People with autoimmune complaints often have psychiatric complaints as well (in particular anxiety). And these psychiatric complaints get better if you treat the autoimmune issues.
So, a team of researchers from Australia flipped this idea, and started to look for autoimmune issue with psychiatric patients.
And their work has led to what could be a remarkable, yet potentially fraught treatment for some young people who, in the past, have been diagnosed as having schizophrenia.
It involves treating the immune system in the belief that the problem is the immune system is attacking the brain.
I find this really interesting. In my blood tests before schizophrenia I had a high inflammation marker, six months later I got schizophrenia at 33 years of age.
Yes, it has been known for more than a century that there is a family link between sz and diabetes. Some forms of diabetes ( not all) have an autoimmune component. The problem, as they say, is that immunosuppressants can be more damaging to the body than APs. So at the moment it is a last desperate measure. But there is a huge amount of research now into these disorders so hopefully it won’t be too long before it bears fruit.