Until I recently read the book entitled The Autoimmune Wellness Handbook by Micky Trescott and Angie Alt both health coaches and blog at https://autoimmunewellness.com/our-story/. I didn’t realize that I could have a condition called multiple autoimmune syndrome. The authors of the above book say that, “…this disorder usually includes one skin disorder like psoriasis. 25% of people with 1 autoimmune disease will go on to develop more.”
I was diagnosed with endometriosis when I was very young in my early twenties. Endometriosis is not exactly an autoimmune disease but what they classify as on the autoimmune spectrum. Endometriosis.org http://endometriosis.org/news/research/endometriosis-and-comorbidities/ talks about it more detail on their site on the above page.
A few years later I was diagnosed with psoriasis on the back of my neck under my hairline. Then in 2010 I was diagnosed with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) which is Eosinophilic esophagitis, also known as EE or EoE, is an allergic inflammatory disease and typically chronic disorder that affects from one to four of every 10,000 people in the United States. It is a recently recognized disease with increasing diagnoses, resulting in part from growing awareness of the condition. . https://acaai.org/allergies/types/food-allergies/types-food-allergy/eosinophilic-esophagitis
Psoriasis is actually considered an autoimmune disease. Here the national psoriasis foundation has to say, “Researchers agree that psoriatic disease is an autoimmune disease.” https://www.psoriasis.org/research/science-of-psoriasis/immune-system
I think it was somewhat of a fluke that I ever found out about EoE. I had an endoscopy in 2009 which showed I had that condition of my esophagus. I always had issues with bananas and my throat causing it to squeeze too much after I ate a semi unripe banana. Then after my family was exposed to high levels of mold in 2017 my throat started squeezing even harder than it ever had with bananas and it went down into my stomach. It was very painful and drinking water wouldn’t relieve the symptoms. My gastroenterologist said that condition is like asthma of the esophagus. I took a pain pill and that helped and once I was out of the mold it stopped.
It is so interesting how the body works and how environmental exposures to toxins affect it and contribute to its dysfunction. Knowing this about myself sheds light on what is going on with my daughter. It’s interesting to note that my husband also has psoriasis and she got genes from both of us.
In spite of all that’s wrong with our bodies we are blessed to be able to eat very healthy food and take good supplements so that we can override many symptoms that might have overtaken our lives. We are blessed.
What has been your experience with autoimmune disease? Do you have this condition or many autoimmune diseases? I’d love to hear your story.