Lupus – What is it, Symptoms and Treatments

Lupus – What it is, Symptoms and  Drug Treatments. In addition, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), popularly known as Lupus , is an autoimmune disease that can affect mainly the skin, joints, kidneys, brain, but also all other organs. Autoimmune diseases occur when the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy body tissue. Among more than 80 known autoimmune diseases , Lupus is one of the most important.Joint pain can be one of the symptoms of Lupus , which has other serious consequences – hence the need for awareness. The full name is Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. A rather rare disease , perhaps, that’s why there were still many doubts about his way of acting.

What is known is that the problem triggers a reaction in which the immune system ends up turning against the carrier itself and that, when not identified at the outset, it results in serious damage to health, especially to the kidneys and brain. “Lupus is an autoimmune disease that typically affects young women. The disease can affect literally any organ. Its cause is unknown and there are no effective preventive measures. There are, yes, very effective treatments to control the disease and avoid major consequences”.

Types of Lupus: There are three types of lupus. Meet:

• Discoid Lupus:  Inflammation is always limited to the skin. This type can be identified from the appearance of reddish skin lesions that usually appear on the face, back of the neck or also on the scalp.
• Systemic Lupus:  Inflammation occurs in the body, compromising various organs or systems of the body, not being restricted to the skin. Some people with discoid lupus can progress to the systemic form. The symptoms caused by this type of disease depend on the site of inflammation such as kidneys, heart, lungs and even the blood, in addition to skin and joint lesions.
• Drug-Induced Lupus:  Some drugs or medications can cause temporary inflammation while using them and cause symptoms that are very similar to systemic lupus. Manifestations disappear when use is stopped.

The Main Symptoms of Lupus: Lupus  symptoms cancome on suddenly or develop slowly. They can also be moderate or severe, temporary or permanent. Most lupus patients have mild symptoms, which come on sporadically, in flare-ups, in which the symptoms get worse for a while and then disappear.

Symptoms can also vary depending on which parts of your body are affected by Lupus . The most common signs are:

• Fatigue
• Fever
• joint pain
• Muscle stiffness and swelling
• Skin rash – redness on the face in a “butterfly” shape over the cheeks and the tip of the nose. It affects about half of people with Lupus . The rash gets worse with sunlight and can also be generalized
• Skin lesions that appear or worsen when exposed to the sun
• difficulty breathing
• Chest pain when taking a deep breath
• sensitivity to sunlight
• Headache, mental confusion and memory loss
• enlarged lymph nodes
• Loss of hair
• mouth sores
• General discomfort, anxiety, malaise.

Other symptoms of Lupus depend on which part of the body is affected:

• Brain and nervous system: headache, numbness, tingling, seizures, vision problems, personality changes
• Digestive tract: abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting
• Heart: abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia)
• Lung: coughing up blood and difficulty breathing
• Skin: Irregular skin coloration, fingers that change color with the cold (Raynaud’s phenomenon).

Some patients only have skin symptoms. This type is called discoid lupus .

I understand more about Lupus:  To understand Lupus , it is necessary to understand how the immune system works, which plays the role of protecting the body against external aggressive agents (viruses and bacteria, for example). Therefore, he makes use of antibodies.

The problem occurs when, due to a dysfunction, the same antibodies are responsible for the damage to the tissues that they should protect, something even more dangerous when it is verified that they have access to the nucleus of the cells. The defense mechanism thus becomes a self-aggression mechanism.

It is still unclear what causes the disorder and there appears to be an intricate mix of genetic, hormonal and environmental factors. “There is a genetic preposition in lupus patients . That is, there is a sustainability to the disease , which manifests itself after the interaction with certain factors: ultraviolet radiation, infections, medications, contraceptive pills and chemicals.

This contact can trigger the disease or worsen the condition of a patient who already has the diagnosis. It is the stimulation of the immune system that results in a dysregulated response, with the production of autoantibodies (antibodies directed against the patient’s own structures)”.

According to the Brazilian Society of Rheumatology, Lupus affects women nine times more than men. A clue to explain its predominance among females may lie in hormones. The female hormone, estrogen, stimulates the formation of antibodies, while the male hormone, testosterone, has the opposite effect.

How to Detect Lupus:  As Lupus affects the immune system and disrupts several other body functions, the disease can manifest itself by the most diverse symptoms: weakness, loss of appetite and weight loss, fever, pericarditis (inflammation of the pericardium, membrane that surrounds the heart) or pleuritis (inflammation of the pleura, membrane that covers the lung) most of the time, the diagnosis is time consuming and only occurs after the patient has gone through a series of doctors from different specialties.

One of these signs is pain in the joints of the upper limbs (wrists, elbows, shoulders and fingers) that arise in an asymmetrical and itinerant way (changing locations for no apparent reason). As the condition resembles that of rheumatoid arthritis, it is common for people with lupus to see someone with a rheumatologist.

Lúpus tem Cura: “Por ser uma doença crônica, que não tem cura, o portador de Lúpus precisa ter acompanhamento médico por toda a vida. As ações variam conforme as peculiaridades manifestações em cada paciente, sendo um tratamento quase exclusivo”. A doença pode apresentar sintomas leves, apenas manchas ou dores articulares em algumas pessoas, mas, em outras, pode ser bastante grave, causando insuficiência renal ou alterações neurológicas que levam à morte.

Treatment always includes drugs to regulate immune changes and other resulting dysfunctions, such as high blood pressure. Corticosteroids, antimalarials and immunosuppressants are the most used, in addition to analgesics and anti-inflammatory drugs. In order to avoid extensive agents that activate Lupus , other care must also be permanent.

How to Prevent Lupus:  Is It Preventable? No, because it is a natural dysfunction of the carriers’ organism. However, protecting yourself from everything that activates the immune system and with the correct medical guidelines, it is possible to enjoy a peaceful life. here’s a little tip, avoid sun exposure;

• Always use sunscreen, with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 30, even on cloudy or rainy days, due to radiation;
• For women, avoid pills that contain estrogenic hormones .

Medications To Treat Lupus:  The most commonly used medications for treating Lupus are:

• androcortile
• azathioprine
• Benevat
• Betathirty
• betnovate
• Betamethasone
• Bi Profenid
• Celestone
• ketoprofen
• decadron
• diprospan
• duoflam
• prednisolone
• prednisone
• predsim
• Prof.

Only a doctor can tell you which drug is most suitable for you, as well as the correct dosage and duration of treatment . Always follow your doctor’s instructions to the letter and NEVER self-medicate. Do not stop using the drug without consulting a doctor first, and if you take it more than once or in much larger amounts than prescribed, follow the instructions on the package insert.