Lonely nights

Lupus has been the cause of many lonely nights. When people you love push you away they don't know what it is they are doing. But most understand, most try to hide it, after a few questions from me. I hate this crap. My bones hurt, my ankles hurt, hips and shoulders. Most of all my heart hurts. I try but it doesn't help. Well I'm going to bed. Oh yeah I sleep on a couch. Thats another story.not now. Night Night all.

Lupus and it's affects the brain?

One out of five people, I must be one of the five, with lupus experiences headaches, dizziness, memory disturbances, stroke, seizures or behavior shifts that result from changes in the brain or other parts of the central nervous system. I have every one except the stroke, which may have happened I don't know, need to get that looked into. These people have what is called "neuropsychiatric" or "central nervous system" lupus, This is the type of Lupus my mother was diagnosed with, possibly a result in part from lupus antibodies that attack nerve cells or blood vessels, slowing or interrupting the flow of oxygen-rich blood and injuring the nervous system. Symptoms develop depending on where (and to what extent) the damaged cells are located. Although brain involvement often signals a worse prognosis, researchers are making headway in figuring out how this happens, and what to do about it. I love to read aabout doctors knowing what to do about this. Why haven't they told my mother. She suffers everyday. I'm getting tired of the doctors in NEW YORK, They really suck. Please if anyone is reading this if you have a doctor in NY/ LONG ISLAND please, please look into his background, I promise 1 out of every 3 people will be stunned, shocked, then hurt mad, then pissed off. My fingures are hurting again need to stop. Peace love to all.

Lupus Foundation of America,Inc.

The Lupus Foundation of America, Inc. (LFA) is the foremost national nonprofit voluntary health organization dedicated to finding the causes of and cure for lupus and providing support, services and hope to all people affected by lupus.

Types of Lupus

Types of lupus.
Four types of lupus exist. Though similar, each type of lupus has a different prognosis and treatment.

Systemic lupus erythematosus- can affect nearly any part of your body. Body systems most commonly involved include the skin, joints, lungs, kidneys and blood. When people talk about lupus, they're usually referring to systemic lupus erythematosus.

Discoid lupus- erythematosus affects only the skin. People with discoid lupus, also called cutaneous lupus, experience a circular rash on the face, neck and scalp. A small number of people with discoid lupus may develop systemic lupus erythematosus, though it isn't possible to predict who will develop the more serious form of lupus.

Drug-induced lupus- erythematosus occurs after you take certain prescription medications. Not everyone who takes these medications develops lupus. Drug-induced lupus affects a wide variety of body systems. Signs and symptoms usually go away when you stop taking the medication that caused your lupus.

Neonatal lupus- is a rare form of lupus that affects newborn babies. A mother with certain antibodies that are linked to autoimmune diseases can pass them to the developing fetus — even if the mother has no signs or symptoms of an autoimmune disease. The antibodies can cause neonatal lupus. A baby with neonatal lupus may experience a rash in the weeks following birth. Neonatal lupus may last about six months before disappearing.

Causes

Lupus is an autoimmune disease, which means that instead of just attacking foreign substances, such as bacteria and viruses, your immune system also turns against healthy tissue. This leads to inflammation and damage to various parts of the body, including the joints, skin, kidneys, heart, lungs, blood vessels and brain.
Doctors don't know what causes autoimmune diseases, such as lupus. It's likely that lupus results from a combination of your genetics and your environment. Doctors believe that you may inherit a predisposition to lupus, but not lupus itself. Instead, people with an inherited predisposition for lupus may only develop the disease when they come into contact with something in the environment that can trigger lupus, such as a medication or a virus.

Symptoms of Lupus.

No two cases of lupus are exactly alike. Signs and symptoms may come on suddenly or develop slowly, may be mild or severe, and may be temporary or permanent. Most people with lupus experience episodes — called "flares" — of worsening signs and symptoms that eventually improve or even disappear completely for a time.
The signs and symptoms of lupus that you experience will depend on which body systems are affected by the disease. But, in general, lupus signs and symptoms may include:
Fatigue
Fever
Weight loss or gain
Joint pain, stiffness and swelling
Butterfly-shaped rash (malar rash) on the face that covers the cheeks and bridge of the nose
Skin lesions that appear or worsen with sun exposure
Mouth sores
Hair loss (alopecia)
Fingers and toes that turn white or blue when exposed to cold or during stressful periods (Raynaud's phenomenon)
Shortness of breath
Chest pain
Dry eyes
Easy bruising
Anxiety
Depression
Memory loss
This is only a short list of symptoms Which vary from person to person. Never alike. This is why doctors hesitate a let me suffer for years. It got to the point where i was in the ER every week. Then the doctors at the ER started giving me hell. It is a cycle I wouldn't wish on nobody. There are many sites to visit and learn here are a few.

