The immune system is a network of cells and proteins that fights against infection in our body. The immune system keeps a history of every germ (microbe) it has ever defeated so it can recognise and destroy the microbe quickly if it enters the body again.While Autoimmune disease is a state of the system when it mistakenly considers an “enemy” your body and fights against healthy normal tissues of the body. Currently, about 5 – 8% of the world’s population suffers from 80 – 100 different autoimmune diseases.Therefore, timely diagnosis and adequate therapy are extremely important for autoimmune disease treatment.
There are more than 100 different autoimmune diseases, but they are classified into groups as:
Major autoimmune diseases affecting the central nervous system:
- Multiple sclerosis – the reason for the sclerosis is unknown. The result is a violation of the signal conduction along the nerve fibers. The main symptoms are: various visual impairments, weakness and numbness of the arms and / or legs, unsteadiness, urination disorders. This immune system malfunction destroys the fatty substance that covers and protects nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord (myelin).
- Autoimmune encephalitis- for all autoimmune encephalitis, there are a number of common symptoms: mental disorders, impaired memory, seizures. It’s a type of brain inflammation where your immune system attacks healthy cells and tissues in the brain.
Autoimmune diseases affecting the peripheral nervous system (nerve roots and nerves)
- Guillain-Barré Syndrome : A very rare syndrome. It’s a neurological disorder in when your body`s immune system mistakenly fights against its peripheral nervous system. The peripheral nervous system is a network of nerves outside of the brain and spinal cord.
- Chronic autoimmune polyneuropathies. It’s a rare neurological disorder when nerve roots get damaged and leads to destruction of the fatty protective covering (myelin sheath) of the nerve fibers.
Autoimmune diseases affecting muscles and the neuromuscular system:
- Myasthenia gravis: Current disorder is caused by an error in the transmission of nerve impulses to muscles. It happens when normal communication between the nerve and muscle is interrupted at the neuromuscular junction—the place where nerve cells connect with the muscles they control.
- Myopathy is the disease affecting muscle fibers. Common symptoms are: Symmetric proximal muscle weakness,Malaise, fatigue, absence of sensory complaints or paresthesias.
Psoriasis/psoriatic arthritis
This disease affects skin cells, leaving red patches on it. Psoriasis makes skin cells multiply very quickly, covering with red marks and silver-white scales of plaque on the skin.
Systemic lupus erythematosus (Lupus)
Lupus damages mostly your joints, skin, kidneys, blood cells, brain, heart and lungs. Common symptoms are achy joints, Fever, swollen joints, skin rash, pain in chest while breathing,Mouth or nose sores, etc.
The difficult thing is that autoimmune disorders can not be distinguished very easily and quickly, so you need to be extra attentive to the most common and early sings
Common early symptoms of autoimmune diseases are:
- fatigue
- achy muscles
- swelling and redness
- low-grade fever
- trouble concentrating
- numbness and tingling in the hands and feet
- hair loss
- skin rashes
Unfortunately It is very difficult to find the reason why the autoimmune disease occurs and there is no guaranteed treatment for it. However main reason for the disease are:
- genetic
- environmental factors
- gender
- sex hormones
- infection
The first thing to do is a visit to a doctor. Get prepared for that visit, make a list of your symptoms, write down some questions.
Treatments can’t make the autoimmune disease disappear but it can control overactive immune response and calm down the inflammation process reducing pain. Here are the common ways of treatment:
- anti-inflammatory drugs
- physical therapy
- surgery
- high dose immunosuppression
- pain-killing medication
There are several people in the world living with this disease and living their best life. Keeping a strict schedule of the daily treatment will help you to reduce the symptoms and keep the cells performance in balance. There is nothing impossible and scary for a human that is willing to overcome difficulties and make his life a perfect place to be.