What is Lupus?

Question

I just found out that an old friend of mine has lupus and to be honest, I have no idea what it is. I'm thinking it is a skin diease, but then again I could be way off target... Can someone please explain lupus to me?

Answer 1

Lupus is one of many disorders of the immune system known as autoimmune diseases. In autoimmune diseases, the immune system turns against parts of the body it is designed to protect. This leads to inflammation and damage to various body tissues. Lupus can affect many parts of the body, including the joints, skin, kidneys, heart, lungs, blood vessels, and brain. Although people with the disease may have many different symptoms, some of the most common ones include extreme fatigue, painful or swollen joints (arthritis), unexplained fever, skin rashes, and kidney problems.

At present, there is no cure for lupus. However, lupus can be effectively treated with drugs, and most people with the disease can lead active, healthy lives. Lupus is characterized by periods of illness, called flares, and periods of wellness, or remission. Understanding how to prevent flares and how to treat them when they do occur helps people with lupus maintain better health. Intense research is underway, and scientists funded by the NIH are continuing to make great strides in understanding the disease, which may ultimately lead to a cure.

Two of the major questions researchers are studying are who gets lupus and why. We know that many more women than men have lupus. Lupus is three times more common in African American women than in Caucasian women and is also more common in women of Hispanic, Asian, and Native American descent. In addition, lupus can run in families, but the risk that a child or a brother or sister of a patient will also have lupus is still quite low. It is difficult to estimate how many people in the United States have the disease because its symptoms vary widely and its onset is often hard to pinpoint.

Lupus can be effectively treated with drugs, and most people with the disease can lead active, healthy lives.

There are several kinds of lupus:

*Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is the form of the disease that most people are referring to when they say "lupus." The word "systemic" means the disease can affect many parts of the body. The symptoms of SLE may be mild or serious. Although SLE usually first affects people between the ages of 15 and 45 years, it can occur in childhood or later in life as well. This booklet focuses on SLE.

*Discoid lupus erythematosus is a chronic skin disorder in which a red, raised rash appears on the face, scalp, or elsewhere. The raised areas may become thick and scaly and may cause scarring. The rash may last for days or years and may recur. A small percentage of people with discoid lupus have or develop SLE later.

*Subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus refers to skin lesions that appear on parts of the body exposed to sun. The lesions do not cause scarring.

*Drug-induced lupus is a form of lupus caused by medications. Many different drugs can cause drug-induced lupus. Symptoms are similar to those of SLE (arthritis, rash, fever, and chest pain) and they typically go away completely when the drug is stopped. The kidneys and brain are rarely involved.

*Neonatal lupus is a rare disease that can occur in newborn babies of women with SLE, Sjögren's syndrome, or no disease at all. Scientists suspect that neonatal lupus is caused by autoantibodies in the mother's blood called anti-Ro (SSA) and anti-La (SSB). Autoantibodies ("auto" means self) are blood proteins that act against the body's own parts. At birth, the babies have a skin rash, liver problems, and low blood counts. These symptoms gradually go away over several months. In rare instances, babies with neonatal lupus may have a serious heart problem that slows down the natural rhythm of the heart. Neonatal lupus is rare, and most infants of mothers with SLE are entirely healthy. All women who are pregnant and known to have anti-Ro (SSA) or anti-La (SSB) antibodies should be monitored by echocardiograms (a test that monitors the heart and surrounding blood vessels) during the 16th and 30th weeks of pregnancy.

It is important for women with SLE or other related autoimmune disorders to be under a doctor's care during pregnancy. Physicians can now identify mothers at highest risk for complications, allowing for prompt treatment of the infant at or before birth. SLE can also flare during pregnancy, and prompt treatment can keep the mother healthier longer.

I have Lupus & APS. There are going to be days that your friend will not feel up like doing things and days she will want to. She may look fine to you but she may not be feeling fine. So, please try to understand that. Many of my friends don't get that. So please learn about the disease so you can understand about the disease. And you are doing that which is awesome!

Thanks for supporting her! :)

Answer 2

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Answer 3

The immune system is designed to attack foreign substances in the body. If you have lupus, something goes wrong with your immune system and it attacks healthy cells and tissues. This can damage many parts of the body such as the:

Joints
Skin
Kidneys
Heart
Lungs
Blood vessels
Brain.

There are many kinds of lupus. The most common type, systemic lupus erythematosus, affects many parts of the body. Other types of lupus are:

Discoid lupus erythematosus – causes a skin rash that doesn’t go away
Subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus – causes skin sores on parts of the body exposed to sun
Drug-induced lupus – can be caused by medications
Neonatal lupus – a rare type of lupus that affects newborns.

Answer 4

lupus could have four defintions.

Systemic lupus erythematosus: chronic disease in which your immuse system attacks your body cells and tissues resulting in inflammation. it is usually treatable but there is currently no cure for it.

Lupus nephritis: inflammation of the kidney caused by SLE and cause essientially damage your joints, skin, and nervous system

Lupus pernio: a chronic hardened raised lesion of the skin, often purplish in color; resembles frostbites as seen in ears and noes

Lupus vulgaris: cutaneous tuberculosis skin lesions with nodular appearance, most often on the face around nose and ears.

Answer 5

Lupus is a widespread and chronic (lifelong) autoimmune disease that, for unknown reasons, causes the immune system to attack the body's own tissue and organs, including the joints, kidneys, heart, lungs, brain, blood, or skin.
The immune system normally protects the body against viruses, bacteria, and other foreign materials. In an autoimmune disease like lupus, the immune system loses its ability to tell the difference between foreign substances and its own cells and tissue. The immune system then makes antibodies directed against "self."

