Barb Bancroft’s Autoimmune Disease—Self vs. Non-Self

The overall number of cases of autoimmune diseases is rising for unknown reasons. HERE ARE THREE IMPORTANT FACTS:

• The National Institutes of Health (NIH) estimates that 23.5 million Americans have an autoimmune disease.
• It is estimated that 80-100 diseases occur as a result of autoimmune responses.
• Women represent 80% of people diagnosed with autoimmune diseases.

Barb will explain the normal healthy immune response and follow up with a discussion of what can go wrong—when the immune system attacks one or more of the body’s normal constituents as if they were foreign. When the immune system fails to recognize “self” it may produce autoantibodies that target its own cells, tissues, and/or organs.

Those attacks result in inflammation and subsequent tissue damage that lead to autoimmune disorders. Barb will discuss all of the “old” therapies and will emphasize the newer therapies that have revolutionized the treatment of many autoimmune disorders.

A discussion of how lab tests can be used to diagnose and follow treatment will be included. Autoimmune diseases to be included: Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Myasthenia Gravis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Grave’s disease, Crohn disease, Ulcerative Colitis, Multiple Sclerosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Sjögren Syndrome, and more…