What is lupus? Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), often referred to as simply “lupus” is a chronic, systemic autoimmune disease that affects many organ systems – most commonly the skin, joints, and kidneys.
It can affect your joints, tendons, kidneys, and skin. It can affect blood vessels. And it can affect organs such as the heart, lungs, and brain. It can cause rashes, fatigue, pain, and fever.
Kidneys About one half of people with lupus experience kidney involvement, and the kidney has become the most extensively studied organ affected by lupus.
Systemic lupus causes immune system proteins to damage the kidneys, harming their ability to filter out waste.
Lupus can increase a person's risk of developing an endocrine disease, but no one is sure why. Though it is relatively rare, inflammation caused by the autoantibodies associated with lupus can directly damage glands of the endocrine system. Some lupus symptoms can mimic and mask those of an endocrine condition.
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), often referred to as simply “lupus” is a chronic, systemic autoimmune disease that affects many organ systems – most commonly the skin, joints, and kidneys.
Lupus can damage nerves in the body by causing inflammation of the nerves or the tissue around the nerves. This nerve damage is sometimes called peripheral neuropathy. The main symptoms are numbness, tingling, and being unable to move a part of your body.
Lupus is a disease that occurs when your body's immune system attacks your own tissues and organs (autoimmune disease). Inflammation caused by lupus can affect many different body systems — including your joints, skin, kidneys, blood cells, brain, heart and lungs.
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.
Lupus can cause inflammation of the pleura, which is the lining covering the outside of the lungs. This inflammation, known as pleuritis or pleurisy, can cause severe and often sharp, stabbing chest pain. Taking a deep breath, coughing, sneezing, and laughing can worsen the pain. Shortness of breath may also occur.
Lupus can affect the cardiovascular system, which includes your heart and blood vessels. In fact, cardiovascular disease, not lupus itself, is the number one cause of death in people with SLE. Therefore, it is very important that you take steps to maintain optimal cardiovascular health.
Liver involvement in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) often manifests as abnormal liver enzymes [1,2]. The causes of liver function abnormalities in lupus are often secondary to drug toxicity, comorbidities like fatty liver, as well as chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections [3-5].
Lupus can affect any part of the body, including the bones and bone tissue. Two especially common complications of lupus on the bones are osteoporosis and avascular necrosis.
Lupus can cause pancreatitis, or inflammation of the pancreas. Symptoms include: Abdominal pain that can spread to your back. Nausea and vomiting.
In individuals with lupus, both B cells and T cells become overactive. The two main consequences of this increased activity are the production of autoantibodies (antibodies that recognize and destroy the body's own cells) and inflammation that can lead to long-term, irreversible scarring.
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) frequently manifests as urinary tract disease, most commonly in the form of lupus nephritis. Bladder involvement in the disease course takes a subclinical form and may affect both children and adults.
People with lupus are more likely to experience infection and infection-related complications. This is because their immune system is weakened by both the disease and the medication used to treat it. The most common infections for people with lupus include those of the respiratory tract, skin and urinary system.
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is the form of lupus that can harm your skin, joints, kidneys and brain and may be fatal. The other form of lupus is called "discoid" lupus erythematosus, which affects only your skin. When systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) affects the kidneys it is called lupus nephritis.
Lupus (Systemic Lupus Erythematosus) Lupus is an autoimmune disease that can cause joint pain, fever, skin rashes and organ damage. There's currently no cure for lupus and it requires life-long management. Lupus is most commonly seen in women — typically between the ages of 15 and 45.
Symptoms range in quantity and severity, and they can include: sleeplessness. rushed speech. difficulty with word finding.
The most common lupus symptoms (which are the same for men and women) are: Extreme fatigue (feeling tired all the time) Pain or swelling in the joints. Swelling in the hands, feet, or around the eyes.
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a systemic autoimmune disease with multisystem involvement and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality.