Article - The Autoimmune Connection

[Lisa0825]

I was diagnosed with Autoimmune Hepatitis earlier this year. Responding well to treatment. I saw this article today and shared it on FB and by email since so many people do not understand autoimmune diseases. I have even been asked by health professionals if I am contagious. I don't have a virus. I have a body that is attacking itself!

The Autoimmune Connection

For an estimated 50 million Americans, there's a war going on inside the body. As far as wars go, this one is senseless—even downright insane. Picture this: Suddenly, without warning, the Navy SEAL defense corps that is the human immune system goes on a metabolic rampage. White blood cells, like millions of tiny soldiers gone haywire, begin to infiltrate a chosen area—whether it's the pancreas or liver, gastrointestinal tract or brain. Yet instead of going after a foreign intruder such as harmful bacteria, they are assaulting healthy, innocent body tissue. It's as if these cells have collective amnesia and have forgotten the difference between "self" and "nonself." The result is an insidious inflammatory response, a sickness where none existed before and where none ought to exist—and a disease that is often as hard to treat as it is to understand.

This is not the Twilight Zone. It's autoimmune disease, and it's very real—even more ubiquitous in our culture than cancer. Yet despite its prevalence, many people don't really know what an autoimmune disease is; though researchers have identified some 80 to 100 of these disorders, 85 percent of Americans can't name even one of them. Individually, many of these illnesses are well known—such as multiple sclerosis (in which the body attacks the central nervous system); type 1 diabetes (target: the pancreas); and ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, and celiac (the GI tract). Others are lesser known, like vitiligo, a form of autoimmunity resulting in loss of skin pigmentation (Michael Jackson had it). A few, like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, are systemic—meaning the self-attack crosses organ lines and affects many areas throughout the body. In addition to their autoimmune nature, there's one more thing that these widely disparate illnesses all have in common: They're on the rise.

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