AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES EXPLAINED.

My Life
Addison’s antibodie autoimmune chronic Graves’ disease Hashimoto immunosuppressive Inflammatory bowel diseases Pernicious anemia Psoriasis Reactive arthriti Rheumatoid Arthritis Scleroderma Sjögren’s syndrome symptoms of lupus Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Type 1 diabetes Vitiligo

It is a cold, miserable morning here in Nairobi as I struggle through the creaking joints and inflamed back to give a short account on autoimmune diseases. I have lived and struggled with multiple autoimmune diseases since I was 13 and no amount of layman terms can adequately explain them. So, forgive me just this once for the technicality of the post, though not too technical, I hope.

The term ‘autoimmune’ means that something goes incredibly wrong in the human body such that it cannot distinguish between the good and bad cells. The antibodies, which are part of the human defense system meant to ward off foreign invaders like bacteria or viruses, start misbehaving and attack the body’s own healthy tissues. These diseases are known to attack the whole body system, or focus on a particular organ. These conditions are chronic, with no known cure and last a lifetime. With such conditions, we learn how to manage and live with them through medication, diet and lifestyle.

The more common autoimmune conditions are:
• Rheumatoid arthritis: inflammation of joints and surrounding tissues.
• Systemic lupus Erythematosus: affects skin, joints, kidneys, brain, and other organs.
• Pernicious anemia: decrease in red blood cells caused by inability to absorb vitamin B-12
• Vitiligo: white patches on the skin caused by loss of pigment.
• Scleroderma: a connective tissue disease that causes changes in skin, blood vessels, muscles, and internal organs
• Psoriasis: a skin condition that causes redness and irritation as well as thick, flaky, silver-white patches.
• Inflammatory bowel diseases: a group of inflammatory diseases of the colon and small intestine.
• Hashimoto’s disease: inflammation of the thyroid gland.
• Addison’s disease: adrenal hormone insufficiency.
• Graves’ disease: overactive thyroid gland.
• Reactive arthritis: inflammation of joints, urethra, and eyes; may cause sores on the skin and mucus membranes.
• Sjögren’s syndrome: destroys the glands that produce tears and saliva causing dry eyes and mouth; may affect kidneys and lungs.
• Type 1 diabetes: destruction of insulin producing cells in the pancreas.

Most of these conditions have the same and sometimes overlapping symptoms which makes them difficult to diagnose. It is possible to have more than one autoimmune disease (case in point, me) They usually fluctuate between good days, bad days and days in between. There are remission periods and flare-ups, when symptoms become worse depending on particular triggers such as the cold or the sun.

Treatment is mainly a matter of decreasing the symptoms and controlling the process. Symptoms can be alleviated by:
• eat a balanced and healthy diet
• exercise regularly
• get plenty of rest
• take vitamin supplements
• decrease stress
• limit sun exposure
• avoid any known triggers of flare-ups

Medical interventions include:
• hormone replacement therapy, if necessary
• blood transfusions, if blood is affected
• anti-inflammatory medication, if joints are affected
• pain medication
• immunosuppressive medication
• physical therapy

I hope this leads you to the path of understanding autoimmune diseases!

Wendy Gikono

← Back to blog