Autoimmune Disease - A Womens Issue

Many more women than men suffer from auto-immune diseases. In the case of MS it is almost 4 to 1, lupus 10 to 1 and similar with other conditions.  A recent study for the GMB Union has shown that women now make up half of the total people in work today, with women outnumbering men in some regions.  As women are usually the primary care givers in the home, the effects of suffering from an autoimmune disease reach further than the sufferer.  In the coming months we are going to look more closely at why we should make this a women's issue.

Why make this a Women’s Issue?

·        Because far more women than men are affected by autoimmune diseases, at least in a ratio of 3:1

·        Usually during childbearing years – 17 to 34 years of age, when life’s demands on them are greatest but women can be afflicted at any age.

·        The demands placed on women are increasing and frequently include – being the primary carer in the home, working, raising children, caring for grand children and elderly parents.

·        When a woman is affected by an autoimmune disease the effects strike at the core of the family.

·        Children can cope with a busy mother – but not a sick mother!

·        20% of women affected find themselves deserted by their partners and children.

·        Where is the active research into how to solve the problem in women?

·        When told by the clinician “There is no cure and very little treatment, go home and learn to live with the disease” too many women do just that, such long suffering and tolerance should neither be demanded nor expected.

·        Help and advice are needed by each individual woman diagnosed.

·        Charities have to be more actively supportive. Why has the MS Society closed its Respite Centres?

·        The earliest possible diagnosis enables the right life style changes to be made.

·        A campaign for women by women will encompass all other sufferers – male and female of all ages.