Sarcoidosis: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment for a Multi-System Disorder

Sarcoidosis is a multi-system disorder that is caused by inflammation of body tissues. It particularly affects the lungs and lymph nodes but it can affect any other body parts. The cause of this disorder is yet to be established and its cure has also not yet known. Its symptoms in most cases come gradually but might after some time appear abruptly. This paper is going to have an in-depth analysis of what perhaps leads to this disorder, give some of the symptoms that are characteristic of this disease, its possible treatment and the group that is most affected by it.

The disease was identified for the first time over a century ago in England by a doctor known as Hutchinson and another doctor from Norway called Caesar Boeck and that was why the disease originally came to be referred to as Boeck’s or Hutchinson’s disease. Unfortunately, it is the young persons mostly those within the age bracket of 20 to 40 years and those that look strong and energetic that are affected (Baughman, 2006). Its appearance might at first appear to be mild but after sometime this may turn to be fatal.

This disorder when this disorder is critically analyzed, it seems to vary across gender as it is women who are more affected than men and this is a claim that is supported by a survey that was conducted by the American Lung Association that revealed that black females are affected almost twice as much as black males are affected. According to the same report, it is also dependant on racial background as in most cases it is the blacks, Danes and Swedes that are affected most.

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Reports available show that blacks are affected more than whites in fact, the mortality rate of the former is sixteen times than the number of the whites that are affected (Stein, 1998). The disease effects can start affecting any organ and then spread to other organs. “Sarcoidosis… can appear in almost any organ in the body, although the inflammation of the body’s tissues can begin in any organ and usually affects more than one organ” (Ebony, 106).

The affected organs develop microscopic lumps which are known as granulomas that may last for some time and then disappear even without any medical intervention is done but in cases where they do not disappear, the skin may become scarred and inflamed. The affected persons may start complaining of fatigue but because they look young and energetic, doctors might fail to diagnose them for this disorder until it is later clearly suspected to be the one and an X-ray is conducted or a routine physical examination of the chest is conducted.

This is what happened to one former marathon runner who says that she started complaining of fatigue long before but her doctor would dismiss her claims as unrelated and would attribute them to her stressful workload. According to her, she may have developed the disorder within a period ranging from one to sixteen years as it is only in 2001 she was diagnosed of the same (Ebony. 2005). People affected by this disorder say it is hard to describe how they feel when sick as one never gets refreshed even after resting.

Generally, the common symptoms that are reported are that the victims generally become fatigued, lose weight, have blurred vision, sometimes gasp for breath, and have dry eyes and report of dry cough. It may also occur abruptly where rashes may appear on the skin and some bumps appear on the forehead, face and eyes inflammation (Swierzewski, 2000) Most of those affected by sarcoidosis about (60-80) % heal particularly after 2-3 years without having any medical attention.

In most cases, those affected by this disorder do not know that they affected and end up having damaged lungs. If this disorder does not disappear immediately, it remains on a low level but might with time progress on. About 10 to 20 percent of cases of sarcoidosis are a bit serious and can lead to permanent debilitation while it is about only about 10 percent of sarcoidosis cases can be fatal (Schiff et al, 2006). There tends to be some relationship between how serious the disease begins and how it progresses and ends.

In most cases, if nodosum appears suddenly there is a high possibility that the pains will be short-lived and ends without being treated According to statistics, thirty to seventy percent of the victims do not have any serious health complications that might require medical attention but sometimes these patients are given some therapeutic treatment like corticosteroids although it is not very clear whether the disease is reversed or not. There have also been cases where steroids such as methotrexate and azathioprine have been used in treating the disease (Baughman, 2006).

As this study has established, sarcoidosis is a disorder that affects virtually all body organs but the most affected are the lungs. It leads to the development of some microscopic lumps that with time causes skin rashes. According to studies that have been done, the disease mostly affects people of African American decent, the Swedes and the Danes more than it affects the whites and to make the matter worse, those in the age bracket of 20 to 40 years. The cause of the disease and cure has not yet been established although some therapeutic medical interventions are given.

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