What are the Symptoms of SLE (Systemic Lupus Erythematosus)

Non-specific Symptons

The word non-specific is used by doctors to describe symptoms that can occur in many illnesses other than Lupus. They include fatigue, weight changes, fever, and swollen glands. Because these symptoms can arise from other illnesses, they can be connected to Lupus only after some of the specific symptoms begin to develop.

Fatigue: is the most frequent symptom that affects patients with Lupus. The degree of tiredness is far greater than the activities of the patient would indicate. Lupus fatigue leaves the person feeling extremely drained and without energy. With experience, most patients can learn the difference between normal tiredness and Lupus fatigue which is very helpful to their doctor in determining how active their Lupus has become.

Unexplained and continuing Weigh loss:of more than 5 pounds can be caused by SLE. Weight loss may occur slowly (20 pounds over a one year period) or very quickly (20 pounds in 2 months). Weight gain that occurs, even though the diet remains the same, may be caused by swelling, particularly in the feet and legs. This swelling may be related to Kidney, heart, blood vesselr or other organ involvement in Lupus. If the swelling continues, it requires prompt medical attention.

Fever:is another non-specific symptom that may occur in many illnesses such as the common cold or the flu. However, low-grade fever that lasts a long time or sudden, high fevers may indicate the SLE is becoming active or that a serious infection may be present. Fever is therefore always taken seriously by physicians who treat Lupus patients.

Swollen glands: If many swollen glands suddenly appear this may be a sign of SLE, particularly if they occur along with

Symptoms Specific to Lupus

Specific symptoms are caused by involvement of one or several organs of the body. SLE can affect the organs in any combination imaginable and a complete list of all SLE symptoms would fill many booklets. To help distinguish SLE from other diseases, doctors of the American Rheumatism Association have established a list of 11 abnormalities which, when combined point to SLE. These abnormalities include symptoms (What you can feel, such as pain), signs (what your physician can see during an examination) and changes in laboratory tests.

To make a diagnosis of SLE, the patient must have had at least 4 of these 11 abnormalities at any time since the beginning of the disease. Some of the items on the list have as many as 4 possible abnormalities but only 1 of them needs to be present for a particular condition to be met.

To make a diagnosis of Lupus at least 4 of these 11 criteria must be present:

1.The butterfly rash: is a red rash that occurs over the cheeks and often over the bridge of the nose. This rash eventually happens to 50% of all SLE patients. It may be flat or raised and should not be confused with simple blushing or the redness that comes with fever. Some people notice a feeling of warmth in the area of the rash while others do not. The rash can be so faint that only the physician will notice it or it can be obvious to the point of being commented on by relatives or friends.

2. Photosensitivity: an excessive skin reaction to sunlight (causing rash) that occurs in at least 50% of patients. Usually, only the exposed skin is involved while skin that is covered by clothing is spared. Your physician will decide that photosensitivity is present only if there is a sudden change in your usual reation to sunlight . Some Lupus patients experience photosensitivity indoors, especially when exposed to fluorescent lights.

Stay tuned for the other symptoms

Types of Lupus

There are four types of lupus: discoid, systemic, drug-induced and neonatal lupus.

• Discoid (cutaneous) lupus is always limited to the skin. It is identified by a rash that may appear on the face, neck, and scalp. Discoid lupus is diagnosed by examining a biopsy of the rash. In discoid lupus the biopsy will show abnormalities that are not found in skin without the rash. Discoid lupus does not generally involve the body's internal organs. Therefore, the ANA test may be negative in patients with discoid lupus. However, in a large number of patients with discoid lupus, the ANA test is positive, but at a low level or "titer." In approximately 10 percent of patients, discoid lupus can evolve into the systemic form of the disease, which can affect almost any organ or system of the body. This cannot be predicted or prevented. Treatment of discoid lupus will not prevent its progression to the systemic form. Individuals who progress to the systemic form probably had systemic lupus at the outset, with the discoid rash as their main symptom.
  
• Systemic lupus is usually more severe than discoid lupus, and can affect almost any organ or organ system of the body. For some people, only the skin and joints will be involved. In others, the joints, lungs, kidneys, blood, or other organs and/or tissues may be affected. Generally, no two people with systemic lupus will have identical symptoms. Systemic lupus may include periods in which few, if any, symptoms are evident ("remission") and other times when the disease becomes more active ("flare"). Most often when people mention "lupus," they are referring to the systemic form of the disease.
  
