AutoImmune Disease Awareness
March has been named National AutoImmune Disease Awareness Month!
This is so close to my heart since I am passionate about spreading awareness. It is the reason I started writing here. We have to raise awareness and educate people. The more we bring AutoImmune Disease into our national dialogue the more attention it will get —which means funding for research and eventually finding cures and/or prevention for these terrifying diseases.
“Today, fewer than 13% of Americans can name, unaided, an autoimmune diseases. This is staggering when one considers that there are 100+ known autoimmune diseases, all of which are chronic, many life threatening, and that as a category, autoimmune diseases are one of the top 10 killers of women under the age of 65. With the designation of March as ‘National Autoimmune Diseases Awareness Month,’ we begin to focus national attention on this issue, and it’s long overdue,” says Ladd.
According to the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA) here are some things we can do to spread awareness:
1. Be aware that autoimmune diseases target women; 75% of patients are women.
2. Know that autoimmune diseases tend to cluster in families. If your mother had rheumatoid arthritis and your sister had Crohn’s disease, you could be at higher risk than usual.
3. Autoimmune diseases are on the rise in the U.S. and around the world, celiac disease has tripled in the past 10 years in Minnesota alone.
4. Because of lack of early diagnosis and onset of treatment, healthcare costs for autoimmune diseases are overwhelming for patients and the healthcare system.
5. Everyone should know the facts about autoimmune disease.
Please spread the love. It can be so simple… you can feel free to share my story with one or two people that you know this month. There are so many like me who may not have a voice. So many (mostly women) who have been treated like hypochondriacs and often don’t find a diagnosis for their symptoms an average of three years after the onset of their health crisis. It NEEDS to be talked about. Let’s talk about it all month long.
2 years ago • 3 notes
