Autoimmune disease – The battle of the immune system
The immune system has the task of foreign substances, microorganisms and viruses to detect and successfully defend this as well. Here the so-called T-cells play an important role, go through training, by identifying the course of life more and more harmful substances, and these – often for the person concerned is not even recognizable – ward. In the autoimmune disease, this process is disrupted and so the immune system recognizes also alleged pollutants, namely its own tissues of the body, as to be controlled substances, and thus the immune system is virtually a life sentence in action, making the importance of treating this disease significantly.
At the same time the repair mechanisms of the body parallel to constantly strive for this defense to conduct a renewal of the damaged body parts. If there is no treatment of autoimmune disease instead, it can come to a complete destruction of the cellular structure of individual organs affected.
Autoimmune disease – What is it about?
The autoimmune disease in the medical field is defined as a disease in which there is a cause of disease in an exaggerated response of the body against the body’s own tissues. The body then recognizes mistakenly attack the body’s own tissues as foreign and the immune system is now trying to fight this pest alleged for the organism. In connection with the autoimmune disease can cause severe inflammation in the body, which in turn bring an intense damage to the affected organ.
The emergence of autoimmune disease
Detailed backgrounds, why some people develop an autoimmune disease are not well understood. This thesis will first assume that this is an inherited genetic predisposition is receiving but combined with external influences only its true expression. This also explains why parallel to the already growing number of allergic diseases and the rising trend has autoimmune sufferers.
Proved, however, that the autoimmune disease can manifest itself in various sizes. So some people are affected by an autoimmune disease that affects a specific organ. This organ can be from internal organs to the skin of each. Other autoimmune sufferers have a spread of the disease which affects multiple organs, and possibly even the immune system. More often, mixed forms of various autoimmune diseases has been made.
In general, the combination of autoimmune disease in hereditary privileges in combination is formed with adverse environmental conditions. Often rich with appropriate disposition of the body had a viral infection in order to flush the autoimmune disease will break out. The now already activated immune system fights not only the invading viruses in the body, but in parallel, like the body’s own tissues. The institution concerned or institutions concerned will now be harmed, because while the immune system has fought the invading viruses in a fairly short period, the cell structures of the body that activate the immune system, of course, still exists and the immune system without specific treatment is not the fight Give up.
Trigger for the onset of autoimmune disease
Not rarely breaks out the auto-immune disease, a preventable because the substance is very similar to the body’s own tissue and the immune system does not make a distinction here can. But this is only possible with a genetic predisposition already, because the immune system basically makes very fine distinctions on foreign bodies.
Important to know is that after today’s research findings, the autoimmune disease is not inherited itself. The accumulation of the disease in some families can only be concluded that some genetic factors that are conducive to the outbreak of the illness passed. This illustrates the fact that siblings of patients already suffering significantly more frequently in the autoimmune disease than other populations.
Trigger for the outbreak of the disease but may be not only infections with viruses, bacteria or fungi, but also other influences. Stress or pregnancy are just as triggering factors such as hormones, all of which can influence on the emergence and also the course of autoimmune disease.
Symptoms of autoimmune disease
In general, all organs are affected by the autoimmune disease and the disease manifests itself even in the most affected initially is that a failure of the affected organ is recorded. However, the symptoms are generally very diverse and highly dependent on the type of disease. It is essential to distinguish between the organ-specific and systemic autoimmune diseases. For whereas in organ-specific autoimmune disease, the symptoms of an organ in the foreground, with the systemic disease may limit set equal to several organs or their functions.
Examples of the autoimmune disease can thus failure of the liver to be in the form of autoimmune hepatitis. Also, Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis represent autoimmune diseases, in this case, the affected bowel. A well-known autoimmune disease is diabetes mellitus type I , in which the pancreas is affected. Ankylosing spondylitis is an autoimmune disease that specifically affects the spine and in Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, the thyroid is affected.
Diagnosis of autoimmune disease
The diagnosis of autoimmune disease is usually done via an evaluation of symptoms and an examination of the blood values. So let see the first hints of an autoimmune disease. Furthermore, frequently detectable increased inflammatory markers in blood to indicate the possible presence of autoimmune disease. A screening test for autoimmune disease can provide evidence of the so-called anti-nuclear antibodies deliver.
In the detection of autoantibodies on the blood of the physicians the ability to specifically stain the inside of the immunofluorescence and these autoantibodies or immune complexes has also proven.
Treatment of autoimmune disease
Difficult is the therapy of autoimmune disease due to the fact proves that the exact causes of the disease are not known. Thus, the causal, then treatment of the cause of the disease, unfortunately, not been given. The treatment of autoimmune disease depends largely on the symptoms of this disease. That is, it will be administered, for example anti-inflammatory drugs or so-called immunosuppressive drugs.
In the treatment of autoimmune disease, the respective specialist who is responsible for the treatment of the institution be meaningfully involved. These can be both a neurologist or a dermatologist, the internist, the nuclear medicine or the internist.
The principle of treating the symptoms of autoimmune disease pursues the goal of reducing the activity of the immune system, without going off. This can be done for example by cortisone as immunosuppressants. Since the treatment with these drugs over a longer period to numerous side effects and interactions, the research is very anxious to develop other drugs, which are limited to the specific treatment of the disease. For this purpose, since drugs are used, which are also used for multiple sclerosis or rheumatoid arthritis.