Your immune system is a highly complex network of cells, tissues, and proteins that defends your body against harmful viruses, bacteria, and toxins. In a healthy immune system, this process is precise. It is aware of what is good and what is bad for your body.
An autoimmune disease occurs when this system fails. The prevalence of autoimmune diseases is increasing globally. These are now ranked as one of the leading causes of death in women under 65 years of age in the U.S.
More than 100 autoimmune diseases are known. They all share the same basic mechanism, namely, an immune system failure.
What is an Autoimmune Disease?
An autoimmune disease is not a particular disease. It is a generic category of medical conditions, including over 100 conditions.
Normally, your immune system works in a way known as “self-tolerance” that does not allow it to attack your own body. When the self-tolerance is lost, it is known as an autoimmune disease. The immune system fails to distinguish between healthy cells and foreign microbes.
This means that your body starts to make autoantibodies. These antibodies attack your own healthy tissues, organs, or joints, rather than fighting infections.
A specific diagnosis is given depending on which tissue the immune system attacks:
- When the immune system attacks the thyroid gland, this triggers Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.
- It attacks the synovial lining of the joints, causing Rheumatoid Arthritis.
- When it affects the small intestine in response to gluten, it leads to Celiac disease.
An autoimmune disease is not caused by a weak immune system. It is a form of immune dysfunction in which the immune system gets overactive. It targets tissues progressively and requires clinical intervention to slow or even halt the immune response.
Why Are More Women Being Diagnosed?
This is one of the greatest questions in modern medicine. The statistics are shocking, showing 80% of all people diagnosed with an autoimmune condition are women.
Hormonal Issue: A primary reason for the increased prevalence of autoimmune diseases in women is the effect of hormones like estrogen. Female immune systems are more reactive and stronger than male immune systems. Estrogen stimulates the immune system, but testosterone suppresses it. When a woman goes through hormonal shifts, like starting birth control, pregnancy, or perimenopause, it can trigger an immune overreaction.
X Factor: Women have two X chromosomes, and men have one X and one Y. The X chromosome has numerous genes directly involved in immune function. This provides women with greater immune protection, but also a greatly increased chance of immune miscommunication.
Stronger Immune Systems. In general, women’s immune systems are stronger than men’s at any age. Immune system strength can protect against sickness, but it can also enhance women’s vulnerability to autoimmune disease. This biological advantage of women being more resistant to infections can also predispose the immune system to become hyperactive, attacking the body itself.
Chronic Stress, Gut Dysbiosis, nutritional deficiencies, toxin exposure, and infections are all known to activate autoimmunity. These factors are of equal concern to both men and women.
Toxic Environment: Women are now more exposed to environmental toxins than ever before. They are present in traditional cosmetics, skin care products, household cleaning products, plastics, and processed foods. These chemicals, which are unrecognizable to the body, cause a hyper-stimulation of the immune system, which eventually ends up in autoimmune disease.
Common Autoimmune Disease Symptoms
Autoimmune disease symptoms tend to come and go (flares and remissions) and are dependent on the organ involved and often result in inflammation, digestive problems, or changes in weight.
- Extreme Fatigue
- Swelling
- Pain in joints
- Weakness
- Skin Issues
- Low-grade Fever
- Abdominal pain
- Bloating
- Swollen Glands
- Brain Fog
- Numbness
- Sudden hair loss
- Rashes that cannot be explained, like a red butterfly-shaped rash across the cheeks
When autoimmune symptoms keep showing up, it helps to look beyond the symptoms. Our functional care team can help you understand what’s going on.
Common Autoimmune Diseases
There are more than 100 known conditions, as the immune system can attack virtually any tissue in your body. But a few of the most common autoimmune diseases that we encounter are:
Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis
The thyroid gland is targeted by the immune system. This causes thyroid destruction over time, resulting in hypothyroidism. This is the most common autoimmune disease in women.
Symptoms include fatigue, weight gain, cold intolerance, brain fog, constipation, hair loss, depression, and slow heart rate.
