Health & Fitness

Autoimmune Disease: What You See Is NOT Always What You Get

Autoimmune Disease: What You See Is NOT Always What You Get


So as some of you may know, I have RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis) which happens to be an autoimmune disease. I wrote a Take on it awhile back. You can check that out here:


Take on RA


My goal with with this Take is to focus more on AI disease as a whole, and how it effects people that suffer from it. Read on!


What Is An Autoimmune Disease?


Autoimmune Disease: What You See Is NOT Always What You Get


We all have an immune system. Your immune system is what protects you from things like colds and infections, germs and bacteria, and anything that can potentially cause harm to your body. It's familiar with all the cells in your body so that when foreign and unknown threats enter, it goes into attack mode. Autoimmune diseases occur when your immune system mistakes your healthy cells as one of those foreign threats and attacks them. Which essentially means that your body is attacking itself. Your immune system has deemed your cells as the enemy and is waging war against them. The bad part? There isn't really a cure. There are methods and medicines designed to help with pain and all that comes with these illnesses, but once you develop an autoimmune disease then you're pretty much stuck with it.


Common Autoimmune Diseases



  • Rheumatoid Arthritis

  • Lupus

  • Celiac Disease

  • Multiple Sclerosis

  • Type 1 Diabetes

  • Crohn's Disease


There are many others, but these are some of the more well known illnesses.


Symptoms and Body Parts Affected


There are many different types of autoimmune diseases. Though every disease has its own separate symptoms, a lot of them are the same. Some common symptoms of autoimmune diseases are:



  • Tiredness/fatigue

  • Insomnia

  • Chronic pain

  • Fever


As I stated above, each individual illness comes with its own set of symptoms. Different parts of the body are also affected depending on which disease you have. With rheumatoid arthritis, the main things affected are my joints. Some other things effected are:



  • Endocrine glands

  • Blood vessels

  • Muscles

  • Skin

  • Red blood cells


Most times these things become inflammed which is what causes the pain.


Medications and Treatment


As far as I know, there are no cures for most if not all autoimmune diseases. There are medicines and procedures that help with pain and progression. I take anti-inflammatory meds, a steroid and I also get infusion based meds monthly. All these are to help lessen the pain and possibly get me in remission. The one thing with medications and treatments for these illnesses is that they'll be apart of your life. You may have to take less over time, but stopping altogether doesn't seem to be an option. It can cause major setbacks. I learned that the hard way.


Invisible Illness: It's So Much More Than What You See


Autoimmune Disease: What You See Is NOT Always What You Get


In my opinion, this is the most frustrating part of having an autoimmune disease. Because most of the symptoms aren't outwardly visible, people don't realize the severity of them. They don't SEE how it effects us, so they often downplay it. They don't realize that most autoimmune diseases are accompanied with chronic pain. It's constant. Some days may be better than others, but that pain is always there. Then you have flare ups. That is when the pain seems to be the worst. Flare ups seem to come when you least expect them to, and they can and often do last all day. Imagine having a day full of things to and waking up to a full blown flare up. It's hard. And that's just the physical part of it.


You know what else comes along with autoimmune disease and chronic pain? Anxiety. Depression. Anger. Dealing with these illnesses takes a toll on not just your physical health, but your mental health as well. Imagine knowing that your body is attacking itself and knowing that there's not much you can do to stop it. Imagine having good day after good day and then being smacked with a flare up. You'd be angry too. I already dealt with anxiety and depression before I got diagnosed with RA. I already had anger issues. Now that I'm dealing with this illness, it's worse. And to know that my own system is attacking itself? I remember I was having a particularly bad flare up day. I was trying to pour myself some cereal and my hands hurt so bad that I couldn't even get the box open. I laughed. Then I started to cry. Then laughed again. And I thought "I can't even open up a stupid box of cereal. What kind of failure am I that even my own body doesn't like itself?" And in that moment I felt so angry. And helpless.


Autoimmune Disease: What You See Is NOT Always What You Get


Those are the moments that I think of when I hear people make comments such as "you don't look sick", "can't you push yourself" and "you can't be that tired". I try not to get too pissed off at these comments because most people don't know the half. My goal with this Take is to enlighten others. Those comments are extremely offensive to people that suffer from autoimmune disease. Just because you can't always see the cause of our pain, doesn't mean that it's not there. Even with the damage that my RA has done to my hands, I still get people that make it seem like I'm making my illness up. Trust me, I'm not. I wouldn't wish this on anyone.


I hope that this gives you all a bit of insight. You never know what a person is dealing with. Sometimes the biggest smiles hide the worst pain. Don't so quick to judge and downplay people's problems. Feel free to ask any questions. I'll do my best to answer them. As always, stay classy GaGers! See you guys on the threads! 😎 ✌ ❤


Autoimmune Disease: What You See Is NOT Always What You Get

Autoimmune Disease: What You See Is NOT Always What You Get
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