The Autoimmune Epidemic - Book Report/Review Example

The Autoimmune Epidemic When that communication is lost “things fall apart, the centre cannot hold.” W.B. Yeats Donna Jackson Nakazawa’s enlightening book titled, “The Autoimmune Epidemic” reveals the plain truth about autoimmune diseases and how we should go about its prevention and treatment. Autoimmune diseases are not the everyday kind of diseases, but what used to once be very rare are now more frequently occurring diseases. There is a whole list of such diseases that Donna Jackson speaks about in her book and some of them are Multiple Sclerosis, Lupus Erythematosus, Type 1 diabetes etc. Donna Jackson highlights certain facts about how an autoimmune disease gets initiated and what happens thereafter. She tells us that our immune system is so complex that it has the capacity to recognize the different kinds of cells and tissues in our bodies and react accordingly. Usually, the immune system recognizes bacteria, viruses, fungi and other foreign cells and destroys them. But this does not happen in a person suffering from any autoimmune disease. In fact, the opposite happens because the immune system goes awry. Instead of protecting the good tissues and cells, it attacks them because it mistakes the friend for an enemy. Over the years our immune systems have become so sophisticated that it is now capable of detecting and interacting with any foreign cell or bacteria. The increased diversity has led to more sophisticated counter measures for combating diseases. But unfortunately, this high sophistication comes with a cost. Our immune systems have reached that saturation point of sophistication that it can easily lead to the breakdown of the system which results in the occurrence of an autoimmune disease. The disease I have chosen from Donna Jackson’s book titled “The Autoimmune Epidemic’ is Multiple Sclerosis. (MS) Jackson refers to MS as an autoimmune disease because a person’s immune system breaks down thereby attacking the very cells that are supposed to protect it. The term “Multiple Sclerosis” covers a wide range of related diseases that fall within this category. Each case of Multiple Sclerosis is unique and hence calls for different kinds of treatments depending on the constitution of the patient’s body. Symptoms differ from person to person and so treatment varies from person to person. MS manifests itself by damaging the nervous system in our body. The brain and the nervous system are responsible for helping us use all our senses by interacting with people and things in our environment. When the brain and nerves get damaged due to MS, the system degenerates and hence we are unable to use these senses which help us to move, talk, think, see, hear and do all our other work. One of the greatest symptoms of MS is excruciating pain that occurs in the part of the body that has been attacked. It could be in the neck, foot, back, arm, leg or girdle or even the spine. The other symptoms a person may experience are – seizures, numbness in the area, cognitive loss, loss of balance and coordination, migraine headaches, severe depression, foot- drop, fatigue, visual impairments, tremors, poor grasping ability, poor bladder control, muscle weakness and other physical disabilities. Some of the other diseases that have many of the above symptoms are Optic Neuritis, Parkinson’s disease, Paralysis, Stroke, Cerebral palsy, Addison’s disease. In industrialized countries, the majority of cases are attributed to autoimmunity.” Oelkers W (1996) Kong MF, Jeffcoate W (1994) ‘Other causes are tuberculosis, malignant infiltration of primary adrenal tumors, or metastasis. Hereditary diseases such as adrenoleukodystrophy” Laureti S, Casucci G, Santeusanio F, Angeletti G, Aubourg P, Brunetti P (1996) is manifested in Addison’s disease. Multiple Sclerosis is doubly common in women than in men. The diagnosis is mainly in the detection of the onset of some neurological disturbance for which the patient would be taking treatment in an outpatient clinic. The diagnosis is manifested when the person experiences a relapse of a neurological disturbance. (J. Palace, 2001) Many cases are misdiagnosed to be some other neurological disorder because these diseases are so closely inter- related with one another. The triggers responsible for MS are viral infections, the Epstein – Barr virus, T. cells that are used to boost the various components of the immune system in treating other virus attacks, chemical triggers, injection triggers, bio-diversity triggers such as shifting of host which helped to trigger a cascading effect in the ecosystem. Lack of sunshine (vitamin D) is also considered a trigger for MS. (Sarah Boseley, The Guardian, 2009) MS is considered to be a hereditary disease. The most vulnerable age group for MS is between 20 to 40 years. Irvine WJ, Stewart AG, Scarth L (1967) factors responsible for contributing to this disease could be genetic as well as environmental. Social status as well as one’s location and ethnic background are major contributing factors because the type of climate experienced and the food eaten are major contributing factors. For example people who live in extremely cold places (away from the equator) and who hardly get to see the sun are more vulnerable than others who are able to get enough vitamin D for their bodies. The methods of treatment cannot be the same for all patients. Therefore, depending on the case of the patient, treatment is rendered. In case of spasticity, the best treatment would be physical therapy in order to reduce the symptoms of frozen joints and immobility. Drugs could be administered in small quantities and gradually increased to achieve optimal results. Cognitive loss may result in an inability to perform daily activities or engage in work because impaired learning and loss of memory delays the information process and this would result in symptoms of depression and fatigue. The treatment for this symptom should be very close monitoring and good support from friends, family and caregivers. Neuro- protectors such as donepezil, Rivastigmine and Memantime could be administered to lessen depression. In treating bladder dysfunction for both emptying and storingoxybutynin, tolterodine, and propantheline bromide which are Anticholinergic agents could be made use of. Constipation is quite common due to impairing of bowels and hence increases in the intake of fluids and other dietary fiber is necessary. Stool softeners are very useful for proper emptying of bowels. Therefore, for the physical, cognitive, psychological and other social problems, a team of well experienced health and social serve personnel should work in close tandem with the neurologist in order to relieve many of the symptoms faced by the patient because it should be understood that there is no cure for Multiple Sclerosis, but yet the disease can be kept within reasonable control if good care is administered. References David Kohn. (2008) Body Wars, Author Donna Jackson Nakazawa answers our questions about the spate of autoimmune diseases. www.donnajacksonnakazawa.com/articles/baltimore_sun.htm EVB Might Trigger Multiple Sclerosis…. www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news/EBV-Might-Trigger-Multiple-Sclerosis--Study-9929-1/ Irvine WJ, Stewart AG, Scarth L 1967 A clinical and immunological study of adrenocortical insufficiency (Addison’s disease). Clin Exp Immunol 2:31–70[Medline] J. Palace, (2001) Making the Diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. www.nnp.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/71/suppl_2/ii3 Kong MF, Jeffcoate W 1994 Eighty-six cases of Addison’s disease. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf) 41:757–761[Medline] Laureti S, Casucci G, Santeusanio F, Angeletti G, Aubourg P, Brunetti P 1996 X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy is a frequent cause of idiopathic Addison’s disease in young adult male patients. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 81:470–474 www.jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/content/full/87/2/618 Lack of Sunshine found to trigger Multiple Sclerosis. www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/feb/05/multiple-sclerosis-sunshine-vitamin-d Oelkers W 1996 Adrenal insufficiency. N Engl J Med 335:1206–1212[ Read More