Autoimmune diseases are conditions characterized by the fact that the body is attacked by its own immune system.
- Organ specific diseases are different: Hashimoto's thyroiditis, myasthenia, juvenile insulin dependent diabetes.
- Non-specific organ diseases include disseminated lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis and dermatopolimyositis.



Treatment of most autoimmune diseases may act only on the symptoms and usually calls mainly on corticosteroids and immunosuppressants, and, sometimes, to plasmaphereses (consisting of plasma exchange in the extraction of unwanted substances in the blood). The autoimmune disease list of symptoms is long and the symptoms are highly complex, but instead of an autoimmune disease list of symptoms I will try to describe the diseases in general terms and name some of the symptoms.

Autoimmune diseases are a heterogeneous collection of diseases with a subtle relation, which is difficult to understand. It is a list constantly added with new diseases. The diseases in this category have multiple symptoms and locations and are very different. A classification has been possible only in recent years due to scientific advances. And many, many questions. These are autoimmune diseases.

Naturally, each of us is aware that in one way or another we undermine our own health by smoking, alcohol abuse, inadequate nutrition with an excess of sweets and fats, inactivity stress and insufficient rest. Well, surprisingly, in some cases the body itself goes beyond control and uses its defense mechanisms against its own cells, as it happens in autoimmune diseases. Normally, the body reacts in a complex immune response in the face of antigens: bacteria, viruses, toxins, cancer cells, proteins, tissues, foreign bodies.

In autoimmune diseases such a response is prompt and intensive extends to the tissues the system considers foreign, and against which produce abnormal antibodies. It is still unclear exactly what causes the body to react in this devastating way. The usual suspects are genetic factors, organic or functional alterations of cells, which make them seem abnormal external factors (infectious, physical, chemical or drugs) that act on tissues or a correct initial response against a foreign antigen that is diverted later against a own components.

Red blood cells may be contested, blood vessels, liver or kidney tissues, endocrine glands, muscles, skin, joints, etc.. Sometimes the system attacks a single organ, such as the thyroid, sometimes the system attacks a tissue found in different organs, such as basal membrane of the lungs or kidneys, in Goodpasture's syndrome. Sometimes there coexist several autoimmune diseases (eg, thyroid and diabetes), sometimes a single disease is systemic in nature, such as lupus.

There is no common symptomatology for all these various diseases. However, usually the patients have a high fever or persistent dizziness, malaise and a chronic feeling of fatigue. What brings them to the doctor are usually manifestations of the disease in question, the result of severe functional and organic alterations.

Hashimoto thyroiditis is a chronic inflammation of the thyroid, evidenced by an increase in thyroid volume and evidence of thyroid failure (weight gain, rough skin, feeling of fatigue, decreased heart rate, etc.). In rare cases, the disease may progress to a hypersecretion of thyroid hormones. Graves disease is manifested by the appearance of a goiter, with signs of glandular hypersecretion (weight loss, nervousness, trouble sleeping, shaking of limbs, fatigue, muscle weakness, increased heart rate) and sensitivity to light, while the eyes seem to pop out of their orbits.