The autoimmune disease takes place when your body’s natural defense mechanism cannot make any difference between foreign cells and your distinctive cells, triggering the body to attack normal cells by mistake. There are over 80 kinds of autoimmune diseases that impact a broad spectrum of body parts.
As per https://www.webmd.com, immune system disorders lead to over-activity or abnormally low activity of your immune system. In the event of the overactive immune system, the body would be attacking and damaging its very own tissues mistaking them to be foreign bodies. Immune deficiency disorders lead to a marked reduction in the body’s capacity to combat invaders leading to susceptibility to infections.
As a response to some unknown triggers, the immune system may start manufacturing antibodies that attack your body’s very own tissues instead of combating infections. The most effective treatment for this disorder would concentrate on the effective reduction in the immune system activity. Some of the different types of autoimmune disorders are:
- Thyroid Diseases: Antibodies manufactured by your immune system would be attacking your thyroid gland gradually destroying the cells which are responsible for producing thyroid hormone.
- Rheumatoid Arthritis: This is a type of arthritis where the joints in your body are attacked.
- Psoriasis: A serious condition characterized by scaly, silvery and thick patches of skin. In this case, the overactive immune system’s blood cells known as the T-cells get accumulated in the skin.
- Lupus: This is a disease that ends up damaging certain areas of your body including organs, joints, and skin.
- Inflammatory Bowel Disease: It takes place when the body’s immune system would be attacking the intestines’ lining triggering episodes of abdominal pain, diarrhea, rectal bleeding, urgent bowel movements, fever, and even radical weight loss. Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease are the two main types of IBD.
- Multiple Sclerosis: In this case, your immune system would be attacking the nerve cells leading to certain symptoms including weakness, blindness, pain, muscle spasms, and poor coordination.
- Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus: In this case, your immune system antibodies would be attacking and destroying insulin-manufacturing cells present in the pancreas.
In this context, we understand that an antigen is defined suitably as a specific substance for triggering an immunogenic response. We know that the immune system would be mistaking the antigen to be a foreign or an unknown substance.
Common Autoimmune Disease Symptoms
There are some common autoimmune diseases and numerous of them would be sharing similar symptoms such as swelling and pain in the joints, fatigue, skin issues, recurring fever, swollen glands, digestive problems, and abdominal pain.
Some Risk Factors of Autoimmune Disease
Weight: Obesity or overweight issues would be increasing the risk of psoriatic arthritis or rheumatoid arthritis. This may be because your joints would be greatly stressed because of excessive weight or even because fat tissue would be making substances that would be encouraging inflammation.
Genetics: You must know that certain autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis and lupus generally run in families and are triggered by genetic factors. However, just because your relative has an autoimmune disorder that may not necessarily mean you would certainly develop such a disorder. However, the risk of getting an autoimmune disorder becomes quite high in such a case.
Smoking: Smoking has been responsible for triggering certain autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and even hyperthyroidism.
Conclusion
We have discussed the common symptoms and risk factors of autoimmune disorders. However, you must pay more importance to another common risk factor. There are some antibiotics and blood pressure medications that result in drug-induced lupus that is a much more serious form of lupus. Moreover, certain medications for reducing cholesterol could cause statin-induced myopathy. Remember to consult your physician before stopping or starting any medications.
Author Bio: Anthony Karen is a health expert who has been running many health seminars and public discussions. She also manages her blog and reviews the health-related details provided by authentic sources.