First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Journey Through Anxiety—A Personal Journey Through Anxiety and Self-Discovery

by Sarah Wilson

Recent research has shown that anxiety is more common in people with autoimmune (AI) diseases, illnesses that occur when the immune system gets deranged and attacks different parts of the body. I have Hashimoto’s, an autoimmune disease of the thyroid, a gland in the neck that controls everything that makes you a conscious, sentient being: metabolism, breathing, heart rate, the nervous system, menstrual cycles, body temperature, cholesterol, blood sugar, mood, sleep . . . No one can explain the connection between AI and anxiety, in part because the genesis of many autoimmune diseases is not known. Some suggest that the uncertainty of living with an autoimmune disease is a possible factor—simply not knowing what the hell is going on with your body would drive anyone to agitated despair. A more promising, and compelling (to me), explanation is that AI, like other inflammatory diseases, lead to high levels of circulating cytokines, which have been shown to affect how our neurotransmitters communicate.

Hashimotos