Something Most People Do Not Know About Me

There are many ways I define myself. Mother, Friend, Sister, Daughter in Law, etc.. You may wonder why I did not include Wife. My husband is my best friend and my helpmate. But we first define ourselves as friends. We were Best friends for 6 years before we started dating. You may also notice I did not include Daughter. My own mom passed away in 1995.

One of the ways I personally define myself that many people do not realize is, as a person who suffers from Chronic Pain. I have a disease called Rheumatoid Arthritis. I had childhood onset of the disease. I was 4, when I was first diagnosed.

I take medication for this condition as well. Antirheumatic Drugs are used to slow the progression and block your immune system from attacking itself. Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) are used to treat the pain of the condition. When Pain becomes out of control, a doctor will often prescribe a Glucocorticoids or Prednisone treatment.

As with most people who suffer from Auto-immune disorders, I am just lucky enough to have a 2nd auto-immune problem. When I was 19 years old I gained over 30 pounds in 1 month. I was tired and depressed. I also developed a real problem with cold limbs. My hands and feet would have extreme reactions to cold weather or even a cool breeze. It was determined that my body had found a new way to attack itself. My white cells attack itself as foreign.

I thought that was the end of it. The thyroid problem, the arthritis pain; But I was wrong. In my early 20's I had 3 late first trimester miscarriages. I have a problem with Antiphospholipid antibodies. The blood would clot at the cord during my pregnancys. To have my 3 children I had to take baby aspirian during pregnancy to thin out my blood.

Even when born all 3 of my children weighed under 7 and 1/2 pounds despite being born between 38-39 weeks. 7 lbs 5 oz, 6 lbs 7 oz and 6 lbs 3 oz. After extremly difficult pregnancys.

Everyday I face problems that others think little about. My body is often covered in huge black and blue marks. I bruise very easy. Iron does not help fight the anemia. I take medication everyday and will for the rest of my life. I am not always able to do the things other moms do. Often, I fall or drop things. I worry a lot about dieing and what life for my children will be like.

This is something I know about personally. My mom died when I was 22 from complications from her Lupus. She got an infection that she could not get rid of. She ended up having a stroke followed by a clot of blood getting stuck in a heart value and her dieing. Auto-immune diseases are herditary. I worry about my children and thier future.

Autoimmune disorders include the following:

• Systemic lupus erythematosus. A general autoimmune disease in which antibodies attack a number of different tissues. The disease recurs periodically and is seen mainly in young and middle-aged women.
• Rheumatoid arthritis. Occurs when the immune system attacks and destroys the tissues that line bone joints and cartilage. The disease occurs throughout the body, although some joints may be more affected than others.
• Goodpasture's syndrome. Occurs when antibodies are deposited in the membranes of both the lung and kidneys, causing both inflammation of kidney glomerulus (glomerulonephritis) and lung bleeding. It is typically a disease of young males.
• Grave's disease. Caused by an antibody that binds to specific cells in the thyroid gland, causing them to make excessive amounts of thyroid hormone.
• Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Caused by an antibody that binds to cells in the thyroid gland. Unlike in Grave's disease, however, this antibody's action results in less thyroid hormone being made.
• Pemphigus vulgaris. A group of autoimmune disorders that affect the skin.
• Myasthenia gravis. A condition in which the immune system attacks a receptor on the surface of muscle cells, preventing the muscle from receiving nerve impulses and resulting in severe muscle weakness.
• Scleroderma. Also called CREST syndrome or progressive systemic sclerosis, scleroderma affects the connective tissue.
• Autoimmune hemolytic anemia. Occurs when the body produces antibodies that coat red blood cells.
• Autoimmune thrombocytopenic purpura. Disorder in which the immune system targets and destroys blood platelets.
• Polymyositis and Dermatomyositis. Immune disorders that affect the neuromuscular system.
• Pernicious anemia. Disorder in which the immune system attacks the lining of the stomach in such a way that the body cannot metabolize vitamin B₁₂.
• Sjögren's syndrome. Occurs when the exocrine glands are attacked by the immune system, resulting in excessive dryness.
• Ankylosing spondylitis. Immune-system induced degeneration of the joints and soft tissue of the spine.
• Vasculitis. A group of autoimmune disorders in which the immune system attacks and destroys blood vessels.
• Type I diabetes mellitus. May be caused by an antibody that attacks and destroys the islet cells of the pancreas, which produce insulin

This is an interesting article I wanted to share.

Autoimmune Disorders Among Top 10 Killers of Women

Autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and type 1 diabetes are among the leading causes of death among American women under age 65, according to a new study. However, the significance of autoimmune diseases in mortality rates has gone unrecognized since they are not classified in the same way as other conditions such as heart disease or cancer. Many autoimmune disorders are not in the list, prepared by the National Center for Health Statistics, that physicians use when recording cause of death. Researchers examined national mortality data for 1995 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), looking for mention of 24 different autoimmune disorders, and found that, when grouped together, these disorders accounted for a very large portion of the deaths, putting it among the top 10 causes of death. Another reason that these diseases do not show up as a cause of death is that many doctors do not list chronic health conditions as the direct cause of death when completing death certificates. Previous research has found that about 5% of American women have an autoimmune disorder. American Journal of Public Health September, 2000;90:1463-1466 Dr. Mercola's Comment: I did not realize that automimmune disease was one of the top ten killers of women. Sounds scary doesn't it? What is even scarier is that doctors are the number three killer of women, and this is just the documented evidence. My guess is that overall, they are number one for the negligence of not informing their patients of the practical, natural, and well-documented options to chronic disease. The most important is diet, and this also happens to be one of the most important interventions for autoimmune disease. Other issues that are frequent problems are early emotional stresses, heavy metals and secondary viral infections from the previously mentioned factors. In addition, there has been a lot of attention lately paid to the so-called "hygeine hypothesis". This basically is the theory that by living is a "sterile" environment and not being exposed to germs, especially during early childhood, the immune system is not properly "trained" and, lacking any real "invaders" to attack, may begin to develop improper immune responses to non-pathogenic substances and may even attack the body's own cells. Additionally, Dr. Bart Classen, of Classen Immunotherapies, has found that vaccines can contribute to autoimmune disease, particularly type-1 diabetes.

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