7 Things You Should Know About Autoimmune Diseases

As if living with chronic illness wasn't challenging enough, living with an autoimmune disease can be even more difficult. Still highly misunderstood by medical professionals and the public alike, autoimmune diseases are characterized by nebulous symptoms that can make diagnoses difficult to come by. Treatments vary, and in some cases rely entirely on behavior changes. In an effort to making living with -- or loving someone with -- an autoimmune disease just a little bit easier, here are seven important things to know about these health conditions. 1. Autoimmune diseases essentially cause a person's body to fight itself. We all have an immune system, comprised of the cells and organs that fight off germs and other foreign invaders. In a healthy person, the body immediately understands the difference between cells that are your own and therefore safe and cells that are foreign and need fighting off. In people with an autoimmune disease, the immune system is flawed in a way that causes it to attack normal cells. "The result is a misguided attack on your own body," writes the Office on Women's Health, which can affect any number of the body's functions. 2. There are more than 80 types of autoimmune diseases. A small sampling of those conditions includes Celiac disease, Crohn's disease, endometriosis, Guillain-Barre syndrome, narcolepsy, psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis. 3. Autoimmune diseases are relatively common. The National Institutes of Health estimate that upwards ...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news