Autoimmune Diseases

Having an autoimmune disease can feel like Mr. Hyde is living inside you. You’re Dr. Jekyll, just trying to get through the day, but Hyde (your immune system, in this case) keeps working against you. That’s because, with all autoimmune diseases, your immune system goes into overdrive and attacks parts of your body that it shouldn’t. What your immune system goes after varies by disease, which translates to a host of wildly different symptoms. In any case, when it’s your own body keeping you from being well, it’s easy to feel like the odds are stacked against you. Fortunately, science has given us lots of tools that can help keep the immune system in check, which will also vary depending on your specific condition. Here’s what you need to know.

There is a high number of autoimmune diseases, and each can have its own set of symptoms. 

Amanda K Bailey

An autoimmune disease occurs when your body’s immune cells attack healthy parts of your body. Doctors have identified more than 80 autoimmune disorder types and an estimated 24 million Americans have an autoimmune disorder, according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

The existence of so many different autoimmune conditions can make it really hard to get a diagnosis. Some people may go for years knowing they have unusual symptoms yet never having a name to what’s going on with them.

A lot of contributing factors add up to cause an autoimmune disease, none of which is your fault. One example is genetics, such as having a family history of a particular condition. Other factors include race and ethnicity, sex assigned at birth, and environmental exposures, such as to certain chemicals, medications, or infectious illnesses.

Aside from those known risk factors, doctors have identified those with autoimmune disorders tend to have what’s called antinuclear antibodies (ANAs) present in their blood. These occur when antibodies, which normally fight infections, make a mistake and attack normal proteins in the body. That sets off a cascade of reactions, leading to inflammation throughout the body, according to the American College of Rheumatology. What’s interesting is the rates of autoimmune disorders are increasing in the United States, along with the number of people with ANAs.

According to an article in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatology, the number of people with ANAs has increased from 11% of those tested in 1988 to 1991 to nearly 16% in those tested from 2011 to 2012. The researchers found the presence of ANAs especially increased among men, those older than age 50, and non-Hispanic white people.² 

However, the presence of ANAs alone does not determine whether someone has an autoimmune disease or will definitely develop one. Many people test positive for a low amount of ANAs, which is common with aging, and are never diagnosed with an autoimmune disease.

There is also some debate about whether stress, more specifically stress- and anxiety-related disorders like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), can set the stage for autoimmune diseases. While some studies have suggested a link between the two, more research is necessary to determine whether this is truly the case, and why.³

So what does this mean for people with autoimmune diseases? While doctors know a lot more about autoimmune diseases than ever before, there’s still a lot more to know about why they occur (and hopefully how to better treat and prevent them).