Your body has a rather complex system which is designed to stop foreign entities entering the body and causing havoc. This system is easily able to identify anything that belongs to the body and what should be eliminated, until it all goes wrong at least. There are a number of immune system diseases out there, a number of which can actually be life threatening. All of them work in different ways, so let’s take a look at some of the more commonly occurring.
One of the most frequently occurring of immune system diseases is actually asthma. Sufferers of the condition often have asthma attacks. This occurs when the body starts to ‘attack’ itself. This of course leads to the reactions which are common with asthma. Thankfully this is one of the easiest conditions to manage with a number of medications available on the market. Managed well then it shouldn’t cause too many problems.
Type 1 Diabetes is another common disease of the immune system. This occurs when the body starts to produce the cells which produce insulin. These cells are located within the pancreas. This of course causes insulin levels to plummet. As the insulin is not there to remove sugar from the blood stream then the blood sugar levels rise, which is incredibly dangerous. This is a genetic condition and requires careful management of meals in order to ensure the sugar levels don’t rise too quickly.
One of the most well-known of the immune system diseases is HIV, which later develops to AIDS. HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus, and this progresses to AIDS which is known as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. If suffering from this disease the immune cells of your body become infected. This causes the body to find it difficult to fight off infection. Therefore, the majority of AIDS sufferers die as a result of these infections which shouldn’t normally occur in a healthy adult. As you are probably aware, this is one of the immune system diseases which is transferred from person to person, either via blood or semen. Therefore it is important to ensure you use protection during sex, and to make sure you don’t come into contact with another person’s blood. This is not a curable condition and it is highly likely that it will eventually kill you. However, nowadays it is something that is much easier to manage with medications, and great strides are being made in this. However, the disease is spreading rather rapidly as many people do not know they are infected with the disease as it can actually lay dormant for many years, and thus people continue to have unprotected sex not knowing the disease is actually being spread..
Rheumatoid Arthritis can also occur in adults, or even people much younger. This occurs when the body starts to attack itself, particularly around the joints, and thus causes them to ‘seize’ up and become disfigured. This is an incredibly painful condition and cannot be cured, it can only be managed.
Hopefully this has given you a brief idea of the more common of immune system diseases and how they can affect your body in a multitude of ways.