The immune system is a collection of special cells that fight infection- causing agents like bacteria & viruses. An autoimmune disorder occurs when a person’s immune starts attacking his own body tissues & organs. There are 80 over autoimmune conditions ranging from mild to severely disabling depending on the degree & extent of attack. As there is generally no cure, the symptoms of the autoimmune disorders are managed.
Some of the most common autoimmune disorders include :
- Psoriasis – affects the skin. Features include the development of thick, reddened skin scales with itching.
- Rheumatoid Arthritis – affects the joints. Symptoms include swollen and deformed joints. The eyes, lungs and heart may also be targeted.
- Diabetes (Type I) – affects the pancreas. Symptoms include thirst, increased appetite, frequent urination, weight loss and an increased susceptibility to infection.
- Graves’ disease – affects the thyroid gland. Symptoms include weight loss, elevated heart rate, anxiety and diarrhoea.
- Hashimoto’s thyroiditis- When your thyroid gland comes under attack from malfunctioning immune cells resulting in the underproduction of thyroxine – Hypothyroidism
- Inflammatory bowel disease – includes ulcerative colitis and possibly, Crohn’s disease. Symptoms include diarrhoea and abdominal pain.
- Scleroderma – affects the skin & other structures, causing scar formation. The skin thickens, may ulcerate and joints may become stiff.
- Systemic lupus erythematosus- This is a connective tissue disorder which can affect any system of the body. Features include a characteristic facial rash, depression, weight loss & arthritis.
Autoimmune diseases are chronic with no cure. Conventional treatments involve attempts to control & manage the symptoms with anti – inflammatories, immune suppressive medications, pain suppressive medications, hormone replacement therapies, blood transfusions etc.
The exact cause of autoimmune disorders is not known.
My view is that these disorders which have become more prevalent these days & is on the rise could be due to the “abuse“of our immune system.
Although antibiotics can be real life savers, the repeated/ routine use of antibiotics causes the immune system to either collapse or react with vengeance.
Antibiotics have no power to discriminate or differentiate between the body’s immune cells & the bacteria or virus. As a result these antibiotics end up destroying our immune cells.
Conventional treatments with the long term use of antibiotics & drugs to treat various diseases depletes the body & leaves the body weaker. As the body struggles to overcome the bombardment of substances that destroy its own cells, it tends to over react, loses its ability to discriminate, recognises its own cells as alien & ends up in the destroying one’s own cells tissues & organs leaving chaos in it’s wake.
When this happens the various tissues & organs in the body break down causing symptoms of autoimmune disorders & the number of autoimmune disorders will only be on the rise.
Jayapathics has been successfully managing many autoimmune conditions in patients.
Learn more about the immune system in our next post.
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