Hi, everybody:

I would like to know if having an auto-immune disorder (such as thyroiditis or any other auto-immune disorder) makes a person more prone to having another auto-immune disorder (such as rheumatoid arthritis or any other auto-immune disorder) in the future.

If yes, is there a way to prevent this from happening, apart from taking immuno-suppressant medications, like my two-year-old baby boy does for the rest of his life, after receiving his one heart, two lungs, and two kidneys transplants?

Thanks for your information.

Hi Kitty,

I've researched auto-immune disorder since I came down with auto-immune liver disease (AIH). My readings advise that they usually come in multiples. Many people have five different ones. I've had the AIH and almost died. My liver enzimes whic normally are at 25, rose to over 2,000 on AST & ALT blood tests. I was treated at Scripps because of the severity of the onset and because it's considered rare--one person in a hundred thousand are diagnosed with it. So AIH is my primary disease and I spent 3 years taking prednisone. In 2003 my pain doctor for my near daily migraines put me on Celebrex. Surprise! it is an anti-inflamatory that put me in remission and I've not needed prednisone or the steriod booster Imuran in the last eight years.
Three years later I was diagnosed with Sjogren's Syndrome. I considered it to simply be a disease of inconvenience what with the dry eyes, arthritis, dry mouth and frequent yeast diseases that come with it. MY rheumatologist corrected me and said it most be monitored as it can develop into bone cancer.

Right now I'm having severe sleepiness and sleep nearly 20 hours a day. The doctor gave me an RX for Nuvigil, a stimulant, to counteract the chronic faigue. But the med has given me awful side-effects so I am discontinuing.
Today I had a bunch of blood drawn in hopes of discovering why I'm sleeping so much. (I thank God I'm not in pain, but it's not much of a life to lead when I'm awake less than 4 hours a day.

I've told you more than you probably wanted to hear, but it's important that the miracle of Celebrex helped me so much. I fear that telling you about the tendency of auto-immune diseases frequently arrive in clusters, but that's what you asked. My Christian faith and the power of prayer are my greatest
resources that keep me going. Kitty, I'll lift your name to God in prayer, too!

Celiac Disease is an autoimmune disease and people with Celiac have a much higher incidence of other autoimmune diseases. You might want to look it up and review any symptoms you have that may be related. When I self-diagnosed and went gluten free (gluten causes Celiac) I had several other immune disorders vanish.

Answer: YES

Answer: YES, it's called Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN).

J.

Has anyone tried this prescription drug used primarily for diabetics. I have used Metformin for over 4 months and have experienced dramatic improvement.

@ Bob:

Welcome to NeuroTalk:

Are you posting here that metformin helped your autoimmune disease? Or that it helped your diabetes type II?

Metformin does reduce inflammation in some type II diabetics, but your response is unclear in this thread.

So please do go into more detail for us?

From Life Extension this week. They go as far as recommending it for everyone as a preventative for cancer. Don't know how I feel about that.

http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2010/...&key=metformin

Well, certainly that was an interesting article. I've tried metformin TWICE, and both times it was a disaster as time passed on my GI tract and gall bladder. Even the new form, affected my gall bladder!. Then I found a new study that recommends people with PCOS or sluggish gall bladder may improve with it! Stimulating the gall bladder when you don't need it...dumps too much bile into the intestine and this alone can cause many problems!

I guess for me TOO much action on the gall bladder plus the increased serotonin action on the GI tract was too much. I do have that congenital defect I was born with, and that may be a factor.

Before metformin was marketed, there was a cousin of of it, called phenformin (D.B.I T.D. tradename)... and this version which was in Europe before the US... caused many deaths from lactic acidosis. It was off the market here until the newer metformin was released in the mid 90's.(as Glucophage). Metformin still has the lactic acidosis warning attached to it, but that is much less of a risk than its old cousin had (phenformin)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenformin

Since then it has been touted as a diabetes preventative by reducing insulin resistance. But also it DOES affect serotonin receptors in the bowel.


http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=566298

Both times, I started out well, but as the early months passed, the cramping, nausea and diarrhea became just too much and overwhelming for me! Even the new form Glumetza failed after about 6months!

People on metformin for long periods of time, should have regular renal (kidney) blood work. This drug can damage the kidneys in some people.

I don't know how they assess risk vs benefit with this but I think it's not that clear so I would be apprehensive to jump on this wagon especially as a preventive medicine. Now if I had cancer, I may give a shot.

They do state the warnings associated with its use but how many people are as knowledgeable as you. So many would miss the connection.