What are immune diseases?

Immune system disorders cause abnormally low activity or over activity of the immune system. In cases of immune system overactivity, the body attacks and damages its own tissues (autoimmune diseases). Immune deficiency diseases decrease the body's ability to fight invaders, causing vulnerability to infections.

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.

 

Examples of autoimmune diseases include:

 

Rheumatoid arthritis. The immune system produces antibodies that attach to the linings of joints. Immune system cells then attack the joints, causing inflammation, swelling, and pain. If untreated, rheumatoid arthritis causes gradually causes permanent joint damage. Treatments for rheumatoid arthritis can include various oral or injectable medications that reduce immune system overactivity. See charts that list rheumatoid arthritis drugs and their side effects.

 

Systemic lupus erythematosus (lupus). People with lupus develop autoimmune antibodies that can attach to tissues throughout the body. The joints, lungs, blood cells, nerves, and kidneys are commonly affected in lupus. Treatment often requires daily oral prednisone, a steroid that reduces immune system function. Read an overview on lupus symptoms and treatments.

 

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The immune system attacks the lining of the intestines, causing episodes of diarrhea, rectal bleeding, urgent bowel movements, abdominal pain, fever, and weight loss. Ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease are the two major forms of IBD. Oral and injected immune-suppressing medicines can treat IBD. Learn about the differences between ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.

 

Multiple sclerosis (MS). The immune system attacks nerve cells, causing symptoms that can include pain, blindness, weakness, poor coordination, and muscle spasms. Various medicines that suppress the immune system can be used to treat multiple sclerosis. Read more on multiple sclerosis drugs and their side effects.

 

Type 1 diabetes mellitus. Immune system antibodies attack and destroy insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. At diagnosis, people with type 1 diabetes require insulin injections to survive. Learn about the symptoms to look for in type 1 diabetes.

 

Guillain-Barre syndrome. The immune system attacks the nerves controlling muscles in the legs and sometimes the arms and upper body. Weakness results, which can sometimes be severe. Filtering the blood with a procedure called plasmapheresis is the main treatment for Guillain-Barre syndrome.

 

Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy. Similar to Guillain-Barre, the immune system also attacks the nerves in CIDP, but symptoms last much longer. About 30% of patients can become confined to a wheelchair if not diagnosed and treated early. Treatment for CIDP and GBS are essentially the same. Find out what the treatment options are for CIDP.

 

Psoriasis. In psoriasis, immune system blood cells called T-cells collect in the skin. The immune system activity stimulates skin cells to reproduce rapidly, producing silvery, scaly plaques on the skin. See a photo of what psoriasis looks like.

 

Graves' disease. The immune system produces antibodies that stimulate the thyroid gland to release excess amounts of thyroid hormone into the blood (hyperthyroidism). Symptoms of Graves' disease can include bulging eyes as well as weight loss, nervousness, irritability, rapid heart rate, weakness, and brittle hair. Destruction or removal of the thyroid gland, using medicines or surgery, is usually required to treat Graves' disease. Learn more about treatments for Graves' disease.

 

Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Antibodies produced by the immune system attack the thyroid gland, slowly destroying the cells that produce thyroid hormone. Low levels of thyroid hormone develop (hypothyroidism), usually over months to years. Symptoms include fatigue, constipation, weight gain, depression, dry skin, and sensitivity to cold. Taking a daily oral synthetic thyroid hormone pill restores normal body functions. Find out more on treatments for an underactive thyroid.

Myasthenia gravis. Antibodies bind to nerves and make them unable to stimulate muscles properly. Weakness that gets worse with activity is the main symptom of myasthenia gravis. Mestinon (pyridostigmine) is the main medicine used to treat myasthenia gravis. Read an overview on the symptoms of myasthenia gravis.

 

Scleroderma. Also known as systemic sclerosis. It is an autoimmune chronic connective disease that causes inflammation in the skin and other places in the body. This inflammation causes the body to make too much collagen, which leads to visible hardening of the skin and damage to your blood vessels and other internal organs, such as the heart, lungs, and kidneys. It has no cure, while the goals of treatment are to relieve symptoms and stop progression of the disease.”

