Lupus

Lupus patients should eat a diet high in plant foods and very low in animal fat. Lupus patients have a 50% greater chance of having a heart attack or stroke. Outside of a healthy, balanced diet, there are no special food considerations in lupus.

Lupus can affect virtually every body system. For some people, there is no organ involvement. 50% of people with lupus will have kidney disease. Lupus frequently affects the heart and lungs. Pericarditis and pleurisy are common. Lupus can affect the central nervous system causing seizures, headaches, and cognitive impairment. Involvement of other body systems is less common but does occur.

Lupus frequently occurs in overlap with other autoimmune conditions. In those cases, it is difficult to determine which disease is causing which damage.

In PM, high-dose corticosteroids constitute the first line of treatment, and are effective in more than 70% of patients. Alternatives include immunosuppressant medications, notably azathioprine, methotrexate

Yes

The skin lesions from Lyme's Disease ar neither painful nor itchy. They start out small and can grow over a few days to be over 20 cm. They can be in the classic target form, a single ring or a uniform red rash. You can have a single lesion or multiple though at least one should be around the site of the bite. Almost 30% of people with Lyme don't get the rash and only show the later symptoms.

Lupus is a diseas in which a person's immune system mistakes healthy parts of the self for enemies like bacteria, viruses and fungi. It is an autoimmune disease. There is no cure. The treatment goals of lupus are to minimize symptoms and prevent permanent damage.

Lupus produces widely varying symptoms, although joint pain is reported by most patients and skin lesions are common. Lupus can cause short periods of symptoms alternating with healthy periods, or can progress into a life-threatening disorder

According to the Lupus Foundation of America, 1.5 million Americanas suffer from some form of lupus. That is 1 in 170 Americans. Over all, 9 out of 10 people with lupus are women. People of color are affected with a three times greater frequency.

Lupus is a remitting/flaring disease. A flare is a period of increased disease activity. Flares are typically characterized by aching joints, fevers and extreme fatigue. Other symptoms of a flare include chest pain on deep breathing. This can be caused by pericarditis (inflammation of the outer lining of the heart), pleurisy (inflammation of the lining of the lungs), or both. Some people experience a variety of rashes, skin problems, and hair loss. For those whose central nervous system is affected by lupus, seizures might occur.

Lupus means wolf. Some say that the characteristic lupus facial rash (also called a malar or butterfly rash) looks like a person has been bit in the face by a wolf. Others say that that same rash resembles the pattern of color on a wolf's face. I have read both explanations.

Although it is most commonly diagnosed in women of child-bearing age, lupus can affect anyone of any gender or any age. It is possible for your 12 year old son to have lupus. If you think your son might have lupus you should make an appointment to have him seen by a doctor.

This is a difficult question to answer. No two cases of lupus are alike. It's a very... unique disease. However, there are a symptoms that commonly show up; here they are.

Fatigue and Fever - These two symptoms show up a lot, with numerous diseases. As such, it's difficult to diagnose lupus from just fatigue and fever.

Joint Pain/Swelling - Similar to fatigue and fever, this is a very common symptom. Hard to diagnose anything without more info.

Facial Rash - This is one symptom that's very exclusive to lupus. A butterfly shaped rash that covers the cheeks and the bridge of the nose.

Skin Lesions - Skin lesions also appear in cases of lupus. They usually show up, or worsen, with sun exposure.

Raynaud's Phenomenon - Raynaud's Phenomenon is where fingers and toes turn white and blue when exposed to the cold. This often freaks people out, you can probably see why, though it's actually not that dangerous.

Shortness of Breath, Chest Pain, Dry eyes, Headaches, Confusion and Memory Loss - I'm roping all of these together, because like the first few symptoms, these are hard to attribute to lupus individually.

Basically, you should see your doctor if you develop an inexplicable rash, constant fever, and persistent aching/fatigue. Also, any of the other symptoms mentioned above added onto this barrage qualifies as well.

Lupus, similar to herpes, has stages in which the disease's symptoms show up or get worse. These are called flares. After these flares, the symptoms can improve or even disappear completely.

prednisone does not cause a rash- it is usually used to treat them. However high doses of prednisone, for extended periods may cause acne or striae (red stretch marks). These effects are only from oral or injected steroids, topical steroidal applications and inhalers do not usually cause these effects.

T2 is a type of MRI imaging technique in which TE and TR (Echo time and Repetition time) are longer and the image's contrast and brightness is determined specifically by T2 signals. A "hyperintense lesion" would appear as a bright white spot on a T2-weighted MRI, and its location is in the left centrum semiovale. The centrum semiovale is a large region of "white matter". It is composed of the fibers carrying information to and from the surface of the brain (cortex) to the deeper structures of the brain and to the spinal cord.

There is no cure for lupus, childhood or otherwise. Lupus is not something you outgrow. Neonatal lupus, a condition seen in newborns of some mothers with lupus, usually subsides on its own in about six months.

yes it is, my mom has had lupus fpr over 8 years and it has she just began her treatments about 6 months ago. They are working alot! : )

120 is a very low number for sodium, and may result in seizure activity. The normal range for sodium is 135 to 145 mEq/L (millequivelents per liter.)

Just to add to this, my sodium is 122 and my doctor said that this is very near critical. If you have a blood sodium level at 120 your doctor should be taking steps to correct it and find the cause.

The full cause of lupus is not fully known. Scientists can't cure something when they don't know with certainty what causes it. Lupus is an extremely complex autoimmune disease, affecting each person differently. The immune system is amazingly complex and it is a haywire immune system that causes lupus. Some of the biologic medications and those in clinical trials try to target specific places along the entire immune reaction where the system goes haywire. We are closer, but not there yet.

Lupus can cause kidney problems in some people, slowing the removal of fluids from the body. The fluid collects in the hands and feet causing them to swell. See the related link for a full breakdown of Lupus and it's symptoms.

Lupus is an autoimmune disease that has both a genetic and environmental component. Researchers think that the ability to get lupus is found mainly in the genes. Having the genetic capacity to get lupus doesn't mean you will however. It requires a trigger - usually an environmental issue such as free radicals from sunlight, insufficient vitamin D, illness and infection or other triggers. The genes are the gun, but something else must pull the trigger. Lupus is not a contagious disease.
Lupus is a chronic, inflammatory, autoimmune disease. The cause is not known and there is no cure. However, scientists know that a person has to have a genetic predisposition and then be exposed to triggers. Some genes have been identified, but more need to be identified. Known triggers are cigarette smoke, UVA and UVB light and stress. Lupus is not cancer. Lupus is not contagious. Lupus is not HIV/AIDS. In lupus the immune system cannot tell the difference between normal healthy tissue and invaders like viruses, germs or parasites. The immune system attacks healthy organs causing pain and damage. Learn more at www.lupus.org.

In the United States lupus affects about 1.5 million people. Worldwide it is estimated that at least 5 million people have lupus. These are estimates. Doctors do not report each diagnosis of lupus that they make. No government agency requires that a diagnosis of lupus be reported. Lupus statistics are gleand from hospital discharge diagnoses. If a person is diagnosed with lupus but had not been hospitalized, their diagnosis will not appear in the statistics. If a person is hospitalized for a complicaton of lupus, the discharge statement may not even mention lupus.

involves the use of a variety of skin creams. Sunscreens are used for protection. Steroid creams can be applied to decrease inflammation. Occasionally, small amounts of a steroid preparation will be injected with a needle into a specific lesion

skin, muscular, skeletal, heart, lungs, kidneys, brain...possibly others.