What is lupus? “Lupus is a chronic, autoimmune disease that can damage any part of the body (Lupus).” An autoimmune disease can be extremely detrimental to the body. This disease occurs when the body creates an antibody that goes against substances naturally present in the body. When your body is against itself, you have nothing to help heal your body and nourish it back to health, making treatment and recovery harder. As an eight-year-old child, I didn’t notice that my mother had lupus until it was too late. After her death in 2007 I began to notice all of the signs that I missed at first and started reflecting on my whole life and memories. All those signs those were clear as day and I missed all of them. Lupus can be caused by a numerous …show more content…
Of course, there are some individuals that can be born with lupus, with no genetic history of the disease. Environmental effects such as natural sunlight can also affect Lupus. Imagine the life of an outdoorsy lupus patient that is told by physicians that “recommend they stay indoors from 10am - 4pm (Joe Bowman).” These are the most active times during the day when people are out and about. As a student at City of Medicine Academy I knew that the time would come for me to write a research paper on anything I wanted and I knew that I was going research lupus. I always desired to learn more about what my mother experienced. I also wonder if some people today are still going through what she did …show more content…
Do not seek for the answers that cannot be given, for you would not be able to live them, and the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now, and perhaps, without knowing it, you will live along some distant day into the answers (Paul J. Donoghue 47).” Talk about quote. “Lupus can cause serious kidney damage; kidney failure is one of the leading causes of death among people with lupus. If your brain is affected by lupus, you may experience headaches, dizziness, behavior changes, hallucinations, and even strokes or seizures. Many people with lupus experience memory problems and may have difficulty expressing their thoughts (Lupus).” Having lupus also increases your risk of “Infection, cancer, bone tissue death, and pregnancy complications like miscarriages. But thank god when I got pregnant with my third child, Brandon, he come out perfectly. I was so lucky and happy,” said Kizzy
as for familty history it is believed that Heretity plays a roll in lupus. With other known medicals problems similiar to those such as enemia and other autoimmune diseases it is suspected the two are intertwinned. while no factual proof leads to this assummtion it seems to be somewhat of a common occurance between
Anyone can get Lupus but women of color are two or three times more at risk for lupus than Caucasians (Lupus Research Institute), being Hispanic myself
Lupus is a chronic inflammatory disease of unknown cause that can affect virtually any part of the body. The medical term for Lupus is Systemic Lupus Erythematosus or better known as SLE. With Lupus there is a malfunction in some of the cells of the immune system. "In Lupus, the body overreacts to an unknown stimulus and makes to many antibodies, or proteins directed against body tissue. Thus, Lupus is called an autoimmune disease. ”#
It is not rare for individuals with lupus to undergo muscle throbs and discomfort or have inflammation of certain muscle groups, which causes faintness and loss of intensity. More than 90 percent of people with lupus will encounter joint and/or muscle pain at some time during the path of their illness. In lupus, the immune system of the body raids its own cells and tissues. Precisely, the joints, skin, kidneys, lungs, heart, nervous system, and other organs of the body are affected. Lupus affects generally 10 times as many women as men. Most often, lupus develops in people 18 to 45 years old. (Lahita) Though lupus is most dominant among women, it also may affect men and children, as well as individuals of all ages. Lupus effects each person
For every case of Lupus there is always a different set of signs and symptoms. “ No two cases of Lupus are ever the same. Symptoms can have a very wide range.” (Mayo Clinic Staff)
Research suggests that there is a genetic component that predisposes some people to lupus, but it seems it has to be triggered by another event (Mayo Clinic). Lupus is thought to have three different possible triggers, though research into understanding them is ongoing. Sunlight may trigger skin lesions caused by the autoimmune response of lupus. And infections and medications that affect the immune system can also trigger a symptom outbreak (Mayo Clinic).
