Category: Good To Know

In keeping with the “story” model mentioned in a previous post, allow me to liken the immune system to a galactic space battle. Let’s just say that there was, for instance, a planet that the Rebel Alliance was trying to protect and keep safe at all costs. In this analogy, that is the human body.

The Rebel Alliance selects their best fighter pilots to protect the planet. Meet your immune system.

And what are they protecting the planet from? Those fiends from the Dark Side, the Storm-troopers and the Siths – enter the germs and diseases that your immune system is trying to ward off.

Now think about their fighter jets. The rebel alliance flew around space in their cool Jedi fighter planes that were sort of shaped like a classic paper airplane, and on the other side, Darth Vader and the other bad guys from the Empire had those weird looking Tie-Fighter planes that resembled a couple of black pancakes.

My point is, the Jedi pilots knew what to aim at, because each side’s fighter planes were so distinct looking.

Now imagine that all of the planes look exactly the same, and everyone is just shooting at each other randomly. Firebombs, destruction, chaos and flames shoot across the galaxy.

There. That’s an autoimmune disorder. Talk to ya later.

Okay, so I was making a point. The immune system is a mysterious, inter-connected defender of a normal healthy body. It consists of cells, tissues, proteins and organs, which are constantly on the lookout for invading pathogens. If the body encounters a dangerous organism, the immune system kicks into gear and launches an attack against the particular “antigen” or invader. It’s an extremely efficient system, one in which some elements of the immune system single out the invader, while other elements are left to make the kill. It all works beautifully to keep a person healthy.

Except when it doesn’t.

Sometimes, the immune system gets confused, and attacks itself. This is what is known as an autoimmune disorder.

There are more than 100 different types of autoimmune diseases. Some of most common are:

• Type 1 Diabetes
• Rheumatoid Arthritis
• Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
• Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)
• Crohn’s Disease

For some reason, in recent years, the number of cases of people with autoimmune disorders has increased. There are multiple theories regarding why, and what might trigger the body to attack healthy cells. No single theory has been proven correct.