Lupus - Information About Lupus

Systemic lupus erythematosus is an autoimmune disease – the same as rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease, which attacks joint and joint tissues, but lupus is a disease which causes a patient’s immune system to attack some organs and the cells of the body, which causes damage to the organs and cells.

Lupus can affect many different tissues and organs in the body. Lupus can be mild to severe, and can be life threatening to some patients, especially when vital organs, such as the kidneys are involved.

Affecting more women than men, and only very rarely affecting children, most patients will have their first flare up in the mid 20s to early 30s, and because lupus is a chronic disease, symptoms can be expected to worsen as the patient ages. However, lupus does actually have remission phases in which the patient will suffer minimal or even no lupus symptoms for periods of time, and then either will relapse or have another flare up. There is no way to track when a patient might go into remission and doctors don’t know exactly what triggers a flare, but there are some indicators that seem to worsen lupus symptoms.

Symptoms

Lupus is difficult to diagnose, especially in the beginning, because it usually starts with very mild symptoms, that often seem to have no apparent cause, but they are symptoms that many other disorders or illnesses also claim as symptoms. The initial lupus symptoms are most often:

Fatigue – this is probably the most frequently complained about and common symptom in lupus patients.

Low grade fever

Muscle and joint pain not related to arthritis, overuse, or injury – this pain is probably the most bothersome symptom in lupus patients.

Because these symptoms are so common in anything from a cold or flu to cancer, it’s difficult to diagnose lupus in the early stages, without the other symptoms that typically come later as the disease progresses. Some of the more advanced symptoms are: