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Your body constantly battles forces that are out to cause you harm, such
as dangerous bacteria and viruses. Sometimes even despite your concerted
efforts of practicing good hygiene and other preventative measures, one
of them slips by and enters your body. When all goes according to plan,
your immune system zaps these nasty microorganisms and all is well.
Other times, something triggers the "oops" mechanism in your body and
your immune system becomes overactive and, in essence, gets a bit mixed
up about what specifically it's supposed to be doing. When that "oops"
happens, your immune system begins to attack the healthy cells it's
supposed to be protecting.
The result can be that an autoimmune illness develops.
Women and Autoimmune Illnesses
There are more than 80 autoimmune illnesses.
Autoimmune illness affects more than 50 million people in North
America. While men are by no means immune, women are more likely to
acquire an autoimmune illness -- often at ratios as high as 50 to 1!
Dr. Sherine E. Gabriel, in an interview about Autoimmune Diseases
in Women on the
Mayo Clinic Web site, says that autoimmune disorders may be more
prevalent in women because "[t]here are some links to the hormone
estrogen, but beyond that we know very little." Naturally, while
unavoidable, comments like that cause frustration for those who suffer
from such syndromes. Someone with an autoimmune illness is left to
search for answers where often there aren't any. Our health problems
confound the medical community as much as they do us.
It appears that hormones aren't the only culprits. Dr. Gabriel says
that current research indicates that autoimmune disorders are caused by
multiple factors: "genetic, hormonal and environmental." She says, "The
current thinking is that in order to get an autoimmune disease, you must
first be genetically susceptible. ... Then you have to be exposed to an
environmental trigger such as a virus. The evidence here is much weaker.
These are the two key factors. If this happens when your hormones are in
a particular state, such as during pregnancy, you could be even more
susceptible. I don't think the cause of autoimmune diseases will turn
out to be one thing. It will be a combination of factors that act
together to cause these diseases."
It's also believed that heredity can make a difference as to which
autoimmune illness somebody acquires, because it's a redundant fact of
life that different genes respond differently to different factors.
As if coping with an autoimmune illness isn't enough, those who have
one illness are susceptible to acquiring another. For example, it's
known that Grave's Disease (autoimmune thyroid failure) often leads to
autoimmune ovarian failure. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia
are often also associated with Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
A Diagnosis Can Be Difficult to Obtain
As most of people with autoimmune illnesses already know, these
various factors also make the diseases difficult to diagnose and treat.
Not only can one disease precipitate acquiring another, but many
autoimmune illnesses also have overlapping symptoms. In addition, while
it's obvious that not everyone has the same hereditary make-up, we also
haven't been exposed to the same environmental factors and other
exposures either. That's just one of the reasons why, even once an
autoimmune illness is isolated and diagnosed, one treatment that works
for one person may not help another.
What can be even more frustrating is that there doesn't appear to be
anything one can do to prevent such illnesses. Little is known about
which environmental factors trigger responses that can lead to an
autoimmune illness.
Some symptoms improve during pregnancy; others can get worse. Women
who have never given birth are susceptible to some illnesses; childbirth
seems to trigger others. So much depends on the individual. Oral
contraceptives that can protect some women increase the likelihood of
autoimmune disease in others.
Studies show that smoking may increase the chances of acquiring
rheumatoid arthritis. In most
cases, however, there is just too little known at this point as to what
to do and what not to do to avoid becoming a victim of an autoimmune
illnesses. Therefore, those who are living with an autoimmune disease
experience the frustration that it's impossible to know how to protect
others in the families from acquiring the same problems. While not
technically contagious, because it also isn’t known exactly what
happened to cause the illness, it’s impossible to know how to caution
anyone else about what things to avoid in order to avoid or evade a
similar fate.
The good news in all this is that in most cases, an autoimmune
illness in and of itself is seldom fatal.
The bad news is that most do decrease a person's lifespan.
Knowledge is power. Understanding your body and how it responds to
different "triggers" is your first step in managing your autoimmune illnesses.
Educating yourself about treatments and ways to cope with your illness
(and thereby improve your quality of life) is the next one.
Living Well with Autoimmune Disease: What Your Doctor Doesn't Tell
You...That You Need to Know
by Mary Shomon
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