Maria Mazurek*<\/sup>:<\/strong> Very well. Since my rheumatoid arthritis was diagnosed and treated, I\u2019ve been in remission. I work, travel, play sports, and lead a normal life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You begin your book Zbuntowane cia\u0142o. Jak zrozumie\u0107 i oswoi\u0107 choroby autoimmunologiczne<\/em> (The Rebellious Body: How to Understand and Tame Autoimmune Diseases<\/em>) with a description of a severe attack that struck you during a vacation in Bali. The pain was so intense that even a healer was called in. Do autoimmune diseases often manifest so suddenly?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Most patients with autoimmune diseases are diagnosed during a flare-up, which is an intensification of the disease. That was the case for me too. These are moments when, in such diseases, especially rheumatic ones, you rapidly lose functionality and experience tremendous pain<\/strong>. The deterioration happens week by week, sometimes even day by day. Earlier symptoms are usually very subtle. A year before, I had general, non-specific symptoms \u2013 I lost a bit of weight, started feeling cold, and experienced stiffness in my hands. Ideally, patients should be diagnosed at this stage, before the full-blown disease appears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But they aren\u2019t, either because they downplay such symptoms, or the doctor dismisses or misinterprets them. Did you see a doctor at that time?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, I did. Blood tests were ordered, but they came back normal. When the rheumatologist saw them, she said she had feared I might have a \u201cnasty disease\u201d like rheumatoid arthritis, but wasn\u2019t sure enough to diagnose me at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What are these \u201cnasty diseases,\u201d or autoimmune diseases?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n To put it simply and vividly, autoimmune diseases are a group of conditions where the body recognizes itself as the enemy<\/strong>. The immune system\u2019s activity can be directed towards specific organs, as in Hashimoto\u2019s disease, where it attacks thyroid tissues, or in type 1 diabetes, where it attacks pancreatic cells. It can also attack not just specific tissues, but the entire body<\/a>. This is the case with rheumatic diseases. We associate them with joints because they\u2019re usually attacked first, but these are systemic diseases. The immune system is so overactive that it can attack all organs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A large portion of the four million patients \u2013 which is the estimated number of autoimmune disease cases in Poland \u2013 wait years for a diagnosis. How long did you wait for yours?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n My entire diagnostic process was completed within a few weeks. At the time, it seemed very long to me. I was suffering more and more each day. One day I had trouble putting on socks, the next I couldn\u2019t press down on a door handle to open it. I would howl in pain at night. It was such a strange and sudden experience that those few weeks felt like an eternity. Now I know that the process of diagnosis was actually swift. Diagnosis often drags on for months or years. Some patients\u2019 stories are truly chilling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You recount some of these stories in your book.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n One of them is the story of a girl with psoriatic arthritis. Her symptoms started when she was 19, right after high school graduation. Do you remember your post-graduation summer?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course. It was the longest and one of the best summers of my life.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We recommend:<\/strong> Preaching Green and Flying High: The Double Standards of Environmental Protection<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Autoimmune](\"https:\/\/holistic.news\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/autoimmune-diseases-2-1024x576.jpg\")
What are the Autoimmune Diseases?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n