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- LUPUS - STRANGE NAME FOR AN ILLNESS, ISN'T IT?
- Yes - it's the Latin word for wolf. Lupus vulgaris, a severe facial rash rarely seen now, was once thought to resemble a wolf's bite.
- SO WHAT IS LUPUS?
- It's an incurable immune system illness, probably genetic in origin and mainly suffered by females.
Some 50,000 are now thought to have lupus in the UK - it's systemic, in that it can affect any part of the body and that's the danger.
- AND WHAT IS THE DANGER?
- Lupus can produce many symptoms and family doctors often fail to recognise it. Meanwhile, a number of major organs can be damaged in an irreversible way.
- WHICH MAJOR ORGANS ARE LIABLE TO DAMAGE?
- Principally the kidneys and the skin, also the heart, lungs and brain.
- SO WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS TO LOOK OUT FOR?
- The two major symptoms are joint and muscle pain and an extreme tiredness that won't go away no matter how much you rest.
Rashes, depression, anaemia, feverishness, headaches, possible hair loss and mouth ulcers may all be part of the pattern of lupus.
Noticeably, whilst the two major symptoms are invariably present, people with lupus can differ greatly in their symptoms and how the illness can affect them - life-threatening for a few, very mild for some. Miscarriage, often recurrent, is another unhappy complication of lupus.
- THE SYMPTOMS - IS LUPUS CONFUSED WITH OTHER CONDITIONS?
- Yes - worldwide it's acknowledged as being more common than leukemia, muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis, and those conditions (and others) share a number of similar symptoms.
- CAN LUPUS BE PASSED ON BY DROPLETS OR TOUCH?
- No, lupus is neither infectious nor contagious.
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