LESSONS ON LUPUS AND ITS COUSIN DISORDERS

Unless something strikes my fancy I think I am going to dedicte the next couple of entries in my journal to Lupus education.  Pretty much I am going to just try to read from some sites and put those words into easy undertandable terms that everyone can understand.  So here it goes. 

Tonight's lesson is basically an explanation  of what the heck Lupus is.  We are going to start calling Lupus Systemis lupus erythematosus  or SLE. 

Systemic lupus erythematosus SLE is a chronic, often life-long, autoimmune disease that ranges from mild to severe and afflicts mostly women. Systemic lupus erythematosus SLE can affect any part of the body but it it pretty often hits  the skin, joints, blood, and kidneys (or if you are like me the central nervous sysem).  The  name of the disease explains it all.  Systemic is used because the disease can affect any and all of the organs and tissue throughout the body.

Lupus is Latin for wolf. It refers to the rash that extends across the bridge of the nose and upper cheekbones and was thought to resemble a wolf bite.

Erythematosus is from the Greek word for red and refers to the color of the rash.

The primary characteristics of the disease are the following:

• Fatigue.
• Joint pain
• Recurrent injuries in the vessels that run through our body.

So what the heck causes this thing?  SLE is a intricate disorder that occurs as a aftermath of a number of independent processes and factors, most likely the following:

• In the same basic premise whereby we send out antibodies to attack bad cells in our body (i.e., when we get a cold)  in SLE these antiboides are out of control, thebodies thinks it has the flu most of the time.. 
• Lupus may run in families.
• Environmental factors, such as viruses or sunlight, that aattack the body's cells or bring on other changes that are necessary to trigger a flare
• is a vexing disease because the first symptoms most likely appear years after the initial event that triggers the disease process. And since there are many immune abnormalities in lupus, tracking down the original cause is very difficult.

For those of us that are Lupies we already know all of this.  I am trying to find ways for our family and friends to understand Lupus better.  Tomorrow........The Inflammatory Process and Autoimmunity ............ Just what you were waiting for.  And, they said I didn't have anything interesting to contribute to life.  Now look at me I'm.....

   Lu The Lupus Lady