Autoimmunity Disorders
Pure Nature Life – Autoimmunity Disorder Testing – Central Coast – Kincumber
What are autoimmune diseases?
Our bodies have an immune system, which is a complex network of special cells and organs that defends the body from germs and other foreign invaders. At the core of the immune system is the ability to tell the difference between self and nonself: what’s you and what’s foreign. A flaw can make the body unable to tell the difference between self and nonself. When this happens, the body makes autoantibodies that attack normal cells by mistake. At the same time special cells called regulatory T cells fail to do their job of keeping the immune system in line. The result is a misguided attack on your own body. This causes the damage we know as autoimmune disease. The body parts that are affected depend on the type of autoimmune disease. There are more than 80 known types.
How common are autoimmune diseases?
Autoimmune diseases affect around 1 in 20 people and are one of the most important health issues in Australia and New Zealand. Common autoimmune diseases such as thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes affect more than 1 in 100 people. In contrast, a rare autoimmune disease such as Goodpasture’s disease (a form of vasculitis) affects around 1 in a million people.
Who gets autoimmune diseases?
Autoimmune diseases can affect anyone. Yet certain people are at greater risk, including:
Women of childbearing age — More women than men have autoimmune diseases, which often start during their childbearing years.
People with a family history — Some autoimmune diseases run in families, such as lupus and multiple sclerosis. It is also common for different types of autoimmune diseases to affect different members of a single family. Inheriting certain genes can make it more likely to get an autoimmune disease. But a combination of genes and other factors may trigger the disease to start.
People who are around certain things in the environment — Certain events or environmental exposures may cause some autoimmune diseases, or make them worse. Sunlight, chemicals called solvents, and viral and bacterial infections are linked to many autoimmune diseases.
People of certain races or ethnic backgrounds — Some autoimmune diseases are more common or more severely affect certain groups of people more than others. For instance, type 1 diabetes is more common in white people. Lupus is most severe for African-American and Hispanic people.
What causes autoimmune diseases?
The causes of autoimmune diseases are not yet known. However, in many cases it appears that there is some inherited tendency to develop autoimmune diseases. In people with this inherited tendency, other factors such as infections and some drugs may play a role in triggering autoimmune disease.
How are autoimmune diseases diagnosed?
Autoimmune diseases are usually diagnosed and monitored by medical specialists using a combination of clinical history, blood tests (autoantibodies, inflammation, organ function) and other investigations such as x-rays. Sometimes a biopsy of affected tissues may be required for diagnosis.
There are over 80 different autoimmune diseases and they can be categorised into two general types:
1. Localised (organ specific) – affecting mainly one particular part of the body
2. Systemic – affecting multiple parts of the body
These categories may overlap, as localised (organ specific) autoimmune disease can affect other parts of the body and some people may have more than one type of autoimmune disease.
Examples of autoimmune diseases
- Addison’s disease (adrenal)
- Autoimmune hepatitis (liver)
- Coeliac disease (gastrointestinal tract)
- Crohn’s disease (gastrointestinal tract)
- Diabetes Mellitis Type 1a (pancreas)
- Grave’s disease (thyroid)
- Guillain-Barre syndrome (nervous system)
- Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (thyroid)
- Multiple sclerosis (nervous system)
- Pernicious anaemia (stomach)
- Primary biliary cirrhosis (liver)
- Sclerosing cholangitis (liver)
- Myasthenia gravis (nerves, muscles)
- Ulcerative colitis (gastrointestinal tract)
- Antiphospholipid antibody syndromes (blood cells)
- Dermatomyositis (skin, muscles)
- Mixed connective tissue disease
- Polymyalgia rheumatica (large muscle groups)
- Polymyositis (skin, muscles)
- Primary Raynaud’s disease (blood vessels)
- Rheumatic fever
- Rheumatoid arthritis (joints, less commonly lungs, skin, eyes)
- Scleroderma (skin, intestine, less commonly lungs, kidneys)
- Sjögren’s syndrome (salivary glands, tear glands, joints)
- Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (skin, joints, kidneys, heart, brain, red blood cells, other)