No Cure

There is no cure for SLE. Treatment is aimed at controlling symptoms. Your individual symptoms determine your treatment.
Mild disease that involves a rash, headaches, fever, arthritis, pleurisy, and pericarditis requires little therapy. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs) are used to treat arthritis and pleurisy. Corticosteroid creams are used to treat skin rashes. An anti-malaria drug called hydroxychloroquine) and low dose corticosteroids are sometimes used for skin and arthritis symptoms.
You should wear protective clothing, sunglasses, and sunscreen when in the sun.
Severe or life-threatening symptoms (such as hemolytic anemia, extensive heart or lung involvement, kidney disease, or central nervous system involvement) often require treatment by a rheumatologist and other specialists in the specific area. Corticosteroids or medications to decrease the immune system response may be prescribed to control the various symptoms. Some health care professionals use cytotoxic drugs (drugs that block cell growth) to treat people who do not respond well to corticosteroids or who must use high doses of corticosteroids. Most medications don't help. The pain keeps on, the swelling stops when it wants to, fatigue sets in one hours after I open my eyes in the morning. Then there are nights like tonight when I can't fall asleep because I rested so much during the day. It's a vicous cycle. My doctor put me on steroids for the swelling, no change noticed after 3 weeks. Then they gave me something that they would give to people with Malaria. It gave me seizures. Yes I also for some reason have grand mal seizures. In a coma for a month and a week. More on that later. Pain meds cause problems, You become addicted and the meds are so strong that when you miss a dose or two I show signs of a full blown addict. Which is killing me inside both mentally and physiclly. I'm not a drug addict but it feels that way sometimes. Doctors need to understand this. There should be some kind of counsolling along with the meds. Remember there is No Cure, doctors can only treat your symptoms and most wont. get into that later...it hurst....it hurts real bad...my fingures are killing me. It feels like someone has broken 4 of my fingures. I truly can't do this anymore to early for pain meds so I'm gonna stop typing. wow

I have Lupus

I have been living with this disease all my life. I've watched my mother go threw kemo therapy for Lupus for many years. I lived with pain in my joints, had no energy most of the time, with MAJOR pain through out my stomach. I thought I was in pain and felt run down from my life style,football, drinking and I was a DJ on weekends, just going none stop.
Well I was wrong.
Let me start by saying the doctors in this country are so messed up and confused. I say confused for many reasons which we'll talk about later. As I said earlier Lupus is very hard to diagnose. So hard It took many surgerys and doctor visits and many visits to the emergancy room, to have a doctor put his arm around me and say "There is nothing we can do, I'm sorry". My heart fell into my sneakers. I said "what what do I have" He looked at me and said "you have Lupus-systemic lupus erythematosus". White blood cells fix the body. My white blood cells are constantly attacking other white cells. If I get a cold I have it for a month or two. I can't get sick that is very important. Stay away from sick people. Because My body can't fight off anything.

What is Lupus?

Lupus is a disease it is an autoimmune disorder and it effects organ systems, skin, joints, and internal organs. ... Lupus is a disease that turns the body’s defenses against the body itself. Lupus occurs when antibodies attack the healthy cells in the body. Certain drugs can cause Lupus as well. Most cases have some...
Lupus is an autoimmune disorder and it effects organ systems, skin, joints, and internal organs. Lupus can effect both men and women, but it is eight times as likely in women. It can also occur at any age, but the typical age range for someone to get Lupus is ten to fifty. It is normally more common in African American people as well as Asian people. This is a disease that is usually hereditary, but in some cases there is no family history of Lupus.
Lupus is a disease that turns the body’s defenses against the body itself. Lupus occurs when antibodies attack the healthy cells in the body. Certain drugs can cause Lupus as well. Most cases have some family background to them, but in a few cases there is no apparent cause for the disease. The disease has been heavily researched and has been linked to other disorders, but only in theory, nothing is definitely stated for fact.
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Symptoms of this can vary in a wide variety of areas in the body. In the muscloskeletal area it affects the joints and causes mild to severe joint pain. Lupus is known to cause athritis in the hands. The skin is affected by rashes, skin lesions, and painful nodules that appear to be raised bruises. Kidneys produce protein deposits and can have renal failure, leading to dialysis. The Nervous System can cause mental dysfunction, seizures, psychosis, and severe headaches. Blood clots can occur as well as pulmonary embolism. The heart could produce chest pain, endocraditis, and myocarditis. Which the symptoms in the heart could also have something to do with the effects Lupus has in the blood, with the clotting that can occur. Shortness of breath and even pleurisy can occur within the lungs due to Lupus.
Forms of treatment for Lupus has to concentrate on its side effects. There is no cure for the disease itself, so alleviating the symptoms is all a person can do. Anti-inflammatory medication is given for arthritis pain as well as the pleurisy. Skin can brashes helped with corticosteriods, which typically comes in a cream form or lotion to not only clear up the rash, but to also sooth it. Severe symptoms need to be checked out by a specialist. Close monitoring of the symptoms and through trial and error figuring out which gives the most relief. Also changing lifestyles to healthy habits, such as eating balanced meals
and getting minimal exercise will help. Having a stress free environment also helps immensely.