https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/06/women-autoimmune-diseases-pregnancy/591901/
That's very interesting Jenny. Thanks for sharing the article. I will have to read it again when I'm in a more alert mood but I got the gist of it.
Thank you for posting this, Jenny.
If the placenta is the problem, why do men get Sjogrens?
This is interesting, but seeing I've never been pregnant and still have it makes me doubt it. I've been putting some of my own theories together, purely speculative, but two stand out to me. One is that we have an opening into our body through which pathogens can enter, namely the vagina, that men don't have. And also the fact that we are big users of cosmetics, which can bring pathogens into the eyes and mouth. Once they enter I think the body can start fighting and mistake the healthy cells they are surrounded by. But like I said these are just uneducated guesses on my part.
There is s new field of interest out there that is having a lot of interest. It is then large bowel. The GI tract is full of lymph nodes and all that thin tissue that can be affected by inflammatory and infective issues. Also, the many hundreds and thousands of bacteria that are being discovered in the GI tract also are being found to be connected to autoimmune diseases.
We didn't hear that much about the colon in oh so many years and now the opinion is that it is unbelievably important in so many diseases. Irish
Hi Jenny,
For me it might hold true as I've only been pregnant once but never carried to full term... I definitely believe hormones are involved (maybe driven by wonky gut bacteria?).
My gynaecologist used the same type of argument to explain my endometriosis: in nature women would be pregnant multiple times so they would have less periods. My suprahigh estrogen level - unopposed by even higher progesterone in pregnancy - created fibroid tissue in my womb, colon and who knows elsewhere.
@Judes: I'm not sure about the cosmetics, as I developed Sjogren's at a relatively young age and didn't use any yet... But you could be right about the vaginal route! Or how about the effect of birth control pills?
@Irish: involvement of gut bacteria makes sense to me. Not only did I have infection of the large intestine 2x but also severe IBS later with terrible diarrhea and when Sjogren's commenced severe constipation. At colonoscopy recently 9 polyps were removed so gut bacteria have probably gone to the fun fair...
Food for thought!!
If this were true, there would need to be data showing that women in first world countries who have lots of pregnancies are less likely to develop autoimmune conditions.
Also, what is the explanation that autoimmune disorders are on the rise for both genders? (Just a far greater proportion are women.)
It seems to me there is some combination of stress / genetics / environment that triggers a haywire immune response. Sjogren's has been around for a long time. Why is it more prevalent now? If pregnancy is protective, you would think people like nuns, etc. would have been more prone to these disorders.
In our modern era, I suspect there is something environmental at play. We are exposed to FAR more chemicals than in the past. And especially we are exposed to more plastic.
There is clear evidence that plastics leach hormone-like chemicals into the environment, and women have a different hormone balance than men that may make them more susceptible.
One of the other things that people mention is the fact that autoimmune is getting worse....diagnoses are rising over the years and I have noticed the past 20 years have shown increase. Obviously there is better diagnostic measures available, but chemicals are being brought up more often also.
I spent all my life in agriculture state with chemicals plus about 4 years in a state where we had chemical contamination of the milk supply for a period of time. The area I lived the longest had several manufacturers who used chemicals and we had a lot of illness take place in these factories plus people in surrounding area were getting sick. There was a large increase of cancer in the area and deaths in some of the factories. Cancer cells are interelated with the immune and autoimmune systems.
So, there are so many things involved that is will take time to sort things out. Emotional and physical stress are considered to be involved also in autoimmune issues. Also, it should be noted that Roundup is being blamed for lymphoma lately.....this can also spill over to cancer causing in general. The death rate from cancer around my area is unbelievable. Just hope the researchers can catch up with all this. Irish