Autoimmune diseases are the conditions in which your body’s immune system mistakenly attacks and damages healthy cells in your body. Eg. Skin, Bone, Nerve cells, organs and tissues.
Types of Auto Immune Diseases
· Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)
· Psoriasis/psoriatic arthritis
· Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis
· Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
· Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)
· Inflammatory Bowel disease (IBD)
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA)
In Rheumatoid Arthritis, your immune system attacks the joints, Eg: elbow, wrist, fingers, knee, ankle, shoulders. This causes inflammatory symptoms affecting the joints such as:
- pain
- swelling
- warmth
- soreness
- stiffness
- redness
Psoriasis / Psoriatic Arthritis
Normal skin cells grow and then shed when they’re no longer needed. But Psoriasis causes skin cells to multiply too quickly. The extra cells build up and form inflamed patches. On lighter skin tones, patches may appear red with silver-white scales of plaque. On darker skin tones, psoriasis may appear purplish or dark brown with gray scales. Commonly affected sites are scalp, behind the ears, on chest, palms, soles, on joints etc.
Up to 30% of the patients with psoriasis, also develop Psoriatic Arthritis. This can cause joint symptoms that include:
- pain
- swelling
- stiffness
Hashimotos Thyroiditis
In Hashimoto’s thyroiditis thyroid cells gets damaged and hormone production slows downs to a deficiency that may lead to hypothyroidism. Common symptoms of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis can include:
- weight gain
- fatigue
- Hair loss
- swelling of the thyroid (goiter)
Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
In Multiple sclerosis, autoimmune attack damages the protective coating surrounding nerve cells (myelin sheath) in your central nervous system. Damage to the myelin sheath slows the transmission speed of messages between your brain and spinal cord to and from the rest of your body.
This damage can lead to:
- numbness
- weakness
- balance issues
- trouble walking
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)
Although doctors first described lupus as a skin disease because of the rash it commonly produces, the systemic form, which is most common, actually affects many organs. This can include your:
- joints
- kidneys
- brain
- heart
Common symptoms can include:
- joint pain
- fatigue
- rashes
Inflammatory Bowel disease (IBD)
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) cause inflammation in the lining of the intestinal wall. Each type of IBD affects a different part of your gastrointestinal (GI) tract.
- Crohn’s disease can inflame any part of your GI tract, from the mouth to the anus.
- Ulcerative colitis affects the lining of the large intestine (colon) and rectum.
Common symptoms of IBD can include:
- diarrhea
- abdominal pain
- bleeding ulcers
The symptoms of autoimmune diseases can come and go. During a flare-up, your symptoms may get severe for a while. Later on, you may have a remission, which means that your symptoms get better or disappear for a period of time.
German Homeopathy with it’s Chief consultant and autoimmune expert Dr R K Reddy, uses special Homeopathic protocols in treating all types of Autoimmune diseases like RA, Psoriasis, SLE, IBD, Hashimotos, to achieve long remission i.e symptoms free for a longer duration.
