Rheumatoid Arthritis And Shingles. Part 3 of 3

They found no significant increase in the risk of shingles based on the type of medicine occupy were taking, with the exception of a high dose of corticosteroids. People taking more than 10 milligrams a day of corticosteroid medication had twice the odds of developing shingles.

Dr Patience White, vice president of social health for the Arthritis Foundation, said the study’s findings were good news. “People worry a lot about taking drugs, and this well-done study says this is another thing we don’t have to worry about,” said White, who also is a professor of nostrum and pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, in Washington, DC “Drug therapies, other than corticosteroids, don’t increase the risk of getting shingles “.

Both White and Winthrop said people, if possible, should get the shingles vaccine before they leap taking medication for an autoimmune condition. The shingles vaccine is a live vaccine, so it’s not recommended for people who are on any specimen of immune-system-altering drug pregnancy ko kaise roka. Winthrop said that based on the latest findings, he suspects it would be OK to vaccinate people on the newer medications, but he added that a study would need to be done first to confirm that.

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Rheumatoid Arthritis And Shingles. Part 2 of 3

Shingles pain can vary from mild to so severe that even the lightest touch causes profound pain. People who have rheumatoid arthritis already have an increased risk of shingles, although Winthrop said it’s not exactly clear why. It may be due to older age, or it may have something to do with the disease itself. Rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune conditions are treated with many unique medications that help dampen the immune system and, hopefully, the autoimmune attack.

Corticosteroids such as prednisone often are the first line of treatment, but because these drugs have many view effects, the goal is to be on the lowest dose possible or off them altogether. Two other classes of drugs – the “biologic” anti-TNF drugs and a group of medications called non-biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) – are newer medications that can be in use to treat rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune conditions. Examples of biologics are adalimumab (Humira), etanercept (Enbrel) and infliximab (Remicade).

A commonly cast-off DMARD is methotrexate. Winthrop and his colleagues reviewed data from almost 60000 people with various autoimmune conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis. More than 33000 were taking biologic anti-TNF drugs, and almost 26000 were on DMARDs. The lucubrate period ran from 1998 through 2008.

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Rheumatoid Arthritis And Shingles. Part 1 of 3

Rheumatoid Arthritis And Shingles. The newest medications utilized to treat autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis don’t appear to raise the risk of developing shingles, redesigned research indicates. There has been concern that these medications, called anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) drugs, might increase the chances of a shingles infection (also known as herpes zoster) because they slave by suppressing a part of the immune system that causes the autoimmune attack. “These are commonly used drugs for people with rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases, and the issue was whether or not they increased the risk of shingles.

We found there is no increased imperil when using these drugs, which was reassuring,” said study author Dr Kevin Winthrop, associate professor of infectious disease and public health and preventive medicine at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. Results of the examine are published in the March 6 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Shingles is a major concern for people with autoimmune conditions, particularly consumers who are older and more at risk for developing shingles in general. Shingles is caused when the same virus that causes chickenpox is reactivated. The symptoms of shingles, however, are often far more serious than chickenpox. It typically starts with a parching or tingling pain, which is followed by the appearance of fluid-filled blisters, according to the US National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

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Acquired Leukoderma Linked To Immune System Dysfunction. Part 3 of 3

And people with this condition are feeling a little left out in the cold, given that the discovery is most likely to benefit melanoma sufferers first. In the not-too-distant future, genetic tests might be able to label which melanoma patients would most be helped by immunotherapy.

But there’s also hope also for vitiligo. “We’re starting to see the players directing the immune response,” said Prashiela Manga, an helpmeet professor of dermatology at New York University Langone Medical Center in New York City penis enlargement pills williston. “We need to know what the genes are so we can promote treatments”.

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Acquired Leukoderma Linked To Immune System Dysfunction. Part 2 of 3

At the urging of various patient groups, these authors conducted a genome-wide association study of more than 5,000 individuals, both with and without vitiligo. Several genes found to be linked with vitiligo also had associations with other autoimmune disorders, such as archetype 1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.

