Autoimmune diseases are a wide range of different diseases
that are caused by abnormal autoimmune responses. According to the statistics provided
by National Institute of Health (NIH), around 23.5 million Americans are
affected by several autoimmune diseases. The reason is still unknown but women
are more susceptible to autoimmune diseases, of all the people who are affected
by autoimmune diseases, nearly 80% of them are women.
Let’s discuss in detail that what actually the autoimmune
diseases are and how to know that whether one is affected by an autoimmune
disorder.
How does human body acquire autoimmune Diseases?
To understand how autoimmune diseases occur, one must first
understand the immune system.
Our bodies have an inherent immune system which is
responsible to save our bodies from all the bacteria, viruses, parasites and all
other foreign bodies that are harmful for our health. An efficient immune
system helps us to fight different diseases and facilitate our bodies to
recover from those diseases.
Our immune system works in two parts:
·
The acquired or adaptive part of the immune system,
as the name suggests, adapts itself with the time. It registers different types
of invaders that our body experiences and then designs its response by
producing specific proteins called antibodies. Antibodies bind with all those foreign
invaders called antigens and destroy them.
·
In innate parts of immune system, the immune response of the body is defined by the activation of white blood cells to destroy all those harmful foreign bodies without using antibodies. The body acquires autoimmune diseases when the acquired or adapted immune system starts to act abnormally i.e. it fails to differentiate between healthy body cells and harmful antigens even begin to produce antibodies against healthy cells and tissues.
In innate parts of immune system, the immune response of the body is defined by the activation of white blood cells to destroy all those harmful foreign bodies without using antibodies. The body acquires autoimmune diseases when the acquired or adapted immune system starts to act abnormally i.e. it fails to differentiate between healthy body cells and harmful antigens even begin to produce antibodies against healthy cells and tissues.
There are around 80 diseases that can be caused by different
abnormal immune response.
Self-diagnosing indications of autoimmune diseases
The underlying reasons behind autoimmune diseases are still
unknown however all them are caused by systemic inflation that causes your body
to attack itself by producing autoantibodies. There are certain signs and their
combination that can indicate that you might have developed an autoimmune
disease.
·
Severe fatigue and pain of musculoskeletal
system
·
Disordered digestive
system that can cause stomachache, abnormal stool and ulcers
·
White patches on
skin, hair loss and dry skin
·
In women,
multiple miscarriages also might be a symptom of autoimmune diseases.
If
you are witnessing any of those symptoms or combination of them then it is
better to go for formal testing to know whether you are suffering from an
autoimmune disease or not.
There are several tests that
are being conducted for the diagnosis of an autoimmune disease.
Antinuclear antibody tests
This test is conducted to look
for antinuclear antibodies in the body. These antibodies cause autoimmune diseases
by attacking the nuclei of healthy cells.
Complete blood count
It is a simple physiological
test which provides the count of all different types of blood cells. If immune
system of the body is behaving abnormally then there is a considerable variation
in this count.
If you are in doubt that you
are suffering from an autoimmune disease then it is better to consult an
immunologist rather than a traditional physician.
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DR. JESSE A. STOFF is an internationally renowned physician with extensive credentials in clinical immunology and holistic medicine. A graduate of New York Medical College , he pursued extensive post-doctoral training including a fellow- ship at the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital in London , England . He has authored/co-authored countless articles and 8 books including co-authoring the bestseller "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: The Hidden Epidemic" and The Prostate Miracle.
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