Sunday, July 14, 2013

Information On Lupus Bracelets And The Related Illness

By Carmella Watts


Those with friends and families suffering from lupus may choose to wear lupus bracelets out of support. Lupus, for the uninitiated, is a chronic disease that greatly affects several areas and parts of the human body. They can be quite mild, but they can also be potentially life threatening in the more extreme cases.

The mild cases are often very manageable. Those experiencing this will be able to go about their daily lives without too much of a hassle since the pain will be tolerable. Some symptoms are more severe than others and there are people who struggle greatly with them. In the extreme cases, the pain is said to be unbearable and the quality of life is greatly reduced.

It is an idiopathic illness, meaning no one is truly sure as to what causes it to manifest in the first place. One common link that can be pointed out is the risk factor involved if a close blood relative has the illness, although this link is not an exact genetic evidence and none so far have been established.

Some factors have also been speculated to contribute to its development, such as excessive sunlight exposure or long term usage of certain medications. The malfunctioning immune system will no longer be able to tell the difference between antigens and the normal cells and will send antibodies to attack indiscriminately. This accounts for the myriad of symptoms and damage throughout the body.

One type of the disease is the discoid, which is defined and identified by the rashes that appears. They normally appear on the face, the scalp and the neck. Hair will fall out in the areas where the rash is. Those on the face are often called butterfly rashes. Often lasting mere days, some can last months and years even.

The more famous sub type is the systemic variant, which is also the more dangerous of the two. The organs affected are numerous. The heart, lungs, nervous system and kidneys are the ones most likely to be targeted. The number of organs damaged vary between one to several at the same time.

More symptoms of systemic include, but is not limited to fatigue, fever, decreased organ function and joint pain. Once in a while, there will be periods of remission, followed by periods of activity that are referred to as flares. These flares may last for weeks, arriving and leaving at random and without explanation.

Diagnosing the illness can be difficult due to its complexity. Certain things can be performed, such as biopsies and blood tests. There are times when the best thing to produce would be a complete medical history. This can determine whether or not any close family members have been diagnosed similarly in the past.

Sadly, there is no known cure of this. The flares may respond to treatment, but not all the time. There are cases with immune suppressing medication being added to the mix for the purpose of slowing down auto antibody production. Lupus bracelets and other products are made out of support for those suffering from this and sometimes, that is the best people can do about it.




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