Lupus is also referred to as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease that affects your immune system, which fights against the organisms that cause infections to your body.
It has been found that about nine out of ten people who have lupus are women.
If you are with lupus disease, then it slowly develops with lupus symptoms, which usually come and go.
In some rare cases, lupus can cause serious as well as life-threatening problems.
Actually, with lupus, your immune system loses its ability to differentiate the foreign substances with the body’s own cells and makes the mistake of attacking your body’s healthy cells.
Therefore, lupus can damage nearly any part of your body including your joints, skin, kidneys, heart, lungs, blood vessels, and brain. However, the lupus symptoms will vary from individual to individual where no two persons experience identical lupus symptoms. [Lupus type]
The lupus symptoms can range from mild to severe and can vary over time. The common lupus symptoms include muscle pain, strange fever, chest pain upon deep breathing, skin rashes, hair loss, sensitivity to the sun, swelling in legs or around eyes, painful joints, swollen glands, pale or purple fingers, fatigue, mouth ulcers, and weight loss.
Skin rashes are very common. A rash called butterfly or molar rash may appear across your nose and cheeks. You may also notice some other rashes on the face and ears, chest, shoulders, upper arms and hands.
In some rare cases, the lupus disease in your body affects only single system such as the skin or joints. Even, the way in which your body system is affected also differs from person to person. Joints and muscles, causing arthritis and muscle pain are most common.
You can also notice lupus symptoms with the way the lupus affects the systems in your body:
Kidneys: The lupus affects the kidneys by causing inflammation of the kidneys (also called nephritis). This inflammation damages the ability of the kidneys to excrete waste products and other toxins from the body effectively.
Usually, you don’t find pain with kidney inflammation. You can identify this kidney disease with the indication of an abnormal urine or blood test.
Lungs: Lupus disease can affect lungs causing pleuritis, an inflammation of the lining of the chest cavity that causes chest pain while breathing. You may also get pneumonia.
Central nervous system: In some cases, lupus affects the brain or central nervous system, where you experience headaches, dizziness, memory disturbances, vision problems, or changes in behavior.
Blood vessels: Even blood vessels also become inflammatory, where it affects the way of blood circulation in your body. This inflammation may be mild or may be severe and require immediate attention.
Blood: People with lupus may develop anemia, leukopenia, or thrombocytopenia. With lupus disease, you may have abnormalities that cause higher risk for blood clots.
Heart: Even heart gets inflammation (myocarditis and endocarditis) or the membrane that surrounds it (pericarditis), leads to chest pain or other lupus symptoms. Even atherosclerosis may develop with heart inflammation.