MEDICAL SURFARI: LUPUS HAS MANY TYPES OF FORMS AND EFFECTS

Lupus means "wolf". In 1851 doctors coined this name for the disease because they thought the facial rash that frequently accompanied lupus looked like the bite of a wolf. Lupus is a type of immune system disorder wherein the body harms its own healthy cells and tissues. This leads to inflammation and damage of various body tissues and organs. Lupus can affect the skin, joints, kidneys, heart, lungs, blood vessels and even the brain. People with this disease may have many different types of symptoms but some of the most common ones include extreme fatigue, painful or swollen joints, unexplained fever, red rash or color change in the face, unusual loss of hair, kidney problems, hypersensitivity to sunlight as well as pale or purple fingers or toes from cold or stress (Raynaud's phenomenon).

Although "lupus" is used as a broad term, there are actually several different types of this disorder. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is the form that most people refer to when they say "lupus". SLE may be mild or serious and it usually first affects people between the ages of 15 and 45 years, although it can sometimes occur in childhood or during senior years. This is a chronic inflammatory multi-system disorder of the immune system. It is not infectious, contagious or malignant and it is somewhat more common in African Americans and Hispanics than Caucasians. It is characterized by "flares" of activity interspersed with periods of improvement and remission. There are certain medications that have been implicated as activators of SLE and in these situations the clinical signs and symptoms usually subside gradually after the offending medication is discontinued. Diagnosing SLE is often a challenge. A thorough history and medical examination is essential to an accurate diagnosis and there are some laboratory tests that help to confirm the diagnosis but there is no single laboratory test that can definitely prove or disprove SLE.

Another form of "lupus" is discoid lupus erythematosus, which primarily affects the skin, resulting in a raised, red rash that may appear on the face, scalp or other parts of the body. These raised areas may become thick and scaly and they may last for days or years and may reoccur. A small number of people with discoid lupus sometimes later develop SLE.

The treatment for this disease must be highly individualized since the disease is frequently changing and somewhat unpredictable with each individual. This requires a cooperative multi-disciplinary approach and a very flexible care plan to meet each patient's needs, as it is impossible to predict the treatment of one patient from the outcome of treatment for another. If you suspect that you may have this condition consult your family physician, nurse practitioner or rheumatologist.

WORLD WIDE WEB RESOURCES

www.nih.gov/niams/healthinfo/slehandout/cause.html

This web site provided by the National Institutes for Health gives information about the symptoms and causes of lupus.

www.lupuscanada.org/html/treating_with_medications.html

This web site provided by Lupus Clinics across Canada provides information about diagnosing, symptoms of, and treatments of lupus. This site also provides information regarding support groups for lupus sufferers and their families.