What is an Autoimmune Disease?

An autoimmune disease is a condition in which your immune system gets confused and starts attacking your own tissues by mistake.

Normally, a healthy immune system will guard your body against any invaders, such as bacteria, viruses and fungi, and any other foreign substances, from entering the blood system. When it detects such an invader, it sends out an army of mediators to attack it.

The immune system is primed to understand the difference between your own cells, and foreign matter. Yet, due to a genetic predisposition, coupled with environmental triggers (infections, toxic exposure, diet, stress, nutrient deficiencies, and leaky gut), the immune system becomes hyperactive and starts mistaking individual parts of the body, such as skin, joints, nerves, thyroid etc, or even in some diseases, multiple different organs, producing autoantibodies to attack these healthy cells.

There are currently between 80 and 100 recognised autoimmune conditions. Examples of the most common diseases are:

• Type 1 Diabetes

• Multiple Sclerosis

• Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis

• Rheumatoid Arthritis

• Celiac Disease

• Pernicious anemia

• Systemic lupus erythematosus

• Scleroderma

• Alkalising Spondilitis

• Inflammatory Bowel Disease, such as Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative Colitis

• Hashimotos Thyroiditis and Graves Disease

• Addisons Disease

• Sjögren’s syndrome

• Myasthenia gravis