Answer 6

And would your name be HOUSE? For what it's worth a lot of us lupus patients watch the lupus clip of house on you tube for laughs.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

Its an autoimmune disease. Basically your body turns against you and starts attacking your joints, or organs, and sometimes your skin too. Varying types and degrees of seriousness.

Answer 9

Definition of Lupus
Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease in which the body's antibodies attack one's own tissues. Lupus attacks tissues such as the skin, muscles, tendons and ligaments as well as the kidneys, heart, lungs and brain.



Description of Lupus
Lupus frequently strikes women of childbearing years, however, it can affect both sexes from youth to the elderly and range in severity from mild to disabling.

In lupus, the regulation of the immune system goes awry and the body produces autoantibodies (antibodies that attack the patient's own tissues). This reaction results in inflammation that causes redness, pain and swelling in the affected parts of the body.


Lupus usually appears in one of two forms - systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) or discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE).


Systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE) is the most common form of lupus. "Systemic" means it can affect several parts of the body. A subtype of SLE is drug-induced lupus. Some medications uncommonly used for high blood pressure, heart disease and tuberculosis can cause this condition.


Discoid lupus erythematosus(DLE) involves inflammation of the skin only.


Causes and Risk Factors of Lupus
Although the causes of lupus are not completely understood, the disease is believed to result from an interplay of genetic, environmental (such as ultraviolet light, stress, infections, certain drugs and chemicals) and hormonal factors.



Symptoms of Lupus
The symptoms of lupus may include:


skin rash

pain and swelling in joints

muscle aches

fatigue

weight loss

hair loss

loss of appetite

lesions over the bridge of the nose and cheeks, and sometimes on the scalp. Lesions dry into scales that fall off the body, leaving scars (DLE only)

Raynaud's syndrome (a condition in which a sudden, severe reduction in blood flow causes fingers to turn waxy, white and blue and painfully cold)




Diagnosis of Lupus
A thorough medical history, a physical exam, laboratory testing and presence of several defining symptoms (listed below) will determine a positive diagnosis of lupus. According to the Lupus Foundation of America, there is no single laboratory test that can definitively determine whether a person has lupus. The following tests will aid in diagnosis of lupus by examining the status of the patient's immune system:

1. The anti-nuclear antibody test determines if the person has autoantibodies that react with components in cell nuclei. Almost all lupus patients will have a positive reaction to this test.

2. The anti-DNA antibody test determines if the patient has antibodies to DNA.

3. The anti-Sm antibody test looks for antibodies to a protein. While many lupus patients do not have anti-Sm antibodies, they are rarely found in people without lupus.

4. Tests for the presence of immune complexes (the combination of antibodies and the substances with which they react) in the blood are valuable, both for diagnosing and monitoring the disease.

5. An analysis of the serum complement level, which tends to fall when the disease is active, is also useful for both diagnosis and monitoring. The serum complement is a group of proteins involved in the inflammation that can occur in immune reactions.


The interpretation of the results of these tests is made even more difficult by the unpredictability of the disease. A test may be positive one time and negative the next, depending on whether the disease is active or in remission. Kidney and skin biopsies can also help with diagnosis. A kidney biopsy may show deposits of antibodies and immune complexes, and a sample of skin tissue may reveal deposits of antibodies and complement proteins.


According to the American College of Rheumatology, the presence of four or more of the following 11 symptoms and signs usually indicates a positive diagnosis of lupus:



Butterfly rash: a reddish eruption across the nose and cheekbones

Discoid lesions: reddish, raised, disk-shaped patches on the body

Photosensitivity of the skin: a red rash that results from sun exposure

Oral ulcers: sores in the mouth or nose that are usually painless but can be blister-like

Arthritis: inflammation characterized by tenderness and swelling in two or more peripheral joints

Chest/heart problems: breathing difficulty or chest pain, caused by inflammation of the lining of the chest cavity or heart, respectively

Neurological disorders: sudden onset of seizures or psychosis

Kidney disorders: kidney failure

Blood cell disturbances: hemolytic anemia (a deficiency in red blood cells, resulting from their abnormal destruction) or leukopenia (an excessively low white blood cell count)

Immunologic disruption: a dysfunctional immune system's attack on healthy cell tissue

Antinuclear antibodies (ANA): antibodies that battle cell nuclei



Treatment of Lupus
Because the symptoms of lupus vary not only in type but also severity, the treatment may also need to vary. It may take time to find the right combination of treatments for each individual. Treatments may include:


rest

exercise

physical therapy for muscle weakness

avoiding sun exposure

using medications such as:

anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin for symptomatic relief

corticosteroid drugs such as prednisolone for inflammation

antimalarial drugs such as chloroquine phosphate or hydroxychloroquine for rashes, arthritis and malaise

immunosuppressive and cytotoxic drugs such as Immuran (azathioprine) and Cytoxan (cycyclophosphamide) are prescribed with vital organs are involved and/or corticosteroids aren't effective



Questions To Ask Your Doctor About Lupus
Have all tests been run to determine whether it is lupus or another disease that mimics lupus?


How severe is the disease?



Is there damage to the kidneys, heart or other organs?

If so, is it reversible?



Will you be prescribing any medication?



What are the side effects?

How long will the medication have to be taken?



If over-the-counter aspirin is recommended, how much is safe to take?



What measures can be taken to prevent skin rash and scarring?



Are there any symptoms which should be reported to the doctor immediately?HOPE THIS HELPS U AND ALSO GIVE YOUR FRIEND THIS SITE TO HELP HER http://www.lupus.org/

Answer 10

its a skin disease

he should take
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joint health complex
vit c
vit e
garlic
zinc
that should help him
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