New Directions

Recently I've become convinced that I don't have Celiac Disease, AND Psoriatic Arthritis, AND Psoriasis, AND Lymphocytic Colitis, AND a tendency towards Lymphoedema, AND some female irregularities. I'm certain that these are merely symptoms, and I've got a bigger problem on my hands. It turns out all of my fun conditions are auto-immune related. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I feel like all of these diseases are a gang of thugs... and I want to find the leader of the pack, and give him or her a black eye.

So for the next few weeks I'm going to be doing a lot of reading and writing about Auto-Immune Diseases. I'm currently reading two books on Women and Autoimmune disease (here and here), and am amazed by what I'm finding out. Women suffer from autoimmune diseases far more often then men, and it is hypothesized (by the authors of these two books) that this is in part because of our ability to bear children. Just think - for 9 months our bodies house a child who is made up of 50% foreign substance - and our bodies have to recognize that and not destroy that foreigner. Therefore, our immune systems are much more complicated then men's. And, as Lahita and Yalof mention - a machine with lots of buttons is more likely to break than a machine with just a few. We girls are just more complicated.

Well, anyone could have told you that...