Systematic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic, systemic, autoimmune disease. This condition causes the body to mistaken its own tissues and organs as foreign bodies and begins attacking them causing continuing inflammation and pain. (Huether & McCance, 2012) The cause of SLE still remains unknown, but it is possible that is inherited as a complex trait or caused by environmental stimuli. (S) Anyone is at risk for Lupus, but is more common among women than men and is more prevalent of African Americans and Asians. (National Library of Medicine 2010, para 2) This condition can be difficult to diagnose, as a patient must present a number of the recognizable symptoms. Depending on the location that Lupus presents itself in the body, the symptoms
Lupus is a condition that few people know about. Based on the results of a survey from the Lupus Foundation of America, around 72% of Americans aged 18-34 have either not heard of the disease or know nothing about it other than the name, despite this age group being at greatest risk for the condition. Lupus gained more attention from the public in 2015 after singer Selena Gomez announced she had been diagnosed with the condition in her late teens and underwent treatment for the disease. Lupus is a well-known autoimmune disorder disease. Which means that the body's immune system is not functioning normal and it's attacking the normal tissue, instead of the bacteria and viruses or in other words the body's immune system is hurting itself. The
The exact cause for Lupus is unknown; however experts believe that some people are born with certain genes that affect how your immune system works. It appears that people with inherited predisposition for Lupus may develop this disease when they come in contact with “triggers.” Some potential triggers are: sunlight, infections, and medications. Sunlight exposure can lead to Lupus skin lesions, or trigger and internal response in susceptible people. Having an infection can initiate Lupus, or causes a relapse in symptoms. Also some anti-seizure, blood pressure, and antibiotic medications can trigger Lupus. People who have drug induced Lupus noticed their symptoms go away once they stopped taking the
Lupus is an autoimmune disease that attacks women between the ages of 15 and 40. It occurs less often in men than in women. The people affected by lupus vary depending on the country or region. In the US alone, the prevalence rate is highest among Asians of Hawaii, blacks of Caribbean origin, and Native Americans of the Sioux, Arapahoe, and Crow tribes. Lupus is a disease that affects the immune system. We can think of the immune system as an army within the body with hundreds of defenders (known as antibodies). They defend the body from attack by germs and viruses. In lupus, however, the immune system becomes overactive and creates antibodies that attack healthy tissues in the body, such as: the skin, kidneys, lungs, heart and brain.
Most experts can agree that there are a number of factors that cause it; the causes of Lupus are from a combination of genetics and the environment. Sometimes people inherit what is called a “genetic predisposition” which means that they inherit the chance to eventually develop it. It is very hard to pinpoint one single source of cause that triggers Lupus like I mentioned before. Things in the environment like UV rays from the sun, or unrelated things like an infection or a pregnancy can trigger it. The symptoms of Lupus range from Extreme fatigue, headaches, photosensitivity, pain/swollen joints, and one clear indicator being a butterfly-shaped rash across the cheek or nose.
An estimated 5 million people worldwide have lupus disease, 70% of lupus cases diagnosed are systemic lupus erythematosus, 20% of people with lupus will have a parent who already has lupus or may develop lupus, about 5% of the children born to individuals with lupus will develop the illness, SLE is a chronic autoimmune disease that can affect almost any organ system. Beside, in Vietnam, the ratio of female/male is 14/1.
With the long term affects of Lupus, patients are recommended to limit sun exposure and use sunscreen to prevent flares, have good eating habits, get
Lupus does not have a known cause, and because of that it has no known cure. The exact cause of lupus is unknown, but scientists suspect that it is likely to be a combination of factors, people who contract lupus are probably genetically predisposed to lupus, and know that environmental factors such as infections, antibodies, ultraviolet light, extreme stress and certain drugs play a critical role in
In conclusion Lupus is definitely a very serious disease that we must learn more about. My great aunt had Lupus for over ten years and during that time suffered in ways no person should have to. She would fall down constantly and break bones. Near the end of her life, she would break bones doing stuff as simple as getting out of bed.