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Legislative Successes. Spread Awareness. Get Local Support. Join Our Support Community. Shareable Toolkit. A person cannot transmit it sexually or in any other way to another person. However, in rare cases, women with lupus may give birth to children who develop a form of lupus. This is called neonatal lupus.
There are different kinds of lupus. This article will focus mainly on systemic lupus erythematosus SLE , but other types include discoid, drug-induced, and neonatal lupus.
SLE is the most familiar type of lupus. It is a systemic condition. This means it has an impact throughout the body. The symptoms can range from mild to severe. It can cause inflammation in the skin, joints, lungs, kidneys, blood, heart, or a combination of these.
This condition typically goes through cycles. At times of remission, the person will have no symptoms. During a flare-up, the disease is active, and symptoms appear. In discoid lupus erythematosus DLE — or cutaneous lupus — symptoms affect only the skin. A rash appears on the face, neck, and scalp. The raised areas may become thick and scaly, and scarring may result. The rash may last from a number of days to several years, and it may recur.
Subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus refers to skin lesions that appear on parts of the body that are exposed to the sun. The lesions do not cause scarring. In around 10 percent of people with SLE, symptoms occur because of a reaction to certain prescription drugs. According to Genetics Home Reference, some 80 drugs may cause the condition. These include some of the drugs that people use to treat seizures and high blood pressure.
They also include some thyroid medications, antibiotics , antifungals, and oral contraceptive pills. Drugs that are commonly associated with this form of lupus are:. Most babies born to mothers with SLE are healthy. However, around 1 percent of women with autoantibodies relating to lupus will have a baby with neonatal lupus. Key symptoms include dry eyes and a dry mouth. At birth, babies with neonatal lupus may have a skin rash, liver problems, and low blood counts.
Around 10 percent of them will have anemia. The lesions usually go away after a few weeks. However, some infants have a congenital heart block , in which the heart cannot regulate a normal and rhythmic pumping action. The infant may need a pacemaker.
This can be a life-threatening condition. The immune system protects the body and fights off antigens, such as viruses, bacteria, and germs. It does this by producing proteins called antibodies. White blood cells, or B lymphocytes, produce these antibodies. When a person has an autoimmune condition, such as lupus, the immune system cannot differentiate between unwanted substances, or antigens, and healthy tissue. As a result, the immune system directs antibodies against both the healthy tissue and the antigens.
This causes swelling, pain, and tissue damage. The most common type of autoantibody that develops in people with lupus is an antinuclear antibody ANA. The autoantibodies can then attack the DNA in the nucleus of these cells. This is why lupus affects some organs and not others. Some genes in the body help the immune system to function. In people with SLE, changes in these genes may stop the immune system from working properly.
One possible theory relates to cell death , a natural process that occurs as the body renews its cells, according to Genetics Home Reference. Some scientists believe that, due to genetic factors, the body does not get rid of cells that have died. Lupus may develop in response to a number of factors.
There are several types of lupus, but most people refer to the most common form: systemic lupus erythematosus, also known as SLE or systemic lupus. Compared to other types of lupus, it tends to be more severe and is more likely to affect a major organ, such as the kidneys, lungs, or heart. Patients with systemic lupus can have rashes, but some patients have discoid lupus, which means they might only get rashes and skin lesions, rather than joint pain, kidney problems, and other symptoms seen in SLE.
When some people take certain medications, including isoniazid, hydralazine, and procainamide, their bodies can overreact and start showing lupus-like symptoms. Loupasakis says.
Sometimes, a mother with lupus or antibodies related to it can pass those antibodies to her newborn, causing a form of lupus called neonatal lupus.
Typically, the result is lupus-like skin lesions that go away after a few months, when the babies start to make their own antibodies, he says. These problems can be detected during ultrasound during pregnancy and babies can be treated immediately after being born by getting a pacemaker implanted to help regulate the electrical activity of the heart.
Left unchecked, inflammation running rampant in the body can lead to serious complications. For lupus, damage to the kidneys is a big concern. About 40 to 70 percent of lupus patients have kidney inflammation, according to a study in Nature Reviews Nephrology , making renal failure one of the main comorbidities. The life expectancy of lupus patients with renal disease or failure is three to ten years lower than that of a lupus patient without kidney problems, according to a study of Hong Kong patients.
Indirectly, lupus can lead to cardiovascular problems. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in people who have had lupus for more than five years, according to a study in Current Cardiology Reviews.
One thing you can do to help reduce your risk of heart disease is to eat a healthy, Mediterranean-style diet that focuses on healthy vegetables and seafood while avoiding red meat, recommends Dr.
Get the latest arthritis news in your inbox. Sign up for CreakyJoints and hear about the latest research updates and medical news that could affect you. CreakyJoints is a digital community for millions of arthritis patients and caregivers worldwide who seek education, support, advocacy, and patient-centered research. Once lupus is diagnosed, you'll be advised to have regular checks and tests, such as regular blood tests to check for anaemia and urine tests to check for kidney problems.
Lupus often flares up relapses and symptoms become worse for a few weeks, sometimes longer. Symptoms then settle down remission. The reason why symptoms flare up or settle down is not known. Two medicines, rituximab and belimumab, are sometimes used to treat severe lupus. These work on the immune system to reduce the number of antibodies in the blood.
Versus Arthritis has more information on the treatments for lupus.
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