Systemic Lupus Erythematosus is an immune system disease that causes the body to attack its own tissues and organs. The inflammation that is associated with this condition can impact all of the body’s systems. This condition is difficult to diagnose because the symptoms of the disease can mimic many other health issues.
Cases of lupus can vary widely in their symptoms. Some people only experience mild symptoms at first, while other people experience immediate severe symptoms at the onset of the condition. For most people, the condition starts out with mild symptoms that grow much worse over time. Lupus flares are also common and can happen without apparent triggers.
The most common symptoms of SLE are:
This condition is an autoimmune disease which means that the healthy cells in the body are attacked by the immune system. Lupus is most likely caused by a combination of inherited genes and the environment that someone is exposed to. Lupus triggers can vary widely, and it is not always known why someone first starts to experience the symptoms of this condition. The common triggers for SLE are:
The risk factors for SLE are:
As mentioned above, the diagnosis of this condition can be difficult as the condition often shares symptoms with many other health problems. It can take years for patients to be diagnosed with SLE. No one test is used to definitively diagnose Lupus. Doctors will need to take a full health history and start to monitor the development of symptoms or the expression of flares in patients.
Lab tests like a CBC or an erythrocyte sedimentation rate test can sometimes help to define lupus as the cause of a patient’s illness. Kidney and liver assessments and urinalysis can also sometimes show increased protein levels or symptoms like red blood cells in the urine.
An antinuclear antibody test can also be done to see if there are antibodies being produced by the immune system that indicates that the immune system is overstimulated. For patients with chest pain, chest X-ray and echocardiogram tests might be done to rule out actual heart problems.
Treatment of SLE can be complex for some patients. The severity of the expressed symptoms can make treatment simple or difficult for patients with SLE. Many patients will need to use a combination of medications like NSAIDs to manage pain and inflammation and corticosteroids to help with more severe inflammatory responses or flares.
Antimalarial drugs have been successful in some patients to help manage increased immune system response and to reduce the incidence of flares. Immunosuppressant drugs are more commonly used for this purpose and are almost always a factor in the treatment of this condition.
Ongoing study is being done to try and find more effective means of treating this condition in patients of all ages. Calming the immune system can be a complicated process, and not all treatments work for all patients.
Prevention of Lupus is typically not possible. Many people are not aware that they have the genetic markers for the condition, and not everyone with a family history of lupus will end up with the condition. Autoimmune conditions are still relatively poorly understood, and more study is needed to understand why these conditions can suddenly begin to express symptoms in patients.