So “We found genes that prove for sure that vitiligo is an autoimmune bug because these genes involve the immune system and some are seen in other autoimmune diseases like type 1 diabetes”. Then there was the surprise melanoma finding.

But “We had wondered about this for many years. Could having an safe system that was revved up against pigment cells protect you against melanoma? And it turns out genetically to be the case. The genetics that push you toward vitiligo push you away from melanoma and vice versa”.

So “We fantasize that the immune system scavenges to protect us against melanoma and if it’s hyper revved up, you’re less likely to get melanoma and if it’s down-regulated, you’re more likely to get vitiligo”. At this premature stage of the game, this is clearly a double-edged sword for people who suffer from vitiligo.

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Acquired Leukoderma Linked To Immune System Dysfunction. Part 1 of 3

Acquired Leukoderma Linked To Immune System Dysfunction. Scientists have discovered several genes linked to acquired leukoderma (vitiligo) that prove the skin condition is, indeed, an autoimmune disorder. Vitiligo is a pigmentation confuse that causes white splotches to appear on the skin; the late pop star Michael Jackson suffered from the condition. The finding could lead to treatments for this confounding condition, the University of Colorado researchers said.

So “If you can allow the pathway that leads to the destruction of the skin cell, then you can block that pathway,” reasoned Dr Doris Day, a dermatologist with Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. More surprisingly, however, was an fluky discovery related to the deadly skin cancer melanoma: People with vitiligo are less likely to display melanoma and vice-versa.

But “That was absolutely unexpected,” said Dr Richard A Spritz, lead author of a paper appearing in the April 21 online issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. This finding, too, could be conducive to to better treatments for this insidious skin cancer. Vitiligo, like a collection of about 80 other diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes and lupus, was strongly suspected to be an autoimmune kurfuffle in which the body’s own immune system attacks itself, in this case, the skin’s melanocytes, or pigment-producing cells.

People with the disorder, which typically appears around the seniority of 20 or 25, develop white patches on their skin. Vitiligo it is fairly common, affecting up to 2 percent of the population. But the question of whether or not vitiligo really is an autoimmune infection has been a controversial one a professor in the Human Medical Genetics Program at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora.

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Type 1 Diabetes And Thyroid Disease. Part 3 of 3

Someone might be tired a lot and think it’s because of diabetes, and they end up ignoring thyroid symptoms”. He said the prototypical symptoms of an underactive thyroid are decreased energy, hair loss, inappropriate weight gain, feeling cold, constipation, dry skin, heavy periods and difficulty concentrating. Some of the symptoms also shingle with a diagnosis of depression.

Symptoms of an overactive thyroid, which are often mistaken for other conditions, include trouble concentrating, heat intolerance, frequent bowel movements, excessive sweating, increased appetite, unexpected force loss, restlessness, a visible lump in the throat (goiter), nervousness and irregular menstrual periods, according to the US National Library of Medicine. Autoimmune thyroid disease is most often managed with a daily pill, according to Schmeltz.

Hatipoglu said it’s important to try to take this pill at the same time every day and to not eat for about 45 minutes after taking it. She said she tells her patients to weather the pill before breakfast, or at night before bed if they have to get out the door quickly in the morning. “Take it when you know you can take it in the same way every day”.

Hatipoglu also pointed out that autoimmune thyroid disease can be episodic in the beginning. “It’s equal a volcano erupting. It can happen on and off as the thyroid is being damaged by the immune system. One day it will be totally destroyed, but until you come to that point, it may come and go — for how long depends on the individual medicine. For some it’s months. For some it can be decades”.

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Type 1 Diabetes And Thyroid Disease. Part 2 of 3

Too much insulin, however, can also cause a iffy condition called hypoglycemia, which occurs when blood sugar levels drop too low. The thyroid is a small gland that produces thyroid hormone, which is essential for many aspects of the body’s metabolism. Most of the time, population with type 1 diabetes will develop an underactive thyroid, a condition called Hashimoto’s disease.

