June is National Scleroderma Month
Imagine being stricken with a disease that most of your friends and family have likely never heard of. This disease tightens and thickens your body tissues, from the skin to your joints, and even your organs. Fibrosis, the development of thick, abnormal tissue, can develop in all these places as well.
Scleroderma affects about 300,000 people in the United States and more than 14 million worldwide, although the number rises drastically if you include all illnesses that are thought to be scleroderma-related, like Raynaud’s phenomenon.
Like most autoimmune diseases, it affects more women than men and it strikes during peak income-producing and family-raising years: between 35 and 54 years old.
Some people may have mild cases with only local areas being affected, others feel their whole body is under attack.
For more information on the disease, contact the Scleroderma Foundation at its Web site, http://www.scleroderma.org, or call 1-800-722-4673.
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Tags: autoimmune diseases, firbrosis, national scleroderma month, raynaud's phenomenon, scleroderma, thickening tissue
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POSTED IN: Autoimmune disorders (fibro, CFS, etc), Women's Issues
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