Lupus Disease And How To Live With It

Lupus is a complicated disease. It's autoimmune, which means that the body's tissues are attacked by its own immune system. It usually attacks germs and bacteria in the body, but with lupus, the immune system can't recognize the healthy from the infected tissue. This can cause inflammation in various parts of the body, so this means that the symptoms can vary a lot. Parts of the body commonly infected are knees, joints, kidneys, lungs, skin, the heart. Inflammation is the most common state of it and are usually pain, heat, redness and swelling. Usually not all body parts are affected, but two or three are common. You might suffer from reoccurring knee inflammation, kidney pain, redness and inflammatory skin. The Lupus Foundation Of America estimates about 1.5 million Americans suffer from it, but the actual sufferers are probably a lot more, since many are having less severe variations of the disease.

There are three main parts of lupus: first we have the Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. This is the most common one. Systemic means that it's the intestines that are attacked, like kidneys, lungs, heart and brain.

The other is Discoid Lupus Erythematosus, and that affects the skin. Red rash is common, or color change in the skin.

The third common variation is Drug-induced lupus, that comes with taking some medications. This state usually disappears when the medication is not taken anymore.

At present time, there is no cure for lupus. But there are many things you can do to minimize the symptoms, so that it gets easier to live with. The needs are very individual when it comes to treating lupus. Anti inflammatory drugs can help, if you are suffering from it in ligaments and skin. Usually you need to take a holistic approach to your disease and how to minimize it. This means that you could feel much better by changing several areas in your life, such as foods, exercising and rest.


By Beatrice Stephenson


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