15
votes
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Risks of blood donation with autoimmune diseases
The World Health Organization published a report entitled Blood Donor Selection: Guidelines on Assessing Donor Suitability for Blood Donation. Based on a review of scientific studies and other ...
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7
votes
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Knowing the root cause of one's hypothyroidism? How to know if it's Hashimotos Disease?
I am answering this almost two years after it was asked, but I hope an answer can still be useful!
Hashimoto’s Disease
You are correct that Hashimoto’s disease (also known as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis)...
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7
votes
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Multiple Sclerosis and Chemotherapy
Is there any truth behind chemotherapy actually curing Multiple Sclerosis?
Unfortunately, no. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic illness - meaning that it cannot be completely cured. There are, ...
- 2,833
7
votes
Accepted
Top medications to treat symptoms of Lupus?
Your question is difficult to answer (but still interesting) because lupus is a highly heterogeneous condition which can present various symptoms and organ involvement. Choice of therapy will be ...
- 3,194
6
votes
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Is it possible to have an autoimmune disease and no C-reactive protein in blood serum?
Although serum levels of the acute‐phase reactant C‐reactive protein (CRP) usually parallel disease activity in inflammatory states, it is widely believed that systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an ...
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6
votes
What is the difference between eczema and urticaria?
Eczema (atopic dermatitis)
Atopic dermatitis is a chronic, itchy skin condition that is very
common in children but may occur at any age. It is also known as
eczema and atopic eczema and was ...
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6
votes
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Do collagen supplements help ease some of the symtoms of Lupus?
Studies have shown that arthritis (joint inflammation) and arthralgias (joint pain) are reported in up to 95 percent of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
There is currently no ...
- 3,194
5
votes
Can blood transfusion help in case of scleroderma?
I'm not aware of any work done in this area. A whole blood transfusion is not going replace circulating defective lymphocytes.
On the other hand Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation has some ...
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5
votes
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How do steroids work in treating a multiple sclerosis relapse?
Steroids are used as treatment for acute attacks/flares in many diseases because they reduce inflammation.
In multiple sclerosis, they are given to reduce inflammation of the nerves that occurs when ...
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5
votes
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How is sunlight a Lupus trigger for some? What exactly about the sun often causes Lupus flare-ups?
Very interesting question. Thank you.
The pathophysiology of photosensibility in lupus patients is related to the effect of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) on cells of the immune system. UVR stimulates ...
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5
votes
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Comorbidity of autoimmune diseases
Yes, there is statistically significant comorbidity with autoimmune diseases.
The study Recent Insights in the Epidemiology of Autoimmune Diseases: Improved Prevalence Estimates and Understanding of ...
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5
votes
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"AGE" meaning in the term AGE-associated autoantibodies?
Advanced Glycation End-products
These are basically proteins and lipids that are glycated in a high glucose environment, e.g. in untreated diabetic patients. Wikipedia has an article about the ...
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5
votes
Vaccines and autoimmunity concerns
Autoimmunity triggered by vaccination is a documented, but rare occurrence. The current research shows a correlation between autoimmune conditions and elevated levels of HLA proteins. Certain HLA ...
- 1,109
4
votes
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Is autism an autoimmune disease?
I answered a similar question (Is autism caused by genetics?) on Psychology & Neuroscience where the following was found, plus I have added information regarding autoimmune responses concerning ...
- 6,164
4
votes
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How does immunosuppressant affect immune system?
I will discuss azathioprine here, as there are many different immunosuppressant drugs that work in different ways. The immune system is a complex thing and most will inhibit only one particular aspect ...
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4
votes
Accepted
Can autoantibodies found in the father affect the embryo, and how?
I think you're right to be stumped.
The text you're referring to discusses Fig. 3C in the review; they note it's preliminary data but also seem to use strange/wrong descriptions, e.g. in the Fig 3 ...
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3
votes
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Causes of polypoid foveolar hyperplasia
Even if the CLO test comes up negative on the biopsy, you could have your blood tested to see if you are sera positive for H. pylori. This would show if you've ever been exposed rather than have an ...
- 1,943
3
votes
Accepted
Rheumatoid arthritis heritability
Odds vary.
The most straightforward study I could find was Koumantaki et al. (1997), which found several odds ratios for developing rheumatoid arthritis:
4.4 for individuals having a first degree ...
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3
votes
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Why do some General Practioners not consider Fibromyalgia as a genuine, real auto-immune disorder?
Medicine, more than almost any other discipline, requires continuing education through the entire career. It changes rapidly, and whatever a doctor was taught 20 years ago in med school, or even 10 ...
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3
votes
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Does Coriander Seed increase or decrease tnf alpha and il-6?
Both of these studies involve a rodent inflammation model where complete freund's adjuvant is injected to incite inflammation, and then rats are given an alcohol-based coriander seed extract or other ...
- 13.7k
2
votes
Accepted
Are type 2 hypersensitivities autoimmune diseases?
No, not all type II Hypersensitivities are autoimmune diseases.
Example: blood transfusion reactions, erythroblastosis fetalis, are also type 2.. but these are not autoimmune.
Type 2 indicates ...
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2
votes
Vaccines and autoimmunity concerns
Like many health issues that are currently on the rise, anything you can potentially say is vaccine related can also easily be said to be environmental toxin related. There is quite a bit of research ...
- 482
2
votes
Accepted
Can SARS-CoV-2 be a potential cause for Guillain-Barré syndrome?
Like everything else, we're instructed by past experiences. Although there weren't a lot of data on neurologic aspects of MERS and SARS, there were some papers describing neurologic complications in ...
- 13.2k
2
votes
What are the risks associated with imidazoquinoline adjuvant (used in one Covid-19 vaccine) related to development of autoimmune diseases?
I will try to summarize what I have gathered till now from reading on my own and insights from other people.
In the study 1 that I have cited, they have found that on mice, a dose of 100 micrograms of ...
- 41
2
votes
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If we could remove all auto-antibodies would the auto-immune disease get cured?
Yes, there actually is a correct answer to this: not every autoimmune disease is antibody driven. Take coeliac disease: antibodies are just an epiphenomenon of the immune process, which is actually ...
- 66
2
votes
what is the mechanism through which TLR 7 agonist causes autoimmune disease?
There is a subtype of lupus called Drug induced lupus (DIL), as the name says certain drugs cause the signs and symptoms of lupus in susceptible individuals. The difference between DIL and normal ...
- 156
1
vote
Why is multiple sclerosis associated with trigeminal neuralgia?
The reason for that association is not known. Neither etiology of these two diseases is undiscussed. Arguably, neighbouring veins exerting pressure on the trigeminal nerve cause trigeminal neuralgia....
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Is a patient who has an autoimmune disease immunocompromised?
This type of data can only come from studies. The ones I've looked at so far do not indicate that single organ autoimmune disease is a risk factor.
The risk factors they looked at in the study below ...
- 13.2k
1
vote
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Can we slow the advancement of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) with immunosuppressants?
In treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, the following immunosuppressants, which are already in use, inhibit cytokines:
Non-biologic DMARDs (Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs): methotrexate, ...
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