Autoimmune Vasculitis

KEY FACTS about VASCULITIS

1. Vasculitis is a family of 15+ rare diseases.  Because of the rarity, medical expertise is limited.
   
2. Vasculitis is an inflammation of the blood vessels, arteries, veins, or capillaries.  The inflammation of the blood vessel causes a weakening and narrowing of the blood vessel wall that deprives affected tissues and organs of blood supply resulting in tissue and organ damage.
3. Vasculitis can be caused by autoimmune disease, where the cause may be unknown. An autoimmune disease occurs when the body mistakes its own cells for foreign invaders and produces antibodies to attack the perceived invaders as a defense against infection. It is NOT CONTAGIOUS.

RESOURCES:

• Microbes and Immunity by LeoGalland MD
• Dysbiosis as a cause of autoimmunity
• Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

• Autoimmune diseases by Joel Fuhrman MD
• Multiple Sclerosis by John McDougall MD
• Autoimmune Association
• Rare Diseases National Organization
• Vasculitis Foundation
• Vasculitis Clinical Research Consortium
• Johns Hopkins Vasculitis Center

After several months of meeting with a variety of specialists around the USA, I was diagnosed with a rare disease called Vasculitis (inflammation of the blood vessels of the body).  There where lots of challenging days over the course of the first 8 months, when I could do no more than rest on the couch.  Many of the allopathic treatments currently used for Vasculitis (which deal with the symptoms but not the underlying cause of the autoimmunity and hence do not cure the disease) can be very toxic, but there are many other approaches available: Functional Medicine and Naturopathic for example which addresses some of the underlying causes of various auto-immune disease.

the next post:
5 Steps to Reduce Chronic Hidden Inflammation

What is A Rare Disease?
A rare or "orphan" disease affects fewer than 200,000 people in the United States. There are more than 6,000 rare disorders that, taken together, affect approximately 25 million Americans.

See National Organization of Rare Diseases (NORD) for more info

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