I took your advise and found out quite a bit. I found the answer to my question and that is there is very little research on the autoimmune system and what actually causes it turn on itself. There is a great deal of research going on with individual autoimmune diseases but nothing to find out the whys? It was explained that unlike “cancer” which is considered an umbrella encompasing many different kinds of cancer, the research community, which includes the NIH, do not yet see the autoimmune system in the same way. So, no one really knows the answer. It said that it is highly likley than for individuals who suffer from one autoimmune disease (i.e., graves) that they will probably suffer with more than one and more women are effected, not just by graves but by all autoimmune diseases.
