Did you know that in a human body lies our immune system which is supposed to defend it from foreign bacteria and germs? However, this system sometimes makes a mistake when distinguishing cells and in return, it attacks your own cell. A lot of trouble can build up and hence, an Autoimmune Disease comes in the picture.
What is Autoimmune Disease?
There are a lot of autoimmune disorders. There are at least over a hundred autoimmune diseases as far as studies have been recorded. These conditions, although varying from each other, shows the same symptoms like a headache, fatigue, feeling pain and hotness all over the body.
Detecting the specific autoimmune disease takes a lot of test and supervision because it tends symptoms that are being shown early by the body are the same. But one should not dismiss and neglect these symptoms because when it becomes worse, it will cause more pain and harder to treat.
Causes
When your immune system attacks your own body, you become more fragile. It’s like your system has been destroying you. What causes your immune system to be mistaken?
Well, no science can prove that yet. Autoimmune diseases have no definite cause. A study shows that it is sometimes prominent depending on one’s genes. Some experts also believe that it is sometimes caused by some drugs where the body reacts negatively.
A person may also acquire one or more autoimmune diseases. What is certain is that no one can be a hundred percent safe from these conditions.
According to Enrique Lopez, PsyD, “When your immune system is off, your body is not working as efficiently.”
Effects on the Body
When Autoimmune Diseases found its way into your body, it tends to immediately weaken you. It means that your immune system can no longer decipher what healthy cells are from those harmful cells, which are called “antigens.”
It starts after your body produces antibodies which are supposed to guard you against malignant tissues. This antibody, because of some abnormality in the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy cells and causes disruption of the human body.
A person who has acquired an autoimmune disorder may feel a sudden and simple headache to more severe problems like enlargement of organs and destruction of tissues. Sometimes, these autoimmune diseases tend to affect more than one organ at the same time.
Organs which are prone to this kind of disorder are the skin, joints, the person’s muscles, endocrine glands, and tissues.
“If we can start to better evaluate that early and get them funneled into treatment early, we might be able to prevent some of these problems from becoming lifelong issues.” – Julia Doss, PsyD
Kinds of Autoimmune Disorders
There are a lot of types of Autoimmune Disorders, but some commonly known are:
● Sjogren’s Syndrome
It causes severe pain in joints are being felt and dryness over the eyes, mouth and other glands that provides lubrication for the body.
● Addison’s Disease
This disease is what disrupts hormone counts, which, in turn, cause fatigue, weakness, and loss of weight. Because of hormone disruption, the body finds it hard to control the sugar intake of a person.
● Lupus
Before being classified as an autoimmune disorder, Lupus was known as a skin disease because of the rashes which start being shown in your body. After further study, it turns out that this disorder affects other organs like the brain and kidney.
● Hashimoto’s Disease
Persons with Hashimoto’s Disease find it hard to produce thyroid hormones, and this makes your thyroid swollen affecting your body by feeling weaker, fatigue and being more prone to colds.
● Diabetes I
When your immune system starts attacking your body, it mistakenly destroys the cells, which produce insulin to regulate the body’s sugar level. In effect, having a high sugar level damages organs in your body like heart, eyes, nerves, and others.
Tiffany Jennings, PsyD said “Concomitant psychological disorders are felt to be important in the understanding and treatment of individuals with this condition.”
What You Need To Do?
If you are feeling some abnormalities in your body, like a severe headache coupled with joint pain, it is the best to get a general check-up. Do not wait for your illness to get worse. Remember that health is wealth. Consult your doctor for possible medications as soon as possible.