It is celebrated on 10th May every year. This day is aimed to create awareness of a disease named Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) and the motivation of patients suffering from it. SLE is an auto-immune disease that is caused due to dysregulation of our own immunity thereby attacking and damaging healthy parts of the body.
• SLE affects predominantly females of reproductive age group.
• Symptoms of SLE generally doesn’t occur at once, they may follow successively over months and hence cause diagnostic difficulty.
• SLE disease fluctuates between flare (increased disease activity) and remission (stable disease).
Symptoms:
Lung involvement: pleural effusion
Kidney damage- blood, protein leak in urine
Brain: Seizure, mood disorders
Heart problems: pericarditis, myocarditis
Pregnancy: For successful pregnancy, SLE disease should be in remission otherwise it can affect foetus also.
Precipitating factors: SLE flares can be due to exposure to sunlight, infections, stress, non-compliance with drugs.
Tests: Apart from routine blood tests, Special tests like ANA, ANA profile, APLA profile, biopsy (skin, kidney) will be required.
Treatment: It depends on type of organ involved, its severity and pregnancy.
• Sunscreen application, protective clothing
• NSAIDs (pain killers)
• Steroid
• HCQ (most important)
Very important:
• To continue medicines regularly along with prevention and early treatment of infection.
• Photoprotection- protective clothing
• Adequate diet (low in fat, high fruits, vegetables), regular exercise, proper sleep,
• Avoid smoking, reduction of alcohol.
• Due to long standing disease with intermittent flares, patient requires good emotional, financial support.
In short, its very important to diagnose SLE early by recognising symptoms and confirmation by tests thereby preventing organ damage. Along with drug therapy, patient requires regular motivation.
Famous personalities affected from SLE:
Selena Gomez, Famous American POP star
Nick Cannon, Actor, director,
Shannon Boxx, Gold medal, American Olympic soccer
Further reading:
www.Lupus.org
https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/
https://www.cdc.gov/lupus/facts/detailed.html
https://www.cdc.gov/lupus/facts/detailed.html
