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Lupus
Lupus (systemic lupus erythematosus) or SLE, is an arthritic autoimmune disease that causes inflammation and pain in various body tissues. The symptoms of SLE can be mild or life-threatening depending on the tissue that is affected. Lupus can affect people of any age and sex, however it is more common in women of childbearing age.
591 Questions
Is there a relation between Lupus and Beta Thalassemia Minor?
I have reason, though unscientific, to believe there may be a connection. Beta-Thalassemia minor is diagnosed in my family (myself, my children, and sporadic occurrences in older relatives), the older relatives first were diagnosed with lupus, had no idea they carried the BTM genetic disorder until a younger member was diagnosed and they were subsequently tested.
Up until recently the American Dental Association recommended prophylactic antibiotics one hour prior to any dental work includiing cleaning. The concern is for the possibility of bacterial endocarditis. At my last cleaning, my dentist informed me that the ADA changed those guidelines this year. However, my rheumatologist prefers to continue prophylactic antibiotics (2 g amoxicillin). I have SLE with nephritis. I take Cellcept to manage it, which is the same drug transplant patients take to prevent rejection of the transplanted organ.
yes lupus can cause thrush.
Lupus itself does not cause thrush, however, most lupus patients take immunosuppressive medications which make us more susceptible to all kinds of infections and also make them harder to fight.
Lupus can affect anyone, but it is most common in women in their childbearing years. Lupus affects nine times more women than men and affects the minority population more often as well. Lupus is more likely to affect African Americans, Asians, and Hispanics than Caucasians. Minorities are also more likely to have serious organ involvement such as kidney disease and failure.
Is lupus a fungus bacteria or virus?
None of these, lupus is an inflammatory disease caused when the immune system attacks its own tissues. It is an autoimmune disease, in effect the immune system gets confused and thinks that the body it is supposed to be defending is composed of disease causing organisms that it must try to kill.
Does lupus affect a certain age group?
Lupus can develop in any person, of any age, any gender and any ethincity. Overall lupus strikes 9 women for every 1 man. Lupus most often develops between the ages of 14 and 45, but can strike very small children and very old people too.
Can lupus be cured by a vegan diet?
I found the answer to this question at http://earthsave.org where the story below was reprinted.
If you or a loved one is suffering from lupus, you can find contact info for the doctor responsible for bringing about this 'miracle' (only a miracle if you do not yet realize that humans are herbivore, not omnivore, by natural design) cure at the bottom of the page.
A Lupus Victim - Life Saved by the McDougall Diet
by Shirlene Jones
This is not a story about weight loss but a story about a miracle.
My 17-year-old daughter, Vanessa, tried to join the Air Force in October 2001. She passed everything but the urine test; she had too much protein in her urine. We then went to our family doctor, who sent her for several tests. She showed positive signs for lupus.
We were then sent to a pediatric nephrologist, who looked at her records, then looked at her and said, "Vanessa has lupus nephritis and I want to put her in the hospital to do a kidney biopsy tomorrow." When we went to the hospital, they started her on 60 mg. of prednisone and Norvasc, a medicine for high blood pressure.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified kidney tissue disease into five categories. Vanessa's biopsy was categorized a 4, one category before dialysis is needed. Once a kidney reaches this point, there is little hope for it to get better. It can be stabilized, but often prgresses to a category 5, dialysis, and then a kidney transplant.
Vanessa was next required to take Cytoxan (cyclophosphamide), a drug used in stronger doses for chemotherapy treatment of cancer patients. This drug could cause bleeding of the bladder and sterility, among the possible side effects. Vanessa was to go to the hospital once a month to have this drug administered for six months, and then another biopsy was to be performed to determine the next plan of action.
Meanwhile, my husband had been taking blood pressure medicine for over a year and was just put on a sugar pill for diabetes. In January 2002 a friend of mine gave me the book "McDougall's Medicine-a Challenging Second Opinion."
As I read this book I saw that it would not only help my husband but also Vanessa. As my husband and I did more research, we became convinced this was worth a try. Now, not only does my husband no longer take any medications, but Vanessa's second biopsy was between a category 1 and 2. The doctor has never seen this happen and is now in the process of reducing the prednisone and has discontinued the Cytoxan.
Vanessa works full time and enjoys riding her Yamaha 650 V-Star. We have found that all of the recipes in McDougall's "Quick and Easy" cookbook are wonderful. I have not found even one we did not like. About Lupus by John McDougall, MD
The Lupus Foundation of America Inc. says, "Fad diets, advocating an excess or an exclusion of certain types of foods, are much more likely to be detrimental than beneficial in any disease, including lupus."
It is a good thing Vanessa and her mother did not read this first-otherwise she would likely be tied to a dialysis machine for life and heading for a premature, painful death.
I find it hard to understand what motivates people, like those from the Lupus Foundation, to make such statements, especially when the current scientific information does not support their negative position. Lupus is a disease of people living in Western countries, consuming the American diet. For example, lupus is rare in rural Africa-the first case of lupus was described in Africa in 1960; by contrast, today in the United States, African Americans have the highest incidence of lupus of any subpopulation- reflecting the differences in diet in these genetically similar people.
Animal studies show diet will cause and cure this disease, and there have been case reports of people cured of lupus with a healthy diet.
Lupus involves the whole body, including the immune system. In sensitive people, food proteins (usually animal proteins) enter the bloodstream through a "leaky gut." The body makes antibodies to these foods proteins. Unfortunately, the antibodies do two things that cause problems:
1. Antibody-antigen complexes are formed that persist and become stuck in the skin, joints, and/or kidneys, causing an inflammatory reaction (like slivers of wood stuck under the skin);
2. Antibodies are made to these foreign food proteins that also attack the person's own tissues (skin, joints, kidneys and other tissues).
