Lupus Symptoms

Lupus is a rare condition, but it can be a very difficult one. When you suffer from lupus, more than one of your organs may be affected. There are three lupus types that one can suffer from: systemic, discoid and lupus induced by drugs.

Lupus is a chronic inflammtory disease which affects both women and men, (especially women) and usually occurs on different parts of the body, such as skin, blood, joints. As we know, the body systems produces antibodies which have the role to fight against bacteria and viruses. In addition, lupus appears when the body system stops to work properly and produces antibodies known as auto-antibodies causing inflammation and pain.

There are four forms of Lupus: Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus, Drug-Induced Lupus Erythematosus, and Neonatal Lupus. When people discuss lupus, they are usually referring to Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. However, lupus in any form is an autoimmune disease.

When dealing with an anti-inflammatory disease such as lupus, it is extremely important you use your first line of defence, the nutrients from food, to support your body's ability to avoid flares and promote healing. Although doctors say that there is no lupus cure, it simply isn't the case. Not only have I completely healed (and tested negative) for lupus, others have as well. The best news is that many of us healed in different ways, one of which is through a lupus diet.

Our immune system is programmed to protect our bodies from foreign invaders that will do us harm such as germs, bacteria, and viruses. As soon as the immune system senses the presence of an invader, it produces antibodies to destroy it. However, in the case of an autoimmune disease, the immune system fails to distinguish between the cells of our body and a foreign invader and attacks our body cells.

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, (SLE), the most common type of lupus, has a pronounced polyvalent character. The systemic form of lupus can affect multiple parts of the body and cause a wide variety of unspecific symptoms, ranging from mild to severe. Despite the fact that SLE commonly affects people with ages between 15 and 40, it can also affect the very young or the elderly. Systemic lupus is considered a highly problematic disease, being difficult to diagnose and often requiring ongoing combination treatments.

Lupus is a disease in which patients have good days and bad days. Some days your symptoms are worse and you feel ill; other days the symptoms are not as bad and you feel better. It is not a contagious disease in that it can be transmitted by contact however there is some evidence to indicate heredity may play a role. Lupus is extremely difficult to diagnose.

Lupus is a complex autoimmune disease that generates a wide variety of symptoms. The symptoms produced by lupus may range from mild to severe and generally occur in flares, unpredictably aggravating or ameliorating over time. Some of the common symptoms of lupus are: pronounced fatigue, pain and swelling of the joints, skin rashes and fever. At skin level, lupus often causes the occurrence of the "butterfly rash", which appears across the nose and cheeks. Although the butterfly rash is the most common rash characteristic to lupus, the disease can cause many other different types of rashes located in various regions of the body: face and ears, scalp, neck, arms, shoulders, hands, chest and back.

The medical profession refers to lupus as "the great imitator" because its symptoms are the same as is present in many other illnesses. The symptoms are also vague and intermittent. And they vary according to the part of the body that is under attack.

In simple words Lupus is generally defined as a breakdown of the immune system in which the body just literally harms itself, destroying its own healthy cells and tissues. The immune system produces harmful antibodies that cause inflammation and tissue damage to the skin, joints, blood vessels, kidneys, lungs, heart, and brain.

Lupus is a disease that can further lead to a number of serious problems. For instance, women suffering from lupus become more prone to heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure, diabetes, joint and muscle pains. Furthermore, lupus in women can also lead to weakening of bones and emergence of diseases like osteoporosis. So fatigue and pains are obviously most prominent problems induced in lupus patients.

The treatment of lupus greatly differs from a patient to another, lupus sufferers receiving a certain type of medications according to their experienced symptoms and the seriousness of the disease. Thus, the treatment of lupus is often personalized, comprising many different types of medications and therapies. Lupus patients (especially patients diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus) are commonly administered combination treatments, targeted at countering the occurrence and aggravation of the multitude of symptoms characteristic to this type of autoimmune disease.

Systemic lupus erythematosus is a common autoimmune chronic disease. The disease causes the immune system to attack the healthy blood cells and tissues instead of malign external infectious organisms. People with systemic lupus erythematosus suffer from many disorders associated with the abnormal activity of the immune system. Patients with severe forms of lupus can also suffer from diseases of the internal organs (heart, lungs, kidneys, liver), musculoskeletal disorders (arthritis, osteoporosis), skin disorders (lupus rash) and diseases of the nervous system. People with lupus may have different symptoms and they can experience them at various intensities.

Inflammation of the kidneys (nephritis) can impair their ability to get rid of waste products and other toxins from the body effectively. Because the kidneys are so important to overall health, lupus affecting the kidneys generally requires intensive drug treatment to prevent permanent damage. There is usually no pain associated with kidney involvement, although some patients may notice that their ankles swell. Most often the only indication of kidney disease is an abnormal urine or blood test.