Understanding Lupus and its Symptoms

Before we get to know lupus symptoms and its treatment, it is important to first understand what lupus is and its causes. Lupus is an immune system disorder which oftentimes attacks bodies which can cause inflammation and rashes on the face, neck or scalp. Although lupus can be considered as a hereditary disease, when you find out that there is no one in your family who was diagnosed with the disease, your case might be of different cause which is not due to heredity. Lupus is amongst those diseases that are hard to diagnose as it mimics certain symptoms of other diseases. Lupus can affect your entire body but it oftentimes targets joints, skin, heart, lungs, brain, and blood cells.

Until now, although lupus is not a type of disease which has been discovered lately, doctors still have no known causes of lupus. All they have found out is that lupus couldn’t differentiate healthy tissues from antigens which makes body’s immune system weak, thus they attack both good and bad cells. This leads to swelling of joints and other parts of the body, as well as rashes on the neck and face. Despite the fact that lupus mimics symptoms, it is still important to know all of them in order to take immediate action from what you’re suffering from right now. Here is the list of lupus symptoms.

  1. Swelling of joints which inflicts too much pain and stiffness
  2. High fever
  3. Easily gets tired leading to extreme fatigue
  4. Chest pain
  5. Consistent headache, nausea, memory loss
  6. Anemia
  7. Hair loss
  8. Anxiety and depression
  9. Shortness of breath
  10. Rashes especially on face, neck, hands, and chest (usually forming a butterfly-shaped rash)
  11. Seizures
  12. External ulcers
  13. Sensitivity to light
  14. Dry eyes

As for recent findings, there are no known lupus cases that are exactly alike. This is one of the reasons why lupus is hard to detect. If you think that you are suffering from the symptoms mentioned above, it is best that you schedule an appointment with your doctor at once.

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