These are the most common signs of autoimmune disease

Hashimoto’s, intestinal diseases and diabetes: these are the most common signs of an autoimmune disease

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Duesseldorf as a protective shield, our immune system fends off pathogens. But increasingly, its immune cells are attacking the body’s own tissue. With fatal consequences: autoimmune diseases such as hashimoto or rheumatism develop. Read about the symptoms they hide behind and how to treat them.

Tanja Walter

Rheumatism, celiac disease, hashimoto’s disease or multiple sclerosis – these are often no longer foreign words, even for medical laymen. Scientists have been observing for years that such autoimmune diseases are becoming a mass phenomenon. In the industrialized nations, they are the third most common cause after cardiovascular disease and cancer. "among women, autoimmune diseases are among the ten most frequent causes of death", says the society for the promotion of immunodiagnostics. About four million Germans suffer from it. Often the disease begins in childhood and adolescence.

What happens with autoimmune diseases

In those affected, the immune system loses the ability to distinguish between foreign structures and the company’s own structures. As a result, it attacks the body’s own cells and tissues because it treats them like antigens of foreign cells. The body begins to destroy itself. Naturally, the immune system’s weapons are unable to eliminate the harmful antigen, and chronic inflammatory tissue damage occurs.

In these processes, all organs of the human body or even the central nervous system can be targeted by the body’s own immune system. For example, multiple sclerosis, in which the covering layer of the nerves in the brain and the spinal cord become inflamed.

Autoaggressive diseases are particularly treacherous because they often start with diffuse symptoms. For this reason, they are assigned to other diseases. They are also often simply overlooked. That’s why it can help to know the most common signs of autoimmune diseases.

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These are the most common symptoms

  • Joint pain, muscle aches, a feeling of weakness or trembling
  • Weight loss, insomnia, heat intolerance or a fast heartbeat
  • Recurrent skin rashes, hives or sensitivity to the sun
  • Concentration problems
  • fatigue, weight gain, sensitivity to cold
  • Hair loss, white patches on the skin or mucous membranes
  • Abdominal pain, blood or mucus in the stool, diarrhea, ulcers in the mouth
  • Dry eyes, mouth or skin
  • Numbness or tingling in the hands or feet
  • In women: several miscarriages

These are the most common signs of autoimmune disease

These are the most common signs of autoimmune disease

These are the most common signs of autoimmune disease

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These are the most common autoimmune diseases

If you observe several of these symptoms over a longer period of time, this could be an indication of one of the 60 known autoaggressive diseases today. The most common are rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease or colitis uclerosa, or diabetes type 1.

Only in a few cases does the disease manifest itself directly, such as in the case of circular hair loss. Mostly they run silently for a long time. In the case of hashimoto’s thyroiditis, it is. Initially, the immune system attacks the thyroid unnoticed. Only after some time do the effects of this become visible: the inflamed thyroid gland visibly stops hormone production. The metabolism no longer works properly and the hormonal control circuit goes haywire.

In rheumatoid arthritis, too, the body’s immune cells are directed against the body’s own tissue. They attack the synovial membranes. Here, too, the first symptoms come insidiously. The joints of the fingers or feet swell up and moving the middle and little fingers hurts. In addition, those affected show non-specific symptoms such as general weakness or the feeling of rapid fatigue.

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Like many autoimmune diseases, rheumatism also occurs in episodes and progresses from time to time. Initially, only the joints are affected, later also the bones and cartilage, and finally even the nervous tissue or organs such as the lungs or the heart. So far, only a few backgrounds are known about the inflammatory and immune reactions that take place there. The antibodies involved, which confuse the body’s own tissues with pathogens, have usually been identified. But too little is known about the exact causes and mechanisms. In some cases, this makes it possible to predict the course of disease, but not to stop or reverse it.

Little is known about the triggers either. Probably hereditary predisposition plays an important role. For some diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, hashimoto’s disease or multiple sclerosis, it has already been scientifically proven. However, there is also growing evidence that environmental factors, diet or lifestyle have an unfavorable effect on the human immune system. In addition, the german society for autoimmune diseases points out the influence of viral infections, medications or special immunological situations. According to this understanding, pregnancy, for example, could be a trigger for the misprogramming of the immune system.

How to treat autoaggressive diseases

The possible treatment options are as varied as the disease patterns and causes. In principle, the aim is to slow down the progression of the disease and make patients as symptom-free as possible. So-called immunosuppressants are often used for this purpose. They reduce the activity of the immune system and thus dampen the consequences of the attacks. Cortisone also fulfills this task.

In recent years, the results of research conducted by a research group at the helmholtz center for infection research have brought cautious hope of a cure. Together with Australian researchers, she discovered a mechanism with which the immune system could be re-regulated. This may eventually be the way to stop autoimmune diseases.

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