Learn About Lupus

• Lupus is also a disease of flares (the symptoms worsen and you feel ill) and remissions (the symptoms improve and you feel better). Lupus can range from mild to life-threatening and should always be treated by a doctor. With good medical care, most people with lupus can lead a full life.
• Lupus is not contagious, not even through sexual contact. You cannot “catch” lupus from someone or “give” lupus to someone.
• Lupus is not like or related to cancer. Cancer is a condition of malignant, abnormal tissues that grow rapidly and spread into surrounding tissues. Lupus is an autoimmune disease, as described above.
• Lupus is not like or related to HIV (Human Immune Deficiency Virus) or AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). In HIV or AIDS the immune system is underactive; in lupus, the immune system is overactive.
• At least five million people worldwide have lupus. It attacks mainly women but men and even young children can be affected. It is estimated that 3000 people suffer from Lupus in Mauritius and many are yet to be diagnosed.
• 90% of those affected will be women who develop lupus between the ages of 10 and 35 years. However, men, children, and teenagers develop lupus, too.
• Women of color are 2-3 times more likely to develop lupus. People of all races and ethnic groups can develop lupus.
• Lupus is a worldwide disease that is acknowledged as being mire common that leukemia, muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis.

• Although doctors do not know exactly what causes lupus and other autoimmune diseases, most believe that lupus results from both genetic and environmental stimuli.
• Some factors that may trigger the disease and the symptoms.
  • hormonal change: at puberty, after childbirth, during the menopause
  • sunlight
  • stress – as a result of trauma
  • certain medication – after a prolonged course of medication
    Lupus is neither infectious nor contagious.

• Lupus can present itself with many symptoms and mimic various diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, blood disorders, Fibromyalgia, Diabetes, Thyroid problems, Lyme disease, and a number of heart, lung, muscle, and bone diseases.
• Lupus is not just what you see: hair loss, disfiguring skin rashes, reaction to sunlight /UV light ……
• Lupus is also what you cannot see: extreme fatigue, disabling pain, anaemia, miscarriage, kidney failure, depression, brain involvement, lung inflammation, vision loss, blood disorders, sleep disturbance, unexplained fever……
• The most common symptoms of lupus, which are the same for females and males, are:
  • Joint pain/swelling and muscle pain
  • Chronic Fatigue
  • Headaches, Migraine
  • Hair loss
  • Weight Loss/Gain
  • Depression
  • Flu-like symptoms
  • Raynaud’s Phenomenon
  • Anemia
  • Oral / nasal ulcers
  • Miscarriage
  • Reaction to sunlight / UV light
  • Kidney disorders
  • Heart or lung damage
• Lupus is very different for each person and symptoms vary both in kind and in severity

• There is no cure for lupus but with careful monitoring of the disease and a treatment programme with medication adjusted as appropriate enables the condition to be controlled, most patients can live a normal life.

Antimalarial

Hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil) – Anti-malarial are used in treating skin and joint symptoms that occur in Lupus SLE. Anti-malarial medications are used to relieve symptoms such as:

• • muscle and joint pain
  • fatigue
  • fever

Corticosteroids (glucocorticoids, cortisone or steroids) and Prednisolone

Steroid medications work quite quickly to reduce inflammation. As beneficial as steroid medications are as a “quick fix” solution to ease the pain and inflammation there are side effects which deter doctors from keeping patients on the medication for long periods of time. Some of these side effects are a moon-shaped face and weight gain or “puffiness” of the hands and feet. Steroids can also cause irritability and depression.

Immunosuppressive

Immunosuppressive drugs “slow down” the overactive immune system. They are usually prescribed if the patient can no longer take steroids or they are not progressing very well in their treatment. Because Immunosuppressive drugs are essentially slowing down your immune system a patient may have a higher risk of contracting infections. Examples of immunosuppressive medications are as follows:

• Mycophenolate mofetil (Cellcept)
• Azathioprine (Imuran)

With its many symptoms, lupus can often be overlooked by physicians, which may delay final diagnosis and a vital start to necessary treatment which can contain the disease and limit potential damage to the kidneys, heart, lungs or brain.

A doctor will review the following while evaluating a lupus diagnosis:

• Your current symptoms.
• Your latest blood test results.
• Your medical history.
• The medical history of your close family members (grandparents, parents, brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins).