Common Lupus Symptoms in Women and Men!

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Since lupus is more common in women than in men, it’s reasonable that ‘what are common lupus symptoms in women’ is one of frequently asked questions. In fact, about 90 percent of people with this disease in the U.S are women -- according to a published article on official site of the U.S Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women’s Health! And the age range of these women is 15 to 45 years of age (childbearing age). -- You may also like to read different types of lupus!

In general, lupus can be categorized into autoimmune disease. In other words it occurs when without unknown reason the immune system of patient attacks its own organs and tissues.

Furthermore, it is also familiar known as ‘chronic inflammatory disease’. Chronic means that the symptoms/signs are more likely to last longer (can be around 6 months or even may also last for many years). You may also like to read about rheumatoid arthritis symptoms (the other kind of chronic inflammatory disease)!

How do you get lupus?

As mentioned before, in people (both women and men) with lupus, the body’s system inappropriately attack its own tissues because it cannot distinguish between the healthy tissues and unfriendly foreign invaders (such as unfriendly germs, bacteria, and viruses).

Since there is no clearly answer why it attacks its own tissues and organs, there is also no clearly answer on how to prevent lupus. In other words, lupus cannot be prevented. It also cannot be cured. But currently there are effective treatments that can help patients to relieve and control the symptoms. These treatments are usually also intended to lower the risk of organ damage.

Furthermore, most of the clearly factors /conditions that may increase your risk of having lupus are also unchangeable! These risk factors include;

Gender! As explained before, lupus tends to occur in women than in men.
Race! This chronic inflammatory disease is more likely to occur in certain races (particularly such as Native American descent, Asian, and African descent) -- according to the Lupus Foundation of America.
And age! Lupus can occur at any age, however once again many studies found that it is more common in the ages of 15-40, particularly for women.

In addition, there is also a theory that lupus may be caused by a combination of genetics and environmental factors.

Individuals who have an inherited predisposition for lupus may have higher risk of developing this chronic inflammatory disease, particularly when they come into contact with certain environmental factors (such as certain medications (like certain antibiotics, medications to treat problems associated with blood pressure, or certain anti-seizure medications) and unfriendly properties from sunlight (in some susceptible individuals, too much exposure to the sunlight may cause lupus skin lesions), cigarette smoking, etc).

How to diagnose lupus?

There is no single test or a specific test to diagnose lupus. Therefore, the diagnosis of this chronic inflammatory disease is not easy and even often misdiagnosed! In general, the diagnosis is usually involved a combination of several tests.

Some common points that are often used by doctor to help make a decision whether or not you have lupus include:

Family history of autoimmune diseases (particularly lupus). If there is a member of your family that have a history of an autoimmune disease, let your doctor know!
Medical history of patient! Make sure you tell all problems (from A to Z) that you have to your doctor, this is important for your doctor to completely understand to your situation!

And some common tests to make a diagnosis of lupus may include:

Laboratory tests

In general, most of these laboratory tests are purposed to examine blood and urine which then will be used to find problems in certain organs of patient. These blood and urine tests may include:

Blood tests to examine liver and kidney! In fact, kidney and liver are some common organs that can be affected by lupus. Therefore, it’s reasonable when there is something wrong with your kidney & liver, it can be a sign that you may have lupus.
ANA test - it stands for Antinuclear Antibody test. A positive ANA test is common in patients with lupus, but most of people with a positive ANA test are not diagnosed with lupus. That’s why once you have a positive ANA test, your doctor usually still need to do other appropriately tests before making a conclusion.
A blood test to find the rate of blood cells at which they settle to the tube’s bottom in an hour. This test is also familiar known as ‘erythrocyte sedimentation rate’. Abnormal result of this test can be an indication of a systemic disease (like lupus).
A complete blood count test to get to know the number of your platelets, white blood cells, red blood cells, and even hemoglobin. It is also helpful to find the number of protein in your red blood cells. Abnormal result of this test can be an indication of anemia (one of common problems that can occur when you have lupus).
And urinalysis test! It is a kind of test to analyze the sample of your urine. And if there are increased red blood cells or protein level in the urine - this can be an indication that there is something wrong with the kidneys (the kidney may have been affected by lupus).

