| Lupus Erythematosus : Causes and Treatments
|
Untitled Document
|
Lupus Erythematosus : Causes and Treatments
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
Lupus Erathematosus is commonly referred as lupus or SLE for systematic Lupus Erathematosus. It is kind of auto-immune disorder. It affects small blood vessels of connective tissues of body. These connective tissues are the part of ligaments, tendons and cartilage. It causes inflammation in blood vessels.
It is serious kind of disorder. It affects skin and joints. In more serious condition, there can be abnormality in functioning and structure of important organs like brain, lungs, kidney or heart, because of inflammation of blood vessels. This disorder is neither infectious nor contagious.
Other forms of Lupus Erythematosus:
Besides Systematic Lupus Erythematosus, there are other forms of lupus.
· Discoid lupus Erythematosus(DLE)
· subacute cutaneous lupus (SCLE): It cause rashes on skin and sensitivity to sun.
There is another type of lupus, which develops as a reaction to some medication but it heals after drug is stopped.
Symptoms of Lupus Erythematosus
There is varied range of symptoms of lupus. Its symptoms can differ individual to individual.
1 Patient show flu like symptoms.
2 Patient has feeling of fatigue
3 Joint pain
4 Weakness
5 Lack of energy
6 Loss of appetite
7 Anemia
8 There is a loss in weight too
Joint pain can be severing like in arthritis. It is accompanied by other symptoms like swollen glands, fever, hair loss etc. Sun exposure is very harmful for patients of this disorder. Sun exposure tends to aggravate the symptoms caused by lupus Erythematosus.
Who can get affected by Lupus Erythematosus
Lupus Erythematosus is mainly a disorder affecting women but men too get it but ratio is very low. Women is to men ratio is 9:1. Another main concern of this disorder is that, it mostly affects in child bearing years. This fact makes a difficult condition for pregnant women; however, there is no complications in pregnancy as there is very small chance that fetus will get lupus. Also symptoms do not flare up in pregnancy. But there may be a risk of miscarriage and also symptoms of lupus may increase after delivery.
Causes of Lupus Erythematosus
Exact cause of Lupus Erythematosus is unknown; it is regarded as the auto-immune disorder which is may have genetic and environmental factors responsible for its origin.
Autoimmune disorder involves malfunctioning of immune systems. When talking about lupus Erythematosus, immune systems becomes overactive and attacks its own body’ s tissues , taking them as alien objects like virus. Kidneys get seriously affected by this disorder because of clogging up of sanitation cells in the kidneys.
How to Diagnose Lupus Erythematosus
To diagnose, physician checks for some evident symptoms on the body. There must be at least four symptoms out of the following at a time or a period of time.
· Rashes on Cheeks, called Malar Rashes
· Red scaly patches known as discoid rash
· Ulcers in Mouth
· Person is highly sensitive to sun
· Protein secreting out in Urine
· Swollen joints with arthritis pain
· Presence of Anti-nuclear antibody
· Decrease in count of platelets or lymphocytes in blood, low red or white blood count
Treatment of Lupus Erythematosus
Lupus Erythematosus is treated according to symptoms and their severity. To treat it, condition of eyes is examined. Level of its activity can be easily determined regular clinical tests. Any change or increase in symptoms can be detected at any early stage and treatment can be accordingly adjusted.
Sun exposure is very harmful and distressing for patients suffering from lupus, so they are seriously advised to stay indoors when the sunlight is brightest and hottest during the day. Also they are advised to wear full sleeves cloths and wide-brimmed hats. They should apply a sunscreen lotion with SPF 30 plus.
To treat arthritis pain, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medicines are prescribed. But these drugs should be taken carefully to avoid any gastric and stomach problem.
To treat rashes due to lupus, corticosteroid topical creams are used very commonly. Oral corticosteroids are also advised for controlling very active lupus symptoms. As use of strong oral steroids have their own side effects, so use them sparingly. Instead use of low potency topical creams and oral medicines is quite safe.
Other treatments may include using anti-malarial medicines like Plaquenil for treating rashes. Immuno-suppressive drugs can be used in cases where cortico-steroids are not effective.
Patients are advised to have low-cholesterol and balanced diet. Have an active lifestyle to control the body weight. All these methods help to reduce the degree of symptoms of Lupus Erythematosus.
|
|
