The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths.    -Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross 
 
 
 

Our Illness: LUPUS

 

Lupus is Latin for wolf.  It can be as scary and as damaging as a wolf attack, from inside the body.  Lupus is a chronic disease that literally attacks the body's defense system.

 

There are three types of Lupus; Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Discoid and drug induced.

 

 

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, SLE, or Systemic Lupus is the most common form of Lupus and what  most people mean when they say Lupus.  Systemic Lupus is an autoimmune disease of connective tissue that can affect several organs.  Normal immune systems produce antibodies that protect the body.  Lupus creates an immune system that does not recognize which bacteria, viruses and/or cells to fight and which to allow living.  Therefore, Lupus can and does destroy healthy tissues in all body systems.   Systemic Lupus especially effects skin, joints, blood and muscles.

 

Discoid Lupus shows itself in a skin rash on the face, neck and ears, causing the "butterfly" pattern.  It is not deadly, although about ten percent of these patients develop a mild form of SLE.

 

Drug Induced Lupus causes the patients to have symptoms of SLE.   However, when the medication is stopped, the symptoms generally go away.

 

 

Ninety percent of people diagnosed with Lupus are women.  It is two to three times more prevalent in women of color, African Americans having the largest group, followed by Latinas. 

 

There is someone diagnosed with Lupus every thirty minutes: 48 a day, 366 a week, 1440 a month, 17280 a year. 

 

Lupus is more prevalent than muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, Hodgkin's Disease, or leukemia, and yet the general public, patients and even members of the medical field are still unfamiliar with it. 

 

There has not been any new medicine for Lupus in over fifty years!!

 

Lupus affects people in different ways. Lupus can be very unpredictable and potentially fatal, yet no satisfactory treatment or cure exists.  For most patients pain and fatigue are common, a daily way of life.  Lupus can affect the skin, joints, blood, vessels, heart, lung, kidneys and brain.  Because it is chronic, Lupus gets progressively worse.  Death may be caused by active SLE or organ failure, infection or heart disease, caused by accelerated hardening of the arteries.