The immune system is supposed to protect the body from illness, infection, and disease. Sometimes the immune system makes a mistake and attacks the healthy cells of your body instead of protecting them. When this happens, it is called an autoimmune disease (also called an autoimmune disorder). Although there are many different types of autoimmune disorder that affect different parts of the body, two types of autoimmune disorder include rheumatoid (ROO-muh-toyd) arthritis and lupus.
No one knows why autoimmune disorders happen, although they tend to run in families. Women have a higher chance of developing an autoimmune disorder, especially African-American, Native American, and Hispanic women.
Symptoms:
Signs and symptoms of an autoimmune disease vary, both in severity and type. They usually include muscle aches, fatigue (being very tired), a low fever, and inflammation (in-fluh-MAY-shun).
Inflammation happens when the body’s immune system is attacking something in your body. Five signs of inflammation are: redness, heat, swelling, pain, and loss of function. Loss of function is when the part of your body that is inflamed can no longer move properly. Not all five signs occur with inflammation, and sometimes inflammation can happen without any symptoms.
Once you are diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder, you can treat the symptoms, but it doesn’t ever go away. There may be times it flares up and gets worse, and other times when it goes into remission (re-MISH-on) when the symptoms seem to get better or disappear.
When to See a Doctor:
If you feel any of these signs or symptoms, it is important for you to contact your health care provider as soon as possible to find out what is happening. There are more than 80 types of autoimmune disease, and many have similar symptoms. Sometimes an autoimmune disease can be difficult to diagnose, and may take a lot of time and more than one visit or doctor. The sooner you start trying to diagnose it, the better.
Causes:
There are no known causes for autoimmune disorders at this time, although they do tend to run in families. Women, especially Hispanic, African-American, and Native American women, tend to have a higher chance to develop an autoimmune condition. Also, you have more chances of developing more autoimmune conditions if you already have an autoimmune disorder.
Diagnosis and Tests:
Sometimes an autoimmune disease can be difficult to diagnose, and may take a lot of time. The sooner you start trying to diagnose it, the better. In order to diagnose an autoimmune disorder, your doctor may take some blood samples and test them at a lab.
Treatments:
Although there is no way to get rid of an autoimmune disorder once you have one, you can treat the symptoms. Once your disorder is diagnosed, your doctor can help you manage any pain or inflammation that your disorder causes. Treatments vary depending on the disease, but doctors usually try to reduce inflammation. Sometimes doctors will prescribe prescription drugs, such as corticosteroids (cor-tih-co-STARE-oyds) to reduce your immune response and help stop the symptoms.
Prevention:
There are no known preventions for most autoimmune disorders at this time.
Although the immune system usually protects the body from sickness, sometimes it makes a mistake and attacks the healthy cells of your body instead of protecting them. This is called an autoimmune disease. No one knows why this happens in some people. Signs and symptoms include aches, fever, and inflammation. Although there are many types of autoimmune disorders, two types are rheumatoid (ROO-muh-toyd) arthritis and lupus. Treatments vary, but usually try to reduce inflammation.