An autoimmune disease or disorder is a condition in which your immune system mistakenly attacks your body. It causes abnormally low activity or over activity of the immune system. In cases of immune system over activity, the body attacks and damages its own tissues. Immune deficiency diseases decrease the body's ability to fight invaders, causing vulnerability to infections.
Normally the immune system guards
against germs like bacteria and viruses. When it senses these foreign invaders,
it sends out an army of fighter cells to attack them. Also the immune system
can tell the difference between foreign cells and your own cells.
Your body's immune system protects
you from disease and infection. But if you have an autoimmune disease, your
immune system attacks healthy cells in your body by mistake. In response to an
unknown trigger, the immune system may begin producing antibodies that instead
of fighting infections, attack the body's own tissues. Autoimmune diseases can
affect many parts of the body.
Autoimmune disease can affect the whole body or only one
organ, for example Type 1 diabetes damages the
pancreas. Other diseases, like systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), affect the
whole body.
There are more than 80 types of
autoimmune diseases, and some have similar symptoms. This makes it hard for
your health care provider to know if you really have one of these diseases, and
if so, which one. Getting a diagnosis can be frustrating and stressful. Often,
the first symptoms are fatigue, muscle aches and a low fever.
"CLL with Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia" flickr photo by euthman shared under a Creative Commons (BY) license
The classic sign of an autoimmune disease is inflammation, which can cause redness, heat, pain and swelling. Examples of such diseases includes; Alopecia areata, Type 1 diabetes, Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Psoriasis/psoriatic arthritis, Multiple sclerosis, Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Inflammatory bowel disease, Addison’s disease, Graves’ disease, Sjögren’s syndrome, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Myasthenia gravis, Autoimmune vasculitis, Pernicious anemia, Celiac disease and many other. For more descriptions about these diseases CLICK HERE.
SYMPTOMS AND SINGS
The following are symptoms and
signs of autoimmune disease and most of them are similar;
1. Swelling and redness
2. Low-grade fever
3. Trouble concentrating
4. Numbness and tingling in the
hands and feet
5. Fatigue
6. Achy muscles
7. Hair loss
9. Skin rashes
8. Individual diseases can also
have their own unique symptoms. For example, type 1 diabetes causes extreme
thirst, weight loss, and fatigue. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) causes belly
pain, bloating, and diarrhea.
CAUSES
No one is sure what causes
autoimmune diseases, even Doctors don’t
know exactly what causes the immune-system misfire. Researchers suspect
environmental factors like infections and exposure to chemicals or solvents
might also be involved.
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.
TREATMENTS
Treatment depends on the type and
severity of the condition, the main treatment for autoimmune diseases is with
medications that bring down inflammation and calm the overactive immune
response. Treatments can also help relieve symptoms like pain, swelling,
fatigue, and skin rashes.
These treatments can control the
overactive immune response and bring down inflammation or at least reduce pain
and inflammation. Drugs used to treat autoimmune condition include Non-steroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil) and
Naproxen (Naprosyn) immune-suppressing drugs.
Eating a well-balanced diet and
getting regular exercise may also help you feel better.
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Posted by: Lusubilo A. Mwaijengo
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