Signs That You May Have Rheumatoid Arthritis
Do you have pain, tenderness, swelling or stiffness in your hands, wrists or feet that has lasted for six weeks or longer? In the morning, are your joints stiff for longer than 30 minutes? Is one or both of your knees tender, warm and swollen? You may have more than arthritis — you may have rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic and often very painful autoimmune disease. With rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the body’s immune system, which normally attacks foreign agents like bacteria and viruses, attacks the joints. This creates chronic inflammation that causes the tissue that lines the inside of joints to thicken, causing swelling and sometimes excruciating pain in and around the joints. Small joints in the hands, feet, wrists, elbows, knees and
FAQ: Autoimmune Disorders and Pregnancy
In the past, women with autoimmune diseases were frequently counseled against conceiving. Today, more and more women with a range of autoimmune conditions are enjoying healthy pregnancies. Here are some of the most Frequently Asked Questions about autoimmune disorders and pregnancy. Q: What Are The Most Common Autoimmune Disorders Affecting Women Of Childbearing Age? Rheumatic diseases, such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis; thyroid diseases, such as Hashimoto’s and Graves; and type 1 diabetes. There are also some rarer diseases clinicians should be aware of, including scleroderma; Sjögren’s syndrome; and antiphospholipid antibody syndrome, a condition characterized by the presence of antiphospholipid antibodies in the blood. Though women with this condition don’t have active disease, they may develop clotting problems down the road. It’s important
What’s The Connection Between Adrenal Fatigue Thyroid Conditions?
Millions of people are diagnosed with thyroid conditions, many of these people also develop adrenal fatigue. Adrenal fatigue is a condition that involves the adrenal glands becoming weakened due to numerous factors that I’ll be discussing here. Let’s start by talking about some of the symptoms of adrenal fatigue. There are many different symptoms people can experience, but here are some of the more common ones: Extremely tired, especially in the morning Find it difficult to obtain quality sleep Crave sweet and salty foods Feel stressed out most of the time Decreased sex drive There are other symptoms associated with adrenal fatigue, but the ones listed above are some of the more common ones. Many Thyroid Conditions Are
Heal Leaky Gut With Healthy Habits
You may have heard the term “leaky gut” blamed for just about everything from weight gain to eczema to depression. Medical professionals call this condition increased intestinal permeability, but what is it and how do you know if you have it? The gut is a very complex system and we’re still learning how it influences health. Left untreated, we know that a leaky gut can cause gastrointestinal conditions like irritable bowel syndrome, celiac disease and Crohn’s disease, among others. Researchers have connected the health of the gut and the microbiome to other conditions like obesity, allergies, arthritis, mental illness, Parkinson’s disease, autism, liver disease, Type 2 diabetes, cancers and autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis and lupus. How Does a Leaky Gut Develop? The walls
Diagnosing An Autoimmune Disease
In general, autoimmune diseases tend to arrive unpredictably, disguised as other conditions, offering only confusing clues as to what they are. Why Are Autoimmune Diseases So Mysterious? One reason is that the list of what’s considered to be autoimmune is long and ranges from the very common to the extremely rare. Did you know? The following are all autoimmune diseases: Celiac disease Diabetes type 1 Multiple sclerosis (MS) Psoriasis Inflammatory bowel disease While very different, all these disorders have one thing in common: they occur when a person’s immune system decides to attack healthy body cells. Instead of fighting infection with antibodies, the body produces autoantibodies. The body is essentially fighting itself. Where and how this self-attack occurs determines the disease and its symptoms. But