Health Topics A-Z

Health Topics A-Z

Discuss in our Forum

From About.com

About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by our Medical Review Board

Filed In:

Health Topics A-Z

ENCYCLOPEDIA INDEX

Injury Disease Nutrition Poison Symptoms Surgery Test Special Topic

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Autoimmune disorders

Overview Symptoms Treatment Prevention

Symptoms:

Symptoms of autoimmune disease vary widely depending on the type of disease. A group of very nonspecific symptoms often accompany autoimmune diseases especially of the collagen vascular type and include:

fatigue
dizziness
malaise (nonspecific feeling of not being well)
fever, low-grade temperature elevations

Specific autoimmune disease results in:

destruction of an organ or tissue resulting in decreased functioning of an organ or tissue (for example, the islet cells of the pancreas are destroyed in diabetes)
increase in size of an organ or tissue (for example, thyroid enlargement in Grave's disease)

Note: Symptoms vary with the specific disorder and the organ or tissue affected.

Signs and tests:

Signs vary according to the specific disorder. This disease may also alter the results of the following tests:

erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR)
C-reactive protein (CRP)

Graves' disease	Hashimoto's disease (chronic thyroiditis)	Multiple sclerosis	Rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis	Systemic lupus erythematosus	Synovial fluid	Rheumatoid arthritis
Antibodies