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When Your Body Attacks: The Important Facts About Autoimmune Diseases

Our bodies, by incredible biological design, have the amazing ability to protect against destructive microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, infections, and disease. It is the body’s immune system that is responsible for getting rid of these foreign substances and building protection against further harm. This process is known as the “immune response.” Sometimes this naturally occurring process can backfire, causing the immune system to mistakenly attack itself and lead to inflammation, cellular damage, and autoimmune disorders. So what exactly causes the body to attack itself, and what can you do to help prevent it from happening to you?

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A Growing Concern

Autoimmune diseases include a family of about 100 known conditions where the body’s immune system attacks its own connective tissues, organs, and systems. It’s an alarming yet little well-known fact that an estimated 23.5 million Americans suffer from autoimmune disorders, and some data suggest the number affected is closer to 50 million. Even more surprisingly, about 75% or more sufferers are women. That means one in nine women is afflicted by autoimmune disease, making it more prevalent than heart disease or breast cancer.

There’s no clear consensus on why autoimmune diseases like Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis occur more frequently in women. Some clinical scientists suspect estrogen may be the culprit, causing a woman’s immune system to produce more antibodies and increasing the likelihood that her body will turn on itself. Despite the uncertainty underlying the connection between autoimmune disorders and women, one fact remains distinctly clear: the average American woman is eight times more likely to have an autoimmune disease than breast cancer.

Although the rates of autoimmune disorders have doubled in the past three decades and continue to rise, most people can’t name even one autoimmune disease.. Moreover, many autoimmune diseases share similar symptoms, making it difficult for doctors to determine if you have one of these diseases, and exactly which one of the more than 100 it might be. Sadly, most patients afflicted with an autoimmune disorder visit several different doctors over a long period of time before getting a correct diagnosis. Therefore, as patients it is imperative that we learn the risks, causes, and symptoms of common autoimmune diseases.