Sarcoid is not one of the well known medical problems adults deal with like hypertension, diabetes or asthma. In fact many people have never even heard the term “sarcoidosis” or its abbreviated form “sarcoid”. Still there are sarcoid centers around the country which specialize in the care of patients suffering from sarcoid. There are doctors who make a career of working with patients who deal with this strange disease every day. There are even websites on line where patients can turn in order to network with others victimized by the appearance of sarcoid in their lives and find support and suggestions for help. Mostly there are tens of thousands of Americans today who have been diagnosed with sarcoid and many thousands more who have the disease but have not yet been diagnosed. Whether you have some unexplained symptoms or just some natural curiosity perhaps you would like to know what everyone should know about sarcoid.
1. So What is Sarcoid Anyhow? The most important information that everyone should know about sarcoid is the answer to this basic question. Many people diagnosed with sarcoid look back blankly at their doctor because they have never heard of the disease and aren’t really sure what part of their body has been affected and how worried they should be.
Doctors will likely tell their sarcoid patient that sarcoid is a disease in which your immune system makes a mistake. It reacts at full throttle to an unknown invader. As it does it creates lumps of cells which eventually clump together into what the doctor might tell you are “granulomas”. This word simply put really means grains that look like bits of sand or sugar. If the onset of sarcoid is severe the granulomas will be numerous and large . Less serious cases will result in fewer and smaller grains.
The problem is that if enough of these grains are produced they can effect the functioning of a human organ. Sarcoid can in fact show itself in any of our human organs. Most commonly sarcoid seems to attack the lungs. This may mean that the effected person will experience asthma like symptoms such as shortness of breath, coughing and tightness across the chest. Sarcoid also frequently produces swelling in the lymph glands.
Interestingly enough many people have sarcoid with little ill effect . They may experience some mild symptoms which gradually lessen and then disappear completely. Of those who have sarcoid about 30% will experience it as a recurring illness that will require medical assistance. Only about 10 % will suffer from chronic debilitation as a result of having sarcoid. What everyone should know about sarcoid is that this disease is not cancer, even though its description includes particles growing independently in your body. Even more important Sarcoid is only very rarely a terminal illness.
2. How people get sarcoid . In several ways, sarcoid is a very strange ailment. What everyone should know about sarcoid is that apparently it is not something that you catch like a cold or the flu. For some unexplained reason the immune systems of some people react in an unusual way to an unidentified substance. The body tries to protect itself from something that is undetectable. While research and thinking on this topic continue there is no clear understanding of how or why some people get sarcoid and others do not.
In fact doctors generally determine the presence of sarcoid in a patient by the process of elimination. They look at the symptoms, x-rays and blood work and begin to eliminate other possibilities. Along the way they may begin to suspect that sarcoid is involved. Then additional determining tests will be performed. .
Unlike many diseases there does not seem to be any clear genetic trail to follow with sarcoid. While there may be more than one person on the family tree who develops sarcoid there is not a clearly defined pattern . What everyone should know about sarcoid is that there is really much still to discover and learn about sarcoid.
3. How sarcoid is treated Those diagnosed with sarcoid can find it a puzzling and sometimes alarming occurrence. Out of the blue in some instances they discover that they have a disease which no one, including the medical staff, seem to have very much knowledge. If no one is really sure what causes the disease and if it is disease that sometimes simply disappears on its own , one can only imagine that the treatment may be still in the developmental stage. This guess would be correct.
Treatment for sarcoid is seldom managed by primary care physicians . Patients are generally sent to pulmonary specialists or to one of the several sarcoid clinics or centers around the country if one is accessible. Pulmonary specialists are most often involved because almost 90% of sarcoid patients will have sarcoid that affects their lungs. What everyone should know about sarcoid is that currently there is no miracle cure. What doctors attempt to do is to monitor the sarcoid and then to act in such a way as to suppress its further expansion. In most cases this maintenance program will involve the use of a steroid medication, typically prednisone.
Care is made difficult by the fact that sarcoid often recurs. To prevent recurrence patients are regularly monitored by their doctors. Specialists are also likely to request that patients have regular eye exams as the eyes can be damaged even though they are not showing active symptoms.
4. What are my chances? As with most diseases, sarcoid only really becomes interesting or important in terms of how it might effect us or our loved ones. What everyone should know about sarcoid has to include what the likelihood is that sarcoid can show up in your life. The strange fact is sarcoid could be active in your body right now but at such a mild level you are unaware of its presence. So in one sense it’s very difficult to know if you will actually get sarcoid at some point.
On the other hand , statistically we know that approximately 2% of Americans are touched directly and in a recognizable way by sarcoid. While this is not a percentage that is overpowering, in a country with more than 300,000,000 people, 2% is still a large number of people who will have to deal with this troubling and sometimes debilitating disease.
What everyone should know about sarcoid is that it is a very mysterious illness that can appear apparently without reason or cause and disappear in the same way. It is a disease without known cause or known cure. While it is seldom terminal it has the muscle to be recurrent and debilitating. Mostly sarcoid is a disease that one often does not simply shrug off . Instead it often requires maintenance medication and the ongoing monitoring and care of a specialist.