 

Vasculitis. The immune system attacks and damages blood vessels in this group of autoimmune diseases. Vasculitis can affect any organ, so symptoms vary widely and can occur almost anywhere in the body. Treatment includes reducing immune system activity, usually with prednisone or another corticosteroid. Learn more about vasculitis symptoms and treatments.

 

Inflammation and Autoimmune Diseases.

Inflammation is a driving force of autoimmune disease. An abnormal inflammatory response is involved in the majority of acute and chronic conditions, with strong evidence linking chronic inflammation to the pathogenesis of autoimmune disease. This includes multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, psoriasis, and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

 

Inflammation is a normal physiological defense against pathogen infection and tissue damage and quickly ends under normal circumstances. However, in many chronic conditions, the inflammatory response continues and leads to significant tissue and organ damage. Recently, increasing evidences have shown that the abnormal inflammatory response is closely associated with many chronic diseases, especially in autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), gout, and diabetes.

 

Neural reflex circuits regulate cytokine release to prevent potentially damaging inflammation and maintain homeostasis. The mammalian immune system and the nervous system coevolved under the influence of infection and sterile injury. Knowledge of homeostatic mechanisms by which the nervous system controls organ function was originally applied to the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, and other body systems. Development of advanced neurophysiological and immunological techniques recently enabled the study of reflex neural circuits that maintain immunological homeostasis, and are essential for health in mammals. Such reflexes are evolutionarily ancient, dating back to invertebrate nematode worms that possess primitive immune and nervous systems. Failure of these reflex mechanisms in mammals contributes to nonresolving inflammation and disease. It is also possible to target these neural pathways using electrical nerve stimulators and pharmacological agents to hasten the resolution of inflammation and provide therapeutic benefit.

 

Inflammation and immunity are regulated by reflex neural circuits. Research has demonstrated that a reflex neural circuits, termed the inflammatory reflex, modulates systemic and regional inflammation. Reflex neural circuits regulate cytokine release to prevent potentially damaging inflammation and maintain homeostasis. In the inflammatory reflex, sensory input elicited by infection or injury travels through the afferent vagus nerve to integrative regions in the brain stem, and efferent nerves carry outbound signals that terminate in the spleen and other tissues. Failure of reflex neural circuits mechanisms in mammals contributes to non-resolving inflammation and disease.

 

The origin of all pain is inflammation and the inflammatory response. The biochemical mediators of inflammation include cytokines, neuropeptides, growth factors and neurotransmitters. Irrespective of the type of pain whether it is acute or chronic pain, peripheral or central pain, nociceptive or neuropathic pain, the underlying origin is inflammation and the inflammatory response. Activation of pain receptors, transmission and modulation of pain signals, neuro plasticity and central sensitization are all one continuum of inflammation and the inflammatory response. Irrespective of the characteristic of the pain, whether it is sharp, dull, aching, burning, stabbing, numbing or tingling, all pain arise from inflammation and the inflammatory response.

 

Integrative medicine acupuncture for inflammatory diseases and autoimmune diseases treatments in Rochester, Syracuse, Binghamton, NY, serving Upstate NY, Central NY, and Western NY, greater buffalo areas

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The 7th generation integrative medicine acupuncture doctor specialist, Rui Wang, MD of China, uses reflex neural circuits acupuncture or inflammatory reflex acupuncture to treat inflammatory diseases and autoimmune diseases in Rochester, Syracsue, Binghamton, NY. The 7th generation reflex neural circuits acupuncture modulates systemic and regional inflammation to treat inflammatory diseases and autoimmune diseases, such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), gout, and diabetes. The 7th generation reflex neural circuits acupuncture relives inflammation and pain; the 7th generation reflex neural circuits acupuncture maintains homeostasis through neuroimmunomodulation via reflex neural circuits, the inflammatory reflex signaling pathway.