Do you ever know a disease called lupus? So, systemic lupus erythematosus, or commonly called as one of the most common types of lupus, is the autoimmune disease, which this disease will occur whenever the immune system mistakenly attacks the healthy parts of the body.
Lupus Causes
Sadly, until right at the moment, the main cause of lupus disease is till remains a mystery. But, many health experts still try to figure out the main cause of this disease. While the exact cause of the lupus is still unknown, but there are several factors that could cause the lupus disease, which are:
- Genetics. This cause of lupus still needs further research, but many health experts say that people with lupus are commonly have the family members with other autoimmune disorder.
- Environment. The environmental factor could also become the trigger factor on why this lupus disease could be developed. The environmental triggers including the sun rays, a virus, certain medications, emotional stress, and trauma.
- Gender and Hormones. This cause is coming from the evidence that the lupus disease affects more women than men. The symptoms of this disease also actually will get worse as the women getting pregnant. Also, some health experts believed that the women hormone play the vital role to cause this disease, although the further research is absolutely needed.
Lupus Symptoms
The symptoms of the lupus disease can vary from one person to another, and also could change over time. So, here are the common symptoms of lupus disease:
- Severe fatigue
- Painful and swollen joint.
- rash on cheeks and nose that commonly called as the butterfly rash.
- Hair Loss
- Blood clotting problems
Please take a notice that whenever you’re experiencing those symptoms, you need to seek the medical treatment as soon as possible because the earlier the diagnose of lupus disease, the more positive the outlook you will get.
Lupus Treatments
Now, after you already know about the possible causes of lupus and also various symptoms of lupus, now you need to see the various treatments that you should do to prevent yourself from the further complications of lupus disease. The treatments related to lupus is not curative, but the goal of the lupus treatments is to ease the symptoms of lupus. So, here are the common treatments to prevent the lupus to cause the complications and also, to ease the symptoms of lupus.
Lupus Treatments Based on Daily Habits
The first option to treat lupus is coming from our daily habits. The treatment of lupus based on our daily habits has the goal to relieve the symptoms of lupus and also as an act of prevention of the further complications of lupus disease. The most beneficial thing to treat lupus with this option is that these treatments wouldn’t give you any side effects that could potentially harm your body. Here are the lupus treatments based on our daily habits.
- Stay Away From the Sun
The first and the most simple treatment of lupus that you need to do is protecting yourself from the exposure of the sun. The exposure of the sun could make some rashes in the skin and actually, whenever you already have rashes, those rashes will get worse than before if you have the excessive exposure from the sun. So, you could reduce the exposure from the sun by doing the following things:
- Wearing the clothes that really covers your body entirely, for example wearing the long sleeve clothes and a trouser.
- Don’t forget to use the sunglasses a wide-brimmed hat so that the exposure of the sun won’t affect your skin, especially in the face.
- Always apply the sunscreens that have high amount of SPF to ensure that ypu’re totally protected from the harmful sunburns.
- Always consume the food that have high amounts of Vitamin D to replenish the lost source of Vitamin D that you could get whenever you have the exposure from the sun. The Vitamin D would be essential to keep the mass and density of the bones, which will prevent you from osteoporosis.
- Get Adequate Time to Rest
The second and also one of the most simple treatment of lupus disease is having the adequate time to rest. This treatment is really essential because whenever you’re having the lupus disease, you will have the persistent and regular fatigue that totally different from the common tiredness and in the most cases, the feeling of tiredness when you have the lupus couldn’t be relieved by having the rest. So, it is important to you to have the adequate time of sleeping during the night since it will be beneficial to relieve the tiredness caused by the lupus disease.
- Quit Smoking
The third thing and one of the most important thing that you need to do as soon as possible whenever you’re diagnosed of having the lupus disease is quitting smoking. This is very important and necessary act since smoking would give your body a lot of negative effects, such as increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease and the one of the worst is that smoking would also worsen the lupus symptoms in the heart and blood vessels. So, you need to quit smoking as soon as possible. It is better if you started to quit smoking before you’re having this life-threatening disease.
