Table of Contents
What is Lupus?
What are the top 10 signs of lupus?
- Fatigue. About 90 percent of people with lupus experience some level of fatigue. …
- Unexplained fever. One of the early symptoms of lupus is a low-grade fever for no apparent reason. …
- Hair loss. …
- Skin rash or lesions. …
- Pulmonary issues. …
- Kidney inflammation. …
- Painful, swollen joints. …
- Gastrointestinal problems.
Is lupus considered a serious disease?
Lupus can impact many different parts of your body. It can cause aches and pains, as well as serious complications to your major organs. Because lupus is an autoimmune disease, it causes your body to attack itself. This can lead to organ damage over time.
What are the 11 symptoms of lupus?
What are the 11 signs of lupus?
- Butterfly-shaped rash.
- Raised red patches on your skin.
- You’re sensitive to light.
- Ulcers in your mouth or nose.
- Arthritis in two or more joints, plus swelling or tenderness.
- Inflammation in the lining of your heart or lungs.
- Seizures or other nerve problems.
- Too much protein in your urine.
What are the 3 types of lupus?
There are three types: Acute cutaneous lupus. Chronic cutaneous lupus erythematosus, or discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE) Subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus.
Does lupus cause weight gain?
Weight changes Lupus can sometimes cause weight loss or weight gain. Weight loss may be unintentional and due to decreased appetite or problems with the digestive system (see ‘Digestive system’ below). It can also be a side effect of some medications used to treat lupus.
How does a person with lupus feel?
When your lupus is active, symptoms like joint stiffness, pain, fatigue, confusion, or depression can make simple tasks difficult and sometimes impossible. Since these symptoms aren’t visible, the people around you may have trouble understanding how you feel.
What is lupus pain like?
Many people described the pain of lupus as similar to having the flu. This means having chills and bone-weary aches throughout your entire body. The pain can be numbing and leave you feeling drained of all energy. I explain it to others as feeling like the flu: achy joints, muscles, bones.
Does stress cause lupus?
Although doctors haven’t proven that stress is a direct cause of lupus, it’s known to trigger flare-ups in people who already have the disease. Stressful events that can make symptoms worse include: A death in the family. Divorce.
Who typically gets lupus?
Gender: Even though anyone can get lupus, it most often affects women. They’re nine to ten times more likely than men to develop it. Age: Lupus can occur at any age, but most are diagnosed in their 20s and 30s. Race: Lupus is two to three times more common in African-American women than in Caucasian women.
What is the life expectancy for lupus?
With close follow-up and treatment, 80-90% of people with lupus can expect to live a normal life span. It is true that medical science has not yet developed a method for curing lupus, and some people do die from the disease. However, for the majority of people living with the disease today, it will not be fatal.
What happens if lupus is untreated?
If left untreated, it can put you at risk of developing life-threatening problems such as a heart attack or stroke. In many cases, lupus nephritis does not cause any noticeable symptoms. However, this does not mean the condition is not dangerous, as the kidneys could still be being damaged.
What should lupus patients avoid?
Foods High in Cholesterol and Saturated Fats
Heart attack risk is 50 times higher in people with lupus, so patients with lupus should be extra vigilant against foods with known links to heart disease, such as red meat, fried foods, and dairy.
Does lupus make you sleep a lot?
Many people with lupus experience fatigue, or feeling tired throughout the day. For some people, fatigue can make it hard to do everyday activities like taking a shower, cooking dinner, or going to work.
Does lupus affect your eyes?
People with lupus can get retinal vasculitis, which limits the blood supply to the retina, which can have significant effects on vision. The eye then attempts to repair itself, but when the retina tries to repair itself it forms new blood vessels which can form in areas of the eye that can impair vision.
Can you have lupus for years and not know it?
Lupus symptoms can also be unclear, can come and go, and can change. On average, it takes nearly six years for people with lupus to be diagnosed, from the time they first notice their lupus symptoms.
Does lupus affect your mood?
Lupus and its treatments can impair mental & emotional health. 80-90% of people with lupus. Neuropsychiatric lupus describes feelings of depression, headaches, and lupus fog trouble thinking or remembering due to lupus. 25% of lupus patients experience major depression and 37% have major anxiety, research shows.
Is depression a symptom of lupus?
Psychological manifestations such as depression and anxiety are very common. Major depression is present in approximately 25% of lupus patients, and major anxiety in 37%. These presentations are often among the earliest symptoms to manifest in lupus.
