Autoimmune Warrior

COVID-19 Increases Autoimmune Disease Risk

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A January 2023 study by German researchers suggests that your risk of developing an autoimmune disease is increased after catching COVID-19.

The study included over 38 million participants, approximately 640,000 of whom had contracted the COVID-19 virus, and the remainder being the control group. The study examined the likelihood that an individual would develop one of 30 autoimmune diseases after being infected with COVID-19.

The results of the study found that after being diagnosed with COVID, patients were 43% more likely to go on to develop an autoimmune disease. The most common autoimmune diseases that developed post-infection were: Rheumatoid arthritis, Sjogren’s syndrome, Graves’ disease, and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Study participants who had contracted COVID-19 were also more likely to develop, but to a lesser extent, one of: psoriasis, type 1 diabetes, ulcerative colitis, multiple sclerosis, celiac disease, alopecia, and vitiligo.

Study participants who already had an autoimmune disease faced a 23% increased risk of developing an additional autoimmune condition after COVID-19 infection, as compared to those who didn’t get the virus.

This German study adds to the body of research being conducted about COVID-19’s lasting impact on health outcomes. ‘Long COVID’, as it’s been called, can result in neurological problems, breathing difficulty, cardiovascular issues, digestive problems, and more. Now, autoimmune disease may be another outcome to add to the ever-growing list of long COVID health issues.

The results from this German research study on the connection between autoimmune disease and COVID-19 infection shouldn’t be a surprise. The risk of developing autoimmunity after a viral infection has been well documented in the past, such as the connection between the Epstein-Barr virus and autoimmune conditions like multiple sclerosis. It’s believed that through a process called molecular mimicry, viruses are able to deflect attacks from the host’s immune system, by confusing immune cells, and causing them to target healthy tissues instead.

COVID-19 patients have anecdotally shared their experiences battling autoimmune conditions after an initial coronavirus infection. Famed singer and musician Christopher Cross, for example, spoke out about his battle with Guillain-Barre syndrome after being infected. Children were also shown to be developing a condition called multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MICS) after getting COVID, which often proved to be worse than the virus itself.

For more information on COVID-19 and autoimmune disease, check out this blog post on COVID-19 vaccination and products that may help in your battle against COVID if you’ve already caught the virus.

Autoimmune Warriors, How Are Your 2023 Resolutions Going?

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We’re 10 days into the New Year, and I wanted to check in with my fellow Autoimmune Warriors to see how your 2023 resolutions were going.

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to get back into doing yoga. I started doing yoga as a teenager, and then moved into doing more team sports like field hockey or doing other fitness classes like pilates and spinning. But I realized these past few months how much I missed doing yoga. I think it’s great not only as a form of exercise, but to help with stress relief as well. The problem is, I moved to a new neighborhood and wasn’t familiar with the local studios in my new hood.

The great thing about the New Year, is that if you have fitness and health related goals, that there are plenty of gyms, fitness centers, and health products doing promotions around this time to get your business. I ended up finding a local yoga studio on the MindBody app that was doing a promotion for only $10 for your first class.

It’s been ages since I went to a yoga class, and although there are similarities between yoga and pilates, which I had more experience with, it’s still not the same! Doing the class made me realize how important flexibility is in yoga; at one point, we were doing a stretch where everyone ended up in the splits…except me. But I was surprised by how flexible I was given that I hadn’t been to a yoga class in ages.

Other than getting back into yoga, another resolution of mine is to be more proactive about my health. In the busyness of life, it can be easy to slip with your healthcare routine. As an Autoimmune Warrior, you probably spend a lot more time than the average person when it comes to going to doctor’s appointments, ordering and picking up prescriptions, sorting and taking your medications, getting lab work done, preparing healthy meals, and more. It’s basically like having a part-time job, on top of all of the other work that you have to do!

In my case, this means making sure I make those appointments with my various specialists, ensure that I’m getting my lab work done on a quarterly basis, making any follow-up appointments if any abnormalities arise in my labwork, and ensuring that I’m always fully stocked on my meds. It also means ensuring that I get a good night’s sleep (at least 7 hours) and do daily exercise. I’m also putting more effort into making healthier meals, and using more fresh produce from our home garden.

