What Is Lupus?

Lupus is a chronic autoimmune and inflammatory disease.

In a patient with Lupus, the immune system that was originally designed to protect the body, turns against itself. This in turn leads to inflammation, and chronic inflammation over time damages the bodies organs and tissues. Although Lupus can affect almost any part of the body, the organs mostly affected are the joints, kidneys, heart, lungs, skin, blood vessels, and brain.

Quick Lupus Facts – Did you know?

Of those diagnosed, 80% will be between the ages of 15 and 45 years old. Lupus is a complicated disease to understand. When a patient is diagnosed with Lupus or is being tested for it, a number of questions can pop into their minds – “Where does it come from?”, “How long will I have it for?”, or “What are the different types of Lupus?”. To start, the cause of Lupus is not yet known. It is believed that different pieces such as genetics, the patients environmental factors and hormones might fit together to make up the puzzle that is known as Lupus. Studies are being done to determine whether genes, medications, stress or certain viruses bring about the disease.

Although there is no cure for Lupus at the moment, most cases can be effectively controlled with medication. Most Lupus patients lead active or semi-active lives. Lupus patients can have periods where their disease is not active, otherwise known as a remission period and they can have periods where it is active, or a “flare up”.

So, what are the different types of Lupus?

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus or SLE:
This is the most common type of Lupus and affect many different parts of the body such as the brain, heart, lungs, blood, kidneys, skin or joints. SLE symptoms can range from very mild to serious. Although it can affect people in their childhood or later in life, it usually is diagnosed between 15-45 years of age.

Discoid Lupus Erythematosus or DLE:
This type of Lupus affects the skin only. DLE usually produces a red raised rash on the skin, face, scalp or other parts of the body. The rash can become thick at times and may cause scarring. It can last anywhere from several days to weeks and may reoccur. Some patients that have DLE have SLE or will develop it later on.

Drug Induced Lupus:
This is a form of Lupus that is brought on by medications. There are many drugs that can cause this including Hydralazine, Procainamide, Methyldopa, and d-Penicillamine just to name a few. Symptoms of this type of Lupus are similar to SLE such as fever, rash, & pain and usually go away when the medication is stopped.

Dear Reader: Almost all of the medical information on this site is directly from the sites listed below, and some of it being from my Nursing School/Chemistry textbooks. This site is NOT INTENDED to diagnose any medical conditions in anyway. Please visit the wesbites of the organizations listed below for more information or ask your doctor.
Ref 1: Lupus Foundation of America Website
Ref 2: Lupus Alliance of America website