What is Lupis?
Lupus means “wolf”.
In 1851 doctors coined this name for the disease because they
thought the facial rash that frequently accompanied lupus looked like
the bite of a wolf. Lupus
is a type of immune system disorder wherein the body harms its own
healthy cells and tissues. This
leads to inflammation and damage of various body tissues and organs.
Lupus can affect the skin, joints, kidneys, heart, lungs, blood
vessels and even the brain. People
with this disease may have many different types of symptoms but some
of the most common ones include extreme fatigue, painful or swollen
joints, unexplained fever, red rash or color change in the face,
unusual loss of hair, kidney problems, hypersensitivity to sunlight as
well as pale or purple fingers or toes from cold or stress (Raynaud’s
phenomenon).
Although “lupus” is used as a broad term, there are actually
several different types of this disorder. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is the form that most
people refer to when they say “lupus”.
SLE may be mild or serious and it usually first affects people
between the ages of 15 and 45 years, although it can sometimes occur
in childhood or during senior years.
This is a chronic inflammatory multi-system disorder of the
immune system. It is not
infectious, contagious or malignant and it is somewhat more common in
African Americans and Hispanics than Caucasians.
It is characterized by “flares” of activity interspersed
with periods of improvement and remission.
There are certain medications that have been implicated as
activators of SLE and in these situations the clinical signs and
symptoms usually subside gradually after the offending medication is
discontinued. Diagnosing
SLE is often a challenge. A
thorough history and medical examination is essential to an accurate
diagnosis and there are some laboratory tests that help to confirm the
diagnosis but there is no single laboratory test that can definitely
prove or disprove SLE.
Another form of “lupus” is discoid lupus erythematosus, which
primarily affects the skin, resulting in a raised, red rash that may
appear on the face, scalp or other parts of the body.
These raised areas may become thick and scaly and they may last
for days or years and may reoccur.
A small number of people with discoid lupus sometimes later
develop SLE.
The treatment for this disease must be highly
individualized since the disease is frequently changing and somewhat
unpredictable with each individual.
This requires a cooperative multi-disciplinary approach and a
very flexible care plan to meet each patient’s needs, as it is
impossible to predict the treatment of one patient from the outcome of
treatment for another. If
you suspect that you may have this condition consult your family
physician, nurse practitioner or rheumatologist.
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