Diagnosing an autoimmune disease can be a monumentally time-consuming, exasperating task. The initial autoimmunity symptoms may include fatigue, aching tendons or muscles, inflammation, and low fever. Many patients are not diagnosed until these innocuous symptoms manifest into clinical complaints and sub-optimal health.
Diagnosis of Autoimmune Diseases
Diagnosis of autoimmune disorders is based on serological assays such as ANA, RF, ENA, and immune complexes. Detection of other autoantibodies can be employed for more specific determination of autoimmune diseases such as double-stranded DNA antibody elevation in lupus erythematosus, citrullinated peptide antibody in rheumatoid arthritis, actin and mitochondrial antibody detection in autoimmune liver disease. Furthermore, autoantibodies can determine the disease’s progress and whether or not therapy implementation has been effective.
Autoimmunity is a misdirected immune response. About 30 million Americans suffer from autoimmune disease. Genetic susceptibility plus environmental factors play a role in the development of autoimmunity.
These are examples of environmental factors:
Infections – EBV, CMV, HSV 1 & 2, VZV, Rubeola
Chemicals – Pharmaceuticals, cigarette smoke, and others
Dietary proteins and peptides – Gliadin, casein, modified food antigens.
Specific determination of autoimmune disease can be facilitated through measurements of ANA, ENA, dsDNA, RF, actin, mitochondrial, citrullinated peptide antibodies, and immune complexes.
Levels of autoantibodies can be used to determine the disease’s progression and the effectiveness of therapy.
Treatments for autoimmunity may include anti-inflammatories, IVIG, dietary manipulation, and others.
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