Neuromuscular Disorders—Autoimmune Diseases

Your body’s immune system protects you from disease and infection. But if you have an autoimmune disease, your immune system attacks healthy cells in your body by mistake. Autoimmune diseases can affect many parts of the body.

No one is sure what causes autoimmune diseases. They do tend to run in families. Women – particularly African-American, Hispanic-American, and Native-American women – have a higher risk for some autoimmune diseases.

There are more than 80 types of autoimmune diseases, and some have similar symptoms. This makes it hard for your health care provider to know if you really have one of these diseases, and if so, which one. Getting a diagnosis can be frustrating and stressful. Often, the first symptoms are fatigue, muscle aches and a low fever. The classic sign of an autoimmune disease is inflammation, which can cause redness, heat, pain and swelling.

The diseases may also have flare-ups, when they get worse, and remissions, when symptoms get better or disappear. Treatment depends on the disease, but in most cases one important goal is to reduce inflammation. Sometimes doctors prescribe corticosteroids or other drugs that reduce your immune response.

• Autoimmune disorders (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Complement (Medical Encyclopedia)

Neuromuscular disorders affect the nerves that control your voluntary muscles. Voluntary muscles are the ones you can control, like in your arms and legs. Your nerve cells, also called neurons, send the messages that control these muscles. When the neurons become unhealthy or die, communication between your nervous system and muscles breaks down. As a result, your muscles weaken and waste away. The weakness can lead to twitching, cramps, aches and pains, and joint and movement problems. Sometimes it also affects heart function and your ability to breathe.

Examples of neuromuscular disorders include

• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
• Multiple sclerosis
• Myasthenia gravis
• Spinal muscular atrophy

Many neuromuscular diseases are genetic, which means they run in families or there is a mutation in your genes. Sometimes, an immune system disorder can cause them. Most of them have no cure. The goal of treatment is to improve symptoms, increase mobility and lengthen life.

• Apraxia (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Hand or foot spasms (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Muscle atrophy (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Muscle function loss (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Muscle twitching (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Myotonia congenita (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Spasticity (Medical Encyclopedia)