A connective tissue disease is any disease that has the connective tissues of your body as a primary target of disease. Your connective tissues are the structural portions of your body. They essentially hold the cells of your body together. These connective tissues form a matrix, or framework for your body.

Your connective tissues are made up of two major structural protein molecules. These are elastin and collagen. Collagen protein comes in many different types and amounts in each of your body’s tissues. Elastin is like a rubber band or spring. It has the capability of stretching and returning to its original length. Elastin is the primary component of skin and ligaments. Ligaments are tissues that attach bone to bone in your body.

It is common for elastin and collagen to become injured by inflammation in people with connective tissue disease. This inflammation in your tissues is a result of your immune system attacking your own body tissues. When your immune system attacks your own body tissues it is called an autoimmune disease. When collagen is affected, it is also called collagen diseases.

There are many ways in which connective tissue disease may affect you. Some of these are:

• A sunken or barrel chest
• Migraine headaches
• Back pain
• Vertigo
• Heart palpitations
• Neck pain
• Muscle cramps, especially in your calves
• Depression, anxiety
• Itching, sensitive skin
• Insomnia
• Rounded or frozen shoulders.

You or a loved one may have been diagnosed with some form of connective tissue disease. In fact, connective tissue disease and/or complications resulting from this disorder may be the reason for your disability. It may be why you are unable to work.

You or your loved one may need assistance, if this is the case. You may need financial help.

Who can you look to or turn to for the financial help that you need? Where will that help come from?

You or your loved one may have sought that help by applying for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits from the Social Security Administration because of the disability caused by connective tissue disease. You may be wondering what to do if you were denied by the Social Security Administration.

One thing that you or your loved one can do is to appeal the denial by the Social Security Administration. If you do, here is something important to remember.

You or your loved one may need the advice and assistance of a disability attorney like the one you will find at socialsecurityhome.com in what can prove to be a long and trying procedure. This is true because claimants who are represented by a disability lawyer are approved more often than those people without an attorney.

Polymyalgia rheumatica was probably first reported over 100 years ago with the name “senile rheumatic gout.” Other names were used until 1957.

There is a relationship between polymyalgia rheumatica and giant cell arteritis. They each seem to have the same disease process with slightly different signs and symptoms. However, you can have one without having the other.

Polymyalgia rheumatica usually affects people who are over 50 years of age. Women are affected more than twice as much as women. It is a relatively common problem in the United States and Europe.

Polymyalgia rheumatica results when your immune system mistakenly attacks the lining of your joints with white blood cells. However, no one knows what causes your immune system to make this mistake. Researchers believe both environmental and genetic factors are probably involved. There may also be a connection between this disease and certain viruses that cause respiratory infections.

The signs and symptoms of polymyalgia rheumatica often appear suddenly, without warning. They can literally begin overnight. Some of the signs and symptoms that you may experience are:

• Weakness or malaise (not feeling well)
• Anemia (low red blood cell count)
• Unintended weight loss
• Fatigue
• A slight fever at various times
• Moderate to severe stiffness, pain and aching in the muscles of your hips, shoulders, thighs, upper arms and neck.

Stiffness and pain may start on one side of your body. As the disease progresses, you will probably be affected on both sides of your body. The pain and stiffness is usually more severe after you have been lying or sitting down for a long time or in the morning. It may be bad enough to awaken you from sleep.

You or a loved one may be suffering from polymyalgia rheumatica. This disease may be why you or your loved one is disabled and not able to work.

As a result, you may need assistance. You or your loved one may need financial aid.

Where will it come from? Who can you turn to? Who can and will help you?

Do you or your loved one intend to apply for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits from the Social Security Administration because of the disability caused by polymyalgia rheumatica and/or other conditions along with this disease? Did you already do this, and you or your loved one was turned down by the Social Security Administration?

If you or your loved one appeals the denial by the Social Security Administration, always remember this. People who are represented by a disability attorney like the one you will find at socialsecurityhome.com are approved more often than those people without a lawyer.

Please do not hesitate. Contact the disability attorney at socialsecurityhome.com, today.

