"Doctor after doctor misdiagnosed or shrugged off Ruth Wilson's rashes, swelling, fevers and severe pain for six years. She saved her life by begging for one more test in an emergency room about to send her home, again, without answers. That last-ditch test found the Massachusetts woman's kidneys were failing. The culprit? Her immune system had been attacking her own body all that time and nobody caught it."
"I just wish there was a better way that patients could get that diagnosis without having to go through all of the pain and all of, like, the dismissiveness and the gaslighting, she said. Wilson has lupus, nicknamed the disease of 1,000 faces for its variety of symptoms and her journey offers a snapshot of the dark side of the immune system."
"Lupus is one of a rogues' gallery of autoimmune diseases that affect as many as 50 million Americans and millions more worldwide hard to treat, on the rise and one of medicine's biggest mysteries. Now, building on discoveries from cancer research and the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists are decoding the biology behind these debilitating illnesses. They're uncovering pathways that lead to different autoimmune diseases and connections between seemingly unrelated ones in hopes of attacking the causes, not just the symptoms."
Ruth Wilson endured misdiagnoses and dismissive care for six years until an emergency room test revealed kidney failure caused by her immune system attacking her own body. She has lupus, a notoriously variable autoimmune disease that can affect many organs. Autoimmune diseases affect up to 50 million Americans and millions worldwide, include about 140 conditions, are often hard to treat, rising in prevalence, and frequently invisible to others. Researchers are applying insights from cancer research and the COVID-19 pandemic to decode immune pathways, identify links between different autoimmune disorders, and pursue treatments that target causes rather than only symptoms.
Read at www.bostonherald.com
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