- Having Regular Exercise
The next thing and also one of the most important things that you nedd to do whenever you’re having the lupus disease is having the regular exercise. You need to make sure that you’re having the physical activities on a regular basis since these activities could reduce the symptoms of lupus disease. Having teh regular exercise would be very beneficial to help you to recover from flare, fight against the feeling of stress and depression, reduce the rick of having the heart attack, and also promotes general well-being. So, it is very important to have the physical activity whenever you have lupus disease.
- Eating a Healthy Diet
The next thing and also one of the most important daily habits that you need to have whenever you have lupus disease is eating a healthy diet. Healthy foods in fact could reduce and help you to relieve the symptoms of lupus disease. Foods such as fruits, vegetables, and whole-grains would be very beneficial to reduce the risk of having the heart attack and any other cardiovascular disease, as well as increasing your mood and promotes the general well-being alongside with the persistent exercise. The positive mind would be very potent to fight against the lupus disease, and eating healthy diets could lead you to a positive mind, body, and soul.
- See the Doctor Regularly
The next option related to the daily habits that also could be very beneficial to fight against the lupus disease is indeed see your doctor regularly. You need to have the regular cehck up to ensure that your lupus disease wouldn’t get worse than before. In case that your lupus disease gets worse than before, the doctor could give you the proper medications as soon as possible if you’re having the fixed schedule of general check up. The earlier the diagnosis of lupus disease, the more positive the outcome you could get. So, do not hesitate to see and have the check up with the doctor whenever you feel the symptoms of lupus disease.
- Taking Fish Oil Supplements
The next option that you could use as the alternative treatment against the lupus disease is taking the fish oil supplements. The fish oil supplement in fact has shown the promising result in the preliminary studies that conducted to find the exact effects of fish oil supplements on lupus disease. Some experts say that fish oil supplement contains high amount of omega-3 fatty acids that would be very beneficial to treat against any of the harmful causes of the lupus disease.
Lupus Treatments Using Medications
The next option to treat lupus disease is using the various medications. So, the goal of the use of medications to treat lupus disease is relieve the symptoms of the lupus. In most cases, the treatment of lupus usually uses this option, because this option could bring the patient to the positive effects faster than treat lupus disease based on daily habits. Here are the treatments of lupus using medications.
- Using Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs)
The first option to treat the lupus disease is using the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or commonly abbreviated as the NSAIDs. So, the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are the painkillers that commonly being used to reduce the inflammation in the body, which are commonly related to the joint pain and muscle pain.
So, you will be more likely to prescribed with this medication by the doctor as the treatment of lupus and the most common NSAIDs is the ibuprofen. Ibuprofen could be very potent if the joint pain ot the muscle pain is mild. But, whenever you have the severe pains, you need the stronger NSAIDS medications.
You need to take a notice that this NSAIDs could potentially harmful for everyone of you who have the liver, stomach, and kidney problems. NSAIDs could be very harmful for the people with the history of asthma too. So, you need to have the consultation with the health experts before taking this medications.
- Using Hydroxychloroquine
The second option that also could be used as the treatment against lupus disease is hydroxychloroquine. Although commonly this medication is being used to treat malaria disease, but it turns out to be a great medication to treat against lupus too. especially to treat rashes in the ski, joint pain, and muscle pain. You need to take a notice if you couldn’t see any improvement soon after you taking this medication, don’t stop using it. You can get the hydroxychloroquine benefits at 6 to 12 weeks after you take this medication. So, you need to be patient.
Because of this medication could give you the benefits after 6 to 12 weeks, the doctor always recommends this medication as the long-term basis. But, you need to take the attention that this medication also has the side effects too such as irritation, headache,diarrhea, and indigestion. So, you need to have the consultaton with your trusted health experts.
- Using Corticosteroid
The next option that also could be used as the common treatment against lupus disease is using the corticosteroid. Same as NSAIDs, the corticosteroid is the medication that commonly being used to cure the inflammation. But, unlike the NSAIDs which could be prescribed if you suffer from the mild lupus, the prescription of corticosteroid would be induced if you face the severe lupus disease. Whenever the symptoms of lupus disease arealready reduced, the dosage of the corticosteroid could be decreased gradually.
But, you need to pay attention too that just like any other medications, the corticosteroid would give you some side effects too. The side effects that can be caused by the consumption of corticosteroid including:
- Thinning of the skin
- Thinning of the bone
- High blood pressure
- Weight gain
The good news is that you could reduce the possibility of having those side effects if you have the persistent consultation with the health experts. Always use this medication at the right dosage as the health experts recommend to you if you want to stay away from the corticosteroid’s side effects.
