Lupus Support what is Lupus by a physiotherapist. I am Natalie a 35 year old Physiotherapit with Lupus run a support group for people, family and friends with Lupus! (Lupus derived from the Latin name Wolf) Lupus is more common world wide than leukaemia, multiple sclerosis and many other well known diseases! The Long name for Lupus(SLE) is Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. What is Lupus Systemic Lupus is at present an-incurable illness of the Immune system, a condition in which the body's dfence mechanism begins to attack itself through an excess of antibodies in the blood stream causing inflammation and damage in the joints, muscles and other organs. The disease may be triggered by various means and can present in a bewildering number of ways even to the extent of mimicking other diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis or multiple sclerosis and is therefore difficult to diagnose. The cause is not positively known, possible causes heredity, hormones and infections including viruses. Over 50,000 may have lupus in UK and 90% of sufferers are female mainly between ages of 15 and 55 years. Some pointers to enable diagnosis - Rashes, facial or elswhere(butterfly type of rash on the face), migraine, agoraphobia/claustrphobia, joints and muscle pain, menstrual cycle problems including recurrent miscarriages, dry eyes/mouth, low lymph count, increase in ESR etc, hair loss,general weakness,fatigue,depression etc etc. Diagnosis is made by a Dr in Rheumatology. In Southport where I live my specialist is Dr Sykes and her team at Southport & Ormskirk General Hospital Kew, I also see every six months Dr Hughes, head of Lupus Unit at St Thomas hospital London, this is a leading hospital research centre into Lupus in the UK. Treatment for Lupus is varying due to the severity of the desease starting with Asprin and non-steriods, anti-malarials, then steriods and last immunosuppressants (Chemotherapy) to reduce the activity of the immune system! There are other drugs proceedures and on going research into Lupus, America leading the way in most cases, most patients are on one or more of the above treatments for the rest of their life! I would point out that the above is for general understanding of lupus and that I am not a Dr, so one should always take advise from a Dr. So I take no resposibility for any misstakes in the above information.
My main web site is http://mysite.freeserve.com/LupusSouthportUK/ so - JUST CLICK ON THE PHOTO ON LEFT TO GO TO MY MAIN WEB SITE. Phone my mobile 07729217335 or my father on 01704543642 both UK St Thomas web site is -
http://www.lupus.org.uk/
