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A New Free Report - What Is Lupus?
This fascinating new report from UK-based publishing house Health Research Today answers some of the most-asked questions about this baffling disease :
- What is the medical definition of lupus?
- What are the symptoms of lupus?
- What tests are there for lupus? How do you get a diagnosis?
Fill in this form and we will send you the report immediately, which you are welcome to send on to friends or family!
The Symptoms of Lupus
This article is an extract from the ebook Freedom From Lupus!
Painful or Swollen Joints
80 to 90 percent of lupus patients
complain of pain in the joints, making joint pain the most common complaint
from lupus patients. Yet arthritis is
only seen in 50 percent of those cases.
Even less common is Rheumatoid arthritis, which is found in only 10
percent of lupus patients.1
What doctors have found is that lupus patients are more prone to swelling in the thin membrane that surrounds joints, called the synovium. The most common symptoms include stiffness and aching in the wrists, feet, and hands. Though, as the disease progresses, pain can spread to the shoulders, knees, and ankles. The pain seems to be worse in the morning and lessens throughout the day.
While 50% of SLE patients have swelling in the wrists, there are some other disorders that can develop from chronic inflammation like ulnar drift, tendon inflammation, trigger fingers, and carpal tunnel syndrome. Sometimes inflammation will occur in the costochondral margin (where the sternum and ribs meet) causing costochondritis, or Tietze’s Syndrome. Tietze’s Syndrome often makes patients feel like they are having a heart attack.
Lupus related inflammation in the ankles can also be caused by proteins that have leaked from the kidneys and settled in the ankles. The swelling can also be caused by fluid retention from poor circulation. While many patients complain of back pain, it is usually not due to inflammation in the back but rather inflammation of the hip and sacroiliac joint.
Other pain in joint areas can be caused by muscle inflammation. This condition is common to about 15 percent of SLE patients. Muscle pain usually appears between the elbow and neck or between the knee and hip.
Yet a more serious reason for lupus related joint pain comes from avascular necrosis. Avascular necrosis occurs when the prescribed steroids a lupus patient takes during treatment causes fat clots that prevent oxygen from getting to the bone. The most common joints affected by avascular necrosis are the shoulder, knee, and hip. The disorder occurs in about 5 to 10 percent of SLE patients.
Read the rest of this article in Freedom From Lupus!
© Health Research Today
