9 Autoimmune Diseases Every Woman Needs to Know About

Lupus attacks the skin, joints, blood vessels, and/or internal organs, causing inflammation. Systemic lupus erythematosus, or SLE, is the most common and serious type of this disorder.

At least 1.5 million Americans have lupus, according to the Lupus Foundation of America. Lupus strikes women more than men, especially women of childbearing age.

“The difficulty with lupus is that it can manifest itself in different ways,” says Dr. Rose, a senior lecturer in pathology at Harvard Medical School in Boston. “It tends to be a multiple-system disease,” with symptoms affecting many different organs.

Its most distinctive feature is a butterfly-shaped rash across the cheeks and nose. Other common symptoms include fatigue, pain, joint swelling, skin rashes on sun-exposed areas, and fever. Lupus can also cause anemia; swelling in the hands, legs, feet, or around the eyes; chest pain when breathing; hair loss; mouth ulcers; and fingers that turn white or blue when they’re cold.

It’s believed that genetic, hormonal, and environmental factors cause lupus. Potential environmental triggers include fatigue, stress, infection, exposure to ultraviolet light, and taking certain types of medicines, namely sulfa drugs (which make people more sensitive to sunlight), penicillin or other antibiotics, and tetracycline.

Lupus treatment is aimed at easing pain and inflammation with anti-inflammatory medicines (like aspirin, ibuprofen, or acetaminophen). Depending on the severity of symptoms, some lupus patients may be prescribed corticosteroids to suppress inflammation and antimalarial drugs to decrease antibody production.

RELATED: 7 People on What It’s Really Like to Have Lupus

This autoimmune condition attacks the thyroid too, but instead of destroying thyroid cells, it leads to the overproduction of thyroid hormone. Too much thyroid hormone can cause an enlarged thyroid, a rapid heartbeat, nervousness or irritability, frequent bowel movements, weight loss, and sleep problems. Many people with Graves’ disease develop eye problems like swelling or bulging eyes. Less commonly, it can cause reddening and thickening of the skin on the lower legs and tops of the feet.

Graves’ disease is the most common cause of overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism) in the US. It affects about one in 200 people and is up to eight times more common in women than men, according to the American Thyroid Association.

What causes Graves’ disease? No one knows for sure. Genes, hormones, and environmental factors, including stress, pregnancy, and infection, may play a role.

Typically, patients are given antithyroid medicines to control, but not cure, their hyperthyroidism.

“If that doesn’t work, we can either partially or fully destroy the thyroid,” Dr. Rose explains. That can be done with surgery or with radioactive iodine, which is taken in a pill and absorbed by the thyroid, where it destroys thyroid cells. You’ll likely need to take thyroid hormone to replace what your body no longer makes if you undergo one of these options.

RELATED: What It’s Like to Live With Graves’ Disease

Vasculitis is an umbrella term for a group of disorders in which the immune system attacks and inflames the body’s own blood vessels. The damage can impede blood flow throughout the body, depending on the vessels and organs affected. Most forms of vasculitis are rare and the causes are unknown. It can occur by itself or with other diseases, such as lupus.

Giant cell arteritis (formerly called temporal arteritis), the most common form of vasculitis in adults, strikes after age 50 and affects more women than men. Symptoms include headache, fatigue, loss of appetite, weight loss, jaw pain, and fever. It can also cause vision loss.

Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (formerly known as Wegener’s granulomatosis) affects the sinuses, lungs, and kidneys.

RELATED: 6 Things You Need to Know About Your Immune System

Steroids, such as prednisone, can help reduce inflammation, while immune-suppressing drugs may be prescribed to decrease the body’s immune response. Another option is rituximab, a newer cancer therapy being used to treat some autoimmune diseases, including certain types of vasculitis. “We need to learn more, but there are certainly lots of examples where one [chemical or compound] is treating multiple diseases,” Dr. Diamond explains.