Page 4 - Autoimmune diseases

To understand autoimmune diseases, it is

important that you understand a few concepts first.

One of the most important concepts to understand

is that you did not always have an autoimmune

disease. In your younger years, possibly childhood,

teenage years or as a young adult, you did not have

this problem.

Then something changed within your immune

function that caused your immune system to attack

certain cells and tissues in your body. In other

words, you were not born with this problem. It

developed over time because of certain

disturbances to the body, especially to the immune

system.

The second concept that needs to be conveyed is

a general sense of how your immune system works.

The immune system is designed to be able to

recognize your cells which make up you versus

anything else that invades your body which is not

you. That which is “not you”such as bacteria,

fungi and viruses may be potentially hazardous to

your well being.

The way the body recognizes you versus not

you is by distinct three dimensional structures that