People with autoimmune disorders have been described as the population at the most risk of catching diseases. This is due to the way the different autoimmune disorders affect their immune system, and more importantly, to the immunosuppressant drugs used to treat most of these diseases.
Viruses like the influenza (flu) and rhinovirus (common cold) tend to aggravate autoimmune diseases because they cause the immune system to flare in response to the virus. Symptoms like coughing, sneezing, sore throat, chills and fever are all symptoms of your immune system acting to fight the virus.
Common ones include lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Autoimmune diseases can affect many types of tissues and nearly any organ in your body. They may cause a variety of symptoms including pain, tiredness (fatigue), rashes, nausea, headaches, dizziness and more.
A healthy immune system defends the body against disease and infection. But if the immune system malfunctions, it mistakenly attacks healthy cells, tissues, and organs. Called autoimmune disease, these attacks can affect any part of the body, weakening bodily function and even turning life-threatening.
If you have an autoimmune disease, your immune system attacks the healthy cells of your organs and tissues by mistake. There are more than 80 types of autoimmune diseases. They can affect almost any part of your body. For example, alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease of the skin that causes hair loss.
A review and meta-analysis on the association between severe COVID-19 and autoimmune disease “showed that autoimmune disease was slightly associated with increased risk of severity and mortality of COVID-19” (7).
At the 6-month follow-up period, the risk of various autoimmune diseases is substantially higher in COVID-19 individuals than in non-COVID controls after accounting for competing risk of death.
The Autoimmune Protocol Diet
Foods to avoid include grains, legumes, dairy, processed foods, refined sugars, industrial seed oils, eggs, nuts, seeds, nightshade vegetables, gum, alternative sweeteners, emulsifiers, and food thickeners, said Romano.
Effects usually include inflammation, pain and swelling, which can also lead to problems in a specific unrelated organ such as the kidneys. General overall effects (systemic) include dizziness, fatigue and flu-like symptoms.
Avoid high doses of vitamin C, beta carotene, cat's claw, echinacea and ginseng, among others. Why add fuel to the fire? Doing so may cause you to slip out of remission and into more misery. I'll share some tips in the space provided, but there are so many other nutrients.
Autoimmune diseases do not cause sepsis. But people with certain types of autoimmune diseases are at higher risk of developing infections, which can cause sepsis. As well, medications that may be used to treat some autoimmune disorders can weaken your immune system, making it easier for you to develop an infection.
Scientists already knew that viral infection can lead to autoimmunity if some of the virus's proteins happen to resemble normal human proteins. Antibodies meant to target the virus end up also reacting with normal human cells.
C-Reactive Protein (CRP): A high CRP can be a marker for inflammation and immune activity and help screen for autoimmune disorders.
Autoimmune patients, in particular, can find themselves needing the hospital as there is a wide variety of symptoms possible.
When your immune system fails to respond adequately to infection, it's called an immunodeficiency, and you may be immunocompromised. People may also suffer from the opposite condition, an overactive immune system that attacks healthy cells as though they were foreign bodies, and that is called an autoimmune response.
Do you know someone who has an autoimmune disease? Autoimmune diseases are fairly common, affecting more than 23.5 million people in the United States, which is about 1 in 13 people!
Sarcoidosis as an Autoimmune Disease.
Stress or burn-out can result in cold or flu-like symptoms causing your immune system to run on empty. Poor hygiene, i.e., lack of hand washing, sharing utensils, not using tissues, and disposing of them. Your environment – dry air, exposure to smoke, touching contaminated surfaces. Lack of sleep.
You're Overexposed to the Cold Virus
There are over 200 known viruses that can cause the common cold. So even if you've had a cold before, your immune system probably hasn't built up defenses against every virus strain that can lead to a cold. Another reason could be that you're around a lot of people who are sick.
Once kids get older and are able to practice hand hygiene, the number of colds they'll get tends to go down to about four to six times per year, Esper continued. "And by the time you're an adult, it's about two to three times a year."