FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SHARE THE GIFT OF HEALTH THIS HOLIDAY SEASON: LEARN YOUR FAMILY “AQ”
Newswise — DETROIT, December 17, 2015 --- As families gather for the holidays, American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA) urges them to share the gift of their family “AQ” or autoimmune quotient with loved ones.
AQ is a play on IQ. It involves understanding your family’s medical history and thus how likely you may be to develop one or more of the 100-plus autoimmune diseases.AARDA offers the following advice to help individuals determine their family’s AQ:
1. Get educated. There are more than 100 known autoimmune diseases and an additional 51 diseases that are suspected to be autoimmune-related. Autoimmunity is the underlying cause of these diseases. It is the process whereby the immune system mistakenly recognizes the body's own proteins as foreign invaders and begins producing antibodies that attack healthy cells and tissues, causing a variety of diseases.
The diseases themselves can affect almost any part of the body, including the kidneys, skin, heart, liver, lymph nodes, thyroid and the central nervous system. Autoimmune diseases include multiple sclerosis (MS), myasthenia gravis, scleroderma, polymyositis, vasculitis, lupus, Sjögren's disease, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), type 1 or juvenile diabetes, endometrosis, Crohn’s disease and Graves’ disease.
Of the 50 million Americans living and coping with ADs, more than 75 percent are women. ADs are one of the top 10 leading causes of death of women under the age of 65. They are responsible for more than $100 billion in direct health care costs annually.
HIV/AIDS is NOT an autoimmune disease.
2. Know that autoimmune diseases run in families. There is a genetic component involved in these diseases and they tend to cluster in families. With autoimmune diseases, multiple genes are involved, not just one. As a result, several genes that increase risk get passed on with these diseases. In one family, for example, you may see a grandmother with alopecia areata, a mother with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, children with psoriasis and aunts and uncles with rheumatoid arthritis.
3. Next, prepare your own family medical history. Given the family connection, this is critical. Sit down with family members and do a detailed family health history. Then share it with each other, check it against AARDA’s list (www.aarda.org) and tell your doctor.
4. Keep a "symptoms" list. People with ADs often suffer from a number of symptoms that, on the surface, seem unrelated. It is important, therefore, to make a list of every major symptom you’ve experienced so that you can present it clearly to your doctor.
5. Be patient.Getting a correct diagnosis (http://bit.ly/1O6eYKm) will take time – AARDA surveys show an average of three-and-a-half years and five doctors. But doing your homework and getting educated will help speed the process.
About American Autoimmune Related Diseases AssociationAmerican Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA) is the nation's only non-profit organization dedicated to bringing a national focus to autoimmunity as a category of disease and a major women's health issue, and promoting a collaborative research effort in order to find better treatments and a cure for all autoimmune diseases. For more information, please visit www.aarda.org.
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CONTACT: Cindy Carway/Stephanie HornbackCarway Communications, Inc.212-378-2020[email protected]@CarwayComms
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