Autoimmune diseases are disorders in which the body's immune system reacts against some of its own tissue and produces antibodies to attack itself.
Autoimmune illnesses are not well understood by most conventional physicians.
The Wycoff Wellness Center approach offers unique and innovative diagnostic tools and treatments to help many autoimmune illnesses.
Description of Autoimmune Diseases and Disorders
To better understand autoimmune diseases, one must understand how the immune system works.
The immune system is a network of organs, cells, and molecules that work together to defend the body against attacks by foreign (not of the body) invaders such as germs, bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi. When one of these invaders (antigens) tries to break into the body, the body's first line of defense is the skin and mucous membranes.
The skin and mucous membranes house macrophages (white cells of the tissues) and antibodies. The macrophages job is to digest the antigens while the antibodies trap the antigens that got away. If the antigens break through these barriers, the body reacts by producing lymphocytes (B and T cells) programmed to attack and kill the antigen.
In general, terms, when antibodies are directed against the body's own cells, or when B and T cells attack and destroy their own body's cells and not foreign antigens, an autoimmune disorder can result.
The autoimmune process can have varied consequences. For example, slow destruction of a particular type of cell or tissue, stimulation of an organ into excessive growth or interference in its functions. Organs and tissues frequently affected include the thyroid, pancreas, adrenal glands as well as red blood cells and connective tissues (skin, muscle, and joints).
Autoimmune disorders are classified into two types, organ-specific (directed mainly at one organ) and non-organ-specific (widely spread throughout the body).
Examples of organ-specific autoimmune disorders are insulin-dependent diabetes (Type I) which affects the pancreas, Hashimoto's thyroiditis and Graves' disease which affects the thyroid gland, pernicious anemia which affects the stomach, Addison's disease which affects the adrenal glands, and chronic active hepatitis which affects the liver.
Examples of non-organ-specific autoimmune disorders are rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, lupus and myasthenia gravis.
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