Activities like reading, journaling, or taking a warm bath can help you fall asleep faster and sleep better. It's best to stop eating an hour or 2 before bedtime. If you do eat a bedtime snack, choose something light and bland, like applesauce or crackers. Avoid drinks with caffeine, like soda or coffee, before bed.
Typically, those with lupus have sleep problems that may include any or all of the following: restless sleep. poor sleep quality. sleep for too short of a duration.
While the cause of sleep disturbance in SLE patients is unclear, pain from lupus flares, underlying mood disorders, and/or stress may be the root of the problem. Another study that followed relatives of SLE patients found that less than 7 hours of sleep at night correlated with the development of SLE.
Inflammation: Any time your body is experiencing excess inflammation, such as during a lupus flare, you will feel more tired. Anemia: Anemia occurs when your red blood cell count gets low. This means that the amount of oxygen going to your organs will decrease, which can increase your level of fatigue.
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.
You can take action to treat your lupus flare, too. The following can help you feel better sooner: Rest and sleep. This might mean taking some time off of work or asking for help around the house.
What can trigger a lupus flare? 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.
Kidneys About one half of people with lupus experience kidney involvement, and the kidney has become the most extensively studied organ affected by lupus.
Over time, new symptoms can develop or some symptoms may happen less often. Lupus symptoms also usually come and go, meaning that you don't have them all of the time. Lupus is a disease of flares (the symptoms worsen and you feel ill) and remissions (the symptoms improve and you feel better).
Many people described the pain of lupus as similar to having the flu. This means having chills and bone-weary aches throughout your entire body. The pain can be numbing and leave you feeling drained of all energy. “I explain it to others as feeling like the flu: achy joints, muscles, bones.”
Severe abdominal pain. Chest pain or shortness of breath. Seizures. New onset of a fever or if your fever is much higher than usual.
Pain and aching in your muscles is common with lupus. You'll usually feel it in your thighs and upper arms. In about 5%-10% of people with lupus, the disease advances to myositis, which can cause painful muscle inflammation, especially in your shoulders, upper arms, hips, and thighs.
If you have fatigue related to lupus, it may feel like you can't possibly get enough rest. Even if you sleep more than you used to, it may feel like it's never enough. You may find that it's harder to do physical and mental work. The effort needed to do everyday tasks may be overwhelming.
Lupus can slow the digestive process, and this can cause a wide variety of GI issues. Digestive problems may be the direct result of an attack by the immune system or from medications to treat lupus. These digestive difficulties include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or constipation.
Based on what researchers have discovered so far, milder climates may benefit people with lupus and might help reduce the severity or number of flares. These include places that do not experience extreme increases or decreases in temperature and are not very humid or windy.
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is the most common and most serious type of lupus. SLE affects all parts of the body.
Lupus is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease with a wide range of clinical presentations resulting from its effect on multiple organ systems. There are four main types of lupus: neonatal, discoid, drug-induced, and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), the type that affects the majority of patients.
Many people with lupus have problems with their joints. Low-impact activities can be easier on your joints and bones and make activity feel more comfortable. Walking more is a great way to start!
While stress does not directly cause lupus, environmental factors like stress play a role in the onset of the illness for individuals who are already predisposed.