Lupus has an impact on your emotions, and your emotions have an impact on your behavior. This can affect your ability to function in everyday life. The unpredictability of lupus flares, and the pain and fatigue can all have a compounding effect on your emotions.
Lupus and its treatments can impair mental & emotional health. 80-90% of people with lupus. Neuropsychiatric lupus describes feelings of depression, headaches, and lupus fog — trouble thinking or remembering due to lupus. 25% of lupus patients experience major depression and 37% have major anxiety, research shows.
Although doctors haven't proven that stress is a direct cause of lupus, it's known to trigger flare-ups in people who already have the disease. Stressful events that can make symptoms worse include: A death in the family.
Background. Stress is common in patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), and is associated with depression, fatigue, and disease flares.
Living with lupus can be stressful. And stress can trigger your lupus symptoms or make them worse. But you can take steps to manage stress and protect your health.
In a study on anxiety and depression in lupus, Liao and others in the journal BMC Psychiatry (2022), found that among 325 patients with lupus involved in the study, patients with depression or anxiety have significantly higher lupus activity and more frequent musculoskeletal and neuropsychiatric symptoms.
Emotional stress -- such as a divorce, death in the family, or other life complications -- and anything that causes physical stress to the body -- such as surgery, physical harm, pregnancy, or giving birth -- are examples of triggers that can set off lupus or bring about a lupus flare.
Fatigue. Fever. Joint pain, stiffness and swelling. Butterfly-shaped rash on the face that covers the cheeks and bridge of the nose or rashes elsewhere on the body.
Occasionally lupus causes an illness which is closer to schizophrenia or bipolar affective disorder (manic depression). A very small minority of patients go on to develop a dementia syndrome, with loss of recent memory, personality change, speech and coordination problems.
You may experience pain and stiffness, with or without swelling. This affects most people with lupus. Common areas for muscle pain and swelling include the neck, thighs, shoulders, and upper arms. Fever.
Get Enough Rest to Prevent Fatigue
If you have lupus you may need even more sleep. “It's important to develop good sleeping habits,” says Jolly. “It can really make the difference in getting a good night's sleep.” Take time to relax before bedtime.
The sun is the main source of ultraviolet light and is enemy no. 1 for patients with lupus, because it can trigger the disease or trigger flares at any time in its development.
Having lupus can make everyday life challenging. When your lupus is active, symptoms like joint stiffness, pain, fatigue, confusion, or depression can make simple tasks difficult — and sometimes impossible. Since these symptoms aren't visible, the people around you may have trouble understanding how you feel.
Kidneys About one half of people with lupus experience kidney involvement, and the kidney has become the most extensively studied organ affected by lupus.
Many people with lupus sometimes have confusion, memory loss, and trouble expressing thoughts. The medical term is cognitive dysfunction. These symptoms can come and go. Lupus brain fog can be frustrating, but you can learn to live with your symptoms and improve your quality of life.
Lupus flares can vary in length. Some may last several days; others may span weeks or more.
With symptoms that come and go, disease flares and remissions, and the uncertainty of what each day will bring, it's normal to experience feelings of unhappiness, frustration, anger, or sadness. It's also normal to grieve for the loss of the life you had before lupus.
People with lupus may experience unpredictable changes in moods and personality traits. This can include feelings of anger and irritability. These may be related to the disease process or, in some cases, the use of corticosteroid medications.
Serious mental disorders may occur when lupus attacks the brain, spine, or nerves. The medical term psychosis includes mood swings, mania, serious depression, hallucinations, or delusions. About 12 percent of people with lupus will develop psychosis at some time in their illness.