Kidney or skin biopsy

As mentioned before, lupus can affect the kidneys in many different ways. It also can harm your skin. Therefore, sometimes biopsy is required. With this procedure, doctor will do a minor surgery to take a sample of tissue. And this tissue will be examined and analyzed to find any problem that can be an indication of an autoimmune disease (such as lupus).

Imaging tests

Sometimes these tests are needed if your doctor suspects that your heart or lung is affected by lupus. Echocardiogram and chest X-rays are some common choices of these imaging tests.

Echocardiogram test can be helpful to analyze the function of valves and other crucial parts of your heart. It can give the heart-beat’s real-time images. And for chest X-ray, it can be used to find a lung’s inflammation.

Lupus symptoms in women and men!

In general, there is almost no significant difference for the lupus symptoms in women and men. And the most important thing you need to know is ‘in fact, the lupus signs are different from person to person -- there is almost no 2 cases of this disease are exactly like’! Some patients (both women and men) may have many symptoms, while others may only experience a few signs.

The symptoms that may occur are also usually closely dependent on the area /organ of the body that is affected! They may be severe or mild, may be permanent or temporary, and also may occur /develop on slowly or suddenly!

In many cases, patients with this lupus experience mild disease characterized by episodes. Lupus is often known as a disease of flares and remissions. ‘Flare’ means a condition when the signs of lupus worsen, and ‘remission’ means a condition when these signs improve (even symptoms may disappear completely for a time and patient feels better).

Some factors that can be a flare-trigger may include; after taking certain medications, injury, too-much exposure to sunlight /light of halogen /fluorescent, infection, stress (lack of sleep or overwork), and when after patient stops taking her/his lupus medicines.

And in fact, lupus can affect any part of the body’s patient (such as lungs, brains, blood cells, heart, kidneys, skin, and joints). Therefore, this chronic inflammatory disease can cause a lot of different signs!

The common lupus symptoms and signs (in both women and men) that may occur include:

Something wrong with your hair (hair loss).
Pleurisy - you may feel chest pain, especially when taking a deeply breath. Be careful, if your experience chest pain, it’s much better to see a doctor for a clearly diagnosis, because in fact chest pain is common sign of a heart attack in men!
Shortness of breath.
Problems associated with memory, you may experience frequent confusion, memory loss, or headache.
Something wrong with your weight (weight gain or weight loss), especially if it occurs with unclearly reason.
A butterfly-shaped rash, which typically across the bridge of nose and the face that covers your cheeks!
Fever (higher than 100 degrees of Fahrenheit) and fatigue (extreme or prolonged fatigue), particularly if they occur without known/clearly cause.
Joint stiffness and achy/pain (arthralgia), and they can occur with/without swelling! Lupus that affects joints of the body may cause a condition what we call as arthritis! Furthermore, your muscles may also be affected -- you may feel muscle weakness, pain, or aches.
Raynaud's phenomenon (pale /purple fingers/toes)! It a condition when your toes and fingers are exposed to cold will turn blue or white. This problem may also occur during stressful periods.
Kidney problems also can be a sign of lupus, especially when they occur with unknown cause.
Problems associated with your skin, particularly such as skin rash. You may also tend to be more sensitive to the light or sun. In some patients with lupus, skin lesions may worsen /appear with sun exposure.
Many people with lupus also have anemia (a condition of too low level of red blood cells).

Other less common signs that may also occur include: irritated /dry eyes, depression (feeling sad), dizzy spells, painless sores in the nose /mouth, blood clots, stroke, and seizures! Moreover, people with lupus may also experience nail changes (rash on nails).

*** If you doubt in your condition, see a doctor promptly to diagnose any symptom that you have so thus you will get a clearly diagnosis and appropriately treatment!

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Reference: Womenshealth.gov, WebMD, and MayoClinic

Health Tips and Lifestyle

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Common Lupus Symptoms in Women and Men!