I've been online for over a decade now, and have noticed more males showing up with problems concerning autoimmune processes. It used to be that females were 9:1 statistically over males for autoimmune diseases.

So I looked up the stats and found this very interesting article.
It has a table showing female to male statistics for US and some countries.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...91302214000466

It is a recent article too, so I think many here will find it helpful.
And it does show more males being affected by autoimmune processes today.

Thanks for that link mrsD - I have printed out the article and will read it slowly and carefully - I think that I will learn a lot from it.

Great article MrsD - and very current. I do wonder though if the gender figures in some conditions (ie the predominance of women being affected) may reflect a cultural reluctance by men generally to seek medical help and therefore a recorded diagnosis.

I think its somewhat related to the soceity presentation of men. Appear as hypermasculine, superiority to feminism, and show no "Weakness" this is very prevalent in western society. An example would be a 6ft+ tall muscular male, blonde, blue eyes, with no defects or disease and very well off individual, thats how the world views males. And males in general dont like to go to the doctor,because of this. I see alot of males of this type at my school who are like this, always muscular or acting very masculine, into the whole "fitness,bodybuilder, or powerlifting" fad. It is good to keep a healthy body, but these are designed to be a way to show off thier psyche and masculinity. theres a video titled"mens standard of beauty around the world" on youtube. They describe how masculine, mostly white males are attractive. around the world.
I
skimmed the article, it is implying that some autoimmune diseases are more severe in one sex than the other, and vice versa. Also the ratio is not very clear cut, as they ONly refer to ADULT MALES in this article, so its not really accurate, because it does not include younger males, also the age of the females,pregnancies, also needs to be account. it is also not clear about the ratio, because there are so many autoimmune diseases out there, some like lupus,ms are known to be more predominant in females. This article only goes for highly industrialized countries, like the west, China and india is included. Furthermore, CHINA, india and USA have a much larger population, which includes immigration, so you would expect more autoimmunes to be happening than in the smaller european countries.
This is kind off topic from the OP, but he should only see a rhuemy if a autoimmune, or connective tissue disease is suspected.

The basic premise of why women have more autoimmune issues is because of pregnancy.

Cells from the fetus do escape into the mother's body, and if she has the genetic propensity to react strongly to this, then she may develop an autoimmune disease.

The genetic markers have to be there however to trigger and fuel the autoimmune cascade.

Did you know that scientists have found cells from the fetus in mothers brains long after the pregnancy?

http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...mothers-brain/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2633676/

I think there is a very strong biological component to autoimmune disease in women. We are finding more and more surprises about this topic.

I brought this up because many doctors today, still do not think men get autoimmune disease, and may dismiss a male who is seeking testing and treatment.

So this posting today of mine is to forewarn the males here who might run into a biased physician.

Seems like a visit to the rheumatologist should be part of the testing process for those of us idiopathic cases unless I am missing something.

Correct, Beatle.

Thanks En bloc. I am wondering if at 2.5 years post diagnosis, it would make sense to see one. I never have. I have mentioned it to my PCP but was told "they're just going to want to repeat a bunch of expensive tests to confirm what we already know, that you have peripheral neuropathy and it is incurable".

I've heard the "expensive" remark a few times and I do not understand it. So, because they are costly we should not do them? Why were they developed if they wrote going to be too expensive and therefore not utilized?

Anyway, should I consider seeing a rheumatologist?

They are notorious for repeating and running numerous labs/tests. But they will be looking at the autoimmune side of the problem (to determine if there is an autoimmune issue)...probably not what your neuro or PCP has explored.

I would still check one out, if I were you. If it's autoimmune based, then the signs would still be there 2.5 years later (not like AI disorders disappear).

The 3 rheumatologists I have seen are useless for PN of any cause. They deal with inflammation of joints and tendons and management of medications for inflammation and immunosuppression.

If nerves are involved they will always refer to a neurologist or neurosurgeon.