Autoimmune diseases
What is our immune system?
Our immune system is part our body's form of defence against external invaders, it protects us against different bacteria's, viruses, cells and toxins that could make us ill. When your immune system detects a cell not part of your body it will send cells or antibodies (depending on the type of invader) to protect you.
We have two types of immune systems, the innate which we are born with and the acquired which can be trained to protect your body and is used when we have vaccinations. The various vaccinations help to train our acquired immune system and allows it to make antibodies in advance of a real attack.
What happens when my immune system attacks itself?
This is essentially what an autoimmune disease is, the immune system is malfunctioning and attacking healthy cells and organs in the host body. There can be many reasons for this including lifestyle, heredity and environmental factors and these lead to weakening of the body or bodily functions.
Medical conditions such as type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis are all immune system related conditions.
A lot of autoimmune diseases have no ultimate cure, instead those who suffer from said conditions require regular treatment throughout the rest of the life to maintain or ease the condition.
Below are some of the conditions we have included pages for:
Travelling with an autoimmune disease
In most cases it is possible to travel fairly easily with your condition as long as you mange it correctly and think about what causes flare ups, you can then taking into account what does and doesn't work for you. Because symptoms, conditions and treatments are vastly different between the various autoimmune diseases there is no strict rules to follow, plan ahead, speak to your GP and have all your medication to hand.
For those who are looking for travel insurance to cover their autoimmune disease Direct-Travel make it easy for you to declare your conditions whether they relate to your immune system or anywhere else on your body.
