Multiple Autoimmune Disease Disorder
Multiple Autoimmune Disorder Criteria: at least three conditions must be present in the same patient Type 1 Myasthenia gravis Thymoma Polymyositis Giant cell myocarditis Type 2 Sjðgren's (Sjogren's) syndrome Rheumatoid arthritis Primary biliary cirrhosis Scleroderma Autoimmune thyroid disease Type 3 Autoimmune thyroid disease Myasthenia gravis and /or thymoma Sjðgren's (Sjogren's) syndrome Pernicious anemia Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura Addison's disease Diabetes mellitus Vitiligo Autoimmune hemolytic anemia Lupus erythematosus Dermatitis herpetiformis Someone very close to me is Type 3. She has Diabetes mellitus, Autoimmune thyroid disease, Vitiligo and Addison's disease. Thyroid is pretty easy to take care of... one pill a day, and there is such wide latitude in acceptable thyroid levels that she is effectively "cured" of that problem with the treatment. Vitiligo is a loss of skin pigment. Nothing you can do about it, and it's not lethal, just costs a little bit more at the cosmetics counter and more time to get ready for the day. Diabetes is the big one, this is Type 1 (insulin Dependent) diabetes and requires constant monitoring of food intake and blood glucose levels. She was on 5 shots of insulin per day before the insulin pump changed her life. Addison's Disease (destruction of the adrenal glands and the loss of their stress response hormones) is the insidious one. It is SO uncommon that nearly everyone who has survived to get a diagnosis tells horror stories of missed diagnoses. In the chronic phase (usually lasting for two or three years or more) the symptoms of fatigue and malaise are overlooked or attributed to "aging", as another symptom -hyper pigmentation of the skin- makes the patient look robust as if having a tan. In the acute extremely life-threatening phase or "Addisonian Crisis", low blood pressure, vomiting and diarrhea are often mistaken for the flu or food poisoning. Addison's Disease is treated with daily steroid pills, and all is well unless the patient is under stress for any reason -- a cold, an injury, an ache, surgery, mental stress -- whatever. Then the body cannot produce stress hormones and the patient is at risk for Addisonian Crisis and sudden death. |
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| Good info Ron.
Todd's mom was flirting with those dx as well. She had the DB, and thyroid issues. They had done some workups for the adrenal issues, but nothing concrete found. She had some unexplained (2) episodes that made her very ill, once nearly died. Chronic tiredness as well. She did have back surgery failure, and was on meds for chronic severe pain. No more surgical options, as her spine was crumpling and too porous of bones. Then she had the flu (again, that was what it looked like), ruled out her DB being out of whack. Ended up bringing her into the ER virtually unresponsive and finding out her blood work showed fatal levels in some obscure tests. Never really diagnosed, but sounded a lot like Addison's crisis. Kind of freaky timing Ron, as her birthday is in 2 days and she is on all our minds in the family, as it was just a year ago she died. 
I had a great MIL - she was very loved and respected, and is so missed. |
| Thanks for the info Ron. Very interesting. |
| Thanks Ron for posting that. Sorry about the Addison's creeping in now. How strange for the Vertiligo and Addison's to affect the pigmentation, one loss, the other gain. |
| Yup, she was lookin' like a sheepie, black and white. |
| I'm so sorry about this. Thank you for the info, I found it very helpful for myself.
I just wanted to say that Underactive Thyroid is not as simple as taking 1 pill a day, even though that's what the doctors say. The levels of hormone the thyroid produces can go up and down like a yo-yo. Mine have been all over the place for the last 3 years. When a level changes, it takes a couple of months to get the correct amount of medication. This can leave you feeling very ill, extremely tired, achey, very forgetful and unable to work. Coupled with my Rheumatoid Arthritis and Sjogren's I have not been able to work for ages, but these are things which doctors say should be easily fixed with a few pills  |
| My sister had (and died from) Lupus. It took literally years for her to get a proper diagnosis. |
| I don't know which catogory I ft into... I have MS--with a lupus chaser.
More and more, the lupus syptoms are creeping in... |
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