Check if you have any of these Autoimmune diseases

Autoimmune disease is a condition in which the White Blood Cells (WBC) in our body mistakenly attacks healthy organs, thinking that those are external infections. In some cases, autoimmune diseases can get quite dangerous, even that may lead to patient death. Genetic facts, bad lifestyle and some viruses and bacteria can cause Autoimmune diseases. These are the common Autoimmune diseases:

Type 1 Diabetes (Diabetes Mellitus)

In this type of autoimmune disease, the WBCs in our bodies attack and destroy the Beta cells in the pancreas leading to insulin deficiency and high blood sugar levels. High blood sugar levels can damage organs like our heart, kidneys, and eyes. This autoimmune disease affects only our pancreas.

Celiac disease

This autoimmune disease is caused by consuming foods containing Gluten. When Gluten enters our small intestine, it causes our WBCs to think that the Villi in our small intestine are foreign invaders and our WBCs attack and damage them by mistake. This disease causes indigestion among other health problems.

Rheumatoid Arthritis

This disease is not like Osteoarthritis, which is caused by old age and loss of bone density. This is an autoimmune disease in which the WBCs in our bodies attack the bone cells on our knee joints. RA can cause soreness and stiffness in our joints.   

Multiple Sclerosis

In this type of autoimmune disease, the WBCs in our bodies attack and destroy the Myelin Sheath, which is the protective coating around our nerve cells. This slows down our response to external stimuli. In other words, we react very slowly to things and we often loss our memory power.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)

There are two types of IBD namely Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative Colitis. They cause our WBCs to damage the cells in our Oesophagus and large intestine respectively.

Addison’s Disease

This type of autoimmune disease causes our WBCs to attack and destroy the cells producing hormones, cortisol, and aldosterone in our adrenal glands. Deficiency of cortisol can cause fluctuating sugar levels in our bodies and the deficiency of aldosterone can degrade the Sodium absorption capacity of our cells.

Sjögren’s syndrome

In this type of autoimmune disease, our WBCs attack and put out of business, the organs that lubricate our eyes and mouth – the lacrimal organ and salivary glands respectively. Hence, we face symptoms like dry eyes and dry mouth. We feel thirsty and sleepy often and are unable to digest our food efficiently if we are affected by this disease.

Autoimmune Vasculitis

In this type of autoimmune disease, our WBCs attack the arteries of our hearts and narrow them down. This impairs our blood circulation and we feel tired often and will have low stamina. Use this image for Autoimmune Vasculitis.

Pernicious Anemia

In this type of autoimmune disease, our WBCs attack and destroy the cells lining our stomachs, which produce a special type of protein that helps our small intestines absorb vitamin B-12 from our food. If there’s a deficiency of Vitamin B-12 in our bodies, we develop Anemia, our DNA will be damaged, and we will develop nervous disorders.

Psoriatic Arthritis

In this type of autoimmune disease, our WBCs cause the bone cells on our knee joints to multiply rapidly. Therefore, there is a collision or more friction between our leg bones and we develop stiffness, swelling, and pain on our knees. If not treated on time, this disease could prove fatal.

Currently, a specific treatment for this condition is not available. Treatment for its symptoms and following special diets are some better measures.