CLOSER NEWS REPORT
Four million people suffer from autoimmune diseases in the UK and that number is rising. But on average it takes over four years to get a diagnosis and treatment. Closer investigates the toll it can take…
For two and half years, Asal Shirazi was in despair – she was in crippling pain from aching joints, her stomach was in agony and she was exhausted to the point that her then six-year-old child became her carer.
She made endless trips to her GP and even ended up in A&E five times after she collapsed from the pain. She was misdiagnosed with various conditions such as a stomach ulcer, and was even told it was the menopause and was given HRT. Shockingly, the medications prescribed made her worse.
DEVASTATING
Eventually, in desperation she paid for a private consultation, and after various tests was told she had a host of autoimmune conditions – where your immune system malfunctions and attacks healthy cells, tissues and organs. Horrifically, the main one – diffuse systemic scleroderma with heart and lung specific blood factor – meant that Asal’s doctor told her she had six months to live if she didn’t respond well to treatment.
Asal, 58, who lives in London with her five children aged between 26 and 14, says, “It was devastating but it was a relief to know what I was facing. I’d spent so long feeling fobbed off by doctors who made me feel as if it was all in my mind.
“Fortunately, the treatment worked and 18 years on I’m still here. I’m on a lot of medication, taking daily pills, having weekly injections and every three months I need a week’s worth of chemotherapy.
SERIOUS
“It helps that I’ve got a very positive attitude too. I get out and about, but it exhausts me. On a day-to-day basis I can’t get up until 1pm and I have carers to help me do simple things such as prepare dinner.”
Asal was so horrified by the treatment she received prior to her diagnosis that she’s started a charity – Autoimmune Support & Awareness Foundation UK.
Asal explains, “I was lucky, I’ve got a medical degree and can advocate for myself. But I’ve spoken to so many people who’ve suffered horribly. Some of these diseases are life-threatening, others destroy the quality of your life. But not enough is understood about them and they’re on the rise.”
One in 10 people in the UK is affected by an autoimmune condition and recent research showed that some of them have doubled in incidence in a seven-year period, such as coeliac disease and the thyroid condition Graves’ disease.
Dr James Lee from the Francis Crick Institute, which specialises in biomedical research, tells Closer, “We believe it will continue to rise. They can be very serious if they’re