About 10 percent of the time the thyroid issue is an overactive thyroid, called Graves’ disease. In general, nation develop type 1 diabetes and then develop thyroid problems at some point in the future, said Hatipoglu. However, with more grass roots being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in their 30s, 40s and 50s it’s quite possible that thyroid disease can come first.

Thyroid problems are often diagnosed through routine annual blood tests, according to both experts. Untreated thyroid problems can wear blood sugar levels in people with type 1 diabetes. “If I see someone having a lot of trouble controlling their blood sugars, it could be the thyroid”.

And “People who are diagnosed with kind 1 diabetes often work very hard to control their blood sugar, but if they’re not aware of an underactive thyroid, they may have a lot of unexplained low blood sugars. If someone is hyperthyroid, they may have unexplained foremost blood sugars”.

Sometimes people with type 1 diabetes gain weight from taking insulin, but unexplained weight gain can also be due to an underactive thyroid. “People absolutely need to be aware that if you have one of these conditions, you’re at risk of the other. And, symptoms aren’t always so obvious.

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Type 1 Diabetes And Thyroid Disease. Part 1 of 3

Type 1 Diabetes And Thyroid Disease. People who have epitome 1 diabetes are more likely than others to develop an autoimmune thyroid condition. Though estimates vary, the reckon of thyroid disease – either under- or overactive thyroid – may be as high as 30 percent in people with type 1 diabetes, according to Dr Betul Hatipoglu, an endocrinologist with the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. And the likelihood are especially high for women, whether they have diabetes or not noting that women are eight times more likely than men to develop thyroid disease.

And “I tell my patients thyroid ailment and type 1 diabetes are sister diseases, like branches of a tree. Each is different, but the root is the same. And, that root is autoimmunity, where the immune system is attacking your own bracing endocrine parts”. Hatipoglu also noted that autoimmune diseases often run in families.

A grandparent may have had thyroid problems, while an offspring may develop type 1 diabetes. “People who have one autoimmune condition are at risk for another,” explained Dr Lowell Schmeltz, an endocrinologist and assistant professor at the Oakland University-William Beaumont School of Medicine in Royal Oak, Mich.

So “There’s some genetic imperil that links these autoimmune conditions, but we don’t know what environmental triggers make them activate,” he explained, adding that the antibodies from the immune system that destroy the healthy tissue are different in type 1 diabetes than in autoimmune thyroid disease. Hatipoglu said that individuals with type 1 diabetes are also more prone to celiac disease, another autoimmune condition.

Type 1 diabetes occurs when the immune arrangement mistakenly attacks the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, destroying them. Insulin is a hormone that’s necessary for the metabolism of carbohydrates in foods. Without enough insulin, blood sugar levels can skyrocket, influential to serious complications or death. People who have type 1 diabetes have to replace the lost insulin, using shots of insulin or an insulin pump with a tube inserted under the skin.

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New Features Of The Immune System. Part 3 of 3

Right now narcolepsy can be difficult to pinpoint, because the most public symptom – daytime sleepiness – has far more common causes. The most common is simple: Not going to bed early enough. So to diagnose narcolepsy, people may have to splash out 24 hours in a sleep lab or, in some cases, have a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) to measure hypocretin in the spinal fluid. She said that if an autoimmune reaction is the cause of type 1 narcolepsy, it might be practicable to treat with an immune-suppressing therapy.

The problem, though, is that once people develop full-blown symptoms, their hypocretin-producing cells have already been knocked off. “We’d need some kind of pre-clinical marker of the affliction to be able to intervene,” said Watson at the University of Seattle. Roth of Henry Ford Hospital agreed. “The big challenge is, how will you identify the people to treat?” Three of the study authors reported they are inventors on a unmistakable to use the hypocretin protein segments to diagnose narcolepsy treatment. Stanford owns the intellectual property rights for this use.

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