It is seven times more common in women than in men. It is often not diagnosed, as laboratory tests for TSH may be normal in the early phases.
Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)
The immune system targets the lining of the joints, leading to painful swelling and warmth and ultimately to joint deformity.
Whereas osteoarthritis is caused by wear and tear, rheumatoid arthritis is caused by an immune attack. It is 3 times more common in females than in males. Morning stiffness lasting more than an hour is one of the main symptoms.
Celiac Disease
Celiac disease is an autoimmune reaction against wheat, barley, and rye, which all contain gluten. Every time you ingest gluten, the immune system damages the small intestine, leading to a loss of nutrients.
People with celiac disease who eat foods containing gluten have an immune system reaction that damages the lining of the small intestine, which leads to the failure of the intestine to absorb nutrients. Its symptoms include digestive problems, bloating, diarrhea, abdominal pain, fatigue, brain fog, and skin rashes.
Psoriasis
Psoriasis is an autoimmune skin disease that shortens the cycle of skin turnover, resulting in red, scaly patches on the surface of the skin.
Psoriatic arthritis is a related joint disease that affects up to 30 percent of people with psoriasis. It causes joint pain, stiffness, and swelling.
Multiple Sclerosis
MS is a disease in which the immune system targets the myelin. It is the protective sheath that surrounds nerve fibers and interferes with nerve signals in the brain and spinal cord.
Its symptoms include vision problems, numbness and tingling, weakness, fatigue, balance problems, cognitive issues, and bladder dysfunction. Women are twice as likely as men to develop MS.
Type 1 Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder that results from the destruction of the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. If there is no insulin, blood sugar will not be controlled. It is usually diagnosed when a child is a teenager or young adult, but it can occur at any age. Its common symptoms are extreme thirst, frequent urination, weight loss, tiredness, and poor vision.
Can Autoimmune Disease Kill You?
Most people with an autoimmune disorder can lead a normal and full life. However, if not treated and managed properly, some autoimmune diseases can shorten life expectancy. They are not an immediate death sentence. However, you should not ignore them.
Without suppression, the chronic inflammation will progressively cause serious, fatal damage to your organs. Studies have shown that patients with autoimmune and rheumatic diseases have a lower life expectancy and increased mortality compared to the general population. Infections were the primary cause of mortality in this group, most of which were opportunistic infections.
The most serious autoimmune disorders include conditions that attack the heart, kidneys, brain, and lungs. Untreated Celiac disease can result in intestinal cancer, and unmanaged Lupus can result in kidney failure.
Don’t panic, but do take these conditions seriously and take steps to keep them under control before permanent damage is done.
How to Properly Test for Autoimmune Disorders
If you suspect you have a problem, it is best to get proper testing. Typical medical therapy does not diagnose autoimmune conditions until an organ is highly damaged.
If you want to test for autoimmune markers, you should request advanced blood tests that are advanced. The basic ANA (Antinuclear Antibody) blood test is a good initial screening, but it is not conclusive. Also, check for certain antibodies depending on your symptoms:
- Anti-TPO: Anti-Thyroglobulin: To look for Hashimoto’s
- Rheumatoid Factor (RF) and Anti-CCP: To identify Rheumatoid Arthritis
- Comprehensive Stool Panel: To check for hidden gut infections and leaky gut, which are almost always the root trigger for autoimmunity
- CBC: This can provide information about anemia, high white blood cell count, or low platelet count.
Bottom line
Autoimmune disease is one of the biggest and fastest-rising health problems affecting women today. If you’ve been feeling tired, experiencing joint pain, undergoing skin changes, digestive symptoms, brain fog, or recurring symptoms that have not been explained by your doctor, it might be a reason to look into autoimmune disease.
The pattern of symptoms matters as much as any individual test result. Testing, beyond blood panels, is critical to the understanding of what is going on in the immune system.
At Kairos Health and Wellness in Texas, Lola, one of our functional medicine practitioners, specializes in identifying the hidden root triggers of autoimmune conditions. and build personalized, evidence-based plans to help calm the inflammation.