From AARDA (American Autoimmune Related Disease Association
AARDA) "Unlike cancer, which is an umbrella category for a range of diseases (leukemia, breast cancer, prostate cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, et al.), autoimmunity has yet to be embraced by the medical community (and the public) as a category of disease. Because these diseases cross the different medical specialties, such as rheumatology, endocrinology, hematology, neurology, cardiology, gastroenterology, and dermatology, and because such specialties usually focus on singular diseases within their particular category, there has been virtually no general focus on autoimmunity as the underlying cause. It has been estimated that autoimmune diseases cost $86 billion per year."
and
"Autoimmune Disease
…faces critical obstacles in diagnosis and treatment.
• Symptoms cross many specialties and can affect all body organs.
• Medical education provides minimal learning about autoimmune disease.
• Specialists are generally unaware of interrelationships among the different autoimmune diseases or advances in treatment outside their own specialty area.
• Initial symptoms are often intermittent and unspecific until the disease becomes acute.
• Research is generally disease-specific and limited in scope. More information-sharing and crossover among research projects on different autoimmune diseases is needed."
This is why I'm doing PJ Day... this is a huge problem and someone other than a single organization in the US needs to address it. Who better than people who understand the problem?
Wear your PJ's Friday and let's show them all we're not taking it anymore.
BTW Alisson, it was a total pleasure meeting you and Colin this month.
Three Weggies in one room.
That was pretty cool from my perspective. Rini was totally stoked too.
I look forward to more meetings and some sick tree skiing next year.
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