Medical experts are only just beginning to find all the connections that bring these diseases under the umbrella of autoimmunity, the underlying cause of more than 80 serious chronic illnesses. The Global Alliance for Women's Health is very concerned about this issue because these diseases are more likely to strike women. We were interested in autoimmunity because there are so many crippling effects of the autoimmune diseases. Autoimmune disease is the third major cause of illness in the United States. Even younger women are affected.
Late adolescence seems to be a prime time when many autoimmune diseases strike.
A few days after finishing her sophomore year at college, Heather couldn't get out of bed. She experienced severe abdominal pain and leg cramping, had numerous sores in her mouth, which prevented her from eating and had a temperature of 102. And this is just a short list. The doctor said it was the flu, or probably just stress from her recent final exams, so we were told to wait it out. A flu or virus will just run its course, there's nothing we can do except give her some pain killers, they said.