Lupus 101

Many of us know people who suffer with a condition known as Lupus. Yet, many of us do not understand exactly what Lupus is. Lupus can be broadly defined as a breakdown of a person's immune system and the body attacks itself . Normally helpful antibodies become harmful and attack healthy tissue and cells. These rouge antibodies cause inflammation that damages the skin, blood vessels and any organ in their path.

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus is the most typical form of Lupus we hear about. This form of Lupus can affect most parts of the body including major organs. Symptoms range from very mild to crippling. Many people experience various levels of fatigue, swelling in the joints, generalized pain, fever, and skin rashes. More serious symptoms include seizures, wide spread sores, heart disease, and kidney failure. SLE can appear in children and in those above 50; but it usually appears in early to mid adulthood and can be difficult to diagnose.

Discoid Lupus Erythematosus is the skin form of lupus and is a red rash that tends to appear on the face and scalp. Sometimes the rash can be described as plump or thick , these rashes can become crusted and be difficult to heal. They can result in significant scarring. The rash can disappear and reappear over a period of a few days or weeks. Some people with discoid lupus may also develop SLE.

Drug induced Lupus is brought on by the use of certain medications . The symptoms of drug induced Lupus as the same as SLE . There may be unexplained rashes, fever, and even chest pain. Unlike , SLE drug induced Lupus tends to recede once the drug causing the reaction is removed. Some damage from drug induced Lupus ,like Kidney disease may be long term.

Neo-natal Lupus occurs when a mother with SLE seem to pass on Lupus related health problems to their newborns. Only a few mothers with SLE actually have infants with neonatal lupus.The infants may have skin rashes, liver abnormalities, and low white counts at birth. Early detection in mothers with SLE makes treatment of infants with neonatal lupus very effective. The lupus related symptoms seem to recede in infants with neonatal lupus after a few months ,but heart defects may be a long term effect of neonatal lupus.

The condition of Lupus is a complicated disease and most SLE sufferers can live active productive lives with the help of anti inflammatory drugs. More research is needed to understand the root cause of SLE and other life altering autoimmune diseases.

https://health.google.com/health/ref/Systemic+lupus+erythematosus

http://www.lupus.org/newsite/index.html