Do you have an auto-immune disease too?

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If you don't mind saying, what was the med?
I've read a few studies with things i'd never expect (like milk thistle) providing benefit similar to ssris..i always find that interesting.

I'm on hrt (estradiol). Funny you mention milk thistle as it has fair levels of phytoestrogens (plant estrogen analogs). Estrogen influences the regulation of serotonin levels & re-uptake rates directly via specific receptors*. Serotonin, in turn has long been connected to immune & autoimmune response.

*Testosterone may do something similar, obviously using different receptors and mechanisms, but it appears to affect the levels of transport proteins for reusing serotonin rather than serotonin levels directly, if I understand correctly.

That is interesting. I didn't realize hrt could help that condition.
I have defintely read about estrogen and serotonin as well as progest and gaba..
I took estradiol for a while and it seemed to help neuro-wise at first, but then dwindled...i think it may still help a but, but it seems, when i get a rare, really good reaction to something, my brain auto-regulates to compensate and restore the original setting.

I didn't realize milk thistle was a known phytoestrogen, i usually only see the ones like soy listed. The study i referenced was actually on silymarin...i now wonder if perhaps that is the milk thistle constituent that is responsible for the phytoestrogen.

Interesting...to me (this all is interesting to me.. ) is that i use progesterone cream and i noticed that every end of the month when i'd double the quantity to emulate the natural cycle, my arthritis would flare. I then looked and began to find a few references/studies saying just that - that for what i have, progesterone can be a trigger /'make it worse. All of which...given progesterone's relation /dance with estrogen, estrogen having influence on serotonin...i haven't yet personally seen a lot with serotonin/autoimmune, but a relation there starts to make what i experienced make more sense...
As it was, i just saw progest - gaba, and thought if anything..stress/anxiety lower should = decreased symptoms.

I'll shut up now . It's all quite amazing though! Thanks for your input on it...i now need to do some more research on the serotonin autoimmune relations!

Diffuse Systemic Sclerosis. Aspergers went undiagnosed for years. Everyone just thought I was a bit "off". It wasn't until after my diagnosis of dSsc that I started seeing a therapist for poor coping skills. (After being given a label attributed to a death sentence, who would cope well?). My therapist insisted I was autistic. Several second opinions later, I was labeled as high functioning autistic.

No but I have gastritis which does a number on your body and an autoimmune disorder is sometimes the cause of it. There's a reason your stomach is considered your second brain. I guess technically you can live without your stomach (that's what I read) but it would be a terrible experience to.

Sleep a lot ( always tired).........does that count?

Also irritable bowel syndrome.

My mother was recently diagnosed with an extremely rare and severe auto-immune disease. It is so rare I can't say what it is because it could give away her identity. Most people in her family probably have or had it and the symptoms range from non-existent to completely crippling. I almost certainly am carrying it but luckily have not had nearly the symptoms nor can I genetically pass it along.

Doing family genealogy research has shown that these auto immune problems were dismissed as either laziness or hysteria and mostly affected women. How I wish we could go back in time and tell our ancestors they were neither!!

I've had some issues with ulcerative colitis develop in the last couple of years out of nowhere (though the doctor thinks my quitting smoking the previous spring may have somehow contributed to the bout that put me in the hospital 2 autumns ago). When I mentioned at the hospital that I am autistic, my gastro specialist said that he had read recently that there was some crossover with ASDs and autoimmune diseases, but that they don't really understand the connection yet. I take an amino acid supplement called Pentasa now that seems to keep my inflammation at bay, as I haven't had any symptoms since I started taking it and my blood tests since have shown my inflammation levels to be negligible. It doesn't have any side effects that I've noticed either, which is nice.

*runs off to look up Pentasa*

Wow.. I wonder in the future what we'll know that will negate some people's labels of 'just crazy' and instead realize they actually have X.
Did you ever read the yellow wallpaper? A complete tangent, but the reference to women of yesteryear with 'hysteria' made me think of it..and the milk cure.

I have one, but it is relatively mild.

Respiratory for me, which I have been suffering greatly from lately. I also have juvenile arthritis.

There's a new hypothesis that dysautonomia (which I have) is an autoimmune condition. I don't think it's fully accepted yet, though.

My dad has psoriasis and he had a sister who also had it and another siste who had lupus.

I have two. Lots of people in my family (on both sides, but more on my dad's) have autoimmune diseases. I actually feel fortunate to have ended up with the ones I have because they are fairly easy to manage and don't affect lifespan, while some of my family members aren't so lucky.

I have Celiac disease! I was diagnosed when I was a baby.

I have hashimoto's disease.