Autoimmune
Diseases/Disorders
Awareness Calendar

    
     Awareness days, weeks, and months, are health related, and help Raise Awareness of Autoimmune Diseases. International Awareness days, weeks, and months also fall under the same category, and take place each year. National days in some cases are staged by commercial organizations to help promote awareness, and services. The R. A. A. I. D. Awareness Calendar highlights some of these organizations and events, along with details on how to get involved.

    When an intruder invades your body like a cold virus or bacteria on a thorn that pricks your skin—your immune system protects you. It tries to identify, kill and eliminate the invaders that might hurt you. But sometimes problems with your immune system cause it to mistake your body’s own healthy cells as invaders and then repeatedly attacks them. This is called an autoimmune disease. “Autoimmune” means immunity against self. Your immune system is a network of cells and tissues throughout your body that work together to defend you from invasion and infection. You can think of it as having two parts: the acquired and the innate immune systems. Autoimmune diseases refer to problems with the acquired immune system’s reactions. In an autoimmune reaction, antibodies and immune cells target the body’s own healthy tissues by mistake, signaling the body to attack them repeatedly.
Body Parts Affected
By 
Autoimmune Diseases
Inflammation
&
Autoimmune Disease
Signs & Symptoms
Of
Autoimmune Disease
List of Awareness Events
Please be advised this is not an inclusive listing of events.

  1. World Arthritis Day
  2. Raynaud's Syndrome Awareness Month
  3. Cardio Myopathy Awareness Month
  4. International Rare Disease Day
  5. National Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Awareness Month
  6. Irritable Bowel Syndrome Awareness Month
  7. Sjogren's Syndrome Awareness Month
  8. World Health Day
  9. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's) Month
  10. Asthma & Allergy Awareness Month
  11. Arthritis Awareness Month
  12. Osteoporosis & Prevention Month
  13. Hepatitis Awareness Month
  14. Lyme Disease Awareness Month
  15. Crohn’s & Colitis Awareness Month
  16. Vasculitis Awareness Month
  17. Mixed Connective Tissue Disease Awareness Month
  18. Addison's Disease Awareness Day (Unofficial)
  19. National Lupus / SLE Awareness Day / Month
  20. Fibromyalgia Day
  21. Chronic Fatigue & Immune Dysfunction Syndrome Day
  22. Behcet's Disease Awareness Month / Day
  23. National Scleroderma Awareness Month
  24. Juvenile Arthritis Month
  25. World Hepatitis Day
  26. Psoriasis Awareness Month
  27. Rheumatic Fever Week
  28. Juvenile Myositis Day
  29. Autoimmune Disease Awareness Month
  30. Myositis awareness Day / Month
  31. Dermatomyositis Awareness Day
  32. Polymyositis Awareness Day
  33. Eczema Awareness Week / Month
  34. World Osteoporosis Day
  35. Graves / Thyroid Month  (Unofficial)
  36. Rheumatoid Arthritis Day
  37. Celiac Disease Awareness Month
  38. Myasthenia Gravis Awareness Month
  39. Diabetes Day / Week / Month
  40. Scleroderma Awareness Month
  41. Diabetes Awareness Month / UK.
     The classic signs and symptoms of an autoimmune disease is inflammation, which can cause redness, heat, pain, and swelling. How an autoimmune disease affects you depends on what parts of the body are targeted: i.e. (Systemic & Organ specific). If the disease affects the joints, as in Rheumatoid Arthritis, you might have joint pain, stiffness, and loss of function. If it affects the thyroid, as in Grave's Disease and thyroiditis, it might cause tiredness, weight gain, and muscle aches. If it attacks the skin, as it does in Scleroderma / Systemic Sclerosis, Vitiligo, and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), it can cause rashes, blisters, and color changes. No one is sure what causes autoimmune diseases. In most cases, a combination of factors is probably at work. For example, you might have a genetic tendency to develop a disease and then, under the right conditions, an outside invader like a virus might trigger it.

      On the evening of March 4th, 2010, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution designating the month of March as “National Autoimmune Diseases Awareness Month” and supporting efforts to increase awareness of autoimmune diseases and increase funding for autoimmune disease research. The Senate Resolution (S.RES.372) was introduced by Michigan Senator Carl Levin on December 8th, 2009.
Overlapping Diseases Chart
Inflammatory Myopathies
Related Conditions
Rheumatic Diseases
The modification date for all health, and medical content on this page was last updated, and checked on July 9th, 2018 PST U.S.A.
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