Reflecting on the lesson
Choose one concept in our lesson today, give a brief explanation about the concept and cite how you would apply this learning in your everyday life.
With the lesson discussed, one of the most important concepts stuck in my mind is the concept of autoimmune diseases or autoimmunity, in which instead of demonstrating self-tolerance, the immune system targets the individual's own tissues. With some environmental and genetic factors, some individuals become more susceptible and the T and B cells will generate cell-mediated/antibody-mediated immune responses against the self-antigens. Some examples of these diseases are Type 1 Diabetes, Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Psoriasis/psoriatic arthritis, and Multiple sclerosis.
With this concept and the lesson of immunity as a whole, I’ve realized how important it is to never take our health for granted. I’ve also learned that there could be a lot of factors that could cause these and as a female, it alarmed me since according to research, females suffer twice as much than males do. As future healthcare providers, we should start within us by taking care of ourselves and strengthening our immune system so that it will be easy for our cells to fight any microbes and pathogens, and our tissues to heal faster. Also, with the existing papers and findings, it is much easier for us to research further about the possible signs and symptoms of these diseases so that we can monitor ourselves, our families, and other people around us. Through the knowledge that we are earning, we will also be able to use them in the future as we take care of our future patients and help them in alleviating the effects of these diseases.
References
Tortora, G., & Derrickson, B. (2017). Principles of Anatomy & Physiology (15th ed.). Wiley & Sons.
Watson, S. (2023, October 20). Everything to know about autoimmune diseases. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/autoimmune-disorders