Fatigue, joint pain, rashes, brain fog or tingling in the hands and feet can seem like normal signs of aging—but they may also point to an autoimmune disease.
These potentially disabling and often poorly understood conditions—including rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and Type 1 diabetes—occur when the immune system mistakenly attacks the body’s own cells and tissues. And many of these conditions emerge only in midlife and beyond. A Mayo Clinic study published last December found that autoimmune-disease rates rise sharply after 50 and climb even higher after 65—in part because cases can go unrecognized for years.
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