The symptoms of an autoimmune disease depend on what part or parts of the body are mistakenly attacked by the immune system. Even so, many autoimmune diseases share the general symptoms of joint pain and fatigue. Below are brief descriptions of the main symptoms that occur with several of the most common autoimmune diseases and the parts of the body that each disease affects:

• Rheumatoid arthritis (RA): May affect any of the body’s joints and causes joint pain, joint deformities, muscle pain, weakness, fatigue, and weight loss.
• Multiple sclerosis (MS): Affects the cells of the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord) known as neurons. MS interrupts the transmission of information from the brain to the body and may cause: numbness and tingling in the extremities, weakness, difficulty with balance and coordination, problems speaking or walking, tremors, and even paralysis.
• Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE, “lupus”): May affect several parts of the body including the skin, joints, heart, lungs, kidneys, and brain. Symptoms may include joint pain and swelling, skin rashes such as a “butterfly” rash across the cheeks and nose, fatigue, sensitivity to the sun, purple fingers or toes from cold or stress, and swelling in the legs or around the eyes.
• Type 1 diabetes mellitus: Affects the islet cells of the pancreas. These cells normally function to release the hormone insulin, which helps cells take up sugar from the blood In type 1 diabetes, these cells are attacked by the immune system and destroyed, causing elevated blood sugar and leading to fatigue, increased thirst and urination, nausea, vomiting, increased appetite, and weight loss.
• Grave’s disease: Affects the thyroid gland causing it to become overactive (hyperthyroidism). This may cause insomnia, irritability, unexplained weight loss, heat intolerance, sweating, weakness, bulging eyes, shaky hands, and brittle hair. In some people there are no obvious symptoms.
• Hashimoto’s thyroiditis: Also affects the thyroid but makes it under-active (hypothyroidism). Symptoms include: tiredness, cold sensitivity, weight gain, weakness, tough skin, constipation, and depression. Some people may have no symptoms at all.
• Ulcerative colitis: Affects the colon and rectum. Symptoms include diarrhea, abdominal pain, fatigue, weight loss, loss of appetite, rectal bleeding, skin lesions, and joint pain.

Autoimmune diseases often follow a pattern in which the symptoms get worse for a while (called a relapse or “flare up”) then get better or even go away completely in some cases (called remission). These periods tend to alternate with each other and the relapses or flare ups often tend to get worse over time.