• Drug-induced lupus occurs after the use of certain prescribed drugs. The symptoms of drug-induced lupus are similar to those of systemic lupus. The drugs most commonly connected with drug-induced lupus are hydralazine (used to treat high blood pressure or hypertension) and procainamide (used to treat irregular heart rhythms). Drug induced lupus is more common in men who are given these drugs more often. However, not everyone who takes these drugs will develop drug-induced lupus. Only about 4 percent of the people who take these drugs will develop the antibodies suggestive of lupus. Of those 4 percent, only an extremely small number will develop overt drug-induced lupus. The symptoms usually fade when the medications are discontinued.
  
• Neonatal lupus is a rare condition acquired from the passage of maternal autoantibodies, specifically anti-Ro/SSA or anti-La/SSB, which can affect the skin, heart and blood of the fetus and newborn. It is associated with a rash that appears within the first several weeks of life and may persist for about six months before disappearing. Congenital heart block is much less common than the skin rash. Neonatal lupus is not systemic lupus.

Lupus on Global News

I have hypersensitive hearing when it comes to Lupus and last night, I heard Global News mention Lupus, so of course I watched and found out that three genese were found so far that cause Lupus. Here is the article posted on Global TVs website.

Studies home in on lupus cause
JASMIN LEGATOS, The Gazette

After two strokes and seven years, Miriam Gaudelli was finally diagnosed with lupus at 21.

Now 25, Gaudelli, president of Lupus Canada for Quebec, often hears similar stories of sufferers misdiagnosed for years.

That's because the illness, dubbed the disease with a thousand faces, can affect the joints, kidneys, heart, skin and brain and requires three or four symptoms to occur simultaneously in order to be diagnosed, she said.

But now an international team of researchers, which includes a group from the Montreal Heart Institute, have discovered three genes that cause the illness.

"We can now study these genes to find out what they are doing in the normal state and what they are doing in the disease," said John Rioux, an associate professor of medicine at the Université de Montréal and a researcher at the Montreal Heart Institute.

In people affected by lupus, the immune system produces antibodies that attack their own tissues, resulting in inflammation of the specific tissue or the body's organs.

Lupus Canada estimates that anywhere between 15,000 and 50,000 Canadians have lupus and women are nine times more likely to develop the disease than men.

The new studies are also important because it's the first time scientists were able to scan all 30,000 genes in the human genome, Rioux said.

"(Before) you had to pick your favourite gene that you thought, in the scientific sense, had a role to play in the disease and do a genetic test," he said.

However technology developed in recent years leaves the guesswork behind, he added.

Although researchers know little about the three genes discovered in the study, they are the first pieces of a complex puzzle, Rioux said.
"If we can start building up a knowledge of these different pieces, we can figure out which genes go with which type of symptom. Then you can figure out how to better treat these patients."

Lupus on Good Morning America

The Definition of Lupus

"Lupus is an autoimmune disease that can affect various parts of the body, including the skin, joints, heart, lungs, blood, kidneys and brain. Normally the body's immune system makes proteins called antibodies, to protect the body against viruses, bacteria, and other foreign materials. These foreign materials are called antigens.

In an autoimmune disorder like lupus, the immune system cannot tell the difference between foreign substances and its own cells and tissues. The immune system then makes antibodies directed against itself. These antibodies -- called "auto-antibodies" (auto means 'self') -- cause inflammation, pain and damage in various parts of the body."

The Disease with a Thousand Faces

Systemic Lupus Erythmatosus (SLE or Lupus), is a chronic disease with a variety of symptoms caused by inflammation in one or more parts of the body. It belongs to the family of diseases that includes rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma and other conditions. SLE can target any of the body's tissues, and it manifests itself in many ways. Because everyone's Lupus experience is different, it is often referred to as the disease of a thousand faces.

How common is lupus?

• It affects 15,000 (1 in 2,000) Canadians.
  
• Women develop lupus up to 10 times more often than men.
  
• It usually occurs in women between the ages of 15 and 45.

Lupus can affect men, women, and children of any age, but it occurs most often in women of childbearing age (ages 15 to 45). Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is eight to 10 times more common in women than men.

• The Lupus Foundation of America estimates that approximately 1.5-million Americans have a form of lupus.

• Although lupus can strike men and women of all ages, 90% of individuals diagnosed with the disease are women, and 80% of those afflicted with systemic lupus develop it between the ages of 15 and 45.

• While lupus is a widespread disease, awareness of the disease lags behind many other illnesses.

• A survey of Lupus Foundation of America members suggests that more than half of those afflicted with lupus suffered at least four years, and saw three or more doctors before obtaining a correct diagnosis of lupus.

This is why I am doing this blog; this disease needs way more attention than it is getting right now. More people must be educated about what Lupus is and its affect on people.