**Lupus is a chronic, autoimmune disease that can damage any part of the body (skin, joints, and/or organs inside the body).Chronic means that the signs and symptoms tend to last longer than six weeks and often for many years. In lupus, something goes wrong with your immune system, which is the part of the body that fights off viruses, bacteria, and germs ("foreign invaders," like the flu). Normally our immune system produces proteins called antibodies that protect the body from these invaders. Autoimmune means your immune system cannot tell the difference between these foreign invaders and your body’s healthy tissues ("auto" means "self") and creates autoantibodies that attack and destroy healthy tissue. These autoantibodies cause inflammation, pain, and damage in various parts of the body. Lupus is also a disease of flares (the symptoms worsen and you feel ill) and remissions (the symptoms improve and you feel better). Lupus can range from mild to life-threatening and should always be treated by a doctor.
With good medical care, most people with lupus can lead a full life. Lupus is not contagious, not even through sexual contact. You cannot "catch" lupus from someone or "give" lupus to someone. Lupus strikes mostly women of childbearing age (15-44). However, men, children, and teenagers develop lupus, too. Women of color are 2-3 times more likely to develop lupus. People of all races and ethnic groups can develop lupus.
Systemic lupus is the most common form of lupus, and is what most people mean when they refer to "lupus." Systemic lupus can be mild or severe. Cutaneous refers to the skin, and this form of lupus is limited to the skin. Drug-induced lupus is a lupus-like disease caused by certain prescription drugs. The symptoms of drug-induced lupus are similar to those of systemic lupus, but only rarely will any major organs be affected. Neonatal lupus is a rare condition that affects infants of women who have lupus and is caused by antibodies from the mother acting upon the infant in the womb.
Because lupus can affect so many different organs, a wide range of symptoms can occur. These symptoms may come and go, and different symptoms may appear at different times during the course of the disease.
The most common symptoms of lupus, which are the same for females and males, are:
*extreme fatigue (tiredness)
*headaches
*painful or swollen joints
*fever
*anemia (low numbers of red blood cells or hemoglobin, or low total blood volume
*swelling (edema) in feet, legs, hands, and/or around eyes
*pain in chest on deep breathing (pleurisy)
*butterfly-shaped rash across cheeks and nose
*sun- or light-sensitivity (photosensitivity)
*hair loss
*abnormal blood clotting
*fingers turning white and/or blue when cold (Raynaud’s phenomenon)
*mouth or nose ulcers
Many of these symptoms occur in other illnesses besides lupus. In fact, lupus is sometimes called "the great imitator" because its symptoms are often like the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, blood disorders, fibromyalgia, diabetes, thyroid problems, Lyme disease, and a number of heart, lung, muscle, and bone diseases.**
For more information please visit the Lupus Foundation of America at www.lupus.org
To join a lupus community visit www.wearelupus.org
To see the Ad Council's 2009 campaign to increase Lupus Awareness visit www.couldihavelupus.gov