The interesting thing about having an autoimmune disorder is that it’s chronic in nature, meaning that autoimmune symptoms are continuous and never-ending. So it’s not like a weight loss goal, where I can say, “I want to lose 20 pounds” and then I’ve achieved the goal once I’ve lost that amount of weight. In other words, there isn’t an exact ‘outcome’ that we can really strive towards or predict. This makes measuring your goal progress a little trickier.

However, I remind myself that it’s not always about achieving a specific outcome (i.e. lose 20 lbs) but more so about adopting an overall healthier lifestyle. Do you notice that the people with the greatest longevity in the world, who live in the so-called Blue Zones, don’t ever count calories or even own a scale? It’s their daily habits that contribute to their overall healthy lifestyle.

So cheers to 2023, and I hope that your New Year’s resolutions are going well so far and continue to progress as the year goes by. Let me know your goals (health-related or otherwise) in the comments below!

Podcasts Every Chronic Illness Patient Should Listen to

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Back in 2019, I wrote a blog post about my favorite autoimmune disease YouTubers. These are YouTube channels that I personally follow as they document life with a chronic illness.

As a follow-up to that blog post, I wanted to share my favorite podcasts on the topic of managing life with a chronic illness. Although I still do watch YouTube videos fairly frequently, I also enjoy listening to podcasts since it’s so convenient to tune into a podcast while I’m working, doing chores, driving etc. without having to watch something visual.

So, without further ado, here’s my list of chronic illness podcasts that I enjoy listening to!

1. The Chronic Illness Therapist

The Chronic Illness Therapist is a podcast run by Destiny Winters, a licensed therapist in the Atlanta, Georgia area. Destiny has several chronic illnesses herself, including Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), and Mass Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS). Since she’s both a therapist and a chronic illness patient herself, Destiny understands the impact that managing an illness can have on a patient’s mental health.

As part of her podcast, she delves into a number of challenges that chronic illness patients face, including:

  • Medical gaslighting and questioning one’s own sanity
  • Lack of support or understanding from family and friends
  • Coping with pain and other difficult symptoms
  • How to live a meaningful and full life while battling illness
  • Adverse childhood experiences and the mind-body connection
  • Grief and acceptance

I have found all of these topics to be relevant to my own life, and I think that many readers would find the same. Plus, I highly appreciate her perspective as a therapist and as a patient, because not many people have both the academic and real-life expertise of both of these roles!

2. Sjogren’s Strong

Sjogren’s Strong is a podcast co-hosted by Lupe, a patient living with the autoimmune condition Sjogren’s Syndrome, and her partner Brian. I first learned about this podcast via their blog, after I was first diagnosed with Sjogren’s myself and was looking for information from other patients. The podcast delves into many subjects specific to living with Sjogren’s Syndrome, such as:

  • Managing common symptoms, like dry eyes, dry mouth, joint pain, fatigue, and brain fog
  • Sjogren’s medications, treatments, and medical insurance
  • Living an active lifestyle with a chronic illness

Although the podcast is clearly specific to Sjogren’s, I think it’s valuable for many chronic illness patients, such as those with Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus.

3. The Chronic Ills

The Chronic Ills podcast is co-hosted by Alina and Angelica, two Australian women who talk about living with a chronic illness as young adults in their twenties. Some of the topics they discuss in their podcast episodes include:

  • Body image with chronic illness
  • Medication and alternative therapies
  • The cost of being ill
  • Living with a chronic illness and anxiety about the global pandemic
  • Navigating relationships and friendships with a chronic illness
  • The portrayal of disability in the media

Alina and Angelica have had very different experiences as a chronic illness patients; one of them experienced becoming ill gradually, while the other had a sudden onset of their symptoms. What I like is that they show that not all cases are alike, and that every patient’s story is unique.

Those are the top three chronic illness podcasts that I’m listening to at the moment! Do you have any Spotify podcasts that you would recommend? Let us know in the comments below.