also be involved.
A “Western” diet is another suspected trigger. Eating high-fat, high-sugar, and highly processed foods is linked to inflammation, which might set off an immune response. However, this hasn’t been proven.
Another theory is called the hygiene hypothesis. Because of vaccines and antiseptics, children today aren’t exposed to as many germs as they were in the past. The lack of exposure could make their immune system overreact to harmless substances.
BOTTOM LINE:
Researchers don’t know exactly what causes autoimmune diseases. Diet, infections, and exposure to chemicals might be involved.
14 common autoimmune diseases For More Info:
- Type 1 Diabetes
- Rheumatoid arthritis (RA)
- Psoriasis/psoriatic arthritis
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Inflammatory Bowel Disease
- Addison's Disease
- Systematic Lupus Erythematosus
- Grave's Disease
- Sjögren’s Syndrome
- Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis
- Myasthenia Gravis
- Vasculitis
- Pernicious Anemia
- Celiac Disease
