Disease

[Giga-Gar]

Ok, the point of this is to talk about diseases about which ever disease or organ system the disease affects. It's also to help me study for my Pathophysiology.

Today's system is the immune system. As you know, the immune system is what fights off disease, but sometimes it can be affected it'self. Now here's a basic breakdown of the system. There are different cells in the immune system that each do a different job. T lymphocytes directly destroy viruses and bacteria, and are also the target of the HIV/AIDS virus. B Lymphocytes produce antibodies for the antigens, causing the antigen to clump up or be able to be destroyed. Neutrophiles 'eat' the virus or bacteria, eosinophiles cause allergic responses, and basophiles release histamine. Immune diseases come in two types; hypersensitivity, such as allergies and asthma, and immune dificiency, such as AIDS. We're going to talk about both of these types of diseases. You can talk about the disease itself or any experiences your or someone else had or has.

I have asthma. It's not real bad, and the last asthma attack I've had was in 4th grade. I'm also very allergic to cat hair. Let's just say that my eyes can rival Dobby's when I have a reaction.

[NabMaster]

I've got asthma too, I hate wheezing. When I was two my mom brought be to the hospital and the doctors thought I had meningitis, which is the swelling of the meninges (the layers of lining in the brain and spinal cord). Thankfully I didn't actually have it, but I've held a fond fascination with the disease after hearing that.

[Silver]

Congratulations, Gar. You got the most depressing post of the King of the Forums contest on the first day it started.

Anyway, Stevenson's allergic to cats. Silver has cats, and quite a few of them at that. Therefore Silver and his ilk always have to make the trek out to Stevenson land, and never the reverse. Because otherwise Stevenson would destroy the earth with a sneeze large enough to blow the crust right off the core and into the sun. It wouldn't be fun.

That's one of the experiences I've had with allergies...

[Giga-Gar]

Congratulations, Gar. You got the most depressing post of the King of the Forums contest on the first day it started.

Do I get bonus points for that?

[Josiah]

Sorry, that's not one of my bonus conditions. Maybe next year.

No one in my immediate family has any serious diseases. My dad is sensitive to a lot of metals and he and I are both sensitive to a lot of chemicles (walking too close to a perfume store can give me a headache) but that's a bit different. One grandmother has some type of diabetes though and my grandfather has an early form of Altzheimers.

[BionicleMandi121]

My entire family, especially on my dad's side, has had a bad record of having horrendous eyesight. One of my uncles goes practically completely blind at night, and one of my cousins (at least I think it's a cousin; my mom uses their Chinese names so I lose track) has already gone blind once. They somehow managed to find her cornea and surgically put it back on. My eyes are worse than hers, so I'm half-waiting to just go blind any moment. Trying not to think about that though, since I've come to realize that everything I love doing involves sight. Both my parents and my sister wear glasses, although my mom has undergone laser surgery. My grandma has cataracts and several other medical issues I can't recall.
Additionally, my sister is allergic to cats, dogs, grass, and dust mites. Apparently hamsters have also caused a reaction.
Uh...I think some family members have high blood pressure...
Rather a lot of things wrong with us. :/

[Cheezdude]

...mmm. My family has bad eyesight altogether. Eyeballs have a 4.5 weakness. I'm allergic to nuts, had an allergy test last year. Cashews and Pistachios are not my friends. Allergy test brought up mold allergies, cat allergies and blueberry allergies. On the day before, my Grandma decided to get a cat. >> No other real experiences, though. Oh, I got about 50 ear infections before I was 5. So did my brother.

[NabMaster]

That reminds me, everyone in my family is quite nearsighted except for my mom, so she's always pointing stuff out when we're driving that we can't see until way later on. My left eye is astigmatized, which just means instead of being a nice healthy sphere it's actually growing kinda football shaped.