- Using Immunosuppressant
The next option that also could be used as the treatment to cure the lupus disease is using the immunosuppressant. As this medication name, the immunosuppressant is the medication that suppresses the immune system. So, the immunosuppressant could help you to cure from the lupus disease by limiting the damage of the immune system causes when it attacks the healthy parts of the body. This medication has also commonly been used together with the corticosteroid to improve the efficacy against the lupus disease.
But, you need also notice that just like any other medications, the immunosuppressant could also give you various side effects, such as the loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, swollen gums, acne, extra hair growth, weight gain, and liver damage. Some immunosuppressants such as methotrexate, mycophenolate mofetil, and cyclophasphamide could also become very harmful when you take it whenever you’re pregnant as those immunosuppressants would cause the birth defects.
- Using Rituximab
The next option that also would be beneficial as the treatment against the lupus disease is using rituximab. So, rituximab is another options that commonly being used by the people if the other treatments or medications don’t properly work. This is classified as the new type of medication to treat the severe lupus disease.Although commonly rituximab being used as the treatment against various types of cancer, but this medication turns out to be a very good choice to reduce the lupus symptoms.
So, rituximab will work by locking and killing the cells called B-cells, which are the cells that usually provide the antibodies that responsible for the symptoms of the lupus disease. The side effects related to the rituximab are severe headache, dizziness, chills, high temperature, and vomiting. In a rare case, rituximab could also cause the allergies too. So, it is important to have the recommendation from your doctor before you use it.
- Using Belimumab
The next option that also could be used as the treatment to fight against the lupus disease is using belimumab. Same as the rituximab, the belimumab is also the new type of treatment that commonly being used if the other treatments just couldn’t make the improvement related to the lupus disease. This medication will do the same work as the rituximab, which this belimumab will work by inhibiting the growth of the cells called B-cells that provide the antibodies for the symptoms of the lupus disease.
But, of course you need to take a notice that this medication also has the side effects. The side effects related to this medications are:
- Flu-like symptoms, such as chills and high temperature.
- Nausea and vomiting, also diarrhea.
- Difficulty in sleeping or insomnia.
- Sore throat
- Increased risk of having the infections.
- Changes in blood pressure, either lower or higher.
- Taking Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)
The next option that also could be used as the treatment to fight against lupus disease is taking the supplements called dehydroepiandrosterone, or commonly abbreviated as DHEA. This DHEA supplement also has shown the good sign whenever it is applies to the people with the lupus disease. So, many health experts have already proven the effects of this supplement against the lupus disease. According to them, the DHEA supplement contains the hormone that totally needed to reduce the dose of steroids, which then will stabilize the symptoms of lupus disease. This supplement is a very good alternative medication of lupus disease, though.
- Taking Acetaminophen
The next option that also could be used as the treatment to fight against lupus disease is taking the acetaminophen. So, basically acetaminophen is the anti-inflammatory medications which pretty beneficial to reduce and relieve the inflammation caused by the lupus disease.Usually, the acetaminophen could be used to relieve the inflammation in the joint and also in the muscle, as well as reducing the fever. The acetaminophen basically could be used to treat the mild lupus disease, while you need the stronger medications to treat the severe lupus disease.
But, just like any other medications, you need also know that acetaminophen also has various side effects, which are:
- Allergic reactions, such as rashes itching, and swelling.
- Breathing problems
- Sore throat
- Unusual bleeding
- Trouble Passing urine
- Taking Azatiophrine
The next option that also could be very useful as the treatment against lupus disease is taking azatiophrine. Azatiophrine is the oral medication that classified as the Disease-Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drugs that commonly prescribed to you by the doctor to treat against the complications of lupus disease, such as rheumatoid arthritis. This medication will work by suppressing the overactive immune system which resulting the inflammation. Also, this drug would be very beneficial too to keep the immune system from attacking a kidney transplant.
Just like any other medications, the azatiophrine would have some side effects whenever you take this medication. The side effects related to this medication are:
- Excessive weight loss
- Extreme tiredness
- Significant allergic reactions, such as wheezing, chest tightness, itching, and swelling.
- Gastrorintestinal drugs hypersensitivity.
