Basics for Better Living Continued

When You Hurt, Apply Heat
- Moist heat soothes painful joints much better than dry heat.
- Soaking in a hot tub, sauna, jacuzzi or taking a hot shower is useful.
- Ice or cold applications, are advisable only for acute strains or injuries during the first 36 hours after injury

General Conditioning Exercises
You can help prevent muscle atrophy, or wasting, and lower your risk for developing thin bones (osteoporosis) with these types of activities:

walking
swimming
low impact aerobics
bicycling

However, if your joints are swollen or you have fibromyalgia, be careful before doing a lot of weight lifting, rowing, high impact aerobics, or engaging in tennis, bowling or golf.
If exercise tires you easily, pace yourself with frequent rest periods.

Consult A Rehabilitation Specialist

Physical therapists assist patients with:
muscle strengthening programs
exercises
gait training.

Occupational therapists help to:
lower stresses to painful areas
evaluate workstations (especially those with a computer) to ensure proper body mechanics
recommend a variety of assistive devices.

Vocational rehabilitation counselors may train you for a job that:
involves less sun exposure
puts less emphasis on repetitive motions involving an inflamed hand or other parts of the body.

Basics for Better Living Continued

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)

Seventy percent of people with lupus have systemic lupus. About half have organ-threatening disease:
heart
lung
kidney
liver
serious blood involvement
and half have non-organ threatening disease:
rash
fatigue
fever
aching, and/or pain on taking a deep breath
normal urinalysis, EKG, and chest x-ray.
Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease (UCTD)
Finally, many people with early lupus-like symptoms don't meet the ACR criteria but have an undifferentiated connective tissue disease process. Studies have shown that, while many of these people will develop SLE over time, others will develop rheumatoid arthritis, have mild persistent symptoms, or find that the process just disappears.

How Can You Help Yourself?

Physical Measures
Be Careful In The Sun
Two-thirds of the people with lupus have problems with ultraviolet A and B (UVA and UVB) radiation from the sun. If you are going to be outside for more than five minutes, use a sunscreen. Choose a sunscreen that has a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 15
Make sure it blocks both UVA and UVB rays. UVB sun exposure is greatest at midday, so do your outdoor activities earlier in the morning, late in the afternoon, or in the evening and wear protective clothing. Ultraviolet radiation is also greater at higher altitudes. The UV exposure at sea level in one hour is the same as the exposure in five minutes at an altitude of one mile like in Denver, Mexico City, or on a ski slope.

Diet
People with lupus should eat a nutritious, well-balanced diet.
There are some suggestions that fish, or specifically eicosopentanioc acid in fish oil, might have modest anti-inflammatory properties. The results of double-blind controlled studies showed that eating the equivalent of two fish meals a week clearly helps rheumatoid arthritis pain.
An amino acid, L-canavanine, is found in alfalfa sprouts and can activate the immune system and increase inflammation in lupus patients. Other foods in the legume family have only a fraction of the L-canavanine that sprouts do and are safe to eat. Lupus patients taking corticosteroids should limit their sugar and salt intake.

Basics for Better Living

Although there is no "cure" for lupus, you can make lifestyle adjustments that help fight the disease and give you an improved sense of well being. Many of these don't require spending money or seeing a health care provider. After all, we've known for years that the "head bone" is connected to the "lupus bone," and that stress and difficulty in coping are associated more with disease flares. In this pamphlet, we offer you ways to do things to help yourself.

Make Sure It's Really Lupus

Even though 10 million Americans have a positive antinuclear antibody (ANA), only one million have systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). A recent survey found that only one-third of patients who had been told they have lupus actually fulfill the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) definition for the disorder.

Positive ANAs, fatigue, aching and other lupus-related symptoms can be found among individuals with:

thyroid disease,
cancer,
recent infections (especially viral),
fibromyalgia,
rheumatoid arthritis,
pregnancy, and
multiple sclerosis,
among other illnesses.

Has your diagnosis of lupus given by your primary care physician, been confirmed by a Board Certified Rheumatologist or other recognized lupus specialist? If your disease has been confirmed as being lupus, read on.

What Kind Of Lupus Do You Have?

Chronic cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CCLE)
CCLE is a skin disorder. The skin precautions discussed later in the brochure are important, but fewer than 20 percent of these patients will ever develop systemic lupus, and most generally feel well.
Drug-induced lupus erythematosus (DILE or DLE)
DILE can be brought on by more than 70 different prescription drugs, but symptoms disappears within days to months of the drug's discontinuation.
Mixed Connective Tissue Disease (MCTD)
Some patients fulfill criteria for systemic lupus, but also meet the definitions for rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, or polymyositis. They have mixed connective tissue disease if anti-RNP is present.

Zero in 50

Zero in 50. Thursday, November, 20, 2008 marked an unfortunate anniversary. It was 50 years ago the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last approved a drug to specifically treat lupus.