What is lupus?
Lupus is an auto immune disease that can damage any part of the body. Basically, your body attacks itself because your immune system can no longer tell the difference between foreign invaders (bacteria, virus) and healthy tissues. Lupus is different for anyone and can attack any part of your body including organs, muscles, and joints.
What are the common symptoms of Lupus?
- Extreme Fatigue
- Headaches
- Painful, or swollen joints
- Fever
- Anemia
- Swelling
- Pain in chest
- Butterfly shaped rash on face
- Sun, or light sensitivity
- Hair loss
- Abnormal blood clotting
- Fingers turning white, or blue
- Mouth, or nose ulcers
I was diagnosed with lupus 3.5 years ago, although the doctors seem to think it started about 5, or more years before the actual diagnosis. My Lupus flares up severely when the weather changes quickly. It's a very frustrating disease because there is really nothing the doctors can do except try to keep you "comfortable" and handle new symptoms as they appear. The most frustrating part of all of it is the fact that I don't "look" sick, even though I am in unbearable pain everyday. People have no idea how much it takes for me to do "normal" things such as balance school, work, and everything else that I do. Friends don't always understand why I don't want to go out and would rather stay home and relax. It's not that I don't want to, it's that I'm exhausted and don't want to feel worse than I already do.
The Lupus is attacking my joints and muscles, so I am on strong anti imflamatories to help with the joint swelling and I still swell. I have pleurisy about 80% of the year, which is the swelling of the tissues that line your lungs and chest wall. It's causes severe pain when I breathe. It has also given me severe fatigue. I never have any energy and am constantly exhausted. I sleep about 12 hours every night and I still force myself out of bed and feel tired. The only hope for energy I have is steroids and I currently cannot take them due to a digestive issue I am having. I have to have an endoscopy in a few weeks, which the doctors are assuming will show stomach ulcers and swelling in my esophagus, which makes it painful to eat. I also have horrible blood circulation, which causes my fingers and feet to always be funny colored and numb, even if I'm hot. It's very painful and annoying. With Lupus, it's always a never ending battle. I get one issue taken care of and my body decides to go after something else. My doctors have told me that the cartilage in my knees and hips are gone and that at this point, it's bone rubbing bone. They predict that I will need both knees and hips replaced by the time I'm 30 years old.
I think Lupus is very misunderstood disease.
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