This page is dedicated to everyone who is involved with rheumatic/autoimmune disease:
patients, family, friends, health professionals, health insurers, disability resource providers, public policy makers, and anyone else with an interest in these conditions.
There are over 150 rheumatic diseases, many of which are now known to involve the immune system somehow becoming confused and attacking the body’s own cells.
Some of these diseases are:
More is becoming known about the genetics involved in autoimmune disease. For example, people with a gene called HLA-B27 are more susceptible than those without the gene to getting the Spondylitis diseases and/or Iritis, also known as Anterior Uveitis
For some rheumatic diseases, the cause is presently totally unknown, such as for the conditions below:
There are other common rheumatic diseases which are not presently thought to involve an autoimmune process:
This page is under construction.
Thank you for your patience, and please come back soon!
Santa Maria
The Santa Maria Lupus and Other Rheumatic Diseases Support Group meets the 4th Tuesday of every month (except December) from 7:00 - 9:00 PM in Santa Maria. Please see the website for more information or contact Pamela Gross at smlupus@gmail.com . We maintain the Santa Barbara County Rheumatics Online group as well.
Santa Barbara
Meeting dates for this group vary. For current information about the Santa Barbara Lupus and Rheumatic Diseases Group, please see the website or contact Joyce Hulsebos at (805) 687-3124.
We will have a new support group is starting in Santa Barbara soon. Please contact smlupus@gmail.com for more info.
Are you local to the California Central Coast?
The LFNC has three support groups...
The tinyurl for this page, for your convenience, is:
