Autoimmune diseases are tricky. Your immune system attacks your body and it’s healthy cells. And then each autoimmune has so many different areas of the body that can be attacked, it makes it difficult to figure out which one you have. Add in the fact that there is no singular test and the doctor has to interpret tests, symptoms, etc, you are left wondering will anyone ever figure out what is wrong with me. But that is not where it ends, a lot of autoimmune diseases have comorbidities.
Comorbidity means the presence of more than one medical condition in a patient at the same time or one right after the other. The main problem with comorbidities is that it affects the initial diagnosis stage and once diagnosed it affects treatment choices, quality of life, disability, and mortality. Currently, about 25% of patients with an autoimmune disease are at risk of developing an additional autoimmune disease.
Two autoimmune diseases together is called polyautoimmunity. Examples of this include systemic lupus erythematosus with Sjögren’s syndrome or rheumatoid arthritis with autoimmune thyroiditis. Having three or more autoimmune diseases is called multiple autoimmune syndrome. The global autoimmune institute has great information: https://www.autoimmuneinstitute.org/articles/comorbidities-in-autoimmune-disease-multiple-autoimmune-syndrome/
Causes of more than one autoimmune is still unknown, but is thought to be an environmental trigger in genetically predisposed people or both external and internal factors such as infection, immunologic, or psychological factors.
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the autoimmune professor 
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