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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!
What is Lupus?
This article is an extract from the ebook Freedom From Lupus!
It’s been said that understanding lupus means understanding
medicine. Lupus, also known by its
formal name “lupus erythematosus,” is caused by factors that reflect the core
of immune system functioning. Still,
Lupus is actually difficult to diagnose.
While over one million people suffer from lupus in the US alone, it is a
little publicized disease – despite the fact that it has more sufferers than
leukemia, multiple sclerosis, cystic fibrosis, and muscular dystrophy combined.1
Systemic Lupus
The simplest way to explain lupus is that the body becomes allergic to itself. The immune system overreacts to stimuli, resulting in too many antibodies being produced. This autoimmune disease then causes the high number of antibodies to attack normal tissue. While there are several different types of lupus - including systemic, discoid, neonatal, and drug-induced lupus - systemic lupus is the most common form.
Systemic lupus (SLE) is diagnosed by using specific criteria determined by the American College of Rheumatology. Despite the fact that he criteria are outlined, it can actually take along time to diagnose. While some tests help in the diagnosis, there is no one definitive test for SLE.
SLE symptoms can appear on the skin, as can be seen by the first four criteria. It can also cause major damage to the internal organs, as noted in the systemic criteria. Finally, the diagnosis is usually confirmed via at least one of the laboratory criteria, most often through the antinuclear antibody test, or ANA. While the ANA test tells a physician that there is a potential autoimmune disease, it does not give a definitive lupus diagnosis alone.2 While 4 out of the 11 criteria are usually required for a lupus diagnosis, there are rare occasions when a diagnosis can be made with less.
Drug Induced Lupus
While systemic lupus is the most common form of the disease, 10 percent of lupus patients suffer from drug-induced lupus (DILE). This form of lupus comes as a result of ingesting a prescription drug. Usually it is not as severe as SLE, and it often goes away when the person stops taking the offending drug.
Over 70 drugs have been implicated in causing DILE, yet there are three major offenders - hydralazine, procainamide (Pronestyl), and methyldopa (Aldomet). If isoniazid (INH), chlorpromazine (thorazine), TNF blockers, and D-penicillamine are added to the top three DILE causing medications, it accounts for 99 percent of all medications that can bring upon DILE symptoms.
Most people with DILE do not fit the ACR criteria for lupus. They usually have no systemic symptoms, and they often only have antihistone antibodies. The typical DILE onset age is over 60, which varies from the SLE onset range of 20 to 40 years old.
Genetics play a larger role in DILE than SLE. Some drugs bind to the part of a cell that can alter DNA. This causes the immune system to react, making anti-DNA. T and B lymphocytes can be activated by a drug, which also causes antibodies to be created. Still, in other cases a drug can cause such an oversensitivity to the sun that it causes a lupus reaction. Finally, drugs are chemicals, and those chemicals can break down and cause the creation of autoantibodies.
The positive side of DILE versus SLE is that when the offending drug is withdrawn, the symptoms usually go away. Only 5 percent of DILE cases have complications. In most circumstances the symptoms go away within a few weeks or months.1
Discoid Lupus
Discoid lupus (DLE) has a much longer official name, "chronic cutaneous lupus erythematosis." Approximately 10 percent of lupus patients are diagnosed with DLE, which affects only skin that is exposed to sunlight. Most often it is diagnosed when the person comes up with a lupus rash, but does not fulfill the ACR requirements for systemic lupus. DLE usually appears during a person's mid-30's. Approximately 70 percent of DLE patients are female, and 75 percent are Caucasian.
Some DLE patients exhibit other SLE-like symptoms. For instance, 10 to 20 percent of DLE sufferers report aching joints. About 50 percent have positive ANA tests, and 20 percent have anemia. Approximately 50 percent have a decreased white blood cell count.
While DLE rashes can look similar to rosacea, fungal infections, sarcoidosis, and more, a skin biopsy will tell the difference. It is important for people with DLE to seek treatment early, as the lesions can progress causing scarring and, in some cases, skin cancer. Most DLE is treated by using sunscreen, antimalarials, and steroid creams. Generalized DLE only has a 10 percent chance of turning into SLE, while localized DLE rarely becomes SLE.
Neonatal Lupus
Neonatal lupus is lupus present at birth, and it is very rare. Only a few hundred cases have been reported since 1954. It is believed that neonatal lupus is caused through a transference of lupus cells via the placenta. Where neonatal lupus has been detected, 40 percent of mothers had SLE and 38 percent had no disease. 13 percent of mothers with neonatal lupus babies had Sjogren's syndrome while 9 percent had other autoimmune diseases1. The women who had no disease were found to carry the anti-Ro and anti-La antibodies, which can carry lupus.
The autoantibodies settle into the baby's heart and skin. Since the antibodies can settle in the heart tissue, there is an increased risk for myocardial dysfunction or congenital heart block. However, the risk of neonatal congenital heart block in lupus babies is only 1 to 2 percent of mothers with SLE. The risk is much greater for cutaneous lupus to develop. Yet cutaneous lupus is more treatable and has a very small mortality rate.
Read the rest of this article in the ebook Freedom From Lupus!
© Health Research Today
