A 31-year-old member asked:
What is autoimmunity, and what causes an autoimmune disorder?
3 doctor answers • 4 doctors weighed in
Dr. Christopher Nicoraanswered
Internal Medicine 26 years experience
Antibody v.s. self: Autoimmune diseases arise from an inappropriate immune response of the body against substances and tissues normally present in the body. In other words, the immune system mistakes some part of the body as a pathogen and attacks its own cells.
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
6.1k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
Dr. Jack Mutnickanswered
Allergy and Immunology 19 years experience
Autoimmunity: Autoimmunity is the failure of an organism in recognizing its own constituent parts as self, which allows an immune response against its own cells and tissues. Any disease that results from such an aberrant immune response is termed an autoimmune disease.
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
5.6k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
Dr. Evan Hirsch, MDanswered
Integrative Medicine 16 years experience
Confused immunity: Autoimmunity is when the immune system gets confused and starts attacking the body. The cause is a anything that can trigger the immune system to attack the self: food allergy, infection, heavy metal, chemical and mold. Find the cause, remove it and the autoimmunity resolves. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac11G-Chnmk
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
2.3k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
Dr. James Blachly commented
Specializes in Medical Oncology
Generally agree, but some people have a genetic predisposition to autoimmunity, and others have autoimmunity triggered by wrong maturation of T-cells that will not be relieved by environmental factors. Otherwise, agree with Dr. Hirsch about what is autoimmunity and that it can sometimes be relieved by removing a trigger or environmental exposure.
Sep 17, 2015
Last updated Sep 17, 2015
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