Women are more at risk for getting lupus than men, though it is not clear why. There are four types of lupus that exist:

• Systemic lupus erythematosus
• Discoid lupus erythematosus
• Drug-induced lupus erythematosus
• Neonatal lupus.

The most serious and common form of lupus is systemic lupus erythematosus.

Lupus is a disease where no two cases are exactly alike. The effects caused by lupus may come on slowly or develop suddenly. They can be temporary or permanent, mild or severe. With most cases of lupus, people have episodes that are called “flares”. This is where there are times when their signs and symptoms get worse then eventually improve or even disappear completely for a period of time.

The way that you are affected by lupus will depend on which of your body systems are affected by the disease. Speaking in a general way, some of the signs and symptoms of lupus are:

• Weight gain or loss
• Stiffness, joint pain and swelling
• Fever
• Sores in your mouth
• Fatigue
• Skin lesions that develop or get worse with exposure to the sun
• Chest pain
• Shortness of breath
• A butterfly-shaped rash on your face that covers the bridge of your nose and your cheeks
• Your fingers and toes turn blue or white when you are exposed to cold or stress
• Depression
• Memory loss
• Anxiety
• Bruising easily
• Having dry eyes.

You or a loved one may be suffering from lupus. Lupus may be the cause of you or your loved one’s disability. It may be the reason why you are unable to work.

If this is the case, do you or your loved one need help? Do you need financial help?

Where will you get the financial assistance that you need? Who will help you?

Have you or your loved one applied for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits from the Social Security Administration because of the disability caused by lupus? Were you or your loved one denied?

You or your loved one may be thinking about appealing the denial by the Social Security Administration. If you do, here is something that you need to think about.

You or your loved one will need to be represented by a disability attorney in this procedure. The reason why this is true is because people who are represented by a disability lawyer like the one you will find at socialsecurityhome.com are approved more often than those people who do not have an attorney.

Do not wait. This is something of great importance to you or your loved one. Contact the disability lawyer at socialsecurityhome.com, today.

Undifferentiated connective tissue disease describes people who have certain laboratory markers and clinical characteristics that suggest a systemic autoimmune disorder or connective tissue disease. However, these patients lack sufficient features for a well-defined connective tissue disease like lupus, scleroderma or rheumatoid arthritis.

It is similar to mixed connective tissue disease but is not the same. With mixed connective tissue disease, patients have enough characteristics of more than one connective tissue disease to simultaneously meet the criteria for several of these disorders.

In contrast to this, people with undifferentiated connective tissue disease do not have enough features of any one connective tissue disease to meet the established diagnostic criteria for that condition. Instead, they may have features of several known diseases. Therefore, they are said to be “undifferentiated”.

Undifferentiated connective tissue disease is believed to be a systemic autoimmune disorder. “Systemic” means that it can affect almost any system in your body. “Autoimmune” refers to conditions in which your immune system mistakenly attacks your own body tissues.

There are several different effects that you may experience with undifferentiated connective tissue disease. Some of these effects are:

• Oral ulcers
• Rash
• Arthritis (link to page Arthritis and Disability)
• Fever
• Photosensitivity
• Neuropathy.

A preliminary classification criterion for this disorder has been proposed. This involves two things:

• Signs and symptoms for at least 3 years that are suggestive of a connective tissue disease but that do not meet the criteria for any defined connective tissue disorder.
• The presence of antinuclear antibodies (ANA) being identified on two different occasions.

The effects caused by undifferentiated connective tissue disease can be debilitating. You or a loved one may be disabled and unable to work because of this disease.

You may be looking for help if this is the case. You may be searching for financial help.

Have you or your loved one applied for that financial assistance from the Social Security Administration for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits because of the disability caused by undifferentiated connective tissue disease? Were you or your loved one denied?

You or your loved one may be thinking about appealing the denial by the Social Security Administration. If this is what you decide to do, here is something for you to think about.

You or your loved one may need a disability attorney like the one you will find at socialsecurityhome.com to represent you in what can be a long and trying process. The reason why this is true is because people who are represented by a disability lawyer are approved more often than those people who are not represented by an attorney.

Do not delay. Contact the disability lawyer at socialsecurityhome.com, today.