An autoimmune disorder is a condition that occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys healthy body tissue. People with auto-immune ailments suffer because their body's immune system is over-active and it attacks the person's own cells, not just bacteria, viruses, or foreign substances. There are more than 80 different types of autoimmune disorders. Most immune system disorders affect the whole body and therefore the conventional modes of treatment are often ineffective. They give relief but only temporarily till the effect of the medicines last and symptoms reappear sooner or later. For treating such autoimmune disorders holistic treatment like Homeopathy is ideal.

What are Autoimmune Disorders?

An autoimmune disorder is a condition that occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys healthy body tissue. There are more than 80 different types of autoimmune disorders.

Causes

Normally the immune system's white blood cells help protect the body from harmful substances, called antigens. Examples of antigens include bacteria, viruses, toxins, cancer cells, and blood or tissues from another person or species. The immune system produces antibodies that destroy these harmful substances.

In patients with an autoimmune disorder, the immune system can't tell the difference between healthy body tissue and antigens. The result is an immune response that destroys normal body tissues. This response is a hypersensitivity reaction similar to the response in allergic conditions. In allergies, the immune system reacts to an outside substance that it normally would ignore. With autoimmune disorders, the immune system reacts to normal body tissues that it would normally ignore.

An autoimmune disorder may result in:

• The destruction of one or more types of body tissue
• Abnormal growth of an organ
• Changes in organ function

An autoimmune disorder may affect one or more organ or tissue types. Organs and tissues commonly affected by autoimmune disorders include:

• Blood vessels
• Connective tissues
• Endocrine glands such as the thyroid or pancreas
• Joints
• Muscles
• Red blood cells
• Skin

A person may have more than one autoimmune disorder at the same time. Examples of autoimmune (or autoimmune-related) disorders include:

• Addison's disease
• Celiac disease - sprue (glutensensitive enteropathy)
• Dermatomyositis
• Hashimoto's thyroiditis
• Multiple sclerosis
• Myasthenia gravis
• Pernicious anemia
• Reactive arthritis
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Sjogren syndrome
• Systemic lupus erythematosus
• Type I diabetes etc.

Homeopathic Approach for Autoimmune Diseases*

Homoeopathy is a therapeutic technique which treats sick people by stimulating the body's own defence mechanism. Whereas conventional medical treatments today tend to focus on the former goal of treating or controlling symptoms, homoeopathy primarily attend to the goal of augmenting the person's own inherent defences. Although the direct treatment of symptoms often has immediate effects, its benefits tend to be short-term. Because such therapeutic interventions do not usually strengthen the person's own defences, the individual remains prone to recurrence of their problem.

But what happens when the immune system is over stimulated and needs to calm down. Does homoeopathy help in such cases too? Yes, homoeopathy can also calm the overactive immune system to attain health. Homoeopathy aims to create a balance in the body, by addressing whatever the abnormality in the body.