This is in reply to Peridot's interest in Anti-mitochondria.

I also listened to reference made to mitochondria. The discussion surrounded the argument for weeding out mitochondrial disease/s in unborn children. I have the anti-mitochondrial antibody and the anti-centromere antibody present. This ,I was told is to be expected in scleroderma sufferers. I have looked these two up. These are antibodies that destroy these two necessary functioning organisms. i think of the mitochondrion as the 'queen bee of the hive'. It directs other antibodies to carry out various 'duties'. The mitochondrion also has its own set of reproductive DNA and can therefore reproduce and multiply independently . The centromere is the ladder which joins DNA pairs. This is destroyed by a rogue antibody as a foreign body. Fortunately, DNA is replashed as a continuous process. I think there must be a lot of diseases relating to the mitochondrion since this particular piece of news on weeding out defects relating to it suggests. I don't think I have helped you much, and perhaps you were already aware of all I have said here. But it may serve some purpose of sorts. Best wishes.

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Hi Romulus.

Just in case you didnt know, there is also a healthunlocked for scleroderma, which i also use for mine - here's the link

raynauds.healthunlocked.com/

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Hi inkedup,

Thanks for the raynauds link. I will be looking at this shortly. I do belong to The Scleroderma Society based at The Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead London. I attend yearly for Iloprost intravenous infusion there. Nice to be in touch with fellow sufferers isn't it! I feel Scleroderma is a very 'lonely' disease since hardly anybody has heard of it. I don't know if you are resident in England, but it is very cold for the time of year here. A constant battle to stay warm at the moment. Take care.

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Hello and thank you for your informative input on the subject of mitochondria.

DNA is rather complex and though I do find a lot of subjects interesting always having been a avid reader, I think for quite a few of us and maybe more there will always be that lingering question as to how we have come about to have PBC. Even though I keep telling myself regardless of how, at present there is no cure. At the moment it is something that can at times make me wonder but I don't dwell on it, I just wish I could somehow stabilize it even better and perhaps know how to or what to do to eradicate the dreaded itch. I then tell myself the itch I get at night isn't as bad as it can be and there are others with PBC suffering a lot more with it.

I will stick by my theory of mitochondria being known as 'energy cells' that is why I think in PBC the anitbodies are somewhat causing the problem of fatigue as our system is in a sort of battle all the time.

I'd not heard of the ACA which you have mentioned.

I did gain an O Level here in England, well quite some time ago now (I'm not far off 50 after all!) and I have found that if I stumble upon something and take an interest then I do like to know a bit more but then it's a case of get so far and then move on. In my house this wk the topic of conversation (??!) is definitely not PBC, my sister is dabbling in tracking family trees and I now have access to old records online to also see if I can fill in some of the gaps that there are.

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Oops, the O Level I meant to say was biology to tie in with the topic.

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I think Peridot that it cant be just the mitochondria. There are a variety of autoimmune conditions inc lupus (double stranded dna antibody) and scleroderma Anti centromere antibody) plus loads others, and they all without fail have a leading symptom of tiredness. My theory is that if you have an overactive immune system, your body is in a constant state of inflammation (your blood tests should also show increased levels of ESR OR CRP, which are inflammation markers). My theory is that having constant inflammation, which for other people means EG getting a bad cold/flu, leads to tiredness!