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Not Afraid · 04-07-2005, 02:04 PM

Autoimmune diseases are illinesses where your own body starts producing natural chemicals that attack your body by mistake. It is thought that there is a genetic factor in all autoimmune diseases, although the same disease may not be passed down.

For example, my father had a very severe and rare autoimmune disease called Polymyocytis where a natural occuring enzyme was attacking and distroying his muscles, rendering him unable to walk or care for himself. My autoimmune disease was Grave's Disease which develops in the thyroid. Graves causes your thyroid (which regulates metabolism) to overproduce the thyroid hormone and can lead to severe heart problems, eye problems and a host of other diseases.

My Father's disease was not diagnosed in time to stop it's onslaught. Mine was and was treated by killing my thyroid with radioactive iodine. There is an un-proven coorelation between Grave's Disease and Breast Cancer (which I had both at the same time).

Most autoimmune diseases effect women.

Other autoimmune diseases include:
Fibro Myalgia
Lupus
Chronic Fatigue Syndrom
Multiple Sclerosis
Rheumatoid arthritis

But there are many, many more.

LSPoorEeyorick · 04-07-2005, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

Autoimmune diseases are illinesses where your own body starts producing natural chemicals that attack your body by mistake.

Other autoimmune diseases include:
Fibro Myalgia
Lupus
Chronic Fatigue Syndrom
Multiple Sclerosis
Rheumatoid arthritis

But there are many, many more.

... including Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia Perpera (ITP.) This is my mother's auto-immune disease. If she were not taking steroids for it, her immune system would be, in essence, consuming all of her blood cells. It still is, but instead of having between a normal 200 and 500 part-per-(billion?) count, she's having a good day if it's above 50. This causes extreme exhaustion and fatigue, bleeding from mucous membranes, and other internal bleeding.

There is no cure for ITP. It's idiopathic; they don't know what causes it. It is not genetic. There are links between use of blood thinners and auto-immune diseases but no concrete research has been done. Mom's been on blood thinners since 1979.

Few ITP patients have lived longer than ten years with the disease. Generally, patients die from complications from the steroids, not from internal bleeding; addiction to steroids requires a continual raising of the steroid level. Possible complications include: diabetes, high blood pressure, water retention, weight gain, changed appetite, general fogginess and memory loss, loss of vision, arthritis, and cancer.

In the eight years Mom has had ITP, she's had all of these side effects.

04-07-2005, 02:04 PM	#1
Not Afraid HI! Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 17,108	Autoimmune diseases are illinesses where your own body starts producing natural chemicals that attack your body by mistake. It is thought that there is a genetic factor in all autoimmune diseases, although the same disease may not be passed down. For example, my father had a very severe and rare autoimmune disease called Polymyocytis where a natural occuring enzyme was attacking and distroying his muscles, rendering him unable to walk or care for himself. My autoimmune disease was Grave's Disease which develops in the thyroid. Graves causes your thyroid (which regulates metabolism) to overproduce the thyroid hormone and can lead to severe heart problems, eye problems and a host of other diseases. My Father's disease was not diagnosed in time to stop it's onslaught. Mine was and was treated by killing my thyroid with radioactive iodine. There is an un-proven coorelation between Grave's Disease and Breast Cancer (which I had both at the same time). Most autoimmune diseases effect women. Other autoimmune diseases include: Fibro Myalgia Lupus Chronic Fatigue Syndrom Multiple Sclerosis Rheumatoid arthritis But there are many, many more.
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