- Taking Aspirin
The next option that would be very beneficial as the treatment to fight against the lupus disease is taking aspirin. So, aspirin is the type of medication that would be very useful to reduce various inflammations caused by lupus disease. This medication will work by reducing or suppressing the substances in the body that can cause pain, fever, and inflammation. In some cases, aspirin is also very beneficial to treat against various complications caused by the lupus disease, such as heart attacks, strokes, and chest pain. Remember that you need to take this medication with the agreement and the dosage that the doctor would give to you.
Just like any other medications, aspirin is also has various side effects that might occur to you whenever you take this medication. Here are the common side effects of taking the aspirin:
- Asthma or seasonal allergies
- Upset stomach, heartburn
- Drowsiness
- Swelling
- Mild headache.
You also need to remember that this medication is not suitable for everyone of you who are pregnant because this medication could cause the excessive bleeding in the mother or the baby during the labor. Also, you shouldn’t use this medication if you have the bleeding disorder like hemophilia, a recent history of stomach or intestinal bleeding, or if you have the allergies of NSAIDs.
- Taking Heparin
The next option that also could be very beneficial as the treatment against lupus disease is taking heparin. So, heparin is the medication that commonly being used to prevent the formation of blood clots. In case you have already blood clots in the blood vessels, taking heparin would also very beneficial to stop the growth of the clots. In the matter of fact, people with lupus disease actually have the higher possibilities of developing the blood clots in their blood vessels. This heparin could be prescribed by the doctor if they think that you need the preventive treatment against the blood clots as the result of the lupus disease.
Heparin commonly could be used as the form of liquids or injected through the vein. But just like any other medications, heparin also has various side effects. Side effects related to heparin are:
- Unusual bleeding
- Nausea and vomiting
- Bloody stools
- Sudden numbness and tinglings in most part of the body.
- Sudden confusion, or have the difficulty to speak.
- Itching and burning
- Difficulty of breathing and swallowing.
- Taking Warfarin
The next option that also could be used as the treatment to fight against lupus disease is taking warfarin. So, warfarin is the medication that has the same function as the heparin. Warfarin is commonly being used as the treatment to reduce the formation of the blood clots in the blood vessels, which this medication will work to stop the growth of the clots and prevent the vessels from the formation of the blood clots. This preventive medication without a doubt would be very beneficial to prevent you from the cardiovascular disease, stroke, and other serious condition which are the complications of lupus disease.
Just like any other medications, warfarin also has various side effects. The side effects related to this medication such as :
- Pain, swelling, hot or cold feeling, skin change, or discoloration in somewhere parts of the body.
- Sudden headache, dizziness, and weakness.
- Bleeding from wounds that wouldn’t stop.
- Dark urine with the little or no urine at all.
- Sudden numbness and the pain around the stomach
- Pale skin, difficulty of breathing, rapid heartbeat.
Please take a notice that this medication could increase the chance of having the bleeding, which can be severe or life-threatening. So, if you have bleeding disorder,  blood in the urine or stool, stomach bleeding, or upcoming surgery, you shouldn’t take this medication. Warfarin is also not recommended to the pregnant women.
- Taking Methotrexate
The next option that also could be used as the treatment against the lupus disease is taking the methotrexate. So, methotrexate is the medication that classified as the immunosuppressant which will suppress the overactive immune system so that this medication will keep your immune system from attacks the healthy parts of the body. This methotrexate is commonly being used if the other treatments have failed to control the symptoms of lupus disease. Basically the methotrexate is commonly being used as the treatment to fight against cancer cells, but it turns out that this medication could be a potent cure against lupus symptoms.
Just like any other medications, methotrexate also has various side effects. the side effects that commonly related to methotrexate is:
- Dry cough, shortness of breath
- Diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting
- Blood in the urine and stools
- swelling, rapid weight gain, with little or no urinating.
- fever, chills, body aches, and flu-like symptoms.
Whenever you’re experiencing most of those side effects, you need to see the doctor as soon as possible. You need to remember that taking methotrexate just like the recommended dosage would be very important.
So, now you already know all you need to know about lupus disease, especially the ways how to treat it. Although there are various medications that could ease the symptoms of lupus disease, you need to remember that treat the lupus disease using the healthy daily habits are very important too. Stay healthy and stay away from lupus.