By both mechanisms the tissues become inflamed, eventually die and are replaced by nonfunctioning scar tissues. People with lupus commonly suffer with a characteristic "butterfly rash" on their face, severe deforming arthritis and nephritis of the kidneys. Traditional medical treatments fail to arrest this disease. A healthy, pure-vegetarian, low-fat diet will dramatically benefit and often cure people of this disease-as in Vanessa's case. Approximately 1.5 million people in the U.S. suffer from lupus-you must know someone you can help. The same applies to other forms of inflammatory arthritis.
Even though these results do not occur with everyone, they are typical for people who make the diet and lifestyle changes of the McDougall Program.
For more information, contact the McDougall Program by phone at (800) 941- 7111 or (707) 538-8609, by e-mail at office@drmcdougall.com , or check the Web site at http://www.drmcdougall.com/
What medications are used in the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus?
There are 4 Food and Drug Administration medications for the treatment of lupus:
- Aspirin
- Prednisone
- Hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil)
- Belimumab (Benlysta)
Off label medications include prescription anti-inflammatories, rituxan (Rituxamab), cytoxan, azathioprine, methotrexate and other immunosuppressive medications.
Which makeup is good to use when you have discoid lupus?
Use a green concealing cream under foundation. Physicians Formula makes a good one. The apply foundation and top with the green powder. You will be amazed.
Why antimalerial drugs used for treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus?
Hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil) is the most common antimalarial drug used to treat lupus. Some patients who do not tolerate this medication well might be given quinicrine instead.
Immune cells circulate in the body. When they find an invader (bacteria, virus, fungus) these cells "tag" the offending organism. Other immune cells "read" the tag and attach themselves to it, surround the invader, destroy, and eat it.
In lupus, the immune cells might tag healthy cells by mistake. Then the whole process continues. Antimalarials interrupt the communication so the immune cells do not destroy healthy parts of you.
Neonatal lupus can occur when a baby is born to a mother with lupus. In some cases, the infant will only have a rash for several months and it will clear on its own. In other more rare cases, the infant will have a congenital heart block, meaning the baby is born with a problem maintaining a regular heart beat.
Can the immune system disorder Lupus destroy a developing child?
SLE does not cause tissue destruction in utero which typically results in death of the fetus, however it can cause developmental problems including heart block that may be fatal.
What causes protein in urine when you have lupus?
There are small filters in the kidney called the glomerulus. When a person has lupus, either the lupus causes inflammation in the glomerulus or immune complexes, huge molecules that develop as a result of autoimmune activitiy, clog the filters. The filters are supposed to return good things to the blood and pass garbage through the urine. When the filters are inflamed of clogged, they fail to collect protein and return it to the blood. As a result, protein "leaks" into the urine.
Lupus is an autoimmune disorder. Tuberculosis is an infection. People with lupus often take immunosuppressive medications that may make them more vulnerable to tuberculosis, but the two are not related.
Who is a systemic lupus specialist is the US?
Rheumatologists are the specialists trained in the diagnosis and treatment of lupus. You can find a geographical listing of rheumatologists in the United States on the American College of Rheumatology website.
Can systemic lupus erythematosus be prevented?
There are no known ways to avoid developing SLE. However, it is possible for a patient who has been diagnosed with SLE to prevent flares of the disease.
Who is a Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Specialist in Sydney Australia?
Rheumatologists are the type of specialists that treat lupus. The American College of Rheumatology offers an exhaustive data base of rheumatologists around the world. One can search by location. www.rheumatology.org
What is 'Non compos mentis actus non facit ream nisi mens sit rea Homo homini lupus' in English?
An act performed while not in full possession of one's mental faculties doesn't create guilt unless the mind is guilty is the English equivalent of 'Non compos mentis actus non facit ream nisi mens sit rea'. Man is a wolf to man is the English equivalent of 'Homo homini lupus'.
In the word by word translation, the adverb 'non' means 'not'. The adjective 'compos' means 'having possession of, in full control of'. The feminine gender noun 'mentis', in the genitive singular of the nominative singular 'mens' as the object of possession, means 'mental faculty, mind'. The masculine gender noun 'actus', in the nominative singular, means 'action, movement'. The verb 'facit', in the third person singular of the present indicative of the infinitive 'facere', means '[he/she/it] does, forms, makes'. The feminine gender noun 'ream', in the accusative singular of the nominative singular 'rea' as the direct object of the verb, means 'accused, guilty'. The conjunction 'nisi' means 'if not, unless'. The verb 'sit', in the third person singular of the present subjunctive of the infinitive 'esse', means 'if it is'.
The masculine gender noun 'homo', in the nominative singular, means 'human being'. Its form 'homini', in the dative singular, means 'to the human being'. The masculine gender noun 'lupus', in the nominative singular, means 'wolf'.
Tapioca starch does not contain gliadins, therefore it is safe for people who are on a gluten free diet. It will not make your lupus flare.
There are over 100 autoantibodies that can be found in lupus patients. Not all lupus patients have the same autoantibodies. The most common tests are antinuclear antibody with immunofluorescence (ANA), anti double stranded DNA, anti Snith, anti Ro, anti La, and anti SSA.
Can certain repeative function jobs cause auto-immune disease?
No. Autoimmune disease develops whem a person has a genetic predisposition and is exposed to triggers. Triggers are not repetitive motion jobs. In lupus, the Epstein-Barr virus has been identified as a trigger. There are other susptect triggers, but research is still being done on them.
