You have to have certain symptoms combined with specific blood markers and in some cases, even a tissue biopsy. Diagnosis can also be difficult because these symptoms can come from other common conditions.
Orbai says women should seek treatment when they notice new symptoms. Autoimmune disease affects If you're one of the millions of women affected by this group of diseases, which includes lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and thyroid disease, you may be wondering why your immune system is attacking itself.
We do know that certain risk factors increase the chances of developing autoimmune disorders, including:. Having lupus, rheumatoid arthritis or psoriatic arthritis raises your risk for heart disease. Genetics, diet, infections, and exposure to chemicals might be involved.
There are more than 80 different autoimmune diseases. Here are 14 of the most common ones. The pancreas produces the hormone insulin, which helps regulate blood sugar levels. In type 1 diabetes mellitus , the immune system attacks and destroys insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. High blood sugar results can lead to damage in the blood vessels, as well as organs like the heart, kidneys, eyes, and nerves. In rheumatoid arthritis RA , the immune system attacks the joints.
This attack causes redness, warmth, soreness, and stiffness in the joints. Unlike osteoarthritis , which commonly affects people as they get older, RA can start as early as your 30s or sooner. Psoriasis causes skin cells to multiply too quickly.
The extra cells build up and form inflamed red patches, commonly with silver-white scales of plaque on the skin. Up to 30 percent of people with psoriasis also develop swelling, stiffness, and pain in their joints. This form of the disease is called psoriatic arthritis. Multiple sclerosis MS damages the myelin sheath, the protective coating that surrounds nerve cells, in your central nervous system.
Damage to the myelin sheath slows the transmission speed of messages between your brain and spinal cord to and from the rest of your body. This damage can lead to symptoms like numbness, weakness, balance issues, and trouble walking.
The disease comes in several forms that progress at different rates. According to a study , about 50 percent of people with MS need help walking within 15 years after the disease starts. Although doctors in the s first described lupus as a skin disease because of the rash it commonly produces, the systemic form, which is most the common, actually affects many organs, including the joints, kidneys, brain, and heart.
Inflammatory bowel disease IBD is a term used to describe conditions that cause inflammation in the lining of the intestinal wall. Having too little of cortisol can affect the way the body uses and stores carbohydrates and sugar glucose.
Deficiency of aldosterone will lead to sodium loss and excess potassium in the bloodstream. One potential symptom of this disease is bulging eyes, called exophthalmos. This condition attacks the glands that provide lubrication to the eyes and mouth. Symptoms include weight gain, sensitivity to cold, fatigue, hair loss, and swelling of the thyroid goiter.
Myasthenia gravis affects nerve impulses that help the brain control the muscles. The most common symptom is muscle weakness that gets worse with activity and improves with rest. Often muscles that control eye movements, eyelid opening, swallowing, and facial movements are involved. Autoimmune vasculitis happens when the immune system attacks blood vessels. Childhood socioeconomic factors and perinatal characteristics influence development of rheumatoid arthritis in adulthood.
Ann Rheum Dis. Pesticide exposure and risk of rheumatoid arthritis among licensed male pesticide applicators in the Agricultural Health Study.
Environ Health Perspect 7 : Environ Health Perspect 8 : — Genome-wide association study identifies HLA 8. Genes Immun. Shared epitope-aryl hydrocarbon receptor crosstalk underlies the mechanism of gene-environment interaction in autoimmune arthritis. PNAS 18 Symptoms include diarrhoea and abdominal pain. Multiple sclerosis — affects the nervous system. Depending on which part of the nervous system is affected, symptoms can include numbness, paralysis and vision impairment.
Psoriasis — affects the skin. Features include the development of thick, reddened skin scales. Rheumatoid arthritis — affects the joints. Symptoms include swollen and deformed joints. The eyes, lungs and heart may also be targeted. Scleroderma — affects the skin and other structures, causing the formation of scar tissue. Features include thickening of the skin, skin ulcers and stiff joints.
Systemic lupus erythematosus — affects connective tissue and can strike any organ system of the body. Symptoms include joint inflammation, fever, weight loss and a characteristic facial rash. Immune system malfunction Immune system cells called T lymphocytes T cells use special receptors on their surfaces to identify foreign microbes, such as bacteria and viruses. Risk factors for autoimmune disorders The exact causes of autoimmune disorders are not known.
The risk factors seem to include: genetics — a predisposition to autoimmune disorders seems to run in families. However, family members can be affected by different disorders; for example, one person may have diabetes, while another has rheumatoid arthritis. It seems that genetic susceptibility alone is not enough to trigger an autoimmune reaction, and other factors must contribute.
Some disorders seem to be affected, for better or worse, by major hormonal changes such as pregnancy